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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
First off, I want to say that this was a quick road trip both in the time available for the trip and the time we had to plan. You see, I was hungry for an adventure and since we didn't have any travel plans in the near future, I started looking at designations that we could do over a long weekend. So, DH agreed to appease me with a road trip to Mount Rushmore!!
I began the planning approximately 3 weeks prior using map quest to determine driving distances and times for hotel stays along the way and began the booking. Our itinerary was as follows:
Friday, July 1st: Leave home for a 4 hour drive to Sioux Falls SD. This was only a pit stop to our designation. Saturday, July 2nd: Drive to Keystone SD - the home of Mt. Rushmore Sunday, July 3rd: Leave Keystone and drive to Dickinson ND (badlands) Monday, July 4th: Drive back home.
Each days drive time was approx. 4-5 hours which is plenty for our family of 4.
Friday, July 1st
Both DH and I worked at our jobs in the morning so we had prepacked 95% of our travel gear the night before. DH got off work at noon and I got off at 2pm. Once home and packing completed, we loaded up the Jeep (a used vehicle DH has purchased from a fellow co-worker in March) and pulled out of the driveway at 3:15 pm. We were off and on the road!! YEAH!!! As we drove, we could tell that the sunny day was going to turn on us and the further we drove towards Sioux Falls, the rain began to fall. Well, it poured!!! Approximately 30 miles from our designation (Bestwestern Inn Plus) the rain let up but we noticed a car had gone into the ditch. About 1/2 mile later, a semi had tipped completely over on it's side between the interstate roads and then to our right up on a on ramp there was another semi flipped on it's side!! What is going on???? We paid a bit more attention to our surroundings and realized farm sites had trees down and the road signs were also damaged. As it turned out, about 15 minutes prior to our arrival to the area, straight line winds had blown through.........we just missed it, thank goodness!!
We arrived at the Bestwestern in Sioux Falls and got checked in safely at 7:15 pm. Our room was very nice........nicer than I had expected!! The reason I booked this hotel was that there is a water park and I thought the kids would like the opportunity to swim and stretch their legs after the 4 hour car ride. Turned out to be a good pick!! The beds were very comfortable and the room had good space. It was clean too which is an important aspect for me!! We hauled in our bags, proceeded to order something from the hotel's restaurant to eat.....we were starved!! After chowing down supper, we changed and went to the waterpark. WOW!! This place had an amazing water slide for a hotel anyway and the pool water was warm ...........I hate cold pools!! After about 1 hour of water fun, we returned to our room and proceeded to sleep.
NEXT: JULY 2ND TRAVEL TO KEYSTONE & MT. RUSHMORE (pictures too)
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Great start! So glad to hear you missed the straight line winds. Scary stuff! Glad to hear a great review of the hotel / water park though! Looking forward to reading more!
We got up as early as we could with a 14 year old girl in tow and left our comfortable room at Bestwestern. The only down fall to this hotel was they don't serve a continental breakfast. They do have a restaurant on site but we didn't want to waste road time so we headed to the nearest McDonalds to get something in our stomachs. Love those breakfast sandwiches!!
We hit the road out of Sioux Falls looking at a4-5 hour dirve. The weather was great and the sun was shinning!! I do have to note, however, we didn't make a stop we thought we might.......Sioux Falls has a park called Falls park which is very pretty with several different water falls........maybe next time!!
To pass the time, our daughter began keeping a record of all the different licence plates she saw. This was quite interesting and just to note, she had seen 48 states along this drive (missing Hawaii and Maine - I believe). This drive is fairly boring to begin with as the country side isn't much different than it is in MN until you reach the Missouri River. Then you begin to notice the rolling hills and the landscape changes. The further west you travel, the more rugid the scenery becomes. There has been a lot of rain in our country which has caused some flooding concerns. This wasn't noticable either until we got to the Missouri River and we could see how swollen it had become:
We were glad the interestate was still passable.......the road with a bridge to the north was down!!
