For your 45th Birthday - you really are "Denali Bound" - Complete w/final thoughts - 2/17/2013 - Page 2 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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If you divorce Chris and marry me I promise not to ask too many questions when you're planning my birthday trip. Pleaseeeeeee. Is same sex legal in Florida anyway?
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HEY!!!! You are coming back to my end of the world!!!
If you have time, give us a call. Chet and I would love to meet up with you guys....unless he has run off to go clam digging or some such other nonsense!
I can PM you my number if you want!
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Jennifer / Eeyore is my favorite!! OMG - He's sooooo grown up!!!! And an EAGLE SCOUT!! I can still remember my cute little Tiger Cub! 2016 Reading Goal - 75 books
OOOOHHH! I love Alaskan trip reports. We're hoping to go back in 2013 and take the whole family. Afraid we won't be on Disney either this time, probably Royal Caribbean for us.
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Packing, Packing, Packing... I HATE Packing!!
8 days to go - and I have no started packing. Oh - I've been BUYing stuff - but I have not done any packing... there is a MOUNTAIN of clothing on the 2nd bed... I have started a list of things to do and get before next Saturday - and as of right now, I need to add "Find one more pair of warm pants" to the list since the ladies Columbia pants I ordered online are a little low rise for me I hate that since we are going into summer I can't find warm clothes in the stores for me to physically try them on before I buy them. So - I will be making a trip to the Post Office on Sunday to return these pants.... ugh.
Saturday is going to be packing day. I want to get the first round of everything out on the bed and go through it 2 or 3 times done this weekend. Culling and really thinking about what I need to take. I am planning a laundry phase to the trip on Saturday night after we board or Sunday morning between breakfast and our first massage appointment.
I also need to get out the camera, tripod, video camera, kindle, laptop, Ipod, noise cancelling headphones, etc and make sure I have chargers, batteries, memory cards, etc for all of them. Plus I want to sync my Ipod one last time (Thursday or Friday) to have the most up to date podcasts to listen to. We have a LONG day of travel on Saturday and I want to have things to keep me occupied. Our plans look like this -
830am - Depart Jacksonville
1000am - Arrive Atlanta
140pm (yep that is almost a 4 hour layover - planning to get a GOOD lunch here) - Depart Atlanta
405pm Arrive Seattle (that is 705 eastern)
630pm Depart Seattle (2+ hour layover - enough time for Dinner)
917pm Arrive Fairbanks (that is 0117am eastern)
Total travel time 16 hours and 45 minutes.... plus that doesn't count the time before we leave Jacksonville or the time it will take us to get the baggage, rental car and to the hotel in Fairbanks. I am going to try my best to read and get some nappy time on the plane - or I could be a very cranky girl!!!
Sunday will be the "Tour around Fairbanks" day with things to do including the El Dorado mine, the Ice Museum, the Alaska state Museum, University of Alaska, just to name a few options (Trip advisor has been my friend on this one!).
We will turn the rental car in on Sunday night at the airport, grab a cab back to the hotel and early in the morning head out of the train station to catch our 8am train to Denali!!!
That's an exhausting travel day! Cold-weather trips are so much harder to pack for than warm ones. And every time I pack I'm amazed (and horrified) at how much electronic gear I now "need". That's about 50 lbs of chargers, cords and equipment!
That travel day reminds me of our trip to Hawaii!! You're a pro at traveling, so I have no doubt you'd be running circles around some of the others on your flight.
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Let the packing mahem begin!!
Ok - Saturday - less than a week before we leave and today has been designated "get our act together and find stuff to pack day..."
The day started with a trip to the bank to cash in all the change that I have saved this year. To be honest - I didn't really try too much. I use my check card much too often... but even with out trying - I have $52.00 in change. I also withdrew the money I have saved from my work travel since I didn't use all my per diem, and the credit card reward points - I chose the cash option... So - I have my travel/play/spending money.
We went to Target to get a birthday card for our nephew that will be turning 10 while we are in Alaska and got him a gift card too - since I have NO idea what 10 year old boys like these days.
Last night I booked our parking - we have 6 days free due to frequent parker program and then I paid for the last 10 days. Not too shabby... one more thing off the to do list. I love how that list is getting shorter.
My goal for this trip was to minimize baggage as much as possible. We are flying Delta to Alaska - which means $25.00 for each bag we check..... of course - we are flying Southwest home - and they have NO BAG FEES . I would love to get us down to 2 checked bags - one each - but to do that and stay below 50 lbs... well that is going to be a challenge!
I started pulling things out of the second bedroom (the Alaska box that hubs did not know existed when I been dumping "Alaska trip stuff" for the last year) and piling it on the bed. Hubs started try to get all his camera stuff together and has discovered he cannot find his memory chips.... . He has 3 camera bags - time to tear them all apart and look, look, look... if he can't find them - we will go to CompUSA or Best Buy and get some new ones... along with a few other things we have discovered we need to buy.
My packing - phase 1
Phase 2 - I think I have almost everything I want to take (except bras and undies that will have to be washed on Thursday night) piled up here.
How much stuff can I get in this bag and stay below 50 lbs?
Gigi decided she wanted nothing to do with this undertaking - Winston was on the bed - right in the middle of it (of course).
Well - I have discovered that clothes for cooler weather are bulkier than clothes for warmer weather - and it all won't fit. Before I drag out another suitcase - I am headed to Target to get some travel space bags that can be rolled to evacuate the air from them and compress the clothes... I want to try that BEFORE I drag another suitcase out.
This is the backpack I plan to take with us - with my notebook, kindle, laptop, Alaska guides, travel pillow, wrap (in case I get cold on the plane)... Most of this will not be finalized until Thurs. night. I have also packed a smaller backpack for day trips (excursions) that went on our trip to California with me.
Me w/the small day pack on the USS Pomanito
Last but not least - my new camera bag that can also carry my tripod attached to it!
I bought hubs one for his new camera after he saw someone at WDW with one - and then he bought me one for our anniversary.
In addition to the big camera - it carries the little camera, batteries and chargers for both, all my memory chips, two waterproof disposable cameras for white water rafting and kayaking, as well as my raincoat and an umbrella!! I this bag!
I'll put up more photos and tell you more about how the packing went if ... I mean when.... we finish it. I have to go motivate someone to look more....
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I hate that since we are going into summer I can't find warm clothes in the stores for me to physically try them on before I buy them. So - I will be making a trip to the Post Office on Sunday to return these pants.... ugh.
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with the packing!
of course - we are flying Southwest home - and they have NO BAG FEES 
. He has 3 camera bags - time to tear them all apart and look, look, look... if he can't find them - we will go to CompUSA or Best Buy and get some new ones... along with a few other things we have discovered we need to buy.
this bag!
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