Forums Closed
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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
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Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
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05-22-2003, 07:17 PM
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#1
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Community Rank: Traveler 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: New Richmond, WI
Posts: 490
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Still Glowing From the Fun! 5/12-5/21
Hello everyone! I am about to embark on my first installment of our trip report. I intend to add pics as we get some back and I have a chance to go through the discs from the digital camera.
Transportation: Ford F150 SuperCrew (4 door) truck with a topper.
Vacationers: Lyle (me, dad), Jessa (mom), Ashlie (9) and Jacob (5).
Lodging: Offsite. We rented a home in Kissimmee 3.5 miles from the gate.
Day 1 - Friday May 9
I worked my usual day here (hectic getting everything tied up and ready for my departure). I left work to go to my personal business (DJ) to do a wedding dance that night. For the first time ever, I had wished for a dud of a dance so I could get home early! No such luck! The guests danced their legs off until 1AM! I arrived home at 2:30 to wake my wife and get the final items in the truck which she had packed throughout the day. We grabbed the kids and headed out at 3:30 AM.
My wife took the first leg as even though I was so excited, I had to sleep! She drove from St. Paul to Janesville, WI. I took over there after our gas stop and drove though Chicago, Indianapolis, Louisville, Nashville and Chattanooga (Mountain pass). Jessa took over at the Georgia State Line at about 11 PM. I was beat! We had nice stops along the way for breaks. Lunch was at McDonald's in northern Indiana. We had dinner at the Waffle House (a real sign you are not at home anymore!) just south of Nashville. I love those cheesy little restraunts!
Jessa drove that awfully long drive through GA and I took over in Valdosta (16 miles from the FLORIDA line!). It was neat driving into Florida as the sun came up. The moss covered oaks and other trees in northern FL were magnificent in the AM. My daughter was in front with me as she decided it was time to be awake since our stop in Valdosta at 5:30 AM. We had the greatest conversation about our plans and excitement for the week to come. Just the 2 of us...uninterrupted time....priceless!
I reached our home at 8AM although we could not go in until after noon. It seemed like a long drive since we had 2 sunrises in the truck, but was only because of the goofy leave time from MN.
NEXT POST - Our first day in FL.
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05-22-2003, 07:41 PM
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#2
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Community Rank: Traveler
Join Date: May 2003
Location: New Richmond, WI
Posts: 490
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Re: Still Glowing From the Fun! 5/12-5/21
OK, that was so much fun, I will add the rest of our arrival day (technically day 2) now and more tomorrow.
Day 2 (arrival day in Florida)
We decided to do a short day attraction. We drove to the Kennedy Space Center (after 1300 miles, what is 50 more?).
I must say that from the trip reports I have read online that so many people (most staying onsite) get stuck in Disney mode. Now, this is why we are all there, but let me say that our day at KSC was absolutely great!
A note about my son.....
My son has a condition called Asperger's Syndrome. It is in the Autism family but usually is very high functioning and mainly causes issue with sensory integration, etc. My concerns for this trip were high for him because Disney is synonymous for "sensory overload"! Asperger's kids are bothered by crowds, noise and smells that many of us cannot detect.
ON TO KENNEDY...
We used our Orlando Magic Card and saved $14.00 which was nice!
We thought KSC would be a good start to introduce him to lines and the "park" way of life. He did fantastic. They have a kids show which has some 3-D segments with a guy that shakes up some water and when he opens it, it sprays you like in H,ISTA when the dog sneezes. He yelled, "THAT'S NOT NICE!" but dealt with it. We prepared him for the next week at Disney knowing he would get more of that.
For those of you that have not visited the KSC in a while, you must go back as see their new 3-D IMAX on the Space Station. It is breathtaking! Also, the Saturn V Rocket Center was new to me on this trip. What an awesome machine! The films and shows in this part are great educational tools for kids and adults alike. To relive the Apollo missions makes my heart beat fast every time!!
We drove back to Orlando and bought some groceries and returned to our home that evening. They ended up putting us in a 5 BR home (at the cost of a 4). We could have taken some board members with us!! The home had about 2400 square feet and a private screened in pool. It was very nice! They promised us a home with a hottub also and this had none so we called the management company. They agreed to refund us 4 1/2 nights of our stay! Way more than I expected! That made our 9 night stay only $49 per night including tax!
We were pretty tired but had to try out the pool. It was great. Hearing your kids have that much fun made me smile so hard my face hurt a little!
NEXT INSTALLMENT: THE GOOD STUFF! EPCOT ON MONDAY!
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05-22-2003, 10:37 PM
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#3
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Community Rank: Explorer 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Fort Smith, Arkansas
Posts: 10,721
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Re: Still Glowing From the Fun! 5/12-5/21
Hi Lyle-
You are off and running on a great report! I will be curious to see how your DS does- our oldest was originally said to have had Asperger's but now his diagnosis is Pervasive Developmental Delay. I don't know if it's because we started him on Disney young, but he does great and loves it. Our oldest DD has more severe autism and we have yet to try her out there- but I am sure we will.
Anyway, great report and can't wait to read the rest. [img]graemlins/wavin.gif[/img]
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05-23-2003, 09:55 AM
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#4
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Community Rank: Trailblazer 
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Pittsburgh, PA , USA