We made a pit stop in the world famous Wall, SD. This place is an old fashioned town atmosphere with a huge mall that encloses all the little shops and eating places. I didn't take any photos as we had been there before years ago but we thought the kids would get a kick out of it. This photo is of our daughter in the center court area of the mall which is outdoors:
After our quick stop, we were on the road again..........only 1 hour to go until we reach Keystone!!
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.
Great start! We've been to Wall a few times. Lots of fun. Did you get some of the "free" water?
HAHA!! It is really something to see and pretty interesting. Can't hardly not stop there after seeing miles and miles of billboards talking about "Free Water" and such.
We made our way through Rapid City and began our "climb" up to Keystone. The scenery is BEAUTIFUL! This picture was actually taken on our way out on Keystone (July 3rd) but it came upon me so fast around the corner on July 2nd I couldn't take a picture. It is the road into Keystone:
We arrived at our hotel (Holiday Inn Express) with hopes of unpacking, relaxing, stretching out a bit and perhaps a quick swim before we went up to Mt. Rushmore. However, like any trip, there is always uncontrollable situations which arise.
We pulled into the hotel parking lot (not very big as most parking spaces are reserved for employees - not of only the hotel but the entire town. This is a big
touring area and there is probably more employees in Keystone than population of the town . The hotel was very nice but they had no power!! Apparently, the entire town was out of power and while we waited (couldn't get checked into our room) we found out that a tree had fallen on a power line. Well, what to do now?? Our plans were to go up to Mt. Rushmore later afternoon and stay for the lighting ceremony so we took a little walk around to see some of the tourist stores. I also took a few pictures of the hotel (the outdoor picture was later that evening).
The Hotel Lobby
We got tired of walking about and shopping (imagine that) and decided to change our plans and head to Mt. Rushmore. We entered the park, paid our fee, parked and began our Mt Rushmore tour. It was a beautiful day!!
Hubby & kids (son is hiding behind dad) at the enterance
The walk of States. Each pillar has a flag and plaque for each state listing the dates of statehood.
NEXT UP: MOUNT RUSHMORE AND PRESIDENTIAL TRAIL ______________
Jody
Before I go further into the Mount Rushmore tour, I have to explain a bit about our vehicle. Last March, hubby's vehicle DIED and we needed a new one. We have a Disney Cruise booked for Feb. 2012 and really didn't want to jump into a new auto loan and I only had 10 payments left on my car. So, a co-worker of hubby's offered him an older Jeep Grand Cherokee that he had sitting around for a small amount of $$. Yes, it needed some repair (new windshield for one) and some general TLC but it was in fair shape and working order. After hubby gave it the TLC it needed, replaced a few minor parts and windshield, it was a buy!! Well, when we decided to take this trip, hubby wanted to take the Jeep as it would provide more travel room for the kids and it would be better in the black hills. Needless to say, I had my doubts but I was surprised that it really was a good ride and happy we had made it to the Black Hills of SD. I don't know about your family but ours always gives a name to our automobiles. We hadn't named the Jeep yet so that was part of our travel discussion on the way to Keystone. After many suggestions, we finally settled on the name Thor. (HAHA) Then the rhyming games began "We are going to Soar to the Black Hills in Thor" ect ect ect. Anything to pass the travel time!!
Back to Mount Rushmore:
As we passed through the walk of States we came upon the Mt. Rushmore Memorial. Amazing site to see!! We stood there in the observation area and took it all in:
I have to say, that since there has been so much rain in the area, everything was really green and beautiful.
Hubby put a quarter into one of the observation telescopes and it was well work the closer glance as you could even see the eye glasses on Roosevelt. Maybe one of my closer photos will show them.
We proceeded towards the Presidential Trail. A must do for everyone if you are able. It is a nicely laided out walking trail with viewing spots and informational platforms along the way of each president. It is a beautiful trail but it also has many steps and takes at least 1 hour or more depending on the time spent at viewing areas.
