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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Well, I tried to post this yesterday on our exact 60 days till the trip date, but I guess the PP boards were down and then my internet crashed at the same time. It took me till 5pm today to get my internet back up. Thankfully, before everything crashed I managed to copy and paste to word. So, here is what I had tried to post yesterday.
Me - Stefani - I am the crazy Disney fan and the one that plans all of our trips. This will be my 7th trip to Disney World. I have always loved all things Disney. My first trip to Disney World was a short 4 days with my aunt in 1992. We were able to see a ton with little planning (we literally showed up and got maps at the gate and decided on the fly). Since having kids I am usually the super planner and know precisely where we are suppose to be. This trip will be a little different. My favorite character is Mickey and my favorite attraction varies by the day but if you asked me right now I would say Expedition Everest.
Here I am with Tigger just this last April:
My Mom - Alice - I don't know how many times my mom has been to Disney, but she is also a Disney fan, not quite as fanatic as I am. She makes me laugh sometimes because she will say something like "have you heard about the new fantasyland?" and I reply, "yes, I've known about it for 2 years" My mom delegates all the planning to me. My mom's favorite character is Eeyore and her favorite attraction would probably be Soarin'
And this is my mom Alice, with Alice:
Travel Dates:
Our official dates in Orlando are Saturday September 7th-14th. I will be leaving my house late on the 6th to drive to Denver and may be driving home on the 15th as well.
Travel Plans:
As I mentioned above I will be driving from our home in NM, to Denver on the 6th. I was able to use my Frontier frequent flyer miles to book a ticket out of Denver, only costing me $5 (plus $60 to transfer some points from my kiddos accounts). I could have booked out of Albuquerque (which is a 2 1/2 hour drive and Denver is a 6 hour drive), but then I would have had to leave Albq. at 6am and then have a 5 hour layover in Denver to catch the late flight to Orlando on Sat. The drive to Denver is nothing for me and seemed the best way to go. My mom was able to get on the same flight as well.
Our flight arrives in Orlando around 12:30pm on the 7th and our return flight departs around 4:30pm on the 14th.
We will be renting a car in Orlando. At first we thought about doing just bus transportation, but we really don't like being tied down to when a bus may or may not arrive. This way I can easily drop my mom off at her meetings and then travel directly to where I need to go. We will take DME and pick up our car at the Car Care Center.
That is the beginning of our trip.
Next Update: Purpose of Trip and Accommodations
Weight Loss Update: On my last PTR and TR, I was doing a weight loss update throughout the report. I found this really helped me and although I didn't lose a ton, I have lost about 15 pounds. I would like to continue this as it really has helped a lot. I am in a bad spot right now, with a trip to Denver (where I eat out too much) and having my daughter's friend at our house (too many snacks), I have gained a few pounds. I actually did not weigh in today and don't know exactly where I am at (I think it's between 218-220). I will do my official weight next Tuesday.
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.
I saw the title for this thread listed this morning, but there was no post inside, so I figured you had posted just as the boards went down. I'm excited to have another report of yours to read so soon. Do the kids get upset that you're going without them? I'll be there (at BLT) that same week!
I saw the title for this thread listed this morning, but there was no post inside, so I figured you had posted just as the boards went down. I'm excited to have another report of yours to read so soon. Do the kids get upset that you're going without them? I'll be there (at BLT) that same week!
I had no idea whether it posted or not, it was weird because my internet went down at the exact same time I posted, so I really thought it was on my end. Then when I finally got back online I got a message from Cam that it hadn't posted.
I'm excited to be writing another report so soon! I have never had this many trips in the works at one time. I'm getting confused on booking windows and such.
The kids were disappointed but they know we are going early next year (haven't told them exactly when yet) and they know we are doing a cruise for the first time. Hunter is happy I'm going to take pictures for the app we are working on.
That is awesome that you will be there the same week, maybe we can try to meet up!
I'll PM you closer to the date and maybe we can figure something out. This will be a different kind of trip for me-- I'll be traveling with friends and will be the official "grandmother" to their daughter, so my time won't be my own. I'd love to say hello, though so we'll see!
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.
I'll PM you closer to the date and maybe we can figure something out. This will be a different kind of trip for me-- I'll be traveling with friends and will be the official "grandmother" to their daughter, so my time won't be my own. I'd love to say hello, though so we'll see!
Sounds like a plan! Since I won't have kids this trip, I will have an unbelievable amount of flexibility.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ilovedisney247
Off to a great start--you got a great deal on your flight--can't wait to welcome you to Orlando!
It worked great on the airfare. I had to transfer some points from both kids accounts, but $65 airfare can't be beat.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
I'm so glad you were able to re-post this, as I saw the original post yesterday and couldn't get into it. Great start!
I was really happy I was able to save everything I had typed before everything crashed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great start! Glad you got the posting worked out and you didn't lose anything!
Quote:
Originally Posted by buzzspal2
Great start.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Russi01
I also saw the post yesterday and when I clicked in there was nothing there. Glad that you got it reposted. Great start and ready to read along!
I was clueless all day that there was anything wrong, I just assumed nothing posted.
I'm glad the thread is now working, I'm really looking forward to following along. Are the kids driving you batty yet?
The kids are starting to drive me a little nuts. I've already talked with Maya and we have determined that next year we will stick to one week while Hunter is at Grandma's. It's just causing to much drama.
Glad your PTR is finally up where everyone can read it! I saw lots of views so I knew folks were trying to read. Great deal on the flights! Can't wait for more details.
Glad your PTR is finally up where everyone can read it! I saw lots of views so I knew folks were trying to read. Great deal on the flights! Can't wait for more details.
Thank you Cam for your help in getting it working. My mom's flight cost more because she didn't have miles but I think she got a really good rate too. I'm going to try to post the next update this weekend.