Two Chips and a Dip (The Appetizer Trip) Nov 30 thru Dec 5, 2007 - With Final Thoughts - COMPLETE - Updated 2/21 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
Two Chips and a Dip (The Appetizer Trip) Nov 30 thru Dec 5, 2007 - With Final Thoughts - COMPLETE - Updated 2/21
Two Chips and a Dip – The Appetizer Trip – Nov 30 thru Dec 5, 2007
As with most of my trip reports, I have my husband to thank for the title. Even if it is a major snark on me, I adore it!
For "starters" (oooh, I crack myself up!), the Mousefest trip with Sharon was determined waaay back early last spring. After our grand fun together at the Girls Only DLR trip, Karen decided to join us -- and another CrazyLadyTrio (CLT®) trip was finalized. Then, when my dear husband’s work schedule grew exponentially difficult over the summer and our Free Dining trip collapsed under the weight of office pressures for both of us, it seemed as if buying my DH and DS annual passes for our LeeNee-palooza trip in 2006 wasn’t the wisest choice. (I’d gotten 11 days use out of mine, but Bob and Calder would’ve only used their’s for 8 days.) Then, inspiration struck. Since I was already going for Mousefest, maybe they could come with me a little before everyone else arrived – an “appetizer” to Mousefest, as it were.
In my head, it’s been the Appetizer Trip ever since.
So, when it came time to name the pre-trip (now that I’d FINALLY finished the TR for the *last* WDW trip ), I asked Bob for inspiration on the title. Despite my springing the question on him as he was pulling himself out of the depths of his deep, hibernative sleep yesterday morning, he said I should name it after some form of appetizer. While I liked his suggegstion of “Crew-de-trip,” I thought it was a little esoteric and took too much thinking to make the joke. Then he suggested "Two Chips and A Dip" as a take on the old Chip and Dale Cartoon with Clarisse… and that was that! Purrrr-fect!
Which is a great segue into introducing myself and the two chips – er, the two men in my life.
Bob and Calder are both blonde and cute and cheerful and have complete possession of my heart. Bob is my hubby of almost 17 years and Calder is a ginormous (to me, at least) 11 year old who I keep telling to stop growing because I’m not ready to give up having a young child.
Bob is 41 (almost 42) and is a ride designer who has won awards for his work making rip-roaring adventures that both entertain and educate. He’s a fanatical Cub’s fan and bleeds Cubby blue six months out of the year. He is my beloved partner, colleague, and the funniest person I have ever met – if I wet myself laughing, it’s probably his fault.
On our “young and skinny” Honeymoon.
On our most recent WDW trip.
Calder is a straight-A student in the 6th grade and will be getting his black belt in tae kwon do two weeks after we get back. He’s also approaching that I’m-too-cool-for-this-nonsense teenagery attitude, but I know he’ll throw all of that to the wind when he sees Stitch again.
Calder during our first trip to WDW
Five years later! (Gosh, he could almost be a "friend of Stitch" at this point. )
To some of you, I need no introduction as I’ve been here for many years now. For others, don’t believe what you hear about me – I’m really pretty sane. I just celebrated my 41st birthday (the day after Mickey and Minnie’s), am obsessed with my scanner and PhotoShop, and pretty much stalk Minnie Mouse whenever I’m in the parks. I have been blessed with many trips and have met many PassPorters in the past few years. Especially important to me are my two BFFs, Sharon (PrincessSharon) and Karen (zacksmom_1993). More on these two and the CLT® later!
It all started here… in 1990.
.. and continues to this day!
Our family history at Disney is as follows:
Bob lived in Miami as a teen and went to Disney a few times. I went once with my mom in the 70’s
Our honeymoon in 1990
A solo (for me) trip with my brother in 1994
Our first family trip in December 2002 (first set of APs)
May 2003 for the Flower and Garden Festival
October 2003 to try Mission:Space and Mickey’s PhilharMagic
May 2004 Surprise Mother’s Day trip for Calder and me (2nd set of APs)
September 2004 Calder and I slipped in between two hurricanes to try the AKL
November 2004 to join DH at his annual convention in Orlando
May 2005 we celebrated a Grand Gathering with my step-brother’s family (and I met Karen for the first time – “this is the start of a beautiful friendship!”)
December 2005 Mousefest with Karen and Zack (3rd set of APs)
June 2006 AKL concierge/Beach Club with Karen and Zack
December 2006 my 40th birthday grand gathering with my siblings and families. (4th set of APs)
So, that makes the “Two Chips and a Dip Trip” my 14th WDW trip, Bob’s 10th trip and Calder’s 10th trip. (Bob and Calder have also been to Disneyland once and I’ve been twice.)
Phew… not that I want to break the pattern, but my husband is right – we do travel to Disney A.L.O.T.!!
Up next: the plans and arrangements!
Last edited by Caldercup; 02-19-2008 at 09:34 PM..
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.
Yeah!! I LOVE reading your work And that title! FAB! I had to smile and share with Andy your dates....those were our exact dates 2 years ago.. Nov. 30 - Dec. 5.... and that was our longest trip at that time and here it's just your little appetizer Can't wait for more!!
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.
About This Page: 
Even if it is a major snark on me, I adore it! 
), I asked Bob for inspiration on the title. Despite my springing the question on him as he was pulling himself out of the depths of his deep, hibernative sleep yesterday morning, he said I should name it after some form of appetizer. While I liked his suggegstion of “Crew-de-trip,” I thought it was a little esoteric and took too much thinking to make the joke. Then he suggested "Two Chips and A Dip" as a take on the old Chip and Dale Cartoon with Clarisse… and that was that! Purrrr-fect! 
)
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Can't wait to read all about ya'll's adventures. (I 
And that title! FAB! I had to smile and share with Andy your dates....those were our exact dates 2 years ago.. Nov. 30 - Dec. 5.... and that was our longest trip at that time and here it's just your little appetizer 
Can't wait for more!!
Can't wait to read more!!
ANGIE
Linear Mode
