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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Many of you know that my DD and DSiL moved to Omaha, Nebraska early this summer. They are settled in and enjoying their new lives. So now it's time for Mama to visit! I hadn't thought about doing a trip report until I was searching the index of trip reports and saw there wasn't a single one from Nebraska! Well, I decided I needed to fix that!
So here goes.
Who: Me, Pris, a retired school teacher who loves to travel
DD, Lauren, my mini-me and my best friend
DSiL, Jon, the love of DD's life--and I'm pretty fond of him myself
When: Aug. 24-29
When the kids moved, I told DD that I would come up this fall to visit and that she should let me know when she wanted me to come. It turns out that they each got jobs at the same place (again!) and, believe it or not, they each had a week's vacation that needed to be taken before the end of Sept. DD checked out the schedule and decided on the best week and I booked the airfare.
What are the plans? I'm leaving this totally up to DD, and every time I talk to her she has added something else into the discussion. I arrive late on Monday and on Tuesday I know for sure that we are going to the zoo. Omaha has a wonderful zoo and we are taking their 3 year old nephew Carter, whom I have never met. On Wed., I believe we are going to an aeronautical museum, maybe a drive through safari and definitely the outlet mall. Girls have to shop, you know!! Thursday will be a slow day with some driving around the city for me to see neighborhoods where DH and I might want to live when we move there in a few years (after his retirement). Friday is going to be family day, which is why they moved there in the first place. Jon's whole family is in the area. Right now, I believe his parents are coming up from St. Joseph, MO, and the ladies are planning the botanical gardens (if we don't get rained out). That evening is a big family cookout at the brother-in-law's house. This will include Jon's parents, his brother's family, perhaps a couple of aunts and maybe sister-in-law's family. I haven't seen any of these folks since the wedding 3 years ago. They are a big (this is only a small part), loving family all coming together for the purpose of welcoming me. That's how they are.
So, I am all packed, including my trusty camera (with battery charger!) and can't wait to see my kiddos again.
The Nebraska prairies have a subtle charm often lost on those accustomed to hills and woods.
If someone likes wide open spaces, often spectacular sunrises and sunsets, Nebraska could be your kind of place.
As Pris said, family gatherings simply to welcome relatives from elsewhere are often major occasions. Simple pleasures like those make life in the Plains States more rewarding than may be immediately evident. Good folk there for sure.
__________________
“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” —Winnie-the-Pooh
It sounds wonderful, Pris, and I'm glad you'll be spending some time with your daughter and getting to know her extended family more. Visiting the neighborhoods and picturing where you and Wade would like to live should be a lot of fun, too. Looking forward to the photos! I've only seen Nebraska from the train. I took the California Zephyr from Chicago to San Francisco in the mid-80s.
Sounds like a nice trip and get to spend some quality time with your daughter and others!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Thanks everyone. The trip was wonderful, although the plans did change as time went on. I hope to start the TR soon. I've uploaded the pictures to my laptop. I just need to cull them and get them on photo bucket.
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ARGHHH!!! I just spent 20 minutes downloading pictures to my desktop to resize and upload to photobucket. They aren't on my desktop!! My computer has been acting strange today (can't eject a disc and the little wheel just keeps turning on my desktop) so I have an appointment at the Genius Bar on Monday. I guess I'll have to wait until then to start my TR. Oh, well at least I can still access the internet! Don't know what I'd do without FB and PP!!
Laurie, I do believe that DH and I can make it work in the Omaha area. We are not ones who need nightlife or activities, although there seems to be a lot to do in the area. We are homebodies, so we just need a nice home to curl up in---especially during the winter! We are both warm blooded Southerners!! It will definitely take some adjusting. Lauren and Jon made a point to show me several areas where we might be looking at buying. Right now, with what is on the market, I see us in the Gretna area which is a little town just SW of the city, sort of a bedroom community. Of course, who knows what will be available when we actually start shopping in a year or two.
Hope the computer recovers its health soon! I agree, it's just so hard being without the internet, even for a day. That was one of the disappointments of the train trip-- no connection!
I'm glad it looks like you can settle happily in Omaha. Snow tires and a fireplace are in order! It'll be wonderful to be near your DD.
I'm back!! This morning the photos were on my desktop when I rebooted my computer. It's still acting strange, but at least I was able to resize the pics and get them into photo bucket. So on with the TR!!