Presidential Trail
Another view along the Trail
A nice person along the trail took a family photo for us. I am thinking Christmas cards.......what do you think?
As I mentioned in a previous post, the day was beautiful. But, as we were nearing the end of the trail, clouds began to move in. Not those nice white fluffy clouds, they were mean dark clouds and the sound of thunder was amoung them. Happily, we reached the end of our hike and decided it was time to grab a bit to eat and get in someplace as it seemed as if it was about to . So, we went into the dining hall and it was also amazing!!
Each column has pictures of past presidents and again a display of flags. The room is quite large. To the right of the picture is where the buffet stations are located. Station one offers grilled burgers, sandwiches and pizza. Station 2 offers eight different hot food choice items (3 meats and 5 side dishes) and if you choose this station, you get to select 3 items for your plate. Hubby and I both had the trout , DS had the chicken strips and said they were good too. Station 3 offers cold sandwiches and subs with chips. There was also a soup station, a dessert station and beverage station. DD chose a sub sandwich and soup. A big piece of Chocolate cake was the choice of dessert for DD and self (we are chocoholics ).
As we were choosing our food, we didn't notice that the dining hall was filling up (people were running in from the down pour!!) We heard later that there was also hail in the area. We found a place to sit and enjoyed the fact that we didn't get wet!!
UP NEXT: Our return to Keystone ______________
Jody
By the time we finished eating, the rain had stopped and there was a break in the clouds. We thought about getting an ice cream from the ice cream shop but we were all too full from our meal. We had originally planned on arriving later at Mt. Rushmore and staying for the lighting ceremony but we came up earlier because of the power outage in Keystone. Now with the rain, everything was soaked, and it appeared as if another group of clouds were moving in, we decided to leave and go back to Keystone. I was really looking forward to the lighting ceremony but on the other hand, I was also pretty tired from the long drive, touring Keystone and then touring Mt. Rushmore. We still hadn't checked into the hotel and the thought of resting and relaxing won out.
As we were leaving, I took this picture after the rain. I am sure it isn't a picture most people get often and thought it interesting how the color changed.
It looks like George is crying!!
Anyway, we proceeded to the parking ramp, got in the car and drove back to Keystone. Along the way, it began to rain again so we were lucky (in hind-sight) that we went earlier than what we had planned.
We got to our hotel (Holiday Inn Express) and the power had been restored about 20 minutes prior to our arrival. YEAH!! We will be able to get a room after all! I have to say that this hotel is probably the newest in Keystone. It is nicely decorated and the rooms were fair size. The beds were ok - a bit harder than I prefer but it was clean. It is pretty pricey (215/night on advance booking rate) and I don't think it was worth the money (after all, it isn't Disney) but Keystone is the closest town to Mt. Rushmore so hence the cost. If I were coming here again, I think I may stay here again but I would think twice about it. There are other hotels in town but reviews I read didn't seem very good.
We proceeded to move into our room and relax!! FINALLY!!! We went to the pool area for a while but I thought the Hot tub was extremely hot and the pool was a bit cool for me. DS enjoyed it but he loves water. DD sat on the edge of the hot tub for a while as did I but just couldn't get myself into it. We all did take a little dip in the pool for a while.
Another thing that really surprised me was the fact that the hotel was unable to check us in without power. I had made the reservation and had a print out of the confirmation in hand. I couldn't understand why they couldn't mannual assign us a room and allow us to get settled. We were not the only ones waiting for a room either...........a bit disappointing.
After our swim, we returned to the room and rested. It had been a LOOOONNGG day!! We began to discuss what our plans would be for the next day. There are a lot of different things to take in around the area. We agreed to do something that we wouldn't normally do.........after all, this is an adventure.
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
We woke on Sunday morning more rested but DH & I were sore!! WOW, those hikes almost did us in...... but it was worth it to see the beauty that surrounds Mt. Rushmore!!
