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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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This is a short story of our little girl's first trip to the beach...
-How it all began-
The Thursday before Father's Day, my DW said we should take Tia, our chihuahua, to the beach. I laughed and said OK. Now, I should say here that we live in Ohio... far from any ocean beach, and, being from RI, she DID mean an ocean beach! So, she asked me to get on the computer and look up the Outer Banks, North Carolina. She had seen an advertisement about it and thought it might be fun. So, just to keep the peace, I looked it up. She seemed to think that since I had a few days off, we could take Tia to the beach... in North Carolina!! Me, being the adventurous guy that I am, decided to humor her and show her that , even if we could get away, we wouldn't be able to get a room on such short notice.
Wrong... Again!
I was wrong!!! There were rooms available, maybe not a lot, but rooms could be had. From all my travels, I had a few Wyndham rewards to cash in, so we decided to explore that avenue. WR are good for Wingate, Super 8, Days Inn, Ramada Inn, and a few more. There were a couple of Days Inns on the islands that were supposed to be pet friendly, so we looked there first. Well, they did not allow dogs after all, so we looked into the Ramada Plaza Nags Head Beach in Kill Devil Hills, NC, and what do you know, they allowed dogs and had a room for us! Well, we booked the room for Friday and Saturday nights. I had enough points for one night, so we had to pay for the second night. DW said we should ask my DM if she wanted to tag along and bring her chihuahua, too. Mom was thrilled, and didn't have anything planned for the weekend. She thought her dog, Princess, would love the ride. So, we called the hotel and cleared the extra person and dog with them and started packing.
Booked!
We had one more thing to do, DW had try and get her Friday dialysis moved to an earlier time. She called, and they gave her a possible 8am, over 4 hours earlier than her normal time! All the reservations made, we started packing. We had to get clothes washed and clothes packed, not only for the trip, but for me to have enough to go out on the road on Monday with my job as a truck driver. We worked till we couldn't stay awake anymore, we would just have to finish up in the morning.
Friday morning came, I got DW to dialysis, went home and finished loading the car, grabbed Tia, and went to Mom's and got her and Princess. We got to the clinic just in time to pick up my DW. ROAD TRIP!!!!
The Crew
Now, let me introduce the characters of this, spur of the moment, adventure:
Me: Kenny (aka on the boards: Kenny)
DW: Brenda
DM: Edith (AKA: Mom)
Princess: Mom's Chihuahua
And the star of our show,
Tia: Our spoiled little girl!
Great start! Wow, all the way to North Carolina! Are you driving or flying? Sounds like fun. I've heard that the Outer Banks is an awesome beach.
Thanks, DonaldGirl1. NC isn't so far, but the NC beach does add a few more miles. I guess , in my rush to post this I didn't make it clear how we would get there... that's coming up! Ummm... as to the awesomeness of the Outer Banks beach, I am not really qualified to say. My first answer would be, "Which beach?", because you have many beaches all around you. Then I would have to say that we only got to the beach one time on this little excursion so I can't comment on the quality of it. I can, however, say that on a mid-June afternoon with sunny skies and 85+ degree temps, the part of the beach we visited was virtually deserted, beautiful, and leashed pet friendly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great start Kenny!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Great start!
Thanks Marnie and Cheryl! I'm glad you're coming along!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
Great start, Kenny! Those pups are too cute.
Thanks, Laurie! They're a little spoiled, too!
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
Great start! Of COURSE your little Tia needs to go to an ocean beach!!
Thanks, Pam. Yes, and now I think we are going to have to take her back!
Quote:
Originally Posted by MyRapunzal
OMG! YESSSS!!! A Kenny TR to start the summer off! Yay! lol!
Love the start- and love you are bringing your pups!!
More please!!!
Hehehe! Now that my fav newlywed teacher is on-board, I spose I can continue!
