The Third Time’s the Charm! Fourth (Third) Annual Mom and Me Trip--Updated twice on 10/21--now COMPLETE - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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.
The Third Time’s the Charm! Fourth (Third) Annual Mom and Me Trip--Updated twice on 10/21--now COMPLETE
The Third Time’s the Charm! Fourth (Third) Annual Mom and Me Trip BoardWalk Inn, September 26-30, 2008
It’s time for another PrincessSharon trip report. (It’s been so long! ) This time I’m going to Disney with my favorite person in the world, my mom. DM is really a great mom and we are really close. I don’t think it’s possible to dislike my DM. She’s awesome! I know this because people are always telling me so! (and you know, because I know it myself) And the best thing is she loves Disney almost as much as I do.
Here’s a picture of me with one of my favorite Disney things.
Sharon
And here’s a picture of DM with one of her favorite Disney things.
Mable
DM’s sweet tooth is legendary (and also, hereditary ). Expect to hear about all the treats DM sneaks. That lollipop she’s eating was bought for my DN, but DM ate it (at the bus stop at DTD, where she’d just purchased it moments ago) because she thought he was too young to eat it. He’s old enough now, so she’s gonna have to come up with a new excuse to eat the candy she buys for “someone else.”
I think Mom enjoys traveling with me so much because she can just relax and have fun with me. I take care of everything and she tags along and enjoys it. I know she enjoys not having to take care of my DF (you know how some men are ) Plus I know she enjoys having a bed to herself, but don’t tell DF.
As I said, DM is a big Disney fan (I come from a family that “gets it”). We’ve been taking Disney trips since I was 4. A few years ago, I suggested that we take a girls only trip and DM was all over that idea! We went to Disneyland for the 50th celebration and had a wonderful time.
The following year, we decided to make the Mom & Me trip an annual thing, so we took a trip during the Food & Wine Festival. We had such a good time eating our way around WS that we decided we should try to always make our annual trip during the FWF.
Last year we had our trip planned for mid-October, but unfortunately my Grandmother passed away shortly before the trip. We tried to reschedule, but we couldn’t get a hotel reservation anywhere on property, so we had to cancel our trip.
That’s half of the reason for the title of the TR. The second one has to do with our resort, the Boardwalk. It’s been my goal to stay at every Disney resort at least once. Last year, I was planning to attend Mousefest and decided to give the Boardwalk a try. When my solo trip went to a Trio, we moved our resort to the Wilderness Lodge. When DM and I booked our 2007 trip, I decided that I had my chance to stay at the BW, but since it got cancelled, I missed out again! So this is my third attempt to stay at the BW, and I know it will be fantastic. I love the Epcot resort area, and during the F&WF it’s even more appealing.
I’m really excited about this trip, but my DM is really excited. She hasn’t been to Disney in over a year (which isn’t really that long for her, but her addiction is growing ). When I talk to her, she’ll suddenly say “We’re going to Disney!” It’s been a rough year for DM, so she really needs a vacation. We’re going to have the best time!
DM is not a planner at all, so I do all the planning for our trip. I just ask her if she’s got any requests and usually get “whatever you want” as a response. Occasionally I get a restaurant request, but usually she leaves it up to me. When she and DF go on vacation without me, they still do no research, and end up sitting around at their hotel. DM has figured out that they have a much better time when I plan things for them, so they invite me on every vacation they take, just to get me to plan it.
I knew that we wanted to enjoy the F&WF as much as possible, so I didn’t make many ADRs. MNSSHP is my favorite party, so that was a must do. This may be surprising, but DM actually requested that we attend the party (but I’m not sure the free candy had anything to do with that ). Since we were staying near the Beach Club, I thought it would be only natural to choose the Cape May Café for breakfast one day. And since we were doing MNSSHP, I wanted to eat at LTT, since it’s sort of a party tradition. I didn’t want to make an ADR on the days we planned to be at Epcot, so we’ve got both ADRs on the same day (I’ll be getting a double dose of Goofy )
I enjoy meeting my fellow PassPorters, and I realized that quite a few of us would be at WDW at the same time, so I posted a thread over in the meets forum, and it was a rousing success! There will be a huge group of PassPorters at the Illuminations meet on September 26. It’ll be a great way for us to kick off our trip.
