Forums Closed
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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
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Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
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11-18-2005, 04:05 PM
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#1
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Dopey's biggest fan!
Join Date: May 2004
Location: China Spring, TX
Concierge Level: 9
Posts: 26,975
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A Gargantuan Gathering of Passporter Peoples . . . THREAD ONE - COMPLETE!!!
Is this the first MouseFester trip report? Woo-HOO!!! Let the fun (and massive amounts of reading) begin!!!!
<u>Pre-Trip . . . Part 1 . . . “The Voice”</u>
<font color="firebrick">”HELLLLLLLLOOOOOOO!!! Ho-ho-ho . . .”</font>
<font color="darkblue">It’s that time again!!! Time for an <u>all new</u> DopeyGirl trip report!!!
Well, as some of you may have heard . . . We’re going back to our Happiest Place on Earth!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]
This will be my 4th . . . yes, 4th . . . trip to a Disney property this year!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/blushing.gif[/img] We went to WDW in January and March . . . and Disneyland in June! But, in my honest opinion, there is no such thing as too many Disney trips!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] Really, I feel so <u>absolutely</u> blessed to have been able to spend so much “Disney time” this year!
So, how did this trip come about, you might ask? Well, lemme tell ya!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]
Last</font> <font color="darkorange">Halloween</font> <font color="darkblue">weekend, Mike went to Atlanta with a buddy from work for a NASCAR race. It was a guys only thing, so, I made a deal with him. “You went to a race, so how about I go to WDW?” He begrudgingly agreed and my January 2005 “Mommy/Daughter” trip was born. After Emilie and I returned, I had mentioned that I really enjoyed our time and that I wouldn’t mind doing it again. Mike said he didn’t think it was “fair” that we wanted to go on trips without him (but yet, it was perfectly fine for him to go on a weekend jaunt to Atlanta for a race without us [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]) , but he said that if we wanted to do another trip like that sometime, he’d “deal with it”. So we didn’t talk about that anymore, we went on our March 2005 WDW trip with his parents, came home and I went into severe withdrawals!!!
I started noticing on the boards that there were quite a few of us that had trips planned during the last couple of days of November and into the first week of December. How could I NOT sign on for that time?! So, I set my dates at November 30-Dec. 5th and commenced to planning away, unbeknownst to Mike! Meanwhile, the Navy sent Mike to Chicago to teach for three months . . . and my parents surprised Emilie and I with plane tickets to the city of my birth, San Diego (with a side trip to Disneyland) in June/July . . . so I have been privileged enough to see TWO Disney resorts during the</font> <font color="blue">Happiest Celebration/Homecoming on Earth</font>!!!
<font color="darkblue">Mike had been talking with a bunch of guys from work for a few months about renting an RV and camping in the infield at the Talladega Superspeedway for the weekend of the</font> <font color="firebrick">UAW-Ford 500</font> <font color="darkblue">NASCAR race in October. It looked to me like history was going to repeat itself when I asked him, one day in May, with a similar deal as we had made for January’s trip. He called me one day and I asked him "Are you definitely going to Talladega in October?" He said "As far as I know. We haven’t really talked anymore about it though." So I brought out the deal . . . "How about if you go to Talladega with the boys, I go to WDW with the girls?" . . . and he said . . .
"I think that's an OK idea!"
WHAAAAAAAAAT?!
He agreed, again, to let Emilie and I head down for MouseFest time!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img] SO I got right online and made reservations for All Star Movies for November 30-December 5. A couple of weeks later, I decided that it just wasn’t long enough (as usual), so I added a night to my reservation . . . we’d now be leaving December 6th! And I started working on my pre-trip at that point!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img] I had already decided that I was going to do my best to give each installment title a "Seinfeld" touch . . . didja notice that yet? Stay tuned . . . [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]
Well . . . the trip to Talladega never got planned and therefore the idea was scrapped . . . and Mike said he got to thinking about it and . . . he’d “really like to go” . . .
Wha-wha-WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?
Yeah, he said he would really like to go with us . . . SOOOOOOO . . . we called and added him to our room reservation and to a couple of our ADR’s and that was that!!!
OR WAS IT?!</font>
CONTINUED IN NEXT POST . . .
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11-18-2005, 04:07 PM
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#2
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Dopey's biggest fan!
Join Date: May 2004
Location: China Spring, TX
Concierge Level: 9
Posts: 26,975
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Re: A Gargantuan Gathering of Passporter Peoples . . . PRE-TRIP -- PART ONE!!!!
. . . CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POST . . .
