She was so excited she cried... I'm just thankful she didn't pee... - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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I'm just going to jump right in. I didn't take notes, so for the most part I'm going to try to let my pictures tell the story. But I don't know exactly how many times we rode SplashMountain (a lot) or in what order we did almost everything we did (unless the pictures tell me).
A little background:
I chose to surprise my daughter for two reasons: 1. She's been several times already, so I thought it would be fun for her to not know what was happening. 2. I wanted to make sure the trip would actually happen.
We actually entered a contest back in January/February through AOL Travel. A “How Would You Tell Them” contest. Where you described (or replayed) how you would tell your family that they were going to Disney World. Morgan got so excited about participating in this contest that she scripted our entire entry.
(I guess click to make it play?)
The Cast of Characters for Day 0:
Shannon (that's me) - I also answer to Shan and Mom. I'm 33 and this was my 13th trip to Walt Disney World. (The first one being in 1988 when I was 10.)
Morgan (my DD) - She also answers to Mo, Dubs, Princess, etc. She just turned 9 and this was her 5th trip to Walt Disney World. (Her first was in 2003 when she was 20 months old.)
Day 0 – Wednesday April 13, 2011:
Wednesday was a rather busy day. I had completed all of the packing and last minute arrangements on Tuesday night (Thanks to Morgan’s Nonni & Papa for an overnight visit on Tuesday!). They dropped her off at school Wednesday morning and I went to work.
I left work at 4:00 p.m. and went to pick Morgan up at her afterschool program. We came home (home by 4:20 or so) and got ready to go to her annual hockey banquet (6:00 start).
The hockey banquet was pretty uneventful, except for me winning the 50/50 raffle ($200). Morgan played with her friends and I brought her home for the reveal.
She wanted to get changed into her jammies and started to actually get undressed, but I convinced her that we had to go visit my mom, so she could stay dressed for the video (so I could share it with everyone of course!)
As you can see she was shocked and thrilled an happy. She cried the entire ride from our home to the airport. (About 45-60 mins in the car.) She cried as she called her dad. She cried as she called her Nonni. She cried when she called my mom. She was so so happy. She just kept thanking me over and over again.
We arrived at LaQuinta in Windsor Locks, CT around 9pm or so (maybe a little later). Check in was very efficient and we were directed where to park our car for the next 7 days ($99 + tax for a one night stay and seven days of parking. I can’t find the receipt, but I think it came to $113 or less.)
We called it a night - set our wake up call for 4 am, took our showers and got comfy.
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I know there were some folks looking for an analysis of dining plan v. paying out of pocket for meals.
I just did a quick analysis and will get back to my TR tomorrow, but wanted to share this info if anyone would find it helpful
QSDP = 2 QS Meals, 2 Snacks per person, per night
We had a total of 24 QS Meals, 24 snacks. Total Cost $281.88
I found this fun fact out --> for QS meals your "child" does not *need* to order from the child's menu. For example: there's a few places where the kids menu isn't too extensive, and didn't even have a hot dog, but the adult menu did. She ordered from the adult menu. I didn't find out til about halfway through the trip that this was the case. (It would've made a few meals a little easier to find something she wanted to eat had I known she could just get an adult meal.)
After tallying up 20 out of 24 QS Meals (we left 2 behind and I wasn't able to get a total for 2 --> Pecos Bills has a funky ordering system) and 24 out of 24 snacks, we spent $350.23.
So we came out ahead $68.35
On the other side though:
1. If I was paying out of pocket, would I pay for dessert at the quick serve locations? No. You really only need to taste that "chocolate" cake once to know that you don't need it with every meal.
2. Did I eat 2 QS meals each, each day? No. It was so hot that we actually had to force feed ourselves a few times.
Would I do this again? Yes. Only if I was in the same situation. It was easier on the budget to have the food already paid for. I also had the advantage of having my cousin and his gf (cast members) have dinner with us a couple of times which took up some of the "extra" meals.
The Disney meal plan is definitely too much food, but it is nice when you get to the end of the week to know that the spending money in your pocket isn't needed to feed your family.
Originally Posted by mom to 3 princesses and 1 prince
She's changed so much since your sig pic! Looking forward to more!
She has. That picture is on my desktop at work and I love it. It's one of my favorites of us. It was from 6 years ago, right after her 3rd Birthday.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MelissaSue
How sweet! What a great story. I can’t believe she cried for more than an hour.
Can't wait to read more.
I couldn't believe it either! It was so exciting.
Quote:
Originally Posted by southerngirl1014
Ok I cried. That is so special. I have been SO excited to see your TR.
My friends all cried when they watched as well. I'm so glad I got it on video.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DSNYD
Oh my gosh... she is SO precious!!!
I absolutely LOVE that you used her own idea to surprise her with a trip. Very , Mom!
Can't wait to hear more!!!
Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by niccole
Love the reaction. She is gorgeous and looks a lot like you. Can't wait for more.
Niccole - I can't wait to hear about your kids' reactions! I just showed Mo your post and said "She's surprising her kids next month!" and she got all excited to hear about their surprise.
I love the surprise video, it made me cry as well. I surprised my kids once and it is probably my most memorable trip. Were was that hotel, because I am thinking maybe I will stay there for my trip in August?
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