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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Nine will be the working title until we get back It indicates the number of cast members.
*****Cast of characters: *****
1. Me. This will be my 4th Disney trip, 2nd with kids. In love with Disney since the second trip, 2 years ago.
2. DH -- Jonathan. This will be his 3rd Disney trip. Would probably rather be going to a beach and relaxing, but is putting up with my Disneymania. Just wants to know the bottom line cost.
3. DS. (will be 17). Will be getting ready to enter his senior year, so this may be his last family vacation. He just wants to go on vacation, but definitely has a list of things he wants to do!
4. DS (will be 6). So excited for this trip. He wants to know after every planning session what I've accomplished. A thoroughly hands-on manager, with his own list of must-do's.
5. Sister -- Erin. Has been to Disney twice, but never with kids and not in the last 15 years. Listened to me and Mom talk about it and caught "the bug". My main planning associate.
6. Brother-in-law -- Steve. Has been to Disney once that I know of, but never with kids. More excited than my husband, but less excited than the grown women.
7. Nephew D (will be 11). Very into Star Wars and Phineas and Ferb. This will factor into our plans.
8. Nephew P (will be 8). Also very into Star Wars and Phineas and Ferb. Also a gardener.
9. Mom. Caught the Disney bug with me after our second vacation in 2010. Has been my Disney cohort and partner in crime for 3 years
Baby-Stepping our Way to the World
1. 2011: (During Mom and my Spring Break trip) Decided it would be fun to take a whole-family vacation, but probably couldn't do it in 2012. Tentatively plan for 2013.
2. Late 2011. Decide that we WILL go on vacation together in 2013. Sister starts researching resorts and prices, and things to do.
3. Early 2012. Erin decides on Art of Animation because of the way-cool theming. Unsure of which area to stay in, though. Mom and I waffle between Wilderness Lodge Villas or Beach Club Villas (there will be five of us in one "room)
4. April / May 2012. Realize we are getting closer to 2013 trip and need to start coming up with solid plans. Erin considers driving (2 days of travel). Establish tentative dates that allow for extra school snow days.
5. June 2012. Tell Erin she can split stay in different areas of the Art of Animation. She LOVES the idea (both boys want a different wing). Mom and I waffle between Wilderness and Port Orleans French Quarter 2 rooms (based on money)
6. July 2012. Planning Date #1: Make more solid plans and decisions.
Firmly establish tentative dates;
price out driving vs. flying and take into account outside factors (ease of being in the parks, Disney Magical Express, what if something happens to the car??). Erin decides to fly and that they will drive an hour to fly out with us, as that will "set the mood"
Price out AoA resort for Erin for 6 and 7 nights
Price out Wilderness Lodge and POFQ for both 6 and 7 nights for us
Decide on Park Hopper, but against WPandM option. Price total ticket cost for each family of 4.
Decide against Universal. Legoland and SeaWorld are on the "MAYBE" list.
look at tours and excursions. Put on the "maybe" list -- Wild Africa Trek, Pirates and Pals, Pirates League, Behind the Seeds, and DiveQuest.
__________________
-- Beth
"There are moments of life worth purchasing with worlds."
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Thanks for the comments Just got motivated to write again as we've made solid plans this time.
Planning Date #2 -- August 2012
Went over character lists from Kenny the Pirate
Discussed options for sit-down meals -- character dining, whole-family meals, and an adults-only meal. We won't eat many sit-downs, so this is a list of options
Made a list of must-do quick-service and snack places
Started a list of other expenses -- Mousekeeping, CARES harness, shipping items to hotel, garden grocer
Overall, more of a "mood" date than an actual "get-things-done" date.
__________________
-- Beth
"There are moments of life worth purchasing with worlds."
We thought our trip dates were pretty well set. They were far enough out that we didn't have to worry too much about school going over, and early enough in June that we would miss crowds. So we didn't really think much about them. I played around on the Disney website a little, hoping that by doing things I might score a pin code to use on our vacation. We were getting a little nervous since we wanted two VERY popular resorts... the VaWL and AoA.
I got the magical e-mail. My eyes popped open, my heart stopped... but no. It wasn't applicable for our dates. Or could it be? Valid January to March, April to May, and mid-August through September. Hmmmm... the gears started turning. August 11th. We could still leave, have a 7-night vacation, and get back. The day before I start school??? I couldn't. Or could I? The boys would have two days to calm down before school started. Was it possible? It'd be hot. But we went in a heat wave in June the first time. My brother-in-law wouldn't go in August. But could we talk him into it?
Yes.
The pin code was unreal. 35% off a Villa and 15% of the AoA How could we miss out on that much savings??? So we decided to go for it.
Today I made our reservations. I had the travel agent on one phone, and my mom on the other to get the card number right (I'd written it down wrong the first time, and it wouldn't go through).
So it's official. We are 301 days out from our vacation. All nine of us. And most of us can't wait!
__________________
-- Beth
"There are moments of life worth purchasing with worlds."
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I hope that you and your family have a magical time at the world
__________________
Heather - "I'm Tinkerbell's biggest fan!"
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
Working on a new update for this week. I haven't forgotten this thread, just wanted to wait until I had a bit more to add. At 42 days out, I'll be adding ADR's and a few other planning details
So excited!
__________________
-- Beth
"There are moments of life worth purchasing with worlds."
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It indicates the number of cast members.
Mom and I waffle between Wilderness and Port Orleans French Quarter 2 rooms (based on money)
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