Oh My Gosh! We're leaving in 16 days, and I haven't packed yet! PTR - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Oh My Gosh! We're leaving in 16 days, and I haven't packed yet! PTR
Hi all! This is my first PTR, so please hang in there with me. I have been reading LOTS of others’ reports and think I am finally ready to attempt one.
First, we are headed to the Disney bubble Sunday, March 13 and leaving on Friday, March 18, 2011.
Here is our cast of characters:
Me, Theresa, (T, TT and/or Mama) just turned 40 on February 23.
DH, Mark, (Daddy, Bum-1st class according to my Dad) will turn 40 in August. He loves to tell everyone how he married an "older" woman.
DS, Jackson, (Jack, Doodle Bug, Munchkin) will turn 4 on March 7, just one week before our trip. We are planning many birthday surprises for him.
Dad, Carl, (Gramps), will be 64 in May.
Mom, Barbara, (Grams), will also be 64 in June.
Can you see the number theme we have in birthdays?
Our story begins with our very generous benefactor, one of my bosses. He is a Disney Fanatic and Disney Vacation Club Member. His family takes several trips a year, plus some last minute spur of the moment ones. Any way, for several years my boss has anxiously been awaiting my son to reach an acceptable age to go to Disney.
So, last October, my boss comes and asks when Jackson is going to be 4. I tell him March, and he tells me, "pick a week in March that’s good for your family, you’re going to Disney World".I tried not to squeeze the stuffing out of him or yell my thanks too loudly in his ear.
Well, he made our reservations for a one bedroom villa at Saratoga Springs, and I started planning. About a week after he told us, I had figured out our ADRs and the order of our park visits, so I called and made all the necessary reservations, including advising that we would be celebrating my son turning 4 and my turning 40. Then, I started the serious research...
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.
Theresa,
first of all happy belated birthday!!!
and btw my hubby calls me his "cougar" because im 3 months older than him, so I know how you feel
man you have an amazing boss!!!
do you plan special outfits too?
we bought princess dresses and such. does Jackson like pirate stuff or anything?
I hope youll have an amazing time and please keep us posted!!!
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I started my Google searches on planning for Disney. I stumbled across PassPorters, read a few TRs, saw some excerpts from some of the books and was hooked. I’ve been planning to start this PTR for a while, and then realized that it was almost time to actually go!
BTW, sorry everyone, but we’re not hiring here, so I can’t share my boss with any of you. He is a great guy.
On to the plans, this will be my DS’s first trip to Disney, plus it's close to his birthday, so I’ve been trying to make this trip all about him. Previous family vacations to Disney (Mom, Dad, DH and I) were all Go, Go, Go. Well, my DS even at almost 4, blessedly still takes naps, and I wasn’t going to mess with that, so the first thing I did was tell my parents that this one will be more relaxed and include opportunities for breaks/naps/swimming. Thankfully, they were okay with that.
Our first set of ADRs included: the Turf Club at Saratoga Springs, Mama Melrose at HS, character breakfast at Crystal Palace and dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern at Magic Kingdom. We planned one park per day with a mid-afternoon break.
Our trip originally looked like this:
Sunday - arrive early evening, dinner at Downtown Disney