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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 a weekend trip.
Hey y'all!
We just completed our move from Long Island to Mooresville, NC and with that comes a MUCH shorter drive to our happy place. My question is how far is TOO far for you to drive for a weekend trip..maybe 3 nights? We are about a 9 hour drive now with stops for gas. My daughter's car is a Honda Civic so good mileage. We didn't take our usual summer trip this year because of the move. My daughter has a trip planned with her friend in early October and (unbeknownst to my husband as of yet) I am planning on tagging along so i will get real-world info on the drive time but Google Maps says it's 8.5 hours so I'm rounding up to 9. I have visions of popping in for quick weekend trips but I was wondering...how long is too long. We do have a 3rd grader so that will curtail us somewhat because of school but in general, I was wondering what you all think.
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generally if we are leaving the moment the kids are getting out of school on a Friday i say 6-8 hours. Meaning I want to be at my stop by midnight so we can get a decent amount of sleep so we can have fun the next day. If I was 9 hours from Disney that would be very tempting to stretch this out.
I will say you are three hours from one of my favorite places, Brevard NC. We love to hike and love to go to earthshine mountain lodge there.
We live in Charlotte and usually won't go for long weekends to Disney. We've found a system that works for us. DH hates driving during the day and with passengers who are awake. So on the day we leave for Disney DH goes to bed around noon and sleeps off and on until around 6. We'll leave somewhere around 9. DH stops for gas (and combos because it's hard to find his favorite kind but this gas station stocks them) and then drives to the rest stop that is about 20 minutes from Disney. He usually gets there around 3:30 or 4. He sleeps for a couple of hours and then we all wake up and head to check in. We are usually at MK in time for rope drop.
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I live in central NC and we take weekend trips, sometimes. I say go for it! Leave as soon as school gets out on Friday and then leave Sunday after lunch. Our school calendar has almost no long weekends( that aren't holidays), so we have taken the kids out on a Friday and left on Thursday afternoon. It's doable. Have fun!
We once did a 4 night stay and discovered that we packed waaaaay too much into fewer Disney days than we are accustomed to. We needed a full week to rest up upon returning home!
Now, if "going commando" suits your family, a weekend trip may work for you. It definitely wouldn't for us unless we were only an hour or two from WDW.
__________________
“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” —Winnie-the-Pooh
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Usually when we do shorter trips we eliminate Animal Kingdom right off the bat. Usually we'll just do MK & Epcot. We haven't commando toured in MANY years and we just do our faves because we know we'll be back soon. I'm gonna try it in October and see how it goes. I have 2 waitlists for a long weekend in December. If the drive is too much I will just cancel. Our daughter gets out of school pretty early...2:10 so if we leave from school we should be in Orlando by 11.
I am in GA and 8 hours from WDW; I have never gone for a weekend trip.... Generally speaking, I think that is too long of a drive for just the weekend.... But if you are comfortable with it- go for it!
How long is a long weekend? Honestly, I think it would be exhausting for me to do 18 hours of driving in just a few days time. I would probably wait until I could go for longer, but then I hate to be in the car for a long time.
How long is a long weekend? Honestly, I think it would be exhausting for me to do 18 hours of driving in just a few days time. I would probably wait until I could go for longer, but then I hate to be in the car for a long time.
It's Friday to Monday. I'm going to go because I will be miserable all weekend if I don't!
We have driven 5-6 hours just to get to a tennis tournament. 16 to get to WDW once a year. I have a feeling if we were closer we would be there all the time! Particularly if a tournament just "happened" to be half way there
I'd do it for 3 nights, especially if I had someone to share driving duties wth. Congrats on the move and I'm gonna venture to guess that your taxes are 10% of what they were on LI, lol
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I'd do it for 3 nights, especially if I had someone to share driving duties wth. Congrats on the move and I'm gonna venture to guess that your taxes are 10% of what they were on LI, lol
Thanks yes that's about right about 80% less after I got the STAR discount in NY. Good riddance. We will be there 3 nights and have 3 drivers. I just bought a new (to me..a 2014) Durango with the bells and whistles and it getss much better mileage than my 2006 Durango so I'm stoked. My older daughter and her friend had the trip planned already so I am going to tag along and surprise my 8 year old with going along with them. In December we have a wait list for a Wednesday to Sunday as well.
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We live ~10 hours from WDW.
I've done many trips that last 3-4 days.
One example--
We drive down leaving late Thursday afternoon and get there around midnight. Have Fri, Sat, Sun, and Mon am in the park, leave at noon Monday. Four day hoppers.
A more common example--
Drive down Friday getting there around 5. Leave Monday at noon. Four day hoppers. Likely not to do this anymore due to the cost of short hopper tix now.
Well, living in New Hampshire, I would be thrilled to be only 8hours away and would go every chance I reasonably could. Driving 6 straight hours would not bother me, so if I could drive 4 hours and someone else drives the other 4 hours I would be one HAPPY CAMPER!
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so four hours would be the limit for us.
Our last WDW trip as a family 
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