Mon. Aug. 24 I flew out at around 2:45 in the afternoon lugging two almost 50 pound suitcases! With Southwest, you get 2 free bags, so I was loaded down with stuff for DD including a set of luggage. Of course, once I got them to the check in counter all was good. DSiL and DD got to handle them once I got there. I didn't get in until about 9 p.m., so we didn't do much that night. They had spent all day cleaning and straightening the house for my first view of it. They have a really nice little house to rent. It's not one they would want permanently (mainly because of some structural issues), but it is a good rental for them for this first year there.
Tues. Aug. 25 Zoo day. Their sister-in-law Katrina and nephew Carter picked us up this morning for our trip to the zoo. Carter is a doll. He will be 3 in Oct. and he is one smart little cookie! His parents are great about educating him and he soaks it up like the little sponge he is. This is a lovely zoo which is going through a lot of renovation and expansion to make the animal habitats better. Most of this phase is due to open next summer. I was interested to see how much of the zoo is built with indoor exhibits. Since I'm from the south, I don't think about the winter aspects of that. This zoo would be a great place to visit even in the winter. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
First up, the Gibbons
Next, the big cats. They will be benefactors of the new expansion which will be good for them. Carter loves the cats and loves to hear about where they live and what they eat. Lauren and Jon are in the first picture with Carter.
The bears from above. We never walked down to the front of their cages.
This prairie dog and the peacock family were fearless, just walking along the pathway. We later heard that the prairie dogs were originally in their special area of the zoo, but escaped. There was no rounding them up! So now, they just live wherever they want throughout the area.
Carter was intrigued by the sting rays, but would not put his hand in a touch them. (His mom, Katrina, is in the bright blue shirt).
This is Peaches, the cockatoo
They have a beautiful, permanent butterfly house
There are actually 2 butterflies in this next picture. I'm not sure but perhaps they were "making babies"
I'll be honest, I'm not really an aquarium person, but this aquarium was amazing. Carter loves this building more than anything else at the zoo, I believe. He even touched the starfish in this first tank with no hesitation, perhaps because it wasn't moving.
They have an awesome penguin exhibit. My pictures don't really do it justice, as the window had water droplets on it. This is, hands down, Carter's absolute favorite area. His only meltdown came when it was time to leave the penguins. After Katrina's soft conversation with him (essentially leave the penguins or leave the zoo and go home ) he calmed down and we moved on.
The remaining pictures were all taken in a wonderful huge indoor exhibit with two levels of viewing.
And, thus we ended our day at the zoo. We were going to stop for ice cream on the way home as Carter had been promised, however he promptly fell asleep in the car, so....
After resting up a little while, Lauren and Jon and I headed out for dinner. Before dinner, we went by Lake Cunningham. DH loves to sail and wants to be able to do that wherever we retire. This lake had looked good to him on line, so I wanted to get a few pictures to show him. I think it will do the job quite nicely for sailing and fishing. Dinner that night was a a little Italian restaurant, Mangia Italiana. It was not fancy at all, but was extremely delicious and inexpensive. Yum!! After filling our bellies and taking home leftovers, we relaxed a bit and hit the sack. We were quite tired after our long day at the zoo.
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I arrive late on Monday and on Tuesday I know for sure that we are going to the zoo. Omaha has a wonderful zoo and we are taking their 3 year old nephew Carter, whom I have never met. On Wed., I believe we are going to an aeronautical museum, maybe a drive through safari and definitely the outlet mall. Girls have to shop, you know!! Thursday will be a slow day with some driving around the city for me to see neighborhoods where DH and I might want to live when we move there in a few years (after his retirement). Friday is going to be family day, which is why they moved there in the first place. Jon's whole family is in the area. Right now, I believe his parents are coming up from St. Joseph, MO, and the ladies are planning the botanical gardens (if we don't get rained out). That evening is a big family cookout at the brother-in-law's house. This will include Jon's parents, his brother's family, perhaps a couple of aunts and maybe sister-in-law's family. I haven't seen any of these folks since the wedding 3 years ago. They are a big (this is only a small part), loving family all coming together for the purpose of welcoming me. That's how they are. 
and can't wait to see my kiddos again.
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Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
My computer has been acting strange today (can't eject a disc and the little wheel just keeps turning on my desktop) so I have an appointment at the Genius Bar on Monday. I guess I'll have to wait until then to start my TR. 
Oh, well at least I can still access the internet! Don't know what I'd do without FB and PP!!
I didn't get in until about 9 p.m., so we didn't do much that night. They had spent all day cleaning and straightening the house for my first view of it. They have a really nice little house to rent. It's not one they would want permanently (mainly because of some structural issues), but it is a good rental for them for this first year there.
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