The Great Big East Coast Adventure - PTR - Page 8 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Well, the situation with the flights just became a moot point. It is with a heavy heart that I am canceling the Boston segment of this trip. A dear friend of mine lost her child a few days ago, and the funeral is this coming weekend. I felt that her needs came before my vacation, and I absolutely needed to be there for her while she lays her son to rest. So, while I will keep the rest of the trip (NY and VA), I am postponing Boston for now.
I'm starting to think that every time I do a PTR, my trip gets canceled in some way or another, lol. This is the third trip this has happened to in a year! I think I'll stick to just plain old TR's from now on!! Maybe I'm jinxing myself??
We MAY fly up to Chicago on Monday and spend two nights there before flying to NY. I'm just not sure yet. You'll have to stay tuned to see what ends up happening! I will definitely report here when we get going.
I'm greatly disappointed, but I feel like I've made the right choice. Laurie, I'll be sorry to miss you this go-round, but we will definitely get together when we come up to Boston (possibly this summer if I can make it happen).
I've spoken to Amtrak and changed my reservation from Boston-NY to NY-DC. I'm still working on packing. I bought two cute dresses and some new jeans, and two new pairs of sneakers (Skechers, my FAVORITE)! Now let's hope the weather cooperates!! It's FREEZING here in TN (ok, well, to me - it's in the 50's, which is just so cold for this time of year).
Gosh, I'm just so disappointed at missing out on Boston. I could have gone up Monday but then I'd only have one full day in Boston, and I really want to be able to spend more time there than that. I just feel like I would really miss out on a lot if I just spent one day there. I'd rather postpone a few months and then get to enjoy three or even four nights there. If I can convince mom to come with me, maybe we can do four nights, and really get to enjoy it there. *fingers crossed*
Anyway, so that's the latest here. I'm looking into some stuff to see what would make sense for us. I'll keep you all updated. *sigh*
So sorry, Melanie. Of course you must be with your friend.
The weather here in Boston has been chilly and rainy as well. We're lucky if we get out of the 40's for highs these days. I look forward to seeing you when you can make the trip with lighter hearts and more time.
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I'm sorry to hear that you had to cancel your trip to Boston, but under the circumstances it's understandable. Many pixies for your friend and her family
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So, the new plan is that we will leave Tuesday morning for Chicago. We'll then overnight in Chicago, thanks to a great rate I found on Hotwire! I don't know what time we'll end up arriving in Chicago... it all depends on the flights. We'll definitely get out, but it might be later in the day. I guess we'll see.
I don't have any particular plans for the day, even if we get there early. Perhaps we'll go downtown and see what there is to see, and go eat at the Rainforest Cafe, and check out the lake. If we don't arrive til later, we'll just relax in the lovely room (it's a 4.5 star hotel - woo hoo). I DEFINITELY plan on getting room service at some point. That's such a luxury to me! And after Meri goes to bed, I'm taking a nice long hot bath and relaxing with a glass of wine. I so deserve it.
Wednesday morning we'll fly to New York to pick up our trip as scheduled.
I've been so busy that I haven't had time to breathe, much less think about packing. My day job has me swamped (though it's finally relaxing, phew) and I've had various dinner engagements every evening this week, followed by roughly four hours per night of helping my friend with the funeral arrangements. I'm helping with the slide show / music stuff. It's positively agonizing, and it's completely drained me, but I am blessed that I can be there for them and help take something off of their plate at this time.
So, I guess I'll pack some time on Sunday evening... or something. Since that's the only free time I can see thus far in my schedule to do so. *sigh* I'm really going to need this vacation. I hope it's even a little bit relaxing...
So, the new plan is that we will leave Tuesday morning for Chicago. We'll then overnight in Chicago, thanks to a great rate I found on Hotwire! I don't know what time we'll end up arriving in Chicago... it all depends on the flights. We'll definitely get out, but it might be later in the day. I guess we'll see.
I don't have any particular plans for the day, even if we get there early. Perhaps we'll go downtown and see what there is to see, and go eat at the Rainforest Cafe, and check out the lake. If we don't arrive til later, we'll just relax in the lovely room (it's a 4.5 star hotel - woo hoo). I DEFINITELY plan on getting room service at some point. That's such a luxury to me! And after Meri goes to bed, I'm taking a nice long hot bath and relaxing with a glass of wine. I so deserve it.
Wednesday morning we'll fly to New York to pick up our trip as scheduled.
I've been so busy that I haven't had time to breathe, much less think about packing. My day job has me swamped (though it's finally relaxing, phew) and I've had various dinner engagements every evening this week, followed by roughly four hours per night of helping my friend with the funeral arrangements. I'm helping with the slide show / music stuff. It's positively agonizing, and it's completely drained me, but I am blessed that I can be there for them and help take something off of their plate at this time.
So, I guess I'll pack some time on Sunday evening... or something. Since that's the only free time I can see thus far in my schedule to do so. *sigh* I'm really going to need this vacation. I hope it's even a little bit relaxing...
I hope you do get to relax a bit on this trip. You definitely will be ready for a bit of pampering. If you have the energy, Meri might enjoy the Thorne Miniature Rooms at the Art Institute in Chicago. Thorne Miniature Rooms | The Art Institute of Chicago
What an amazing thing you are doing for your friend. The pain of going through those memories must be so difficult and exhausting. I hope your friend is able in the future to reach a point of acceptance with losing her son.
I hope you do get to relax a bit on this trip. You definitely will be ready for a bit of pampering. If you have the energy, Meri might enjoy the Thorne Miniature Rooms at the Art Institute in Chicago. Thorne Miniature Rooms | The Art Institute of Chicago
What an amazing thing you are doing for your friend. The pain of going through those memories must be so difficult and exhausting. I hope your friend is able in the future to reach a point of acceptance with losing her son.
Thanks Laurie, on all counts! I'll check that out and see if we can make that work. They look fascinating! I love stuff like that, and I bet Meri would be interested. We are not doing the American Girl store. She hasn't asked, and I'm not opening that door willingly, lol.
BTW, I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE your sig pic. Makes me excited to visit up there sooner rather than later!!
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