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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
This was a total waste of $, time and energy. This place was so packed estimated 40,000 people and we were not able to get on any of the special attractions for the evening. Everything was a 160 minute wait and then when you thought you were almost there they told you it was at least another hour. Besides the wait there were nothing but a bunch of drunk, rude, ignorant (some underage drinking) people. There were fights breaking out in lines, people cutting and and the staff were not saying anything to them. This place was totally ridiculous! It wasn't worth the money and if I hadn't already bought tickets for Universal Studios I wouldn't even return. I felt so unsafe at this event it wasn't funny. I would not recommend this to anyone!!!! Don't waste your $$$$$!!!! I plan on calling and sending letters to try and get my money back but I'm sure it will be a waste of time like the entire night was.
__________________
1991 - Disney vacation with family
1994 - Honeymoon WDW... the works
1997 - Disney with hubby
1999 - Son's first Disney vacation!
2006 - Daughter's first Disney vacation with hubbys family, all 14 of us!
2007 - Disney vacation with the family and friends!
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.
A friend of mine just went down to WDW and Universal and asked me which Halloween 'party' they should go to. Of course, I said Disney's. Really glad I did too. Sorry you had such a bad time. But it's not fun to feel unsafe.
I went a couple weeks ago, on a Sunday night. Extremely long lines all night. We only got into 3 haunted houses before it was closing time. Did you go on a Fri or Sat night? I never felt unsafe, nor ever have at US/IoA regardless of crowds, or time of night.. I've been to HHN for the last few years and I have never seen crowd sizes like I did this year. I will definetly be going next year, but probably only after buying the Express passes offered. As far as being unsafe, I in fact felt very safe, as there were endless OPD and US security members all over the place, even in lines. Now if you had young kids with you, I could see what you are saying. I wouldn't recommend HHN for anyone under 13. Sorry you had such a bad time... mine was just so-so
__________________
"A dream is a wish your heart makes"
Last edited by Brettchief; 10-27-2007 at 04:49 AM..
They don't advertise it enough, but HHN at US is an adult event. If it's your plan to hit all the haunted houses, then you must hit them early, as soon as the gates open. We did this last year with friends, and hit 3 houses with minimal wait. The last house they hit had a wait time of 60 minutes plus, which turned into 90 minutes just after they got in line and eventually turned into 120 minutes.
Anytime you have that much alcohol available for people, including jello shooters, you're going to have problems. Eventually, the alcohol is going to take over and it turns into a drunken free-for-all.
Having said that, we didn't feel "unsafe". They set up metal detectors for entry and collected more knifes and what-not in one night than they usually get in a week.... And there were plenty of staff personnel around, though you couldn't always tell they were staff. A lot of the "bouncers" I saw were zombies, and they did an excellent job if interdicting between possible problems and diffusing them
The party description does let you know it's an adult party with alcohol readily available...
BUT, having said all that, I did enjoy it, I just won't go back. It's a one time experience for me, but that probably has to do with the fact I don't drink and what my job is
I am so sorry you had such a stinky experience! I remember reading Bill's TR notes from last years' event, and knew my DD would hate it. It's really a bummer to spend money on a specially ticketed event, though, and have lines that long!!
__________________
Saturday, October 9, 2014 - Kaitlyn and I before the Happy Haunted 5K at ESPN Wide World of Sports
Funny, I went to HHN and I had a great time! I was able to do all the houses, the two shows, and some rides. Of course, I shelled out the $ and did a RIP tour.
I'm just wondering...
1.) When did you arrive at HHN?
2.) Did you go on a Saturday?
The key to surviving HHN is to arrive early or do Stay and Scream. Lines get long pretty fast. Also, a good idea is to purchase the Express passes. You'll need them!
Even with the RIP tour I did on Friday, 10/26, I was able to do 2 houses with miminal waits. After 1 am, the waits for the houses averaged 15-30 minutes. Only the three "name" houses (with Freddy Kruger, Jason, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) had long waits all night. I saw waits of 75-100 minutes.
I didn't see too many drunk people. I didn't see anyone fighting in line when I waited in a 30 minute line. There was a group of line jumpers and security took care of them quickly. Two employees were in a high position and watched the lines.
I'm sorry you did not have a good time, but you can survive HHN if you arrive early and do the houses early, use Express passes, or take the RIP tour.
PassPorter Guide Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Chapel Hill, NC USA
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 36,592
Post Thanks / Like
Quote:
Originally Posted by Angileyze1
This does not sound good. I can only imagine waht spring break is like. Is it too late to change my mind?!?!?!?!
Don't worry. We visited during Spring Break and had a great time. Just be sure to get to the parks before opening and start with the popular rides first and you'll do fine.
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.
Hi Everyone, Thanks for all of your input. I did speak to a customer service rep for Universal Studios and they did verify that on the night we attended they surpassed their expected number of visitors. They were very understanding and did agree that that night was absolutely crazy. They did say that they have made some changes regarding their alcohol policy so they were hopeful that would eliminate some of the problems that have occurred.
They offered me 2 passes for Universal or Islands of Adventures to use with no expiration. I was felt satisfied after speaking to customer service. The night we went was an exception and it wasn't always that busy.
__________________
1991 - Disney vacation with family
1994 - Honeymoon WDW... the works
1997 - Disney with hubby
1999 - Son's first Disney vacation!
2006 - Daughter's first Disney vacation with hubbys family, all 14 of us!
2007 - Disney vacation with the family and friends!
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.
About This Page: 
Halloween Horror Night - Universal
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
I remember reading Bill's TR notes from last years' event, and knew my DD would hate it. It's really a bummer to spend money on a specially ticketed event, though, and have lines that long!! 
Michelle - with my step sisters!
Hybrid Mode
