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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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11-07-2006, 05:32 PM
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#1
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Magic Happens!
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: E. Stroudsburg, PA
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 29,184
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Steve, Sue and a Gaggle of Goofy Friends at WDW! Thread 1 is complete!
Who: Steve and Sue
Dates: 10/27-11/5
Resort: Beach Club Villas
Well, I'm not known best for my trip reports, as I have a tendency not to finish them, but I think I am almost under an obligation to write one for this trip. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zputer.gif[/img] I can almost guarantee that my pictures will not be as plentiful or as good ad Bill's, Donna's and Cheryl's, but I will post a few and tell you the story of our trip! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502yes_prv.gif[/img]
How did this trip come to be? Well....last year we spent a week at the World in December. Our trip coincided with Mousefest, and we got to see alot of old friends and make some new ones. The trip itself was a bit hectic, we had alot to do and see, and we had some major transportation issues that really dampened our spirits. Plus, Steve wasn't feeling well (previous shoulder injury was acting up [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/ouch.gif[/img] ) and he missed some of the events and the fun. We were already planning two more trips, one in March that was a rest and relax trip [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/snore.gif[/img] and one in October to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/love.gif[/img]
The farewells the last night of the December trip were bittersweet, it was fun to have spent time with everyone but very hard not knowing when the next time we were going to meet up was.
The October trip started out as a vow renewal, even though our anniversary is in July, and alot of our friends and family were supposed to make the trip with us. As we got closer to the time, alot of people backed out of the trip for various reasons, and the cost of a vow renewal was a bit prohibitive. We decided to just do a trip for fun! We were soon to find out that several other Passporters were travelling down the same time, and, well, one thing led to another, and soon, the trip was in the works!
Many emails and text messages went by, we had dates, itineraries, spreadsheets, plans, ADR's, MNSSHP tickets, two cruises, resorts, plane tickets, rental cars and it was all good! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img]
I called DVC at our 7 month window and was able to snag a 1BR villa at BC for our whole trip. At 90 days, I got a Wishes cruise and Marnie was able to get an Illuminations cruise. I ordeed our MNSSHP tickets as soon as we could. Our ADR's were made throughout the group, and in August, we added the Dining Plan. We were go for launch! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
For Steve and I, the adventure would begin with a trip down 95 in our convertible. This would be our third time driving, and we had learned from our first time how to do the trip, and how to make it part of the adventure! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502yes_prv.gif[/img] The week before, the car went in for a complete service, and my mechanic passed it with flying colors. In fact, he asked who did most of the driving of this vehicle, and was surprised to learn it was Steve, since it was in such excellent condition! (Steve tends to be a little hard on brakes... [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img] ) I got a lot of last minute things arranged, including arranging a transport for my father who found out he needed bloodwork the week I was away! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] My last day of work was Wednesday night, and I spent most of Thursday resting, packing, organizing, shopping, cleaning, doing laundry, washing the car, etc, etc, etc, [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/dizzy.gif[/img]
Friday I dropped the dogs at the kennel (aka "camp" [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] ) and the cat at my friends. I fueled up the car, packed the suitcases and the cooler, organized the cameras and waited for Steve to get home from work. We were leaving as soon as he got home. I packed up the car and waited. While waiting, I made two mistakes...one, I talked to Angie, who was already there. (Talking to Angie was not the bad thing, but what she told me was!) She told me that she had heard that there was bad weather on it's way! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rain.gif[/img] My next mistake as a result of that was to turn the Weather Channel on. (Heck, I had only been checking Orlando weather for the last week!) Well, sadly, she was right. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/pout.gif[/img] A HUGE rainstorm was headed...right for the East Coast! Pretty much exactly where we were headed. Oh well, that's what they make windshield wipers for, isn't it? And it can't really be that bad, now can it? [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img]
Steve came home and off we went. A quick stop at the CVS (my camera batteries were dead! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/Flash.gif[/img] ) and we were on the road, off to a week of fun, food, festivals and friends!
Next...
The never ending drive down I95 but there is a reward at the end! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
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11-07-2006, 05:41 PM
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#2
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Community Rank: Legend 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Dreaming of the Future
Concierge Level: 1
Posts: 24,867
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Re: Steve, Sue and a Gaggle of Goofy Friends at WDW!
Great Start and sorry to hear about the impending weather!
More please
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11-07-2006, 06:36 PM
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#3
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Faith, Trust, Pixie Dust
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Connecticut
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 34,171
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Re: Steve, Sue and a Gaggle of Goofy Friends at WDW!
Great start Sue!! I know all about '95-not fun [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]. I hope it doesn't take you as long to post those pics as it does me [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rofl2.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rofl2.gif[/img]
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11-07-2006, 06:40 PM
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#4
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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: Steve, Sue and a Gaggle of Goofy Friends at WDW!
Great start Sue - although the weather does not sound like fun!!
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11-07-2006, 07:34 PM
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#5
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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: Steve, Sue and a Gaggle of Goofy Friends at WDW!
Great start Sue!! The impending weather doesn't sound good though. Can't wait for more!!
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11-07-2006, 08:08 PM
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#6
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RED SOX NATION!!
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Connecticut
Concierge Level: 9
Posts: 136,854
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Re: Steve, Sue and a Gaggle of Goofy Friends at WDW!
Great start Sue [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zwavin.gif[/img] Hurry back with more [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
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11-07-2006, 09:36 PM
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#7
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Community Rank: Legend
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: North Central Ohio
Posts: 21,629
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Re: Steve, Sue and a Gaggle of Goofy Friends at WDW!
Great start Sue!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
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11-07-2006, 09:37 PM
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#8
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Community Rank: Globetrotter 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Mahopac, NY
Posts: 3,460
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Re: Steve, Sue and a Gaggle of Goofy Friends at WDW!
keep it coming Sue!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to hear all about it!!!!!!!!!!
