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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
Hi all,
Just a note to let everyone know that if you are tall or Pooh sized and want to ride the roller coasters FORGET IT. They seem to have a standard seat for all the coasters and if you are tall or even slightly large, including some atheltes with wide shoulders won't fit in the seat. DS#1 and 3 and DB went during our trip, and were dissapointed and furious that they had no idea that they wouldn't be able to ride the coasters, which is what they wanted to ride. The CS people were less than helpful, stating there were other rides they would fit in. (the log bench type) They declined and after 45 minutes and 2 supervisors, they got a refund for all three tickets. ( they were offered 20% off their next visit or Universal's type of Fastpass, NO THANKS)
We will NEVER EVER go to Universal again.
I am pooh, My husband is goofy tall...we love coasters but I am glad to know now... I hate trying to go on rides with DH and cant fit...it is the most embarrassing moment for me...
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.
PassPorter Guide Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Ballston Lake, NY
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 46,162
Post Thanks / Like
Likes (Given): 94
Likes (Received): 241
Thanks (Given): 0
Thanks (Received): 139
Pixie Dust (Given): 3
Pixie Dust (Received): 4
Sorry to hear about your experience. Only once did I have a problem at Universal and I'm a little on the pooh size too. This very snotty ride operator for Dr. Doom told my friend and I that we should try out the ride seat first to see if we fit. I was so appalled I couldn't even speak! My friend (who is not afaird to speak her mind) told her that we had been on the ride yesterday and we fit just fine. I've never been treated that way in my life.
Did you try the double-strap seat on the roller coasters? Those are designed for Pooh-sized people. The Team Member should have directed you to that seat if you couldn't fit into a regular seat.
The only rides at IOA that I can think of that may be problematic for Pooh-sized individuals is Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls and Dr. Doom's Fearfall. I am 6'3" and 260 lbs. and I can barely fit into them. With the addition of the unnecessary lap bars in the logs, I doubt if I can fit into it. I've seen some larger individuals have trouble on Dr. Doom's Fearfall, but you would be surprised to see people who I thought would never fit that do fit after a short adjustment. At USF, people with long or larger legs and people of Pooh size might have trouble fitting into Revenge of the Mummy. Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster may look unaccommodating, but Pooh-sized individuals need to take up their own row and should be fine. I always have to hog up my own row and cross my legs.
If you have questions if you will fit into a certain Universal ride, ask the Team Member standing by the entrance or use the test seats out front (if available).
Did you try the double-strap seat on the roller coasters? Those are designed for Pooh-sized people. The Team Member should have directed you to that seat if you couldn't fit into a regular seat.
The only rides at IOA that I can think of that may be problematic for Pooh-sized individuals is Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls and Dr. Doom's Fearfall. I am 6'3" and 260 lbs. and I can barely fit into them. With the addition of the unnecessary lap bars in the logs, I doubt if I can fit into it. I've seen some larger individuals have trouble on Dr. Doom's Fearfall, but you would be surprised to see people who I thought would never fit that do fit after a short adjustment. At USF, people with long or larger legs and people of Pooh size might have trouble fitting into Revenge of the Mummy. Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster may look unaccommodating, but Pooh-sized individuals need to take up their own row and should be fine. I always have to hog up my own row and cross my legs.
If you have questions if you will fit into a certain Universal ride, ask the Team Member standing by the entrance or use the test seats out front (if available).
My DH is about the same size or bigger and I am a little bit pooh size. We are going for the coasters, and maybe we need to rethink our trip.
Sorry to hear of their bad experience at Universal. I have used the rows designed for fluffy folks, same if I want to ride Kraken at Seaworld. I can fit barely in the regular size seats but usually need the ride attendant to give the restaint a bit of a shove to comlete the process. But thats why I love Disney, there is no worries about fitting in a ride or looking foolish trying to do so. I have not been on Ripsaw since they added the lapbar thing, but it sounds bad. those seats were pretty tight befroe, so Now I don't know
__________________
Aug,1978- LBV;Apr,1987-Disneyland;March,1993-offsite;Jan,1997-offsite;Aug,1999- CBR;Sept,2000- ASMo;Aug,2001- ASSP;Aug,2002- ASMU/AKL;Jan & July 2003-POR;June,December 2004- PC;January 2005- ASMU; Aug 2005-PC;Dec 2005-AKL;Jan 2006-CBR ; July/Aug-Saratoga springs; Dec. PC;April 2007- Disneyland;Aug 2007-Disneyland & So Cal;Dec 2007-POFQ; Aug2008-POFQ & Nov 2008 PC,Y&B May 2009 ASmu, June 2009 PC ; Nov 2009 WL & POFQ;Jan 2010 BW & WL; June 2010 POFQ ; Aug 2010 Poly ;Oct 2010 WL; Jan 2011 PC
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.
They told me that they got NO help from team members, only stares and blank looks. the team members were not friendly or helpful at all. No one told them about any other type of seat or restraint available.
The real gripe is that no where in the literature from US/IOA or their website is there any disclaimer stating that some people may not be able to ride the coasters due to the design of the seat. The only restrictions are the min. height requirements.
If this had been stated, they would have rethought spending the $300 on tickets they never used.
Part of the problem of them not knowing about the test seats could be that some people use the seats at the front of the ride queues as photo ops. So it's easy to just walk past the seats and not see them or know that they are intended to be test seats to check which row you should sit in.
However, there's no excuse for why the people working at the rides would be rude and not inform them that there are special rows that larger people will fit.
There are certain rows and seats that my dh has to sit in when he rides the coasters there because of his size. The first time we went to get on one of the coasters we had know idea, but at least he only had to move one seat over to fit.
That sounds horrible! Thanks for posting it though, it confirms my fears about visiting the non-Disney parks.
I've always been afraid of that happening to me (DH and I are both pooh-sized) so I keep saying "no" to Universal, since my favorite rides are always coasters and I wouldn't enjoy it if I couldn't ride them. I've had trouble with some of the Six Flags rides before and was so disappointed, so there's no way I'd pay to go to Universal since it seems likely it'd happen like that.
__________________
- Rachel Currently missing Orlando weather!!!
You can read my recent trip report in-progress here!
About This Page: 
Universal NOT!!
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Michelle - with my step sisters!
PassPorter Guide Author
Rhonda - Mom to 4
Hybrid Mode
