"Mine! Mine! Mine!"...or, "Traveling with a 2 year old" - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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"Mine! Mine! Mine!"...or, "Traveling with a 2 year old"
BACKGROUND STORY
Once upon a time, Pooh Lover had 4 children under the age of 9 (this might explain the occasional lapse into possible confusion in this reportJ), and a husband who wanted to be up and at ‘em an hour before the parks opened each day. On the morning that ALL of the children were mad that Mickey called them to wake them up and began blaming each other for the call, Pooh Lover gently suggested to her husband that he go downstairs to that “Really cool looking DVC building and see what it’s all about”, as she literally shut the door in his face.
An hour and a half later, Pooh lover had everything sorted out (sort of) and everyone liked each other again (kind of) and everyone was dressed (in a very mod, pre-Little Mis-Match style). Pooh lover’s husband bounded into the room, clutching a LARGE hardcover book covered in gorgeous Disney photos and character sketches, and said VERY enthusiastically, “We HAVE to look into this thing!! I made us an appointment with a Sales rep in 15 minutes!”
Pooh lover looked at the 4 children, who were in various stages of hunger, and agreed, “If the kids are OK with it, then I’m fine”. Oh, my…DVC is run by quiet evil minds who know that the way to a parent’s signature on that sales contract is through a REALLY incredible Children’s Play Area, complete with yummy junk food, movies, dress up clothes, and, the clincher…cotton candy, as much as you want…
17 minutes later, Pooh lover found herself childless and sitting across from Bernard, saying clearly; “IF I feel pressured, I will need to leave. You understand, it’s not personal, but this is a special vacation that we have saved for for a LONG time, and I did not plan on spending ANY time discussing a TIMESHARE (this MIGHT have been said in an strangled tone) during this trip. And I’m afraid if I leave, my husband will be coming with me.” Pooh lover directed THE LOOK at her husband (EVERY Mom has this look, but it generally only works on the Father of the children). He nodded.
24 minutes later, Pooh lover and her husband, accompanied by 4 children in assorted stages of sugar-induced euphoria, left the Sales Center, with Bernard’s business card, a Disney Gift Certificate for the Character meal of their choice, some nifty DVC pens, a DVC tote bag, and a laminated DVC folder, containing a shiny new contract and 1/16” of baseboard somewhere in the Boardwalk Villas.
Thus a vacation dynasty was born!
*******************
Fast forward to 2010.
In the years in between, I (Pooh lover) have taken over 30 trips, in all stages of motherhood, wife, and “Woman escaping from reality with other women escaping reality with Adult Frozen Beverages”. There has truly never been a minute that I have regretted that decision to invest in DVC. It has allowed us to share our love for Disney with family, friends, and that unfortunate time with the cousin from Spain, but I digress….
We were excited to gift our eldest daughter with a honeymoon at the BWV, and we became the cool in-lawsJ I even got a phone call from my brand new Son in law ON the honeymoon, thanking me and literally gushing about the ESPN Club’s proximity to their villa! I later got a phone call from my not brand new daughter, asking me to NOT encourage him. Enough said.
They have since reciprocated our gifts with 2 of their own – Mini Minnie, age 2, and Marie, age 4 months. To be able to be there and see your grandchild’s first meeting with Minnie is a treasure I HIGHLY recommend. We took the family “pre-Julibug” last December, and it was incredible!
The thing about Disney for me is, it’s so not about the rides, or the shows, or even the Adult Frozen Beverages (well…maybe a little about the AFB’s),
it’s about that small catch in your heart when you see a loved one capture that magic in the littlest things, the ones you least expect to cause even a stir – The sheer and complete joy as they sip a Dole Whip for the first time, the nervous giggle as they cross that barrel bridge on Tom Sawyer’s Island, the awe as they see the TRASH CAN that matches the land it lives in totally….I truly find something new and special on each trip, and re-living those first innocent moments with new little family members is beyond words. (Although by the length of that last paragraph, apparently not)
At any rate, this January, we are taking both grand-daughters, and their parents, and our youngest daughter, back to OUR real worldJ So, here is the introductions for you:
When: January 8 – 14, 2011
Where: Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort (because I’m no fool, and driving 12 hours with a 2 year old confined to a car seat is a really bad idea) & the Treehouse Villas AND Old Key West (It looks way more scary than it really is!)
Why: Because so many years ago, we made the right choice for us and our children
Who:
Pooh Lover (Me – About 50J, Appreciator of all things that make my heart smile)
Doc (DH – OLDER than 50ishJ, Classic Engineer…you’ll see)
Tink (DD -18, makes me stand in line to take her picture with the Power Rangers EVERY trip)
Snow White (DD – 25, closet Princess lover, delighted to have 2 little Princesses of her own)
Prince Charming (DSIL – 25, Youth Pastor whom we converted on his honeymoonJ)
Mini Minnie (DGD – 2, APPARENTLY she ALONE loves Minnie, so just a warning!)
Marie – (DGD 2 – 4 months, she is still thinking about what she can achieve!)
**SO, there it is…the trip is almost here (Mini Minnie is down to 2 Minnie heads on her countdown chain, but that is not perfectly accurate, as it is a LOT of fun to rip a Minnie head off the fridge and rip it to bits!)
Next: “Casts are not plain white anymore! They come in LOTS of colors and styles”
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"Mine! Mine! Mine!"...or, "Traveling with a 2 year old"
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