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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
We'd like to get MANY PhotoPass pictures during our vacation at WDW and now I was wondering if you guys were willing to share in which places you had your picture taken by a PhotoPass photographer??? I'd like to make a list that I can check now and then while we're in the parks!
Are there any PhotoPass photographers outside of the themeparks, for example at the resorts, at DisneyQuest, at the water parks, at Downtown Disney etc.?
I've seen them at a couple of the Kodak Picture Spots (outside in front of the Crystal Palace is one place that comes to mind). We also ran into them at a few character greetings (Ariel's Grotto, Al's Toy Barn).
Location: Exported from Morgantown, WV to Shreveport, LA
Posts: 4,104
Post Thanks / Like
Likes (Given): 0
Likes (Received): 0
Thanks (Given): 0
Thanks (Received): 0
Pixie Dust (Given): 0
Pixie Dust (Received): 0
Anywhere there is a character signing autographs, you will find a photopass person (literally, one for every character). There are going to be several on Main Street USA at the MK, in front of the golf ball at Epcot, in front of the Tree of Live at AK, and in front of the hat and the TOT at MGM. Lukeandbrookesmom is right - they're also wherever there is a Kodak-deemed photograph-worhty site. You can look on your park maps when you enter and look for the gold and red "K" icon. Pretty much any time there is a golden photo opportunity, you will find a Photopass person there.
I've also never seen them at DTD, and I'm pretty willing to venture that they're not at the hotels either; at least I've never encountered one.
Also, if you don't want to actually purchase the Photopass, they'll take pictures with your camera too.
Anywhere there is a character signing autographs, you will find a photopass person (literally, one for every character).
Not necessarily... There is always someone with thecharacter, but there are times when there is not a PhotoPass Photographer with them... (yet they will take pics w/ your camera) ex: We met Timon and there was NOT a photographer w/ the PhotoPass Card & Camera... This happened a few other times as well. I also remember one of them telling me that they are out at about 3 or 4 countries in the evening around WS and that it varies... I just can't remember exactly what he told me ... We also did not see as many out or for long during the evening EMH like you would think they would be out (but they're definitely out on Main Street & near the castle @ night )
Photopass is rarely with characters that aren't the fab 5, chip 'n' dale, pooh and friends, and the princesses.
__________________
~Ann
Upcoming Disney Trips
Feb 5-6, 2008-All Star Music
April 20/21-25/27-Somewhere onsite checking Airlines daily
May 10-17-Somewhere offsite moving from March.
18 trips in my life. 8 in 2007 (Now that's a Dream Come True)
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.
Location: Exported from Morgantown, WV to Shreveport, LA
Posts: 4,104
Post Thanks / Like
Likes (Given): 0
Likes (Received): 0
Thanks (Given): 0
Thanks (Received): 0
Pixie Dust (Given): 0
Pixie Dust (Received): 0
Quote:
Originally Posted by AnnF
Photopass is rarely with characters that aren't the fab 5, chip 'n' dale, pooh and friends, and the princesses.
Actually, I disagree. We were there at the beginning of March, and had our pics taken with Daisy Duck, Marie from the Aristocats, Pinocchio, Gepetto, and the two criminal characters from Pinocchio (forgot their names already!), Flik, Meeko, Stanley, some duck from DuckTales or TailSpin (didn't recognize him), and each individual character had their own Photopass person. DBF said the only person whose autograph he got that didn't have a Photopass for was a green army man from Toy Story, which was weird, because Buzz, Woody, and the rest all had their own.
I think, as Dave said, with the advent of the Photopass being a HUGE moneymaker for Disney, they have no reason to not put Photopass photographers with everything, including rides and characters.
I definitely noticed a higher visibility of Photopass people this trip, as compared to our trip in August.
Actually, I disagree. We were there at the beginning of March, and had our pics taken with Daisy Duck, Marie from the Aristocats, Pinocchio, Gepetto, and the two criminal characters from Pinocchio (forgot their names already!), Flik, Meeko, Stanley, some duck from DuckTales or TailSpin (didn't recognize him), and each individual character had their own Photopass person. DBF said the only person whose autograph he got that didn't have a Photopass for was a green army man from Toy Story, which was weird, because Buzz, Woody, and the rest all had their own.
I think, as Dave said, with the advent of the Photopass being a HUGE moneymaker for Disney, they have no reason to not put Photopass photographers with everything, including rides and characters.
I definitely noticed a higher visibility of Photopass people this trip, as compared to our trip in August.
I was there from March 3-10 and photopass wasn't out with many characters.I stop for every character that I see, and maybe 60% of them had photopass. I saw about the same number of photopass people as New Years Day, just more spread out, maybe a few more since my trip Labor Day.
I've never seen the green army man have a photopass person. The only place I saw fewer photopass people is the Hat at MGM.
I talked to several photopass people, and they all said that they aren't out with all the characters. One said if they had an extra photopass person they'd send them out. But seeing a photopass with Launchpad(the duck from Tailspin) isn't common, he didn't have one when I saw him. It also depends on the locaction of the character. BF and I saw Darth Vader and the Stromtroopers and they didn't have a photopass. We saw Donald and Daisy once without a photopass, and saw about 25 other characters without photopass.
Another photopass person told me they are working on more "magic shots". One in front of HM they won't be doing this while the ride is down this summer, one in front of PotC, and a couple others. They are also working on adding all the rides to photopass their goal is Summer of 2008.
__________________
~Ann
Upcoming Disney Trips
Feb 5-6, 2008-All Star Music
April 20/21-25/27-Somewhere onsite checking Airlines daily
May 10-17-Somewhere offsite moving from March.
18 trips in my life. 8 in 2007 (Now that's a Dream Come True)
Thanks for this info. When we went in May '06, we had a really hard time finding them...but we were just told to look for a specific "uniform," and not given ideas on locations. We'll try looking at the Picture Spots, as well as with characters. We did luck out finding them on Main Street a couple of times, but we had a grand total of maybe 12 photos taken!
In MGM, on the main street as you come in and near Tower of Terror.
At AK, on the bridge between the Oasis and the Tree of Life.
In MK, along Main Street.
In Epcot, in front of the Leave a Legacy courtyard near Spaceship Earth.
I haven't had much luck in getting pictures taken at other locations. Someone above said that they are at character spots....but since we don't usually do that, we've missed those photographers.
I wish they were more spread out than they seem to be.
I've only noticed them as you walk into the parks (and I didn't notice as many on this past trip as I had in the past). Pictures from rides (like Buzz or Splas Mountain) can also be put on that PhotoPass card.
I've only noticed them as you walk into the parks (and I didn't notice as many on this past trip as I had in the past). Pictures from rides (like Buzz or Splas Mountain) can also be put on that PhotoPass card.
Not yet!
Right now, the ONLY ride photo at WDW that can be put onto your FastPass card is Test Track.
Other rides will follow over the next two years, but Disney intends to start with rides that don't already have photos, then retrofit the older photo systems later.
So it might be a while before Buzz or Splash get FastPass capability.
PhotoPass is also gradually taking over photography at the character meals, both inside the parks, and at the resorts.
Many PhotoPass photographers are assigned a territory to roam, so while you may find one at a particular Kodak Photo Spot at one moment, he/she may roam over to another location the next.
PhotoPass is also taking over/has taken over photography at the after hours events, like MVMCP, MNSSHP, and the Pirate and Princess Party.
PhotoPass is a very entrepreneurial organization, so I suspect we're going to see a lot more photographers, automated photos (like the attraction photos) and photo ops as time goes by.
__________________
Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions
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.