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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Our long (Okay, I know - 7 months is nothing for most of you!) WDW drought is nearing it's end. As most of you know, we live an hour from Disney, so we've had passes since we moved here. Our last passes expired in February, and I decided to take a Disney break until this fall.
DD is really getting the Disney itch. In fact, she made me look up the blackout dates this morning because she was ready to get new passes today! Just FYI, the blackout continues through 16 August, so that's why I'm typing this instead of riding Soarin!
Oh yeah, the pre-trip report???
When: 30 Aug - 1 September (Labor Day Weekend)
Where: Caribbean Beach Resort (new for us)
Who: Me, tkd lisa, 43 years old. I think we're somewhere in the mid-20s for trips to WDW now
DM, 70 years old. She's come on most of the trips with us.
DD, 16 years old. Genuine Disney lover
DS, 15 years old (5 days before the trip). He claims to not enjoy Disney, but he always finds interesting things to do on his own while we're there.
Why: We've been gone long enough!
Background:
When I decided on the Disney break, I was planning our first visit to be for Food & Wine Festival. We're DVC members, and I booked a room at the 7 month window. In the past, we've done the free dining promotion over Labor Day weekend, but this year when I tried to book Free Dining as a bounce-back, I was told that it didn't start until September. Since Labor Day weekend is mostly in August this year, and free dining requires a 3 night stay (kids are in high school so I can't pull them out) I decided to skip it this year.
We took a one-night trip to the Animal Kingdom Lodge the week of July 4th (I really plan to finish that report!), which just whetted our Disney appetite. That weekend, I decided to see if I could get a decent rate for Labor Day. I don't like to use my DVC points on the weekend because the double points really eat into my limited amount. I called 407-W-Disney and asked about any moderate BUT Port Orleans (we've stayed there 3 times already), plus just for grins I asked about the Poly (that's my dream resort!). After a lot of checking of available discounts, she said that they had a FL resident rate for Caribbean Beach, no real discount for the Coronado, an a FL discount for the Poly. The Caribbean Beach was only $254, the Coronado was $325 and the Poly was $550. Now I imagine that probably was a good rate for the Poly, but I just couldn't justify spending $300 extra dollars so I booked the Caribbean Beach. The CM did warn me that the main pool was being renovated and probably wouldn't be finished by the time we arrived. I decided that would be fine since we could always pool hop as DVC members.
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After the reservations were done (I made them while I was waiting on my mom to finish some errands at the bank), I went back and told the kids about the plans. DD was pretty excited, and DS said that he would like to meet up with some internet friends who live in Orlando. They asked where we were eating, and I said I hadn't made any plans. DD asked to eat at Yak and Yeti, so I told her I'd call on my way back home.
I left the kids at my mom's (since I was going on a business trip), and on the way back to Tampa I called back to make the ADR. When I spoke to the CM, I said "I'd like the ADR on Monday, I think that must be the 3rd?" She said "No, Monday is the 1st". I said "But I told the CM who booked us I wanted Saturday checkin and Monday check out, and she said it was 1-3 September". After checking the reservation, we found out that we had been booked for Mon-Wed, not Sat - Mon. Thankfully the CM was able to change the reservation at the same price. I'm glad I found that out right away! Anyway, we got a Yak and Yeti ADR at 1:30 on Monday, and I thought I was done planning.
This week, I was talking to my mom about DS's birthday and I thought "You know, it is his birthday. I really should have asked where HE wanted to eat, not DD". He asked for the Japan restaurant and I booked it for lunch on Sunday. Then this morning I started checking for the discounts on dining (since my DDE is expired), and found out that the Teppan Edo discount (AP 10%) is only valid Monday - Friday, while the Yak & Yeti discount is good anyday. So one final call to disney dining, and our plans are now set.
I looked up the park hours and EMH's and set loose plans around them and our dining, coming up in the next post.
Morning EMH is at Disney Hollywood Studios. Since we haven't ridden Toy Story Mania yet, we're going to make this our first park.
We'll get up early and leave the house by 6:45. We have to "check-in" at the CBR to get EMH, but I certainly don't expect the room to be ready. I'm tentively planning on going over to Orlando next Sunday and buy our new APs. The kids want to go to an anime convention over there. If I don't go next week, I'll probably do it the following week, just to save time on this trip.
Anyway, the goal is to get to drive to the Studios and be in the park by 8:30. We definitely want to all ride Toy Story Mania, and everyone but mom will hit ToT and RnR.
We'll stay at the studios probably until about 1:00. If the room's ready, we'll go back and take a break and hit the pool. If the room isn't ready, we'll just pool hop over to Boardwalk.
After our break, we'll go to EPCOT, and mostly just enjoy world showcase. We'll probably eat CS somewhere in World Showcase (Morocco or France are both high on our list), then watch illuminations before calling it a night. I imagine we'll loose DS somewhere earlier than that, but he can always catch the bus back to the resort.
It will definitely be a long day, but we'll be on a Disney HIGH!
Sunday, 31 August
Evening EMH at MK
Since there isn't a morning EMH, we'll sleep in a little (for us anyway). Since it's evening EMH at MK, I'm hoping for light morning crowds. I always like the opening ceremony there, so that's my plan for this morning - opening at MK for the ceremony. DS probably won't be with us, since he enjoys sleeping in, and MK isn't his favorite park.
We'll take a break either back at Caribbean Beach or by Pool-hopping to the Polynesian, then head over to Animal Kingdom for our ADR at Yak & Yeti (1:30). I caught the parade at AK for the first time on our January trip, and really enjoyed it, so we'll try to see that one again. AK is open until 7:00 tonight, so we'll try to catch on of the later safaris' before leaving the park by 7.
We'll probably get dinner at Down Town Disney or maybe at Mara in AKL. I'm planning on driving since we may be pool hopping, and AK buses always seem to be slower than the others. After dinner, Mom and I may hop back to MK to watch Spectro Magic and Wishes. I highly doubt that DD will stay with us since she usually turns into a pumpkin about 9:00. We'll all be in bed by 11 at the latest.
Monday 1 September
AK Early morning EMH
Originally, I planned on AK this day, but when I switched the dining reservations I changed the plan. Instead, we'll go to EPCOT and plan to be there at opening. This will let us work in the future world attractions that we weren't able to do Saturday.
Once World Showcase is open, we'll wander over there. We have Teppan Edo ADRs at 1:30 for DS's birthday. After that, we'll hop to either DHS or MK for the afternoon parade. Depending on how we feel, we may stay around through the early evening, but either way, we'll be on the way home by 7:00.
Well, that's it. Hope you enjoy the plans, and I'll be sure to let everyone know how it goes.
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
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