Noelle & Nicolaus's Adventures in Disney World : A 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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Noelle & Nicolaus's Adventures in Disney World : A PTR
That’s it I cannot wait anymore! I know my trip is still over 100 days away but my excitement over it forces me to start now. I know it is a bit premature but I assumed all of my fellow passporters would understand.
So let’s start from the very beginning (it’s a very good place to start – little sound of music interruption ) The beginning would be the whole specifics of the trip as it’s hard to get everyone interested in the trip if they don’t know what it is about. So here we go!
Who: Me (southerngirl1014), my husband, my two sweet (read that as crazy) children, and my parents
What: Going to Disney for Flower and Garden Festival
When: May 4-10th
Where: Bay Lake Towers
Why: We had to skip over our annual September trip because of a sweet bundle that appeared in August so May was our next shot. Plus its Disney that is all the why that should be needed!
How: There is the great debate between car and plane……..so to be determined!
Better introductions are to come in following posts, including an introduction in why we had to cancel our plans for our normal trip. For now I will include some pictures of previous trips, because what is a PTR without some pictures! Plus I cannot continue with introductions because someone is up.
Yeah, you started your PTR too! We can PTR together, since we arrive on the same day and are live in the same state! LOL. We will have to try to meet! Can't wait to hear more of your plans!
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Thanks! I hope to write more tomorrow. This mommy is a little too tired today for an update
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mom24Girls
Yeah, you started your PTR too! We can PTR together, since we arrive on the same day and are live in the same state! LOL. We will have to try to meet! Can't wait to hear more of your plans!
We totally should meet! I love how passporters makes everything such a "small world" (pun absolutely intended).
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Alrighty time to get this party started! Let us start with introductions. We will start with me, because I am writing it and so it makes sense to start there.
Me (southerngirl1014, Dixie, Disney Princess or so I like to think!).
I am 27 and have loved Disney since my Oma and Opa got me hooked upon birth. My favorite movie growing up was Cinderella and I would carry around the VHS where ever I went in hopes someone would take pity on me and put it on.
My first trip to Disney was in 1997 with my Oma and my sister. We stayed at Wilderness Lodge. I remember it was when the castle looked like a cake. I remember even as a small child I was disappointed it was not the regular castle. It only took one trip for me to be addicted and for YEARS after that I begged my family to take me back. It became torment for them (Disney specials were banned from my house as it only set me off ). Finally my parents gave in and we went again in July 2003 and stayed at the Poly.
I was hooked (as if I hadn’t been already!). I graduated high school and my best friend at the time and I drove from NY down to FL and camped all along the way. Of course that meant we went to Disney! We were low on cash so we stayed at a KOA off property. While I was happy to be in Disney I knew from then on I would not be staying off property.
The next time I got to go was my honeymoon. My husband and I stayed at Grand Floridian thanks to my parents (truly thanks to my Oma who had passed away but my parents used some of the money willed to them to pay for it) and it was magical. I had always wanted to go there for my honeymoon and it was everything I had hoped for. It will always hold a special place in my heart.
My honeymoon launched my need to be at Disney even more. So after my honeymoon in 2009 I went again in 2010, twice in 2011, once in 2012 and finally this year in January. I have stayed at AKL, BLT, BC and WL in those times; each time more magical then the last.
In all that time I have come up with some favorites
Favorite Classic Disney Movie: Cinderella is still at the top for me with Peter Pan being a close second
Favorite Pixar Movie: It’s a tie between Up and Cars
Favorite Recent Disney Movie: Tie between The Princess and the Frog and Tangled
Favorite Live Action Disney Movie: Summer Magic
Favorite World: Magic Kingdom
Favorite Ride: POTC
Favorite Food: Mickey Bar!
Favorite Resort: Wilderness Lodge
So that’s a little bit about me! Next up more of my travel companions.
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Great intro, Dixie! We took Stefanie for the first time in 1997 and I just realized you two are the same age. I remember how fascinated I was by the castle as a cake, even though a lot of folks disliked it.
Great intro, Dixie! We took Stefanie for the first time in 1997 and I just realized you two are the same age. I remember how fascinated I was by the castle as a cake, even though a lot of folks disliked it.
Thanks! I think at one point I realized Stedanie and I must be around the same age. I love that we have that in common
I think I disliked it because I was so looking forward to the castle looking one way. I am not someone who likes change so it was upsetting to me it didn't look like it does on TV.
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