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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Okay! So I don't think I've ever been this excited about planning a nonDisney trip. As a kid we did this drive several times but now I'm feeling the push to take our kids before it is too late. DD is 15 and DS is 13 and I'm starting to feel like we don't have much time left for family vacations. So this summer - the kids will just have to miss out on some of their summer camps 'cause we're headed West.
Right now the plans are in the beginning stages. I have made most of the park area reservations just because I know how quickly they get filled.
I have family that live in the Ogden, Utah and Inkom, Idaho area so we are driving out there from Michigan first in order to get time with my favorite cousin before her family lives for US Fencing Nationals. We plan to do our sightseeing on the trip back East.
Current plans:
June 27: Begin car trip to Ogden
Plan to let our aged bodies determine pace for this portion of trip. Mapquest says 25 hours so hopefully taking it easy 2 stops on way.
June 29: Arrive at Cousins in Ogden
29-1 Enjoy family and head up to Aunts in Inkom
July 2: Leave Aunts in Idaho and drive to Grand Teton National Park
Reservations at Colter Bay Village
July 3: Head into Yellowstone National Park
Explore southern part of park
Reservations at the original Wilderness Lodge - Old Faithful Inn
Dinner reservations at the Inn for that evening
July 4: More park exploration
Reservations at Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel
July 5: Head to Northeast Exit (or East still undecided)
Travel to Cody
Reservations at Cody Cowboy Village
Dodge Bull Riding Competition at Cody Rodeo
July 6: Finish up sightseeing at Cody and head to Sundance, Wy
Reservations near Devil's Tower
July 7: Sightseeing in Badlands (Mt. Rushmore, etc)
Reservations at Rushmore Express
July 8: More sightseeing and prepare for return drive
Again no plans for return except driving and resting. Wall Drug probably a stop just because as a kid I got a hoot out of that spot and the prarie dog one as well.
Any passporters made similar trips? Any suggested stops on I-80 going out? or I-90 coming back?
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We always went on Nat park trips as kids. I loved the badlands and Wall drug.. The sky is so blue I just couldn't believe it was so clear. When we went we also went to Mt. Rushmore but didn't realize it was Sturgis Rally week and so no hotels were available..we had to stay at a XOA. It was fun. We also went to a mine there in Lead and a very old wax museum there too. It is way creepy. Also check out the caves..I don't remember it's name but it was pretty awesome.
Our best vacation was flying in and out of Las Vegas and doing the National Parks in Arizona and Utah. The views are unbelievable. Hopefully, someday we'll do the trip your doing. Both are on my wish list.
Sounds great - looking forward to hearing all about it. We are doing a National Parks vacation of our own this summer - a day trip up the Natchez Trace Parkway stopping all along the way, followed by a week's stay in Gatlinburg with lots of time to explore the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I haven't been west in a loooooong time, and even then it wasn't to the National Parks, so I can't give any advice - just interested in seeing how your trip goes - have fun with the rest of your planning!
Sounds great - looking forward to hearing all about it. We are doing a National Parks vacation of our own this summer - a day trip up the Natchez Trace Parkway stopping all along the way, followed by a week's stay in Gatlinburg with lots of time to explore the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. !
Natchez Trace is a beautiful drive. We lived in Franklin, TN for several years and that area has so many great sights to see.
Natchez Trace is a beautiful drive. We lived in Franklin, TN for several years and that area has so many great sights to see.
My husband's from Natchez and we lived there for about 6 years. We moved to Clinton (by Jackson MS) a few years ago (still on the trace) and so we're familiar with this end of the trace. On our last two trips to Gatlinburg, I've talked him into doing the daytrip-up-the-Trace thing and we're now getting more familiar with the middle and northern sections as well.
My goal for this year's trip is to make it further toward the end of the Trace before dark - both of the other times we've made this trip we got sidetracked earlier in the day and missed several things the closer we got to Nashville because it was just too dark to stop. We always skirt around the Southern end of Nashville when we get off the Trace - going through the Harpeth Hills area. Our first trip we stayed in Athens for the night, the second time we stayed in Brentwood. Haven't made the reservation for this summer's trip yet - but we're talking about maybe in Lebanon, to be a little further along the road when we get up the next morning.
Glad to hear you're going to do a report - can't wait to see how things turn out.
I bought DH a National Parks guidebook for Valentines day. Our goal is to see most of them prior to retiring in 10 years. We've done the Yellowstone trip a few times. Drive carefully esp. @ night. Roads inside the park can be dangerous. We did a "southern trip" in 2000. Went down through Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and then looped back home through Utah and Wyoming, hitting most of the parks along the way. Even Disney can't imagineer THAT beauty. As much as I love Disney, I'm looking forward to taking to the road again.
What a great trip you have planned! I hope you plan on doing a trip report when you get back, because my family would like to do the first half of your trip next year. It would be great to hear first hand insights into your trip.
Last year we visited the last portion of your vacation. We spent a week in the Black Hills doing all kinds of day trips to Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Wind Cave, Custer State Park and Needles Highway, Devils Tower, the Badlands, Deadwood, and Spearfish Canyon.
One of the newest National Parks, Minuteman Missle Site, is just across the road from the Badlands and would be on your way. Tours are free but reservations are needed and are gone quickly. I think they begin taking reservations in April. It is a facinating look at the Cold War.
Do Wall Drug because everyone HAS TO see that place at least once in their lifetime. The restaurant there is pretty good and resonably priced too. IMO, skip the Corn Palace. It's a tourist trap without the fun kitch of Wall Drug.
Have fun, your plans sound great!
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10/96 - All Star Sports, 11/03 - CBR
9/05 - Wonder Cruise, 7/06 - Disneyland
11/08-All Star Sports - 7/09 Ft. Wilderness
11/14- AKL Jambo House
Does this bring back memories! I grew up in NY and when my parents took us on the National Park tour, they were serious about it. Five weeks in the station wagon - NY to CA (and back again, of course) the first time, six weeks (with grandmother too) the second time. Thank heaven for family in Orange County, which meant staying put for a whole week and getting time at Disneyland!!!
Sounds to me like you've hit the highlights, given your geography. Second trip for us included a stop up at Glacier Nat'l Park, which was fun even for a tween (gawd, that was bazillion years ago). However, that's probably too far north for you to get to given your other stops.
One more suggestion - let the kids do some of the planning for the bits you do not have nailed down yet. My parents let me plan the whole itinerary for our 6-week trip while I was home sick with the flu , and it made me appreciate the stops much more than the first time around (except for Disneyland, of course - loved that on the first drive too).
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