Forums Closed
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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
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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.
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04-21-2006, 11:00 AM
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#1
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Community Rank: Explorer 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Fort Smith, Arkansas
Posts: 10,721
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Springtime Adventures in San Francisco: Fisherman's Wharf Update 5/7
Springtime in San Francisco
This trip’s early beginnings came around Christmas time or perhaps a little earlier. DH and I decided on one last adults only trip for the two of us to celebrate my college graduation. We began toying with all sorts of ideas but we both came back to the same idea- London. Our favorite city in the world and plus, it would be a huge plus to share good times and visit again with Cheryl and Mark. For a few weeks, that seemed to be the plan as MIL had given DH every indication that she would take the kids for a week or so, as long as they were still in school. Unfortunately, she changed her mind and asked us one evening “ you are going somewhere for three or four days, right?” What? Uh, well, there’s no way (as much as I love England and our friends) I could justify the expense and the mental havoc to get on a 10 hour flight for three or four days.
I was so heartbroken and emailed Chez to let her know all bets were off. Well, not really. Her response was why couldn’t we join up with them when they were on their California-Vegas vacation? Gosh- there’s an idea!
Sorting out WHERE to join them was quite the adventure. Having global jetsetters for close friends is prestigious but yet somewhat challenging. Vegas was not going to work due to Kevan’s schedule. We then looked at the Disneyland option and as much as we loved that idea- that too, seemed to be problematic in terms of the dates. We decided San Francisco was the ideal place. It would allow us to take a long weekend rather than days early in the week. It was on our travel to-see list. And it would be my first trip to California. It indeed, was perfect. Final go ahead from MIL to take the kids and we set out to plan another big city, Austin-Pendry adventure.
Coming Up Next: Plan, plan and plan some more.
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04-21-2006, 11:11 AM
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#2
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Community Rank: Globetrotter 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: South Dakota
Posts: 3,294
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Re: Springtime Adventures in San Francisco - Pre Trip Part 1
Great start, Maureen!!
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04-21-2006, 11:57 AM
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#3
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Tulsa, OK
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 21,627
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Re: Springtime Adventures in San Francisco - Pre Trip Part 1
Great start, I can't wait to hear all about it. You write great trip reports Maureen [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/love.gif[/img]
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04-21-2006, 12:17 PM
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#4
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RED SOX NATION!!
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Connecticut
Concierge Level: 9
Posts: 136,854
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Re: Springtime Adventures in San Francisco - Pre Trip Part 1
Great start Maureen [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zwavin.gif[/img] Can't believe you haven't made it to California before! Looking forward to more [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
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04-21-2006, 01:12 PM
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#5
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Facebook Addict
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Philadelphia
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 39,682
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Re: Springtime Adventures in San Francisco - Pre Trip Part 1
Great prelude, Maureen. Can't wait to read the plans.
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04-21-2006, 02:13 PM
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#6
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Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ohio Football Hall Of Fame
Posts: 42,304
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Re: Springtime Adventures in San Francisco - Pre Trip Part 1
Great start Maureen!! San Francisco is so beautiful, I can't wait to read all about it!!!! I'm glad it all worked out that you guys could meet up!!
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04-21-2006, 08:59 PM
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#7
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Tinkerbell's Aunt
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: McHenry IL
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 13,254
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Re: Springtime Adventures in San Francisco - Pre Trip Part 1
Can't wait to hear all about your trip. San Francisco is a great town. Have a wonderful time!
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04-22-2006, 11:03 AM
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#8
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Fort Smith, Arkansas
Posts: 10,721
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Re: Springtime Adventures in San Francisco - Pre Trip Part 1
Adventures.. in just Planning!
So the planning kicks into high gear. First issue would be getting there. Expedia and Travelocity searches yield pretty costly results- air per person out of our regional airport is a whopping $420 per person. Ooookay. We'll wait awhile on that to see if we can do any better in the next few weeks.
