A Universal Disney Fantasy in three acts - Rehersal Report in Progress - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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A Universal Disney Fantasy in three acts - Rehersal Report in Progress
It's a bit early but I'm so ready to go on this trip I figured I'd start up a pre-trip report to help pass the time. Since I work in the theater I decided to treat this report as a show.
THE CAST:
Act 1 - Me (wolfhunt), my wife (puzzlewoman)
Act 2 - Me (wolfhunt), my wife (puzzlewoman), My family (mom, her husband, my sister, my nephew), friends (Cheeser, Her husband, Cheeser's mother in-law, Evil_Queen*, Susanna)
Act 3 - Me (wolfhunt), my wife (puzzlewoman), My family (mom, her husband, my sister, my nephew), friends (Cheeser, Her husband, Cheeser's mother in-law, Evil_Queen*, Susanna)
*Evil_Queen is not the nickname for the mother-in-law.
THE SHOW: This is shaping up to be a three act show (it didn't start that way)
Act 1: Universal Studios. It has been over twenty years since I have visited Universal Studios. My hope is to go to Universal on Monday - Wednesday of arrival week. Possibly staying at Universal's resorts but might have a free stay/tickets through Windham if I listen to one of their spiels. I'll have no problem saying no to the timeshare stuff since I already have DVC but it's hard to pass up free tickets and lodging just for listening to a 2 hour spiel .
Act 2: WDW. A short stay at either Poly or GF. Since this is only a two-nighter I kinda want to stay at GF. Hopefully be checking out the new Fantasyland and trying the new restaurant in Fantasyland. Me and Puzzlewoman will also be doing the Family 5k at Disney during this act.
Act 3: The main event - a 7 night cruise on the Fantasy in the Western Caribbean. After our recent 4 night cruise on the Dream we really can't wait to go back to a cruise.
Current tour dates: should everything go as planned the show will hit the road starting January 7, 2013 and ending January 19, 2013.
As you can see Act 2 and 3 has a large cast of characters about half of which have never been on a cruise before. It should be a fun show for all involved (and maybe a few who aren't, you never know).
Remember to turn off your cell phones, pagers, and beeping watches as you enter the theater. Photography is permitted (how else can we prove what happens). Food and drinks are allowed in the theater (especially the fruity rum drinks featured in act 3).
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Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
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
Since all shows need to reherse me and puzzlewoman have a DVC trip planned for late August. Since we have some leftover DVC points and our passes and TIW card are good until September we decided to make use of them and do a quick trip.
We have booked a room at Boardwalk villas (new to us) and have made our ADRs. Like any trip we take we try to go to new places to eat. This, however, is getting harder to do. We are running out of table service places to try.
The dining schedule is:
Saturday
We arrive. Originally had scheduled Bistro De Paris but I just received an email letting me know that it will now be in refurb. Our plan is now to eat dinner at Big River Grill at the Boardwalk. Possibly grabbing a counter service lunch in Epcot.
Sunday
Breakfast at Main Street Bakery, first cinnamon roll ofnthe trip
Lunch at Tony's Town Square
Dinner at Flulton's Crab House
(propably a dole whip or two thrown in)
Monday
Breakfast at Kouzzina. Love dinner there, since we are staying at BWV might as well try breakfast.
Lunch at Le Cellier.
Dinner at Cape May Cafe
Tuesday
Lunch at Sci-fi
Dinner at Hollywood & Vine with the Fantasmic seating package
Most of this trip is about relaxing and doing the stuff we like. Got some new photography tricks I want to try and of course scope out the new Fantasyland construction and ride Haunted Mansion a bunch of times (my fave). Also looking forward to seeing Fantasmic again. Last time we saw it was back in 2007.
Should be a good rehersal for the big multi-park Universal/Disney/Fantasy trip in January.