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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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We were so excited to be taking this trip, just the two of us! It had been over 4 years since we’d been to Disney without adult kids or our granddaughter. It is, of course, lots of fun to travel with others and especially to see the magic through our granddaughter’s eyes, but it was time for us to have a trip alone!
The background is all in my PTR, so I’ll start right in…
The cast of characters is my DH and I, AKA Jeff and Donna. We love Disney vacations, and have stayed at Value, Moderate and, since buying into DVC, Deluxe resorts. We enjoy visiting the parks, riding the attractions, meeting characters, and of course, eating at Disney restaurants!
This was going to be a short trip, only 4 nights, so we wanted to pack a lot into it, and I think we accomplished that!
I didn’t take notes; just jotted down what we did when we got back to the resort for the night. Hopefully that, along with our photos will jog my memory.
So, here we go!
January 22 – Arrival Day
We were awakened at 5:30AM by a text from Southwest saying our flight time was changed. Instead of 9:50 it was 10:35. So, we took our time, I showered while Jeff ate breakfast. We packed our last minute items, and I texted my brother who was picking us up, to say he could come 45 minutes later. At 7:55 I was eating my breakfast while reading the paper, and I got another text from SW saying that our flight time had changed. I sighed at first, thinking another delay, but it was changed back to the original time! Now we had to scramble a bit to get ready! Jeff hopped in the shower and I ate the rest of my breakfast, packed the newspaper in my carry-on, and did the dishes. We were all ready by the time my brother arrived to pick us up at 8:25.
We got to the airport at 8:50 and were printing our luggage tags at the do-it-yourself kiosk when a SW employee came over to assist. We asked about the time change and he told us the original plane was not available. They brought in another plane, but it was smaller. He told us they were looking for volunteers to take a later flight. They were offering $300 plus the original cost of the ticket. Tempting, but we were not interested. :
We both had TSA pre check so we breezed through security and got to our gate at 9:05. The plane was not there yet. I walked back to Tim Horton’s to get a cup of ˝ coffee ˝ French Vanilla Cappuccino. The plane had arrived by the time I was back, and I was just finishing my coffee when they started lining passengers up for boarding.
We had high Bs, so there were quite a few people on before us. We walked more than half way back and finally found two seats together, an aisle and a middle seat, so we grabbed those. We took off by 10:00 and after an uneventful flight, landed at 12:30.
We got to the lower level and after a restroom stop, we made our way to DME and were directed to line 8. No time to even take a photo of the empty queue lines, as we were immediately let through and allowed to board the bus! We left MCO at 1:00 and pulled into Old Key West at 1:30.
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The last time we got an offer of cash to take a later flight was on our honeymoon in 1999. Oddly enough, we said but there have been so many times since, we would happily have taken the money. They never seem to make those offers when you want it...
What a mess up with the constant changing around in flight times - thank goodness you were still able to get there for the original time.
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The last time we got an offer of cash to take a later flight was on our honeymoon in 1999. Oddly enough, we said but there have been so many times since, we would happily have taken the money. They never seem to make those offers when you want it...
$600 for the two of us, plus what we spent on the tickets...that would buy some great souvenirs. But the next flight to Orlando (that we could see on the board) had a layover and didn't arrive until almost 4:00. And our only day at AK was slated to start with FP at 3:25, so there was no way! :
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What a mess up with the constant changing around in flight times - thank goodness you were still able to get there for the original time.
We did have to hustle when the time got changed back, but yes, thankfully we made it.
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