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On The Road
Because this trip was, literally, Dreamed (I love that word!) up one day, and begun the next,flying was not an option. Since we had recently bought a new 2010 Chrysler PT Cruiser, we were confident we could drive down without much trouble. This is our 3rd PT Cruiser, I guess you could say we like them... don't know what we'll get next time since this is the last year for them. For our first one, we tried everything we could think of for our vanity license plate with the word cruise, the only thing that was available was IKRUZ, so that became our license plate. That was before we even thought about taking a cruise, and was in reference to the car. That plate is now on it's 3rd PT, and this is our transportation for this trip:
Brenda was tired after her treatment, but she was too excited to sleep much. We headed out of town on US 35 about 1pm. According to my Garmin GPS, and Rand McNally map, we had about a 580 mile drive ahead of us. After about 45 minutes we stopped in Gallipolis, Ohio for lunch at Capt D's. Brenda suggested we get a taste of seafood to keep with the theme of the weekend... the OCEAN! Then it was on to West Virginia where we picked up I-64 to Charleston. I had thought our route would take us down I-77 to North Carolina where we would pick up I-40 east through Raleigh, but... I was wrong!... Again!... The closest, fastest route was I-64 through WV and Virginia to Norfolk, VA, then South on US-158. A very scenic ride. This is a typical day for me delivering trucks across the country where a normal days drive is 500-700 miles. It is much easier on your nerves in a car, but it still takes time. Consequently, we didn't have time to stop for anything but fast food and restrooms. This drive took us across the Shenandoah Valley and the Blue Ridge Mountains,
truly one of the most beautiful places in the world, sadly, the truck driver in me kept missing the scenic view turnouts so we didn't get any pictures of the drive coming or going. (I found the picture above on the Internet.) Finally, at about 1am, we pulled into the Ramada Plaza Hotel and checked into our room for the next couple of days.
The Accommodations
As soon as we got to the room, we dropped the bags and grabbed the dogs and went in search of the beach. The Ramada is right on the beach and our room faced the beach, but there was a fence and sand dune keeping us from walking right out to the ocean.
Dune view from one of the patios.
Because we had the dogs we were restricted to a “dune view” room on the first floor, which did NOT allow direct access to the beach, but did allow “walk out access” to the dog walking area. We had to find our way up and down stairs on their intricate deck till we finally found it... THE OCEAN!
The problem was, it was about 10-15 steps down and pitch black! You could hear, and see(barely) the waves rolling onto the beach. There was a pretty strong, but very warm breeze blowing in from the sea, too. We stood on the deck enjoying the atmosphere of the beach and deciding whether to brave the dark steps and sand or not and ultimately decided not to. After about 15 minutes, we went back to the room and called it a night.
An Unrelated Aside
As an unrelated side note, when we took our Disney Cruise in 2008, we bought a "Pirate Mickey antenna topper" at WOD in DTD. Somewhere in the beginning of this trip, one of poor Mickey's ears finally succumbed to the elements and broke off! Poor Pirate Mickey had been keeping an eye... and ear, on 2 of our PT Cruisers for quite a while, but we must find another topper to take his place now.
The Accommodations -cont-
Now, the Ramada Plaza, Nags Head Beach, in Kill Devil Hills, NC, is not the nicest hotel on the beach. But they had a room for us and accepted both dogs for one $25 pet fee. I heard that they are one of only two hotels that even allow pets. It was a first floor room “dune view”, with both, an outside and inside door, refrigerator and microwave, and in-room coffee maker. We had 2 queen sized beds and good, free wi-fi. They have their own restaurant and bar, neither of which we tried, so they do not offer a complementary breakfast. Overall, on a 5 star rating, I would give it a 3, Brenda says a 4. In mid-June, the weekend rate was about $192+...+...+. Since the trip was so unplanned, we were satisfied with the accommodations. We decided we may even come again if circumstances dictate. We are now thinking of a week or two in the early Fall of 2011, and renting one of the many oceanfront cottages there.
Well... the hotel needs work, but the location and the pet policy were great!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Glad you made it Kenny! Looks like a nice place!
It was a long drive, Marnie, but somehow, I stayed awake! lol
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
Looks like a nice place! The beach looks beautiful!