Issue # 2 becomes the accomodations. Chez and Mark are at the Fairmont and that's a little out of range for us- as we have several trips in the hopper this year. Kevan and I really are partial to the Hyatt brand of hotels- we've had spectacular stays at many of their properties. We check out the Grand Hyatt San Francisco at Union Square- not too far from Chez and Mark, conveniently located near lots of shopping. Good rate too. One phone call later, we are booked.
Next, what ever shall we do? Well, lots! Chez and I work out a pretty neat itinerary. During the course of tossing around a day trip to Monterey and Carmel- I mention the whale watching tours. I know it's something I've always wanted to do and Mark had as well. There are lots of tour charters for that, so Chez picked one she liked, we all booked.
Kevan has a knack for researching restaurants and makes good picks (at least so far!) and this trip was no exception. He came across a unique experience called Forbes Island as well as a good Japanese place. Karen and Zack are going to join us for our evening at Forbes Island- and we can't wait to meet them.
We've booked for an evening Alcatraz tour and plan on many other sights such as Lombard Street, Japantown, Fisherman's Wharf and much more.
I'm especially looking forward to our day trip out to Carmel and Monterey- we got a great deal on a one day car rental to get us out there and back. The scenery should be something in and of itself.
Nothing much improved with fares unfortunately. American has changed our flights no less than three times. At one point, we considered flying back Saturday night because the flights on our originally planned return day of Sunday were so odd. As it stands now, we are returning home on Sunday. I'll be asking for some pixie dust on our outbound flights- as we have 40 minute window to make our connection in Dallas to SFO. The new Skylink transit system at DFW is awesome however 40 minutes is still tight. But I am going with it because it would get us to SFO at 8:00 pm.
So that's the plan! Promising a picture and fun filled TR when we return.
[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
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04-22-2006, 11:57 AM
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#9
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Wannabe Snowbird
Join Date: May 2002
Concierge Level: 7
Posts: 34,137
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Re: Springtime Adventures in San Francisco - Pre Trip Part 1
Good luck with your air connections! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/fairy2.gif[/img] Being from Winnipeg, I know too well the pain of expensive flights and the choice of ridiculously tight connections or ridiculously long waits in airports. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]
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04-22-2006, 12:58 PM
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#10
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Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ohio Football Hall Of Fame
Posts: 42,304
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Re: Springtime Adventures in San Francisco - Pre Trip Part 1
Sounds like you have some great things planned Maureen!! Can't wait to read all about it!!
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04-22-2006, 01:04 PM
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#11
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RED SOX NATION!!
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Connecticut
Concierge Level: 9
Posts: 136,854
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Re: Springtime Adventures in San Francisco - Pre Trip Part 1
Great plans Maureen [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zwavin.gif[/img] You're going to love Carmel and Monterey. They are absolutely beautiful [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/love.gif[/img]
Have a safe trip [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/fairy2.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/fairy2.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/fairy2.gif[/img]
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04-22-2006, 09:27 PM
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#12
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Tulsa, OK
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 21,627
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Re: Springtime Adventures in San Francisco - Pre Trip Part 1
Good luck with your flight... [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/fairy2.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/fairy2.gif[/img] Hope you have a fantastic time in SF.
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04-22-2006, 11:28 PM
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#13
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PassPorter Message Board Manager
 PassPorter Guide Author
Community Rank: Legend VIP 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Maidstone, Kent, UK
Concierge Level: 3
Posts: 190,285
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Re: Springtime Adventures in San Francisco - Pre Trip Part 1
[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/luck.gif[/img] with that connection Maureen, although we'll be able to say that to you in person in a few days' time. We can't wait! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
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04-23-2006, 10:20 AM
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#14
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Living Seas wannabe
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 31,940
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Re: Springtime Adventures in San Francisco - Pre Trip Part 1
Good luck with all the travel arrangements!!
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