Snow White, the 7 Dwarves and the Ugly Witch Return to Disney Trip Report - 7/22 Pre Trip - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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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Snow White, the 7 Dwarves and the Ugly Witch Return to Disney Trip Report - 7/22 Pre Trip
CHARACTERS:
Snow White AKA Abby. 8 years old and Autistic even though she acts more like a typical kid (yeah Abby!) as each day goes by. She attends school almost all year, usually only having 1-2 weeks off in June and 1-2 weeks off in August for her summer vacation. This will be her second trip to Disney but here’s one of the areas where the Autism kicks in - she’s not excited. She knows we’re going and when but other than a brief conversation here and there she shows no emotion about us going, It’s like she couldn’t care at all but I know better
The 7 Dwarves AKA Lenny. 47 years old and going on his second trip to Disney. Although he plays the 7 dwarves at Halloween, in reality he’s only 6 of them - Grumpy, Sleepy, Sneezy, Doc, Dopey, Happy. He says he used to be Bashful, but I’ve never seen it. Although extremely apprehensive (and Grumpy) before our last trip to Disney, Lenny is now looking forward to this year. The magic has gotten into him and he’s showing - dare I say it - excitement. He asks me every day now "how many more days until we go?"
The Ugly Witch (thanks Abby for the name) AKA Darlene. 33 years old and going on my 10th trip to Disney. My mom and dad took me and my brother to Disney growing up and this is when I got my love of the World. No matter how old I am, the magic that is Disney is always there for me. I can always put aside reality and enjoy my time there and enjoy it like I’m a kid. I won’t be able to take Abby nearly as often as I went, but I do consider us lucky that we’ll be able to take this 2nd trip so soon after the first.
WHERE AND WHEN:
August 9th and 10th - Chambersburg PA, then the Auto Train out of Lorton VA
August 11th through August 18th - AS Sports Resort Preferred building
August 19th and 20th - the Auto Train out of Sanford, FL then Wilkes-Barre PA
August 21st - back home
HOW IT STARTED:
As with most repeat vacations, it started with those simple words "When can we go back?" Asked, I will point out, not by the then 6 year old but by the 46 year old who had dreaded the original vacation. Although not 2 years in the planning, it has been in my thoughts for that long. By August 2007, despite having to pay for 4 unplanned surgeries (3 for Lenny and 1 for me), numerous PT appointments and endless back and forth trips to the hospital, I knew that we would be well enough and I could save up enough money for a vacation to Disney this August. That’s when my planning officially began.
As with most repeat vacations, it started with those simple words "When can we go back?" Asked, I will point out, not by the then 6 year old but by the 46 year old who had dreaded the original vacation.
I love it when the doubting spouse becomes a Disney convert!
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Stupid me, last August while thinking about the trip to Disney, I made a comment to a friend of my mother, Paula. We had been doing day trips with Paula and her granddaughter, Lauren, and we all had a really good time on each trip. Not one to keep my mouth shut, out comes "We’ve been having so much fun on these day trips. Can you imagine how much fun we’d have if we went to Disney together." Paula of course agreed, then asked when I was thinking of going. I told her mid-August as that’s when Abby is typically out of school for the summer. Paula said :"Let me know the dates and we’ll plan on going then." Although not an official "would you like to go" invitation, I started making plans for 6 of us to go.
At first things went fine. Lenny wanted more time in Disney this year so with travel time, I chose August 9th through August 21st as our vacation dates. That was fine with everyone involved, so in September I booked AS Sports accordingly for all of us. Mom and Paula would arrive 8/10 and stay through 8/19 and we (me, Lenny, Abby and Lauren) would arrive 8/11 and leave 8/19 also. Because Lenny and I thought the dining plan was a good thing, we all were going that route as well. Having secured our rooms and packages, I started looking into our train fare. Since I don’t carry a balance on my CC, I didn’t purchase the Auto Train tickets because they were a little more money than I had at the time.
Now comes October. For some reason, I had it in my head "What if Lauren changes her mind and doesn’t want to take the train with us?" Because that question kept bothering me, I called Amtrak on the phone and started asking my questions. When asked if I wanted to book the tickets I said "not right now." The agent accepted that and I continued asking questions. My final question was "If I were to buy the tickets today, how much is it for 4 with a sleeper and van, round trip?" $1161 was the answer. Huh? My online quote for the same thing was something like $1550. So despite my earlier words, I bit the bullet and booked our train passage for almost $400 cheaper than I expected (a big help in having to pay them off). I was certainly doing a happy dance that day.
By now, the holidays were fast approaching and nobody wanted to talk Disney but I kept with my planning. Going through restaurant menus, making my charts, etc. By the end of the year, other than ADR’s, the trip planning was going pretty good. Now comes January - time to book the kennel for our 3 dogs. I called, asked all my questions, got everything booked, then gave mom the total for the kennel. I don’t remember the exact price but for 3 Goldens, for something like 12 nights plus baths and all the extras, the cost was going to be more than mom’s Disney vacation. This is when all the stress began.
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Not so sure the upcoming stress is what you were hoping for!
No, definitely not. Wasn't hoping for it, didn't ask for it, so glad it's all over. I'll post some more tomorrow. You'll probably learn more than you wanted to about my stress but I feel better having put it in words. And since I put it in words, I might as well post it. Like someone here said, people can read it or not. It made me feel much better and actually more relaxed to know all that hoopla is all over.
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