Over planning blues......needed a pick me up - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I know everyone on here is pretty obsessed with Disney to some degree. As my trip gets closer and closer I am feeling pressure to make sure this trip is magical. And I want to create magic for everyone. I want to over plan and micromanage. Well honestly it is driving me crazy. I feel like I can't do it any more. I have decided I'm going to take a step back and let the trip work some things out on its own.
The background to this was I was trying to book the Pirates and Pals fireworks cruise for just my husband, son and I. No one else in the family or group. Well I had to change dinner plans around in order to book it. By the time I got dinner changed the openings for the cruise were gone. I was heart broken. I found myself in tears. And all I could say was I just need this to be perfect and special. I felt like I had failed in some way. Fortunately I had a lunch date with my sister (who is going on the trip BTW) and she said "it's OK, we're all going to have a good time. Stop micromanaging and things will be all right." She helped me see that a carriage ride at the end of the night on arrival day will be just as special for the three of us as a fireworks cruise. It is about being together as a family and enjoying each other. Not all the other stuff.
I know in six days I get to make my fast pass reservations but I have committed myself to taking it as it comes. No more fiddling once it is all done. No more changing dining to make something else work. If everyone else doesn't like it they can fix it! I am not "Julie McCoy, cruise director" I am Dawn Renee and I AM going to have a good time!!!!
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You will have a great time. Things will "go wrong." You won't get to do your entire "To Do" list and that's OK. Relax, enjoy the special time with your family.
Great attitude! I know I have been in over planner mode too. Partly because this is a different time of year that we are going, and there are so many things to do. But that really is the thing. There are lots and lots of things to do and they will all be magical.
No matter how much you plan and micromanage you simply cannot do it all. It's just not possible. About 10 years ago they figured out how long it would take someone to do every single thing there is to do at WDW (aside from eating). This included things like mini-golf, renting a boat, playing golf, in addition to riding every ride and seeing every show, parade and fireworks. I think it was 60 days of non-stop activity!! I know you're not trying to fit quite that much in, but there's always something you have to leave off the spreadsheet!
I don't know which trip is was, but I remember thinking as you that I was micromanaging and overplanning. I gave it up and have never gone back. Our trips are such more relaxed and fun now. I'm positive you all will have a wonderful time!
I'm in the same boat. Our newest trip just came about this week and I only have a something like 73 days to plan it. I've always had at least a year to get ideas on paper, etc. I seriously feel like a chicken with its head cut off. LOL
But, I get it. It's a lot of money (for us it is anyway!) and you want to make sure that you see the fruits of that money. Our very first trip, the kids were sick in bed at the hotel for 2 of our 7 days. And the other days they only had the stamina for just a few hours a day in the parks. (It was the flu, we later found out. ) I felt like we were cheated out of a magical vacation and was so sad when it was over. It was to be the only time we went, and the kids couldn't even enjoy it. Luckily, we've been able to go back, and had the most magical time last trip.
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Here's where I think planning comes into play.
You set up a light plan of where you plan to be and what you want to see. You've done the reading and prework and know what is available out there. You aren't standing in the walkway consulting a map because you don't know where you are or where you are going. If something is unexpected closed, you can quickly switch to something else because you know what is nearby. You aren't thrown into a tizzy because of it. It makes a trip so much easier if you are just familar with where rides/attractions are located, where the bathrooms are, where you think you want to eat. It comes together. You'll be fine. Now just relax.
I can so relate!! For decades I have been the family planner - at home and on vacation. And there were numerous moments I let things evolve - but everyone thought it was planned that way.
There are so many wonderful things to do and see at WDW. Parades are the obvious scheduled things but we rarely do more than one. During the holidays, all the resorts have beautiful GingerBread houses. Getting there is the only planning required.
Depending on the age of your kids, you may find time with your DH to do just what ya'll want. The WDW app will help out alot as well.
Don't forget to plan on unexpected weather. We were there one year the weather dropped 50 degrees in 1 day.
Pat yourself on the back for trying.
As someone who had done lots of extended family vacations, do not micromanage or over plan. You will not be seen as a cruise director but as a crazed commandant.
The most important thing to plan is your time away from one another-most important part of this kind of vacation. It makes everyone enjoy the time together so much more.
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I'm positive you all will have a wonderful time! 
I've always had at least a year to get ideas on paper, etc. I seriously feel like a chicken with its head cut off. LOL
(It was the flu, we later found out. 
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