We all got ourselves dress and luggage repacked. We went down to the breakfast that is offered at the hotel. There was a good variety: Eggs, Sausage patties, Biscuits, Sausage Gravey, Pancakes, Cold Cereal, Juice, Milk, Coffee, fruit. YUM!!
After filling our tummies, we gathered all our belongings, loaded the Jeep and headed out of Keystone to the Rushmore Cave. This cave is closest in location to Keystone and it is an amazing few miles drive. I have to admit, I had a bit of anticipation about going deep into a cave but DS had his heart set on it so there was no turning back.
We arrived at Rushmore cave and there are a number of steps you must climb to get inside the building. Lots of great items to buy there!!! Cave tours are done every 15 minutes if there is a group. We had just missed the 1st group of the morning so we browsed the store a bit. When it came our time, we were introduced to a nice young gal, Ashley, who would be our tour guide. By this time more people were arriving but nobody else had purchased their tickets so our family of 4 got a private tour!
We headed into the entrance of the cave and it was notably cooler. Temp averages 56 degrees........lucky we all brought along a light jacket or sweatshirt!
The cave tour lasts 1 hour and through out the tour we found ourselves climbimg up and down steps, walking through thin passages, climbing ladder steps and stooping. It was a very interesting tour and amazing to realize just where we were at underground. Here are a few photos:
DS folling tour guide up a flight of steps
A view of the steps we just climbed
Ashley, tour guide, telling us about the Post Office (1st "room" in the cave) and how people used to leave messages or carve initial in the stone. There are many branches from this room into other veins of the cave.
Our family cave picture.....DS is just beaming!!
This area is far back in the cave called the Great Room. Very pretty in a different sort of way...............
Following the cave tour, we made a few purchases in the store and proceeded on our way. Now is the time we are leaving the Keystone area and heading a bit further west and then north to the badlands of ND...........another 4 hour drive.
Wow, it sounds like an amazing trip so far! I'd love to see Mount Rushmore one day and your photos just confirm that.
You should!! It truely is beautiful country!! When you are driving toward Rapid City and Black Hills start to come into view, they really look Black in color. That is because of the dense evergreens that are growing in the hills. When gold was discovered, they called it black hills gold. I was planning of doing a bit of jewlery shopping but our time table just didn't allow for it. Maybe next time!
About This Page: 
As we drove, we could tell that the sunny day was going to turn on us and the further we drove towards Sioux Falls, the rain began to fall. Well, it poured!!! Approximately 30 miles from our designation (Bestwestern Inn Plus) the rain let up but we noticed a car had gone into the ditch. 
About 1/2 mile later, a semi had tipped completely over on it's side between the interstate roads and then to our right up on a on ramp there was another semi flipped on it's side!! 
What is going on???? We paid a bit more attention to our surroundings and realized farm sites had trees down and the road signs were also damaged. As it turned out, about 15 minutes prior to our arrival to the area, straight line winds had blown through.........we just missed it, thank goodness!!
which is an important aspect for me!! We hauled in our bags, proceeded to order something from the hotel's restaurant to eat.....we were starved!! After chowing down supper, we changed and went to the waterpark. WOW!! This place had an amazing water slide for a hotel anyway and the pool water was warm 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
. The hotel was very nice but they had no power!! 
Anything to pass the travel time!!
they were mean dark clouds and the sound of thunder was amoung them. Happily, we reached the end of our hike and decided it was time to grab a bit to eat and get in someplace as it seemed as if it was about to 
. So, we went into the dining hall and it was also amazing!! 
I was really looking forward to the lighting ceremony but on the other hand, I was also pretty tired from the long drive, touring Keystone and then touring Mt. Rushmore. We still hadn't checked into the hotel and the thought of resting and relaxing won out.
We all did take a little dip in the pool for a while.
PassPorter Guide Author
I'd love to see Mount Rushmore one day and your photos just confirm that. 
but it was worth it to see the beauty that surrounds Mt. Rushmore!!
Linear Mode