I’m a former commando tourist, and though I’ve mostly given up those habits, some things I simply can’t abandon. One of those is an early start at the parks. I’m an early riser anyway, so I hit the parks at opening every day. DM likes to sleep in. And then she likes to get a cup of coffee. And then she likes to putter around and watch the news. And then she likes to have a second cup of coffee. The horror! She somehow thinks that’s how people on vacation are supposed to behave. That used to drive me crazy when I was younger, but now I’ve learned how to deal with it. I just leave her in the dust. I’ve already told DM that she can get up whenever she’s ready and meet up with me when she’s done burnin’ daylight.
As much as I love thrill rides, DM hates them. She gets sick on anything that moves faster than SE. That’s another reason I love going with DM so much. I can use her ticket for more FPs for myself!
So that’s the story of this trip. And if you’re wondering, we’ve already booked our trip for next year, and we’re going international!
Up Next: Our Sweet Itinerary
P.S. For those of you worried about DF, he gets his Disney fix this December when the three of us take on Disney. And I’ve also got two brothers, but that doesn’t matter. Mom likes me best!
__________________
Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Whooooo Hoooooo
Another Princess Sha report! You are so lucky girl! You go to Disney more than I go to the grocery!
Your mom sounds fun! And you get your beauty from her - you look so much alike!
I can't wait to read all about your "sweet" successful trip from the BWI! It is a beautiful resort - I am sure you will it!
Now - about this international thing.....................WOW - which one you going to? I am guessing Euro.
You know why your mom likes you best..........cause you take her to Disney!
Great start Sharon....I have been waiting endlessly to read one of your PTR's again (ok I just finished your last TR today but it has been awhile swince I read a PTR )
I can already see all the fun you and your mom will have...and what a great time to go. The F&WF...
I also did catch on to the international theme next year...so it can be one of three - hope you will let us in on the destination soon....
You go girls! Taking a mother/daughter trip was always my dream but mom wouldn't leave dad and now they are both gone. Never fear, I am now focusing on a mother/daughter trip of the other sort, me being the mom!
Looking forward to sharing all of your experiences!
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
I'm so glad that you started this. I stayed up for it. I hope that you and your mom have a marvelous sugar-high trip. Have fun with your mini MouseFest. Almost makes me want to hop a plane to WDW.
__________________
ºOº ~*~
Oct '99: CSR ~ May '02: CR ~ Nov '04: SOG ~ May '06: SOG ~ Dec '07: Solo @ Pop ~ May '08: Pop w/friends ~ Oct '08: SOG ~ Dec '09: Pop w/LeAnn ~ Sept '10: Solo @ Pop ~ Spring '11: AKL ~ Jan '12: Pop for 1/2 Marathon ~ Sept '12: 1st trip for DL 1/2 Marathon? ~ Feb '13: Pop w/pals? ~ Mar '13: Tokyo Disney w/PP's?
I'm glad you got this one started Sharon! I can't wait to hear about this trip. I'm trying to sneak in a trip next summer for my b-day and I want to stay at the BW so I can't wait to hear what you think about it. Will you be doing any live updates by chance? Have a blast!!
I am so excited...to see another princess sharon TR! I love the F&WF. Enjoy all that spectacular food and trying different things. I absolutely going places with my mom. And like you, I am my mom's favorite as well... of course I'm her only too. That makes it an easy choice for her. I can't wait to hear more...especially how things work out with all the sweet sweet details.
Great start Sharon, how awesome you and your Mom plan some Disney time together every year. I hope someday I can do that with my Mom. I can't wait to hear the rest.
Good stuff, P-Sha! I know you and DM will have a fabulous time and I can't wait to hear all about it...and lucky for us, you do your TR's in a timely manner!
Hope you have a blast.
danielle
__________________
~Shoot for the moon, if you miss, you will land among the stars~