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11-07-2006, 09:37 PM
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#9
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Community Rank: Jetsetter 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Wishing I was at WDW
Posts: 2,384
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Re: Steve, Sue and a Gaggle of Goofy Friends at WDW!
Great start! We have made that drive many times! Not fun, but WDW is worth it!
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11-07-2006, 10:00 PM
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#10
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Join Date: May 2006
Location: Maryland
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 14,723
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Re: Steve, Sue and a Gaggle of Goofy Friends at WDW!
That is one loooong drive, hope the rain didn't slow you down! Looking forward to reading more.
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11-07-2006, 10:23 PM
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#11
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Tulsa, OK
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 21,627
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Re: Steve, Sue and a Gaggle of Goofy Friends at WDW!
Great start! Eagerly waiting for more.
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11-08-2006, 12:00 AM
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#12
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Tinkerbell's Aunt
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: McHenry IL
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 13,254
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Re: Steve, Sue and a Gaggle of Goofy Friends at WDW!
Sue- Glad you've joined the trip report crew. It's so much fun to read everyone's perspective on the trips.
More please............
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11-08-2006, 12:10 AM
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#13
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Community Rank: Explorer 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Illinois
Concierge Level: 1
Posts: 9,564
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Re: Steve, Sue and a Gaggle of Goofy Friends at WDW!
Boy, you guys are putting me to shame. I need to start my TR soon! Great seeing you both, when is the next trip???
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11-08-2006, 12:39 AM
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#14
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Community Rank: Globetrotter
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Manchester, England
Posts: 3,595
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Re: Steve, Sue and a Gaggle of Goofy Friends at WDW!
Great start! I can't wait for more
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11-08-2006, 10:00 AM
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#15
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Magic Happens!
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: E. Stroudsburg, PA
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 29,184
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Re: Steve, Sue and a Gaggle of Goofy Friends at WDW! :The Drive!
The Drive:
Our journey began at about 5:45 PM, and about an hour into the trip we did our traditional stop at Cracker Barrel for dinner. I had the chicken, and Steve had the steak. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/yuma.gif[/img] With stomachs full and hearts happy, we started out. The rain was falling...gently... and the swish of the windshield washer was almost relaxing. We headed down the Turnpike to 95, hit 95 in Philly and headed for Delaware.
It was about this time that the heavens decided to open up. "And the rain rain rain came down down down"... [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rain.gif[/img] We almost felt like Eeyore, with a big cloud following us. I was in the driver's seat for the first leg of our journey, and it was hard to even see! I actually ended up taking my contact lenses out and putting my glasses on to help [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/help.gif[/img] .
Somewhere in Virginia we made our first fuel stop and switched drivers. Steve fared no better with the weather. It was fun watching the temperature get warmer, but not fun watching the rain get heavier. By North Carolina, we were in monsoon season.
We actually made pretty good time despite the weather. About half way through N Carolina, at about 3:45 AM, we noticed that the traffic was slowing down. OK, they were diverting traffic off of the Interstate, must be a crash. We got off, and were flagged by traffic control down a 2 lane road. At the next corner, another traffic controller flagged us onto another road. About 2 miles down, another traffic controller flagged us back on to another road that led us directly to 95. Hmm...this is a pretty effecient system, right? WRONG! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] The last detour put us back on 95 alright...STILL NORTH OF THE ACCIDENT! Hello? A detour should take you past the accident, right? So now we were back on 95 at a dead stop for about 45 minutes while the tractor-trailer accident was cleared. Finally we were able to inch past the scene and be on our way.
By this time, Steve was really tired and almost drove off the road. He sometimes can be a bit of a commando driver, and at first did not want to relinquish the wheel. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502no_prv.gif[/img] But when he hit the berm a second time, even he admitted he was to tired to drive. I took over the wheel and he was asleep before he even hit the passenger seat! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/snore.gif[/img]
I drove to Florence, SC, where we stopped at a Waffle House for breakfast. I was STARVING! I had the big Kahuna, or something like that, which was eggs, waffles, homefries, bacon and toast, plus coffee. Steve had a waffle and bacon, and ate some of my home fries. We fueled the car up, and were back on the road. It was still rainig, but beginning to lighten up.
Within the next hour, the rain had stopped, and what was that glow in the sky? THE SUN! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] Way cool!! I was tired now, so we switched again, and I slept for about an hour and a half. I woke up almost all the way through Georgia (I always seem to sleep through Georgia... [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] ) It was still too cool for the convertible, but it was getting there...
We rolled into Florida! After about another hour, it was sunny, it was warm, and THE TOP CAME DOWN! I texted Angie and actually sent her a picture of the sky and the lack of roofing! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img] At about 11:30, I saw the sign I had waited 1037 miles to see..."I4-Orlando"! WoooooHooooo!!! Somewhere on I4 we switched drivers, because I wanted to be the one to drive under "The Portals of the Mouse". We fueled up one more time and soon began to see those wonderful signs: "Disney World", "Downtown Disney", "Magic Kingdom". I could smell the popcorn! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/popc1.gif[/img] We got off at our exit ("Epcot") and drove through the portals, with Steve filming and "Illuminations" playing in the background!
Of course, I was driving behind a lost soul, and Steve has me on film saying "Don't get in my way if you're lost, I know where I'm going!" The poor guy was probably a first timer, and here was this lunatic woman behind him practically bouncing out of her seat!
We drove up to the gate of Beach Club at about 1 PM, where we were greeted with a smile and a "Welcome Home!" We valet parked the car...a first for us and a service we will never do without again, off loaded our luggage and went to check in.
WE ARE SO HERE!!!
Next...Check in (with pictures) and the first day!
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