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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I just finished my May TR and we had our 4th of July and Labor Day DLR trips planned. I wanted to do a TR for one or maybe both of them but was not sure and needed to decide before we left. I shared this with my hubby and he said he wanted to write one. He was a journalism major in college and he does enjoy writing quite a bit but he is never on the boards and really just leaves that side of things to me. I knew he would do a great job but I did want to add my girlie point of view. We decided he would write most of it, I would post it and add my comments. I will post my comments in another color so you can see who is saying what.
So here it goes....our joint attempt at sharing our family's Independence Day adventure at Disneyland.
Up Next: my hubby makes his first "appearance".....
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
My wife spends a lot of time on the PassPorter boards, but I spend my valuable net browsing time on sportsillustrated.com, so you’ll have to forgive my novice mistakes and the plethora of sports analogies (just kidding. I think…..)
So I hear that I’m supposed to introduce our cast of “characters” to set the “scene”.
My name is Kent (am I supposed to use real names? I dunno, but I will anyway) and I am the DH on this trip (even though I hate being called that, and my wife is nice enough not to, although if it stood for Dork Husband instead of Dear Husband, I’d wholeheartedly encourage its use). Keeping with the cast member theme, my job would entail me dressed as a character, most likely Goofy (I’m tall and quite goofy – proudly so).
I will say have been tempted a few times to refer to him as DH but I never have. He is tall and goofy and dorky but a great husband and daddy!
My wife, Jennifer (MinnieJen), is the glue that holds our family together. She’s the organized one who makes sure that we have everything we need when we need it. She loves to plan these trips and could do it professionally. Without her, I’d be stuck at the waterworks area of DCA with two soaking kids with no towel or extra dry clothes. I would, however, have a Charms blow pop in my pocket and a fully charged Ipod that I took more care in keeping dry than my children. So you understand why I’m grateful for her organizational talents. As a cast member, she’d be the tour guide with the headset microphone and the notepad (and a small towel in her purse).
Yes I am the planner/listmaker/overpacker for the family. Kent is always amazed when he says "hey did you bring this" and yes I did! I try to account for all situations but that is sadly impossible with my band of boys. I have had some issues with the southern California weather our last few trips. In February it was way warmer than it was supposed to be and we were way warm and had to buy a few items to keep comfortable. Thankfully Old Navy had just received some warm weather clothes in stock. Then in May it became much cooler just before we arrived and we were adding layers to keep comfortable. I am hoping I can have what we need this trip with bringing WAY too much stuff.
Our sons, Ty (4) and Ethan (2) are the joys of our life and love coming to Disneyland as much as my wife and I do (and we love it a lot!). As a cast member, Ty would desperately want to be Buzz Lightyear, and Ethan is our Jack-Jack (blond hair that sticks up, striking blue eyes and enough energy to prove the existence of nuclear fusion in a human body, except he doesn’t spontaneously burst into flames).
The boys love all things Pixar and all things BOY! We have traveled with them a lot and they adapt well to new places and hotels. Ty can be a bit shy at first but he is a very sweet and affectionate boy. Ethan is, as Kent has said, all energy all the time.
While we live in Denver, I grew up in Los Angeles and thusly have been to Disneyland over forty times. The summer going into my senior year of high school, I got an annual pass with a couple of friends and went to Disneyland 22 times over summer vacation. We memorized Space Mountain (Left turn! Left! Right! Dip down! Left! Right, right, right!) and ate our weight in popcorn (it was the cheapest per ounce snack) and discovered Dole Whip. My wife and I went to Disneyland on our honeymoon (just for a day) and have been here with our children five times now. This will be number six for our boys. We love Disneyland (and World) and are glad our boys enjoy it so much and that we can share these fantastic family moments.
We planned this trip over the 4th of July holiday, starting it on the 4th itself and staying at the Disneyland Hotel for three nights. We knew that there would be spectacular fireworks on the 4th so we paid a little extra to guarantee ourselves a high floor room with a view of Downtown Disney (and also Disneyland park).
We made two Priority Seating reservations (breakfast at the Surf’s Up character breakfast and a dinner at Storytellers in the Grand Californian.
We have done Storytellers a few times but the Surf's Up breakfast is new. We usually do Goofy's Kitchen but we are trying to do some new Character meals to see if we need to add something to the rotation.
Sorry I was not able to get the post to allow me to change the text color so Bold Italics will have to do for now.
Up Next: arriving....
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Waiting to eat with Goofy - DLR May 2010
Last edited by MinnieJen; 07-08-2010 at 11:22 AM..
Our sons, Ty (4) and Ethan (2) are the joys of our life and love coming to Disneyland as much as my wife and I do (and we love it a lot!). As a cast member, Ty would desperately want to be Buzz Lightyear, and Ethan is our Jack-Jack (blond hair that sticks up, striking blue eyes and enough energy to prove the existence of nuclear fusion in a human body, except he doesn’t spontaneously burst into flames).
This is one of the funniest things I've ever read!!! Welcome, Kent. This is a great start!!!
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
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.
About This Page: 
He was a journalism major in college and he does enjoy writing quite a bit but he is never on the boards and really just leaves that side of things to me. I knew he would do a great job but I did want to add my girlie point of view. We decided he would write most of it, I would post it and add my comments. I will post my comments in another color so you can see who is saying what. 
Waiting to eat with Goofy - DLR May 2010
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