It’s Always Sunny in California!..Eh?...L’il Bit! - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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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Hello all! Welcome to my newest trip report! This time I totally went out of my comfort zone and took a trip to Disneyland!
Who am I? Well I am Jen.
Why did it take me 45 years to get to California? Well that is a good question. One reason was airfare. Every time I priced it….. I cringed. Secondly, the length of the flight also scared me a l’il bit! I tend to get anxiety when I sit for long periods. I have the same issues with car trips too. And of course I have a husband who always talks of going, but then just can’t quite get up the nerve to go so far away and out of HIS comfort zone.
Finally my real chance came this year. We have talked of going off and on many times, but I kind of knew that unless I went first and gave it the official OK, there would not be much of a chance to go as a family in the future.
A work conference came up…. I jumped on it! ….This was my chance!!!!! I told Skip about it, he said yes, I fainted…picked myself back up, and immediately booked airfare. And you are not even going to believe this! Air was the same (actually a L’il bit cheaper) than flying to Florida. This was meant to be, as in the past, air was always super high.
The next thing I did was contact my best friend since 3rd grade, Stacy. She lives in the LA area and I wanted to let her know I would be coming out and possibly, if it worked for her, we could get together. She jumped at the chance too and soon we had a few small plans set in place, with her picking me up from the airport and giving me a tour of the area.
Another thing about these conferences…they make you room with other people in most cases. Luckily I knew a few people who had signed up. When it came down to who being able to go, only one of my co-workers could make it work. Cass!
She posts on the Disboards and she is actually the one I contacted when I was looking into this career choice. We had never met, but I knew I liked what she wrote and from talking to her online, she seemed to be a pretty fun person and I figured I would get along OK with her. Boy! Little did I know how well we would hit it off!
Cass I talked via facebook and decided we wanted to come in early and stay an extra night. We also needed hotels for those nights and I went with her suggestions. We ended up getting the Disneyland Hotel for the first 2 nights for a pretty decent rate and then the Grand Californian for our last night. The conference was putting us up at the GC as well and we figured it would be nice not to move to another hotel that last night.
Then there was life at home. I had to make arrangements for Claire, my 9 year old. My husband shocked me once again and said he would do most of it and just have his mom help out when he was working. He is a dairy farmer and works right here at home and his mother also lives next door, so it would work out nicely. I was completely shocked at how well everything was falling into place.
Plans were in place and we just had a very short time to wait till we were both on our way to Sunny California!
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Joining in for this TR! I have wanted to get out to DL for several years now and like you I have put it off because of airfare and the long flight. Well all that, plus I never want to give up WDW for it. I'm really hoping to make it work for us for 2015. Fingers crossed! We are hoping to stay at the Disneyland Hotel.
I'm looking forward to hearing all the details of your trip!
__________________
Shelly
Disney Destinations Specialist
Magical Vacations Travel
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Great start! I haven't been to Disneyland since 1991, when I lived in CA for 6 months for work. I'm dying to get back, but like you, I cringe every time I check the airfare. Looking forward to your TR!
Joining in for this TR! I have wanted to get out to DL for several years now and like you I have put it off because of airfare and the long flight. Well all that, plus I never want to give up WDW for it. I'm really hoping to make it work for us for 2015. Fingers crossed! We are hoping to stay at the Disneyland Hotel.
I'm looking forward to hearing all the details of your trip!
I loved the Disneyland Hotel. That was my favorite onsite resort there. I really lucked out with the price of air this time. I guess pixie dust was on my side there.
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Originally Posted by dutchdisneyfamily
Great start! Can't wait to hear all about it!
Welcome!
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Originally Posted by abubbles77
Joining in
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Originally Posted by lfredsbo
Great start!!! . Can't wait to hear all the details!
Thanks!
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Originally Posted by pamcarey
Great start! I haven't been to Disneyland since 1991, when I lived in CA for 6 months for work. I'm dying to get back, but like you, I cringe every time I check the airfare. Looking forward to your TR!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2
A lot has changed since then! I really got lucky with air this time around and I am so grateful to have made it work.
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Originally Posted by rhinohunter
Great start. I know this will be an enjoyable trip. Glad you were able to make all of the connections. That always helps.
I was really lucky how many things fell right into place for me on this trip.
My flight was for very early on the 23rd……I mean really early….6:45 AM. I live near Toledo, Oh, but I was flying out of Detroit, MI, which is about an hour away. After trying to figure out who would take me to the airport at such an early hour, I decided to just get a hotel near the airport on Sat. night. My Mom said she would drive me up and her and my youngest daughter, Claire, would spend the night and then drop me off at the airport in the early AM.
I warned Claire the night before that we would not be leaving for the hotel till late afternoon, but of course she was ready to go at noon. The hotel had a pool and that was all she could think about. Finally 4:30 arrived and my Mom came over and picked us up and I took over the driving and we set my phone to get us to our destination.
If I remember right, it was raining and pretty much crappy weather. I was so excited to be getting away to warmer temperatures. Soon we arrived at the Courtyard near the airport and I got us checked in and we found our room and took our overnight bags to it. I took a couple of quick pictures while Claire immediately changed into her swimsuit.
We then headed down to the pool. She was pretty excited to be the only one at the pool and she splashed around and had a good time while Mom and I sat and relaxed.
I sat and took a look out the window and I thought it looked neat.
And then I saw it!
The planes went right over the place and I swear at times it looked like it was just missing the roof.
We let Claire swim about 45 minutes, but Mom and I were starving. We talked Claire into getting out with the promise of coming back after dinner.
We got her dressed and drove down the road to the Bob Evans we had passed coming in. Had the weather been nice, we could’ve walked there, but it was much too cold and yucky outside to do that today.
We had a great meal and I got a mushroom burger and coleslaw….big mistake. My stomach started bloating up right away. I never even thought about the coleslaw till later. I should’ve stayed away from it.
We headed back and I took Claire for a swim and this time the pool was packed. She swam a bit, but she was frustrated with all the people so we headed back to the room to get her showered and ready for bed. We watched TV and soon I drifted off. I woke to find Claire still up after 11, so I turned the TV off.
Wow, Claire really loves her swimming, doesn't she? Is there anywhere near where you live for her to swim regularly?
My BIL lives across the street and they have a pool, but last summer his wife just didn't feel like cleaning it so they never officially opened it. She started to, but then gave up. So normally she swims several times a week in the summer and last summer she didn't. I sure hope they clean it this summer so I don't have to hear Claire wine about swimming.
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Originally Posted by MayraLR
Great start! The hotel room looks nice!
It was a very nice place.
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Originally Posted by dutchdisneyfamily
Swimming in the hotel is my kids' favorite part of vacation. It looks like it is off to a great start. Except the coleslaw.
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I'm really hoping to make it work for us for 2015. Fingers crossed! We are hoping to stay at the Disneyland Hotel. 
. Can't wait to hear all the details!
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