GoofyMom's Great American Road Trip to Florida - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Wow. I don't know where to start. The opportunity to take 3 weeks and drive across half of the United States of America doesn't present itself often. Add to that the opportunity to visit with some really good friends, and you've got a recipe for one awesome vacation! Well, it turns out that the opportunity arose and Dan & I went for it! Here's the story:
The travelers: Me and DH, Dan. The kids are old enough to leave at home alone now, so they were not invited. The dates: August 27 – September 15, 2007 Where: From North Dakota to the Florida Panhandle to the Rocky Mountains to the Black Hills of South Dakota. Round trip = 5100 miles Why: To visit some really good friends, Bill & Jan (LizardCop and ShadowBonus)
So. How did this all come about? Well, I'll try to give you the short version. Despite my best attempts, Dan is not a Disney person, so I have been taking trips to WDW without him. I met Bill & Jan on a trip in 2004. Afterwards, we kept in touch via emails, PM's and Instant Messages. We planned a couple more Disney trips together with a herd of other terrific PassPorters and had a lot of fun. For those of you who read the WDW Trip Reports forum, you already know this.
The more time I spent with Bill & Jan, the closer our friendship developed. Eventually in May this year, they invited me to join them for a short trip to the Flower and Garden Festival. I think Dan started getting pretty curious then about these people I was going to be sleeping with After I got back from that trip, it was sealed. The friendship the three of us had formed had turned into one that the occasional trip to WDW was not going to satisfy anymore. We needed to get together more often! So Jan started sending me photos of the beaches where they live. The bait was set. We started out by talking about me flying down to visit them. But Dan decided it was time for him to meet Bill & Jan! So he invited himself along and we decided to drive.
There were a few detours thrown into our plans, but everything worked out and eventually we decided on the dates for our trip. Dan hasn't used a lot of his vacation time he had accumulated, so he booked 3 weeks off with no problems whatsoever. We Google Mapped our trip out a variety of different ways and eventually I visited the CAA (Canada's AAA equivalent) and ordered TripTiks for the route that suited us best. The TripTik was not set in stone and we changed things up on the fly as the mood hit us. The only absolutes were spending time in the Destin, Florida area, seeing San Antonio and seeing Mount Rushmore.
In the meantime, PM's, IM's, emails and phone calls were flying fast and furious. We didn't know exactly how long we were going to be staying at Bill & Jan's because they wouldn't give us a definite date for when they were going to throw us out! Keeping their options open just in case, I guess! So Dan & I worked backwards, considering how long it was going to take us to travel and do the things we wanted to on our return trip. It seemed that Sept 10th would be the latest we could stay and still get in all the sightseeing in the West. If it seemed like we were overstaying our welcome, we would be able to leave earlier. Otherwise, we would have 12 days to spend playing in the Gulf of Mexico and just hanging out with some wonderful people.
Someday I would like to drive across the USA myself, though not by myself lol. Then it would be nice to drive across Canada too mmm Maybe drive out west through the US then back east across Canada
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Can't wait for more Donna!!! I'm sure there was plenty of laughter among the 4 of you cause Dan sure keep me giggling when we vacationed togther a couple years ago! Hurry with those pics!
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The opportunity to take 3 weeks and drive across half of the United States of America doesn't present itself often. Add to that the opportunity to visit with some really good friends, and you've got a recipe for one awesome vacation! Well, it turns out that the opportunity arose and Dan & I went for it! Here's the story:
After I got back from that trip, it was sealed. The friendship the three of us had formed had turned into one that the occasional trip to WDW was not going to satisfy anymore. We needed to get together more often! So Jan started sending me photos of the beaches where they live. The bait was set. 
We started out by talking about me flying down to visit them. But Dan decided it was time for him to meet Bill & Jan! So he invited himself along 
and we decided to drive. 
So Dan & I worked backwards, considering how long it was going to take us to travel and do the things we wanted to on our return trip. It seemed that Sept 10th would be the latest we could stay and still get in all the sightseeing in the West. If it seemed like we were overstaying our welcome, we would be able to leave earlier. Otherwise, we would have 12 days to spend playing in the Gulf of Mexico and just hanging out with some wonderful people. 
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Pixie Dust
mmm Maybe drive out west through the US then back east across Canada 
PassPorter Guide Author
Now that's what I'm talking bout!
Let's get this show started!
you get all your pictures loaded....
Bring on the pictures 
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