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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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Ok I am having serious issues with the planning of this trip. I have finally convinced myself that POR will be fine I do not need to put myself in debt and do the Poly this time....especially since it is near the Holidays. Then I start adding days. I have now managed to add two more days to my trip. I worked on my itinarary and realized we needed more down time so I added a day at the begining and ending if the trip. I then added MVMCP to the last night and now I am checking into doing BBB for my youngest...I AM OUT OF CONTROL!!!
My DH is going to kill me if I don't stop this. LOL! Anyone else have this issue come up when planning?
I started out with the basic dining plan with park hoppers, then dropped the hoppers for the deluxe dining plan and decided to skip MVMCP. I also added an overnight stay in Detroit the night before we fly out. Since we are staying the night in Detroit I decided to change my flight times to earlier in the morning. Now that we arrive at an earlier time I scheduled a lunch ADR. Then last week I decided to go ahead and buy tickets to MVMCP. Since we are going to the party now I added an ADR for the MK I wish I could be like you and add days to my trip
This trip needs to hurry up and get here before I change so much I don't know whether I'm coming or going
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Offsite May 2005, POR September 2006, POR August 2007, POFQ December 2008, POR February 2010,
Pop Century April 2011,
At least you are controlling yourself on the Poly. I am sure I would have upgraded that by now. I add stuff all the time & constantly have to buy things for the trip. I am making a run to the Disney store tomorrow cause they have t's on sale...I guess the 3 drawers of Mickey shirts I have isn't enough, lol.
Have a great time planning!
I decided Dec 2006 that I wanted to go to WDW asap, I needed a fix. My DH said to book the trip and gave my $2000 budget (we always used to stay offsite.) I couldn't find a cheap rental for the 5 days we picked in February so I started looking into staying on property at AllStars. Then my DH said, how about CBR as we had friends that just visited and liked it. I didn't have to be told twice. We were still at budget because we got cheap airfare. Then we decided to leave a couple of days earlier and visit my parents in Daytona Beach. Airfare went up, of course. I think the entire trip ended up at $3000.00 $1000.00 over budget! But it gets worse, once I got the taste of staying on property I was hooked. No more condos for me!
And now that I have stayed at the YC, I decided I looooove going Deluxe. I am out of control.
We started vacation planning for a post WDW trip for christmas two years ago that got canceled and re booked twice. Each time the trip got longer and bigger with each new plan. From 5 days at start to 10 days beach club when all was said and done.
We still had plans to go to the keys this christmas and camp in cabins. Well we thought why not add a a day in universal. This is how it happens for me:
You can get a great deal for 4 nights at Royal Pacific, 7 day tickets for less than $100. Oh look we can get $89 airfare if we add one more night. Look at the fast pass+ special for BDAYS if you already have a a WDW ticket!! He wants to ride SM on his bday. Ok,mk on his bday.
Lets do a second day at disney and see what we couldn't in the rain. GF, ohhh it would be so nice to try concierge level. We'll try the counter service meal plan, what did you say CRT is available ok.... I need the deluxe dp please..........
I think it might help you to control yourself if you start with a budget, and then figure out what you want to do the most within that budget. That's what we do and it keeps us realistic. Also, we never go unless we can pay in cash . . . I won't go into debt for a vacation.
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poohmaine
Last edited by poohmaine; 09-23-2008 at 10:27 AM..
It does get easy to get caught up and over plan. I agree that is it good to set a budget and stick to it. You can still plan some fun things without breaking the bank!
I thought I was bad . . . but yesterday my DH e-mailed me to say that one of his co-workers will be there the same week as us and wanted to know what day the two of them would do the dive at Epcot together. So now DH is doing the dive! Talk about contagious!
I always seem to over plan as well. I started out with a plan in Jan. We agreed to stick with mostly CS meals...but we wanted a character meal or 2...and MVMCP...then we decided to have breakfast at WCC ...it seems like every few weeks we are adding more.
DH still kept saying not to plan/spend too much. Then this weekend he asks about getting tix to Hoop Dee Doo. I give up! LOL! Yes, I always overplan...with a little help from DH.
Oh I do this all of the time. LOL! But I don't mind going into a little bit of debt for a vacation. It's a worthwhile debt, in my eyes, because I get my money's worth. I don't even bother giving myself a budget anymore. I was just blowing clear past it anyway. I'm not terribly good at denying myself.
This latest trip started out with us staying at CBR, and then we got to talking about the various resorts and we decided we wanted to stay deluxe. So then it was WL, because we thought we'd keep it reasonable. And then mom saw the Poly, lol. She decided she wanted to be on the monorail. So now we're in a Garden View at the Poly. I suspect greatly that mom is going to want to upgrade to a MK view, but we'll see.
Then we started out at 5 nights and now we're at 6. And I'm thinking about throwing a seventh night in there... lol.
Then we've begun with the ADR's. We have all of ours for now... but I'm considering adding another two character meals... and then I started thinking that a Wishes cruise would be fun to do... so I'm considering that.
But what we might do instead is rent a wave runner or some kind of boat thing (whatever DD3 is allowed on with me).
So I feel your pain here! I think you're doing a great job being strong and not upgrading! I did that on my last trip (stayed at POR instead of WL, where I really wanted to be - and didn't regret it because I loved POR). Of course, I had character meals out the wazoo that time, and added the Pirate and Princess Party! LOL!
Good luck planning - we look forward to hearing what you end up with!
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Sammi
I started out with the basic dining plan with park hoppers, then dropped the hoppers for the deluxe dining plan and decided to skip MVMCP. I also added an overnight stay in Detroit the night before we fly out. Since we are staying the night in Detroit I decided to change my flight times to earlier in the morning. Now that we arrive at an earlier time I scheduled a lunch ADR. Then last week I decided to go ahead and buy tickets to MVMCP. Since we are going to the party now I added an ADR for the MK 
I wish I could be like you and add days to my trip 
PassPorter Guide Author
ANGIE
...it seems like every few weeks we are adding more. 
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