<font color="darkblue">No . . . it most certainly was NOT!!! We got to talking about how we’d be pretty much missing out on a whole day of vacation by getting up and driving all day on Nov. 30th. We’d leave here around 6:30am (Mike doesn’t think we’d need to leave any earlier than that) and get checked in and “settled” probably no earlier than 4:30pm . . . then we’d have to make it to MGM for our 5:10pm ADR at the Sci-Fi Dine In Theater and the (then) 7pm</font> <font color="firebrick">Osborne Lights</font> <font color="darkblue">Meet . . . if we did that, we’d be REALLY pushing it to get there on time. I just don’t want to feel that pressure . . . especially not on the first day of vacation!!! SO, we made a reservation at an off-site hotel (Days Inn Maingate East) and decided we’re going to head out the night before (Nov. 29th) instead! Mike’s working hours are 5:30am – 1:00pm and he usually gets home no later than 1:30-2pm. We figured if he got home and we took off by 2:00-2:30pm, we should arrive in the area by 9:30-10:00pm. Then we can have a relaxing evening (and maybe we’ll actually sleep the night before all the Disney fun begins [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img] Yeah, right.) and get up and check in (early) to Pop . . . then we can spend the rest of the day at MGM on our own time instead of rushing to get there “on time”!!!
“WHAT IS GOING ON?!” . . . yeah, I had a "Joe Schmo Show" moment!!! That’s about all I could think at that point!!! I mean, I have come to expect Mike to do a last minute “OK, I’ll go” thing . . . he does that almost every time I say I am going to the store! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img] But when he OK’s leaving the night before so we don’t lose a day of Disney fun . . . am I in the Twilight Zone or something? [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]
So . . . now everything’s set, right? We've got our renewed APs, new DDE cards, MVMCP tickets in hand, the hours are out, ADR’s all made, I have had a bunch of t-shirts made just for the trip . . . I even made a “secret” ADR just for Mike!!! He’s been REALLY wanting to eat at 50’s Prime Time Café . . . so I made a lunch ADR there for Nov. 30th!!! I’ve even finished Emilie’s autograph books and the Mousekeeping envelopes early. There is nothing left to do but buy up every</font> <font color="purple">Dopey</font> <font color="darkblue">pin I don’t have from eBay . . . I am getting real good at that too, unfortunately!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]
We had a little scare at the end of October . . . Mike called me from work one day telling me that his car had died!!! We thought, initially, that it might be a blown head gasket, as all the symptoms of it were there! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] We started to go into panic mode because if it really WAS a blown head gasket, we’d be looking at a repair bill of around $1000!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] That would eat up about ¾ of the vacation fund and our trip would have to be scrapped! NOT HAPPENING, PEOPLE!!! We have a friend who is a master mechanic, so he volunteered to take a look at the car . . . also another friend, who is an aircraft electrician (same thing Mike does) and knows her way around cars, wanted to look at it too. So between 2 electricians, a master mechanic and an former aircraft engine mechanic/”OK” car mechanic (that’s me! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]), we found the problem!!! Come to find out, it was just a small fix!!! We checked with 2 auto parts stores for the part we needed . . . one quoted us $80 for the part, another quoted us $40 . . . so we called the “U-Pull-It” junkyard and they said the part would be $9!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img] So, the guys went and found a car identical to Mike’s, pulled the part from it, paid all of 9 bucks for it and put it into Mike’s car!!! Problem solved . . . and all for the low, low price of $9.00!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img] My sanity was then restored!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img]
Mike’s uncle called us the week before Halloween to let us know he had 2 (excellent) tickets in the Earnhardt section at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Bass Pro Shops/MBNA 500 again this year! I got all excited because I essentially got screwed out of going last year . . . but this year was no different! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img] Mike’s aunt said she could not commit to babysitting Emilie, so therefore, I could not go, since we know no one else in Marietta, GA!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img] Mike ended up going with the same guy he went with last year . . . which was the “master mechanic” who fixed his car for us, so I guess he kind of deserved to go! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] I was still bummed that I didn’t get to go . . . [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]
Sometime in October, we found out that MGM would be closing at 7pm instead of 8pm on November 30th (the night of the scheduled 7pm Osborne Lights meet [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]) so we had to move the meet up to 6pm . . . and therefore I had to rearrange my ADR’s for that day! Pretty easy to do . . . I cancelled my dinner ADR at Sci-Fi Dine In Theater and changed my lunch ADR at 50’s Prime Time Café to an early dinner there . . . so we can stuff ourselves silly, I can watch Mike’s nose get put against the wall (I can see it coming already . . . I bet he does something dumb on purpose to get scolded! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img] ) then make the meet at the B.A.H. on time!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
Now . . . I just need Disney to NOT change anything between now and my trip, and we’ll be all set!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
Is it November 29th yet?</font>
COMING UP NEXT: Pre-Trip . . . Part 2 . . . “The Soup Nazi” [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
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11-18-2005, 04:35 PM
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#3
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Community Rank: Explorer 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: NC
Posts: 12,270
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Re: A Gargantuan Gathering of Passporter Peoples . . . PRE-TRIP -- PART ONE!!!!
