PTR Dream vacation or nightmare?? August 6-12, 2011 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
PTR Dream vacation or nightmare?? August 6-12, 2011
This is my first report on any trip and this, so far is the Pre trip info. LOL. So bear with me as I figure this out. Hopefully it will get better and easier as I go along.
First….
Our cast of Characters.
Me, Jennifer (35), HUGE Disney fan, mother of 4 , wife of 15 years, SAHM, been to DL 5 times. Last time was in 2008. I don’t have a lot of favorites, just love everything about Disney, although I have an affinity for the princesses.
DH, James (37), likes Disney, not a huge fan like me, fav characters are all villains. Been to DL 3x with me.
DD, Jess (14), unfortunately will only be spending one day of our DW trip with us due to horrible behavior/grades. Loves Disney. Favorites are Jack Sparrow and Jack Skellington and Tink. She has been to DL more times than I can remember because family and friends have invited her many times.
DS, Jimmy (9, will turn 10 on our trip), loves rides and being active, too cool to be into Disney anymore but likes Pirates of the Caribbean and Star wars. Been to DL 2x
DD Jadyn (6), loves Disney princesses, fave is Cinderella. Went to DL when she was 9 mos old. Doesn’t really count though.
DD, JoJo, (almost 3), Loves Disney princesses, favorite is Belle. Never been to DL or DW.
DSiL, (39), loves DL and is devoted to family. Been to DL many times
DBiL (37), secretly a big Disney fan but tries to act like he isn’t. Faves are Eeyore, and Goofy. Been to DL many times.
DNieces (15), (18), (21), like Disney, not sure of faves . Been to DL many times.
DBil’s Mother and Father, (50’s), not together anymore but still friends, not big Disney fans, not sure how many times they have been to DL.
None of us have been to DW EVER. We decided together in late 2008 to take a family cruise. We couldn’t afford peak season pricing on a Disney cruise and due to DNieces school schedules couldn’t go any other time but summer. So we begrudgingly book a non-Disney cruise in early 2009, paid a deposit and began making payments toward a trip that was 2 years away. I am so NOT a patient person, I was excited at first but that quickly waned . Fast forward to Nov 2010, my BiL and SiL decide (by themselves) that they are going to spend 10 days at DW before our cruise. We were (and are) strapped for cash and had contemplated this but couldn’t figure out a way to make it happen. I start thinking about spending our cruise (first cruise in my household too) listening to them tell us how amazing DW was and how much we missed out on. Big baby that I am, I tell my husband that I will end up being miserable listening to them when we couldn’t go. Can you imagine being a Disney fan and listening to 7 days of play by plays of the most magical trip and not participating? So we took out a loan on my husband’s 401k so we could manage 6 days at DW. Still can’t match their 10, but at least we can have fun too. Honestly I would have rather done DW than a cruise if I had to choose anyway. This will be the biggest vacation we have ever been on and we are sooooo excited!! To be continued……
Congratulations on your first trip to WDW! My WDW history is much like yours... I've been to Disneyland more times than I can count (gotta love annual passes), and have been to WDW 6 times. I envy your trip and cruise, one day I hope to take a Disney cruise. Hope your trip is as wonderful as mine have been.
So , I love my in laws and we have a good time together usually. But they have no shortage of money and never run out. It should be interesting in that regard. They don't spend it on us. They just do what they want, when they want regardless of cost . We won't be able to do that, so we have to budget the money we spend. Anyway, we leave Nevada on August 5th and fly to Orlando. All the kids 18 and under, don't know about the Disney portion. They know about the cruise though. So they are planning for a week long cruise when we actually will spend almost a week at DW first!! I am so excited and it has been so hard to keep from telling them. I admit, I did slip up a couple times and I think the kids have some notion that something is up, but hopefully not what exactly. So right now, I have no one to really share my excitement with. My BiL and SiL are also excited and we exchange hushed whispers and talk about it when the kids aren't with us, but we can't openly plan yet. I have been reading my planning book secretly, closing web pages whenever a child starts to walk my way. LOL. Its crazy!! We want to tape their responses, so we are going to tell them the 29th. (We want to give them time to prepare and see what there is to do and their must see's) Also don't want to worry about the whole trying to record in the airport and missing the reactions etc.I want to look on Youtube so the younger kids can see what each ride is kinda like so they know if they want to do it. (the thrill rides, not everything). So right now we are 11 days away from telling them and it can't come soon enough!! The only sad part is that we will be telling my oldest beforehand that day, that she will only join us for 1 day at DW. That is going to be extra hard on me.
I'm sorry to hear your oldest is going to miss out on all the fun but congrats on being able to do both WDW and a cruise this year. And good luck on keeping quiet for the next 11 days.
How exciting yáll are going to WDW for the first time! Sorry your oldest doesn't get to be a part of the family vacation. Looking forward to hearing more of your plans.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
sorry your oldest can only join you for a day at WDW!
PassPorter Guide Author
with the surprise - sorry your oldest can't be there for the whole thing. 
Linear Mode