The bad thing is: we never went back to the beach at the hotel! We just ran out of time. All my pictures of the hotel are from their website, so... it does look nice.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MyRapunzal
Yay! Looks fabulous!! Can't wait to here about the beach and WILD HORSES!!! Sounds relaxing already!
Hmmm... relaxing... I don't know, but it was fun!
Quote:
Originally Posted by OhToodles!
Glad you arrived safely. Looks like a nice place.
With the traffic of today, there is a lot to be said about arriving safely! lol
Quote:
Originally Posted by MGW
You drove right through my hometown on I 64!
Can't wait to hear about your trip!
Yep! We sure did, if you live in VA on I 64, we drove the length of it... twice! Did you hear me "BEEP"?
Quote:
Originally Posted by rlb38
So glad I found your report Kenny,
Looks like a lovely spot. We just got a puppy ....I never thought of trying to find a pet friendly hotel... wonder if she needs a passport ...looking forward to more
Roberta! I'm glad you're here! Don't know about a passport... depends on how big your carry-on bag is! But if you need a "pet friendly" hotel, just google it, it will help, expect to pay a fee of $10-$100 not necessarily refundable. I'd say $25-$50 non-refundable is the norm. That could be per night, though in this case it was $25 for all pets in the room for the length of the stay, non-refundable.
I did say this would be a short story, so let me go on...
About This Page: 
and said OK. Now, I should say here that we live in Ohio... far from any ocean beach, and, being from RI, she DID mean an ocean beach! 
So, she asked me to get on the computer and look up the Outer Banks, North Carolina. 
She had seen an advertisement about it and thought it might be fun. So, just to keep the peace, I looked it up. She seemed to think that since I had a few days off, we could take Tia to the beach... in North Carolina!! 
Me, being the adventurous guy that I am, decided to humor her and show her that , even if we could get away, we wouldn't be able to get a room on such short notice. 
Well, we booked the room for Friday and Saturday nights. I had enough points for one night, so we had to pay for the second night. DW said we should ask my DM if she wanted to tag along and bring her chihuahua, too. Mom was thrilled, and didn't have anything planned for the weekend. She thought her dog, Princess, would love the ride. So, we called the hotel and cleared the extra person and dog with them and started packing.
All the reservations made, we started packing. We had to get clothes washed and clothes packed, not only for the trip, but for me to have enough to go out on the road on Monday with my job as a truck driver. We worked till we couldn't stay awake anymore, 
we would just have to finish up in the morning.
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Ummm... as to the awesomeness of the Outer Banks beach, I am not really qualified to say. My first answer would be, "Which beach?", because you have many beaches all around you. Then I would have to say that we only got to the beach one time on this little excursion so I can't comment on the quality of it. I can, however, say that on a mid-June afternoon with sunny skies and 85+ degree temps, the part of the beach we visited was virtually deserted, beautiful, and leashed pet friendly. 
PassPorter Guide Author
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
Tia Goes to the Beach; update 7/1/10
don't know what we'll get next time since this is the last year for them. For our first one, we tried everything we could think of for our vanity license plate with the word cruise, the only thing that was available was IKRUZ, so that became our license plate. That was before we even thought about taking a cruise, and was in reference to the car. That plate is now on it's 3rd PT, and this is our transportation for this trip:
After about 45 minutes we stopped in Gallipolis, Ohio for lunch at Capt D's. Brenda suggested we get a taste of seafood to keep with the theme of the weekend... the OCEAN! 
(I found the picture above on the Internet.) Finally, at about 1am, we pulled into the Ramada Plaza Hotel and checked into our room for the next couple of days. 
Poor Pirate Mickey had been keeping an eye... and ear, on 2 of our PT Cruisers for quite a while, but we must find another topper to take his place now. 
But if you need a "pet friendly" hotel, just google it, it will help, expect to pay a fee of $10-$100 not necessarily refundable. I'd say $25-$50 non-refundable is the norm. That could be per night, though in this case it was $25 for all pets in the room for the length of the stay, non-refundable. 
Hybrid Mode