[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rofl2.gif[/img] Oh this is gonna be good!! I'm glad that everything has worked in your favor so far!! I can't wait to hear what the Soup Nazi is all about! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rofl2.gif[/img]
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11-18-2005, 04:37 PM
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#4
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Missouri
Posts: 4,595
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Re: A Gargantuan Gathering of Passporter Peoples . . . PRE-TRIP -- PART ONE!!!!
Yea a Sarah report! I can't wait to live thru all of you going for Mousefest this year! I am hoping that Mousefest will be while we are there next year!
Have a wonderful time!!!!!
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11-18-2005, 04:51 PM
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#5
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Community Rank: Legend 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Louisville, KY
Concierge Level: 7
Posts: 18,767
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Re: A Gargantuan Gathering of Passporter Peoples . . . PRE-TRIP -- PART ONE!!!!
Woooohoooo!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img] The trip reports have begun!!!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/thewave.gif[/img] Guess that means I need to get to moving on mine. Yikes!!
Anyway...great start Sarah!! Love the "Seinfeld" references!! I can't believe it is so close!!
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11-18-2005, 05:30 PM
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#6
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Living Seas wannabe
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 31,940
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Re: A Gargantuan Gathering of Passporter Peoples . . . PRE-TRIP -- PART ONE!!!!
Wowsers -- if you have started your Pre-trip report, I better finish the cruise report and get moving on my Pre-Trip report!!! Looks like a great start Sarah!!
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Sponsored links
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11-18-2005, 05:41 PM
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#7
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 9,547
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Re: A Gargantuan Gathering of Passporter Peoples . . . PRE-TRIP -- PART ONE!!!!
10 more days... I can't believe it's almost here! I'm loving the pre-trip report, keep it coming! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
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11-18-2005, 05:48 PM
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#8
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Community Rank: Legend
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Newtown Square, PA
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 23,859
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Re: A Gargantuan Gathering of Passporter Peoples . . . PRE-TRIP -- PART ONE!!!!
Sarah!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img] You are so organized!! What an awesome time you are going to have!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/thewave.gif[/img]
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11-18-2005, 05:53 PM
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#9
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Community Rank: Globetrotter 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: NC
Posts: 3,536
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Re: A Gargantuan Gathering of Passporter Peoples . . . PRE-TRIP -- PART ONE!!!!
I can't wait to read all about your trip, I am sure it will be a blast.
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Sponsored links
Check out the many e-books by PassPorter. The e-books are free to download if you have a PassPorter's Club pass.
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11-18-2005, 06:23 PM
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#10
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Longfellow's "Jewel by the Sea"
Posts: 14,165
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Re: A Gargantuan Gathering of Passporter Peoples . . . PRE-TRIP -- PART ONE!!!!
[ QUOTE ]
So, I set my dates at November 30-Dec. 5th and commenced to planning away, unbeknownst to Mike!
[/ QUOTE ]
Attagirl! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img] That's how all ours start, too. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] That's so cool that you got the car repair bill reduced by 9,000,000%! Thanks so much for starting, I have a week left of unemployment and have been dying to start some of these! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zread.gif[/img]
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11-18-2005, 06:47 PM
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#11
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Niagara Falls
Concierge Level: 3
Posts: 12,431
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Re: A Gargantuan Gathering of Passporter Peoples . . . PRE-TRIP -- PART ONE!!!!
[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img] Another Sarah report!!!!!
Can't wait for more!
Jennifer
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11-18-2005, 07:14 PM
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#12
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 8,784
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Re: A Gargantuan Gathering of Passporter Peoples . . . PRE-TRIP -- PART ONE!!!!
You're going to have the best time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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11-18-2005, 07:31 PM
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#13
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Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ohio Football Hall Of Fame
Posts: 42,304
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Re: A Gargantuan Gathering of Passporter Peoples . . . PRE-TRIP -- PART ONE!!!!
Great pre trip report Sarah!!! I have been waiting for this!! Now I can officially be jealous that I won't be there, but I am thankful that you will be giving live updates, so it will almost be like I'm there, or at least that is what I am telling myself!! Can't wait to hear about the Soup Nazi!!!!
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11-18-2005, 07:41 PM
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#14
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Community Rank: Jetsetter 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 2,929
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Re: A Gargantuan Gathering of Passporter Peoples . . . PRE-TRIP -- PART ONE!!!!
YAY! The first of many Mousefest reports!! It's getting close. Those of us who can't go will at least get to read all about it! I'm glad everything has worked to your advantage Sarah! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
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11-18-2005, 09:22 PM
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#15
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Tulsa, OK
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 21,627
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Re: A Gargantuan Gathering of Passporter Peoples . . . PRE-TRIP -- PART ONE!!!!
Great beginning Sarah....your reports going to be awesome!
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