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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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For some reason DH said to me a few weeks ago that instead of heading to another Caribbean island for our 2nd anniversary next summer we should go to HAWAII! This is a place I have always ALWAYS wanted to go but we couldn't really afford it for a honeymoon.
In any case, I dont know where to start! How do I pick an island?? Where do most people go? I want to see volcanoes and pineapple plantations and swim with sea turtles and see and here authentic polynesian stories and places... lol... I want to do EVERYTHING!
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How many days? 7 or less I'd go with one island. The best thing that probably satisfys all of your wants is Maui. If you are going to be there 10 days or so I'd recommend a couple of days on Oahu and then hop over to Maui.
Island hopping doesn't usually work for less than 8 days since you have to give up at least one and probably two days for travel.
We personally stay mostly on the Big Island in Kona, although we also enjoy Maui quite a bit.
You may have trouble swimming with sea turtles as they are all protected and all "interactions" have to be initiated by them.
To me, the best choice would be 10 days, "3" on Oahu, staying in the Waikiki area and the remainder on Maui, probably in the Ka'anapali area.
How many days? 7 or less I'd go with one island. The best thing that probably satisfys all of your wants is Maui. If you are going to be there 10 days or so I'd recommend a couple of days on Oahu and then hop over to Maui.
Island hopping doesn't usually work for less than 8 days since you have to give up at least one and probably two days for travel.
We personally stay mostly on the Big Island in Kona, although we also enjoy Maui quite a bit.
You may have trouble swimming with sea turtles as they are all protected and all "interactions" have to be initiated by them.
To me, the best choice would be 10 days, "3" on Oahu, staying in the Waikiki area and the remainder on Maui, probably in the Ka'anapali area.
Thanks! I think you read my mind! I am also thinking Maui would be up our alley! I like that we can rent a car and do a lot of touring on our own. And that we could take the ferry to Moloka'i or Lana'i for the day. And I think they are on the Ka'anapali side of the island as well. I think we may save Oahu for another trip. I already know I will love it there and want to return someday and it will surely be after Aulani opens... and since that is on Oahu its just another excuse to return! lol!
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I've been going to Hawai'i since before I was born (which technically makes me kahamani'a
The ferries to Lani and Molokai leave from Lahaina, about 10 minutes south of Ka'anapali. Warning: the morning ride over is usually pretty tame, but once the trades start blowing, the chop comes up very fast. For the same reason, if you are going to go snorkeling at Molokini (recommended) go out in the morning boat. Even better, drive down to Kihei and go out from there. The dive operator we go with leaves the boat ramp at around 6:45. AM! But on most day's we're back by noon or 1:30. Yeah, it's about an hour drive down (we stay in a condo, usually in the Kahana area a little bit further up the road) which means we leave at 5:30ish, but we are usually back in our room by around 3 or 3:30. If you're a diver, it's what's known as "asymptomatic DCI". If you're not, the main complaint is total exhaustion.
Suggestions for Maui: Ioa Needle, the "Road to Hana" (PM me for some hints on this), Hale'akala (maybe for sunrise if you do it your first day or two, before your clock has reset), some of the many artist communities (we like Makawao), the snorkeling at Molo (of course), a day in Lahaina (probably more), maybe a trip on the Atlantis submarine, a luau at Old Lahaina, a couple of hours at the Maui Ocean Center, if you're a computer geek, a trip to the Maui Supercomputing Center (not really, my Top Secret wasn't enough to get me in ), if you have the money (anywhere from $110 to $300 per person) for a helicopter tour.
When you land, grab all of the little booklets with names like "Maui Today" and "Maui Gold". These are "activities guides" and have many listings. But be prepared to be confused and overwhelmed. Almost every street corner has an "activities desk" with seemingly the same tour at different prices.
If you'll be there in May, be sure to check out the Festival of the Canoes. Crews from around the Pacific compete to build canoes (outriggers for the most part) from scratch and then race them. The best "build" is usually from Somoa.
