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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Cast Members
Tracy - 46 - Mom, Wife and PLANNER
Joe - 42 - DH
Summer - DD 13 yr old
Fallon - DD 10yr old - Will turn 11 while we are at WDW!
Autumn - DD 20 yr old - Coming for one day to surprise her sisters. (away at college)
Resort - Wilderness Lodge Standard Room BUT…… Some very nice CM told me over the phone that she was upgrading us to a Bunkbed room (we shall see!!)
Dates - May 29th to June 4th, 2010
DxDP
Base Park Tickets - We are going to soak in one park a day and not rush around!!
Ok, I am new at this so bear with me!!
We are the typical Floridians that live 25 mins from the magical World!! We go for the day, rush around with our heads cut off making sure that we get in all of the rides that we want to ride, spend more time traveling back and forth between parks with park hopper passes, and shoving down tasteless meals at QS places because we had no clue that Disney had TS restaurants. I was 8 yrs old when Disney opened the doors and was there on the first day. My kids have grown up going to Disney and I have many friends and 2 neighbors that work for Mr. Mickey. So Walt Disney has been a part of lives for as long as I can remember.
What started out with getting free Disney tickets turned into a 7 day vacation staying on property for the very first time. When the GADGAD promotion came out I thought what a wonderful gift Disney is giving this year and seeing that we already volunteer for Hands On Orlando, it would be a breeze for us to get in on the free tickets as a family.
So we did what it said “Sign Up, Show Up and Earn a ticket”. The four of us sorted through tons of Disney linens for 4 hours, all headed to Haiti to help their earthquake victims. We had our tickets in 4 days after we did our service. YEA US!!!!
So the OCD Planner in me comes out!! I thought, “Hey, lets make a weekend of these tickets and use our Universal AP too!! Now I am on the hunt for a hotel . Then I thought, “Hey, wouldn’t it be cool to stay on property?” (Of course, I am saying ALL of this too myself) So I get on the WDW website and start looking at the packages!!! OMG!!!! We just HAVE to get in on the $750 gift card promotion!! So I compared prices and locations and amenities and Wilderness Lodge seemed to be the best fit for my family. (Even though I wanted the Poly!!)
After making my ressies on line and started making payments, I remembered a few years ago when we were planning on taking a Disney cruise and a friend told me about the Passporter book. So I got on the website back then and ordered the WRONG book!!! I wanted the cruise one but ordered the WDW one. Well, we never did take that cruise but it did make me remember Passporter for this trip. I got back on line and ordered the RIGHT book and started asking a TON of questions and found out sooooo much that I had no clue about concerning Disney!!! Like ADR’s!!!! WHAT????? I had no clue, so I rushed through my passporter, got tips from here and then got on the phone with the BEST CM EVER!!!! I got ALL of the ADR’s that I wanted!!! Remember, I had no idea that Disney even had TS restaurants!!
After I did all of this in a matter of 2 weeks. I decided to make this a birthday celebration for my two younger daughters and make this entire trip a surprise. They both know that we have the free passes and when I slip up and say something to DH, I just blow it off as “When we use our free passes”. We haven’t been to Disney since DD10 was 4 because of having Universal AP for so long!! They both are always complaining about us not going to Disney and how we are missing wonderful childhood memories for them, blah, blah, blah!!! So this is going to TOTALLY FREAK THEM OUT!!!!
Because of getting in on the package deal we will be using our GADGAD vouchers for Fastpasses and the Mickey Ear/Pin Thingy!!
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Great start. I'm so excited for you and your girls. They are going to freak out. Let me know how the big reveal goes as we are also surprising our DS's with our trip in July. Can't wait to read all about it.
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Ok, I just LOVE surprising my kids!! I always have and always will, no matter how old they are!! I like to think I am very creative and can come up with things that just blow their minds!!!
A little background before I let y’all in on the plan. I have been planning this trip since January and for some reason when we go on vacation we just all have to have new clothes. So I have been on the Disney Store website and been getting outfits for the girls. I have their suitcases in my room and have been filling them up with the new outfits. I told them that I wouldn’t let them pack themselves because their clothes would be a ball of wrinkles and God only knows if they would have matching outfits. They could care less!!
Here is a picture of us the LAST time we were at Disney!!! My oldest took the picture, so she isn't in it!! Fallon is 4 and Summer is 6 and I am thinner!!!
So here is the plan!!!
My brother lives on Daytona Beach and we visit often so I have told them that we are going to visit my brother for the holiday weekend seeing that they don’t have school on Monday. That will be no surprise to them, they are used to doing this. So packing the suitcases is not a give away for them.
Saturday May 29th - Wake up WAY early, load up the car with Beach stuff (even though that stuff will stay in the car) and start to head out to the beach. Around 8am a CM friend of mine will call me. (Just so I can pull this off) The girls will hear me tell her, “No Problem, I have it with me, I will bring it to you before we head to my brothers.” Then I will tell the girls that we have to swing by the Wilderness Lodge and drop off some paperwork for Dana. I know my kids and they will say “CAN WE GO TO DISNEY???” I will say, Nope, Uncle Ricky is waiting on us. I am just going to run in and out and we will be on our way!!!
So now, once again knowing my kids, they will turn into technology geeks and will be texing a friend while listening to their Ipods and watching a DVD in the car. In their own little worlds!!
I have already written a short note to the guard at the entrance of WL about how this is a surprise and we are CHECKING IN!!!!!
DH will drop me off at the front of the building, I will go in and register. I don’t think our room will be ready. I will come back out and tell them that Dana is busy at the moment and will be down soon to come and meet me. While we are waiting for Dana to come down (Dana doesn’t work at the resorts, only in the MK, kids are easy!!) I will tell the girls “Lets take a walk around the property and see everything, Dana will call me when she is on her way down.” DH will make up some excuse to not go with us. He will then give all of our luggage to the Bell People to either hold OR go up to our room.
Plan A - Room is ready!!! DH will get all of our stuff up to the room and hang up the banner. Once he is done he will call me to let me know. (Mental note!! Change DH’s Ring Tone) I will tell the girls that Dana wants us to come to where she is so we will go to our room and when we walk in the girls will see the banner.. Of Course there will be TONS of questions and confusion on their part. But once that is all cleared up…… LET THE LITTLE GIRL SCREAMS BEGIN!!!! Then I will tell them to get their suitcases and put some decent clothes on. In their suitcases will be all of their new Disney clothes, Disney Birthday Cake hats, a signed picture from Mickey and Minnie and a bunch of other stuff that I have gotten from CM friends for this trip!!! (Gotta LOVE their discounts!!)
Picture of the Banner and My doggie!!
Plan B - Room is NOT ready!!! DH will give our luggage to the bell people to hold. I will have already talked to the CM at registration and will ask her if the banner can be placed on the bed when our luggage is brought up. I will ask for her personal information so I can call her once our room is ready to see if the banner has been placed on the bed. Once DH has done the above he will call me to let me know that he is going back to the car. I will tell the girls that it was Dana and she is swamped and it is going to be awhile. Of course, all this time, the girls will be complaining on how we NEVER go to Disney and how come we NEVER go to Disney and it’s not right that we NEVER go to Disney!! Then I will tell the girls, lets go back to the car and tell DH. When we get back to the car, I will tell him what Dana said and then he has been informed to say the following “Hey, we haven’t been to DTD in awhile, why don’t we go for a few hours seeing that we have some time to kill!! I will tell the girls that I need to call Uncle Ricky and let him know that we won’t be there for a while and that I will call him when we are on the way.
So off to DTD we will go where we have a 12:00pm ADR at Rainforest Café!! Once we get the call from the resort or I call them first and the room is ready, I will tell everyone that Dana can get with us now and back to the WL we go. We will of course have to meet her up in the room where she is at!! Then Plan A starts!!!
Here are the personalized Pillowcases that I will have in the girls suitcases for them to have the Characters sign. Gotta LOVE Ebay!!! Sorry about DH belly, he's a Healthy Boy!!!
On EVERY ADR, I have informed them of the girls b-days and on our first night we will be attending the Mickey’s Backyard BBQ and I have two of the jewelry box cakes on order!! This entire trip will be one surprise after another for them. From all of the ADR’s to BBB to a Pirates Cruise!! Their older sister will be there on my DD10’s B-day and will surprise them. She has been away at college and they haven’t seen her since Christmas!! I just know that THIS vacation will be one that they talk about for YEARS!!!
Sat May 29th DTD Day - We have a park ticket for this day, we may or may not use it. We live close and 14 days to use if we do not!!
Rainforest Café - 12:00pm
Mickey’s Backyard BBQ - 6:30pm
Carriage Ride around Ft Wilderness - 8:30pm
Early night to bed, BUSY day tomorrow
Sun May 30th MK Day
WCC - 7:30am
Liberty Tree Tavern - 11:50am
Crystal Palace - 5:40pm
Wishes Dessert Party - 9:15pm
Mon May 31st - AK Day
Donalds Safari Breakfast - 9:15 am
Tucker House - Lunch - 1:10pm - Nemo Seating
Hoop-Dee-Do Cat 1 - 9:30pm
Tues June 1st - Epcot Day
Private Photo Shoot - WL - 9:00am
Tepann Edo - Lunch - 12:00pm (8th month Anniversary Cake for DH and I ordered)
Spirit Of Aloha - Dinner - 5:15pm
Back to Epcot for Illuminations
Weds June 2nd - MGM Day
Ohana Breakfast - 8:35am
50’s Prime Time - 1:05pm
Sci-Fi Diner - 7:10pm
Thurs June 3rd - MK Day (DD10 Actual B-Day - DD20 to surprise the girls)
Chef Mickeys - 9:15am
BBB - 12:10pm (DD20 to surprise the girls during this)
CRT - Dinner - 5:40pm (Slipper Cakes for the girls ordered!! DD20 to have dinner with us)
Fri - June 4th - Pick a Park Day/ Check Out Day/No Dinning Plan
Pirate Cruise - 9:15am
Close the park and then go home!!
DH wants the meals to be "Up in the Air" I guess he has NO CLUE on WHO he has married!!!
I have secretly made an ADR at Ohana's for Dinner!! "Up in the Air" my bum!!!
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Can't wait to read about their reactions!! We keep going back and forth about surprising our kids - they know we're thinking of a trip, but not that everything, including the flight, is booked!
__________________
Stacey
Why do these kids look so pathetic?
Find out in: A New Grade, A New House, and A Surprise!Final Thoughts 01/30
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Can't wait for more juicy details. 
Then Plan A starts!!!
Your girls are going to be so excited! 
PassPorter Guide Author
Susan
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