Celebrating our 41st Wedding Anniversary PTR - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Finding a starting point is harder than I thought. I haven't written a trip report since 2002. I was a member of the Passporter community back than. The boards have changed a lot since the early days!
Can't remember who I was so a new name developed earlier this year after spending the last three years reading the boards. I left because I had no trip so why read Disney boards?
I started reading the boards again about 2 or 3 years ago. We really wanted to go last year for our 40th wedding anniversary. After looking at the bank account and the cost we decided to postpone the trip. In the mean time I prefigured the trip and decided that Port Orleans could be replaced with Pop Century. It's still Disney. When the free dining packages came out earlier this year I checked prices and we decided maybe. I contacted a Disney specialist and got a quote. By this time there was nothing available at Pop but All Stars Music was available so a trip was booked.
Both of us are older kids in our 60's. Not sure how that happened! I'm Janet and my husband is Ron. This will be our 4th trip and maybe our last. Our first trip was 1975 in a tent at Ft Wilderness our honeymoon. Our second trip was off site with our sons in 1987. Our last trip was 2002 at Port Orleans Riverside.
We will be at WDW from November 28 until December 7, 2016. We leave home on November 26 and will spend the night at a hotel in the DC area. We will board the auto train on Sunday the 27th. Not sure how many snowbirds will be traveling that day. Because we weren't sure how crowded the train would be I booked us in business class instead of a roomette. Did a lot of studying and decided roomettes were just too small. We will travel coach back.
Our reason for spending the night before is simple. Spend the night close to the train or get up very early and drive. Travel time would be about 6 hours.
We will leave our hotel some time between 10 and 10:30. Hopefully, we will be among the first to arrive at the Lorton, VA auto train station. We should arrive in Sanford, FL sometime around 9 am. When we took the train in 2002 it took about an hour for us to get our car. Nothing has been booked for that day other than dinner. I'm hoping with early check in we can get to our room, shower and maybe take a nap before we start the day at Epcot. We may get lunch at the food court. Other than dinner the plan for today is flexible. If we aren't to tired we may tour some after dinner.
Dinner is at 1900 Park Fare. I have been thinking of spending time in Epcot. Ron asked about spending time in the MK today so maybe that will be the park.
Tuesday Nov 29 We will spend the day at AK. We will be having lunch at Tusker House. We have fast passes for Lion King, Kilimanjaro Safaris and Dinosaur. Not sure what we will do later in the evening.
Wednesday No 30 We will be in the Magic Kingdom. We will be doing Keys to the Kingdom at 9 am. We have wanted to do this for a very long time. We will be having an early dinner at Diamond Horseshoe. We also have fast passes for Peter Pan and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. We will hopefully be able to say for Wishes at 10. The park is open until one am. Not sure if we will stay for any of the late night.
Thursday Dec 1 We will be at the studio. We have a fast pass for Toy Story although I might change that to Fantasmic as we were unable to get the package. Dinner will be at Hollywood and Vine.
Friday Dec 6 We will in Epcot. We will be having dinner at Biergarten as part of the Candlelight Processional package. We are really looking forward to the Processional. Whoopie Goldburg will be the narrator. We will stay for IllumiNations something we have never done.
Saturday Dec 3 finds us with flexible plans for part of the day. We have dinner reservations at Chief Mickey's and a fast pass for Frozen in the evening.
Sunday Dec 4 Not sure how we will start this day. We have fast passes for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Buzz Light Years Space Rangers Spins in the afternoon. We have reservations for the second seating of Hoop- Dee- Doo Musical Revue. This is another of the things we have always wanted to do. Later we will take a Sleigh Ride through Ft Wilderness.
Monday Dec 5 We have a fast pass for the Haunted Mansion in the afternoon. Our dinner reservations are at 50's Prime Time in the Studios. Not sure what we will do after. Magic Kingdom is open until 11 so maybe we'll return there.
Tuesday Dec 6 Our last full day. We haven't been do Disney Springs yet so maybe we'll spend some time there if we haven't already done so. We have dinner reservations for the Garden Grill followed by a fast pass for Soaring' in the evening.
Wednesday Dec 7. We will spend the early morning packing. We have late morning reservations at Whispering Canyon for breakfast. After that we will say good-bye to Disney and travel back to Sanford for the long sad auto train ride back to Lorton.
Thursday Dec 8 We will be taking the 5 hour drive home. We will stop for either a late breakfast early lunch on the way. I know we will be stopping in Williamsport, PA at Little Ceasers for pizza for dinner. At that point we will be about 45 minutes south of home.
Good start. Seems like you have some solid plans. We have considered utilizing the auto train but have been on the fence about it. Hoping that you can share some details from your experience +/- that may help us decide.
Nice start and the plans look good! You will enjoy the KTTK tour as it's such a good one!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
This sounds like a wonderful trip!! We will crossover with you on December 6th so who knows!! Maybe we will run into you!!!. You will love the KTTK tour!! It is awesome!!!!!
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You will enjoy the KTTK tour as it's such a good one!
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