What not to do. Bike ride down Hala'akela. I found out where Maui Memorial Medical Center is and that they see about three injuries a week and the ER nurse told me that there are probably twice that number that don't seek treatment. Wrecked my last trip, I spent 9 of our 10 days with both of my wrists in splints
(re spelling. a'a and such indicates a glottal stop between the vowels but no repetition of the vowel sound. e'a and such has a glottal stop and the enunciation of both vowels. a=ah, e=ay, i=ee, o=oh, u=you in pronunciation w=w sound, although some will try to say v, as in the German pronunciation of the letter)
More questions? Got more stuff. Poi, three fingers is too thin, one finger is too thick, two fingers is just right, but the stuff has to be eaten with something well seasoned, especially salted. Lots of gems like that. Twelve trips in the past 25 years, second only to 15 trips to WDW.
I've been going to Hawai'i since before I was born (which technically makes me kahamani'a
The ferries to Lani and Molokai leave from Lahaina, about 10 minutes south of Ka'anapali. Warning: the morning ride over is usually pretty tame, but once the trades start blowing, the chop comes up very fast. For the same reason, if you are going to go snorkeling at Molokini (recommended) go out in the morning boat. Even better, drive down to Kihei and go out from there. The dive operator we go with leaves the boat ramp at around 6:45. AM! But on most day's we're back by noon or 1:30. Yeah, it's about an hour drive down (we stay in a condo, usually in the Kahana area a little bit further up the road) which means we leave at 5:30ish, but we are usually back in our room by around 3 or 3:30. If you're a diver, it's what's known as "asymptomatic DCI". If you're not, the main complaint is total exhaustion.
Suggestions for Maui: Ioa Needle, the "Road to Hana" (PM me for some hints on this), Hale'akala (maybe for sunrise if you do it your first day or two, before your clock has reset), some of the many artist communities (we like Makawao), the snorkeling at Molo (of course), a day in Lahaina (probably more), maybe a trip on the Atlantis submarine, a luau at Old Lahaina, a couple of hours at the Maui Ocean Center, if you're a computer geek, a trip to the Maui Supercomputing Center (not really, my Top Secret wasn't enough to get me in ), if you have the money (anywhere from $110 to $300 per person) for a helicopter tour.
When you land, grab all of the little booklets with names like "Maui Today" and "Maui Gold". These are "activities guides" and have many listings. But be prepared to be confused and overwhelmed. Almost every street corner has an "activities desk" with seemingly the same tour at different prices.
If you'll be there in May, be sure to check out the Festival of the Canoes. Crews from around the Pacific compete to build canoes (outriggers for the most part) from scratch and then race them. The best "build" is usually from Somoa.
What not to do. Bike ride down Hala'akela. I found out where Maui Memorial Medical Center is and that they see about three injuries a week and the ER nurse told me that there are probably twice that number that don't seek treatment. Wrecked my last trip, I spent 9 of our 10 days with both of my wrists in splints
(re spelling. a'a and such indicates a glottal stop between the vowels but no repetition of the vowel sound. e'a and such has a glottal stop and the enunciation of both vowels. a=ah, e=ay, i=ee, o=oh, u=you in pronunciation w=w sound, although some will try to say v, as in the German pronunciation of the letter)
More questions? Got more stuff. Poi, three fingers is too thin, one finger is too thick, two fingers is just right, but the stuff has to be eaten with something well seasoned, especially salted. Lots of gems like that. Twelve trips in the past 25 years, second only to 15 trips to WDW.
Thanks so much for all this info! Fabulous!
Esp the biking down Hale'akala since ALL the guides say to do it! (And I am not fond of biking so I am happy to do without... lol!)
I have to actually alter our anniversary plans for this summer (originally planning for Montreal but DH can only get the weekend off so we have to switch to somewhere closer) but I am going to keep this thread bookmarked now so I can PM you when I have time to start deciding where we want to stay and whatnot. Such great advice... Im so grateful!!!
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), if you have the money (anywhere from $110 to $300 per person) for a helicopter tour. 
and that they see about three injuries a week and the ER nurse told me that there are probably twice that number that don't seek treatment. 
Wrecked my last trip, I spent 9 of our 10 days with both of my wrists in splints 
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