The "It Practically Pays For Itself", End of Summer, Split-Stay Sojourn.COMPLETE WITH FINAL THOUGHTS!!!!....UPDATED....11/18...... - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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The "It Practically Pays For Itself", End of Summer, Split-Stay Sojourn.COMPLETE WITH FINAL THOUGHTS!!!!....UPDATED....11/18......
DAY ONE/PART ONE:
Keeping with my promise for an abbreviated TR….
Uneventful flight down to MCO.
So it begins…what a sight!
Five minutes later….
This says it all…
We were met by Yanniere, a lovely CM who brought up to the concierge lounge. Quickly checked in and verified our box o’ luggage had indeed arrived. Our room wasn’t ready but that was okay. We had a lunch date with the Fab 5 at Chef Mickey’s which was open for lunch during the free dining promotion.
Character interaction and atmosphere: awesome!
Food quality: Isabelle adored it, Andrew thought it was decent, Paul and I had indigestion. Seriously, I thought lunch definitely was a little lacking in quality and variety and the cost was the same as the dinner buffet. We used the DDP but if OOP, the cost was $96.
Back to the AKL as they had called and our room was ready!
Some lovely surprises…
Some lovely views….
3pm and I needed my 20 minute power nap; the kiddos were full of energy and went down for the afternoon crafts. Izzy was busy sculpting her volcano.
Afterwards, a little dip in the pool was in order. Izzy went down the slide a zillion or so times while the rest of us swam, floated, and generally lazed around the pool. The surroundings are so beautiful and peaceful, all I could muster was….”ahhhhh”
danielle
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~Shoot for the moon, if you miss, you will land among the stars~
Nice, short and to the point! This is sure a different kind of TR! It looks like Andrew has grown about a foot this summer! It takes a lot to be taller than Goofy! Fun first day - can't wait to hear more!
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A Fairy Godmother wannabe -
Look what a little Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo can do!
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
Love the Welcome Home sign Dani....What a great way to start off your trip but a trip to Chef Mickey's (sorry about the indigestion) but the interaction looked fabulous. Glad your room was ready and that there were some "welcoming surprises".
Hope that you were able to enjoy your power nap while the kids did some crafts...can't wait to hear more.
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Great start! Sorry you didn't love Chef Mickey's. Whenever I've eaten there, the food has never made much of an impression on me, so I guess I agree with you. But the character interaction is always great! Ready for more!
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
Great first day.
I see Andrew has the peace sign thing down in his picture, but where's the pouty lips face? Or is that just for girls? Sorry, I don't mean to be sarcastic. I just think it's funny how teenagers are all posing for pictures in this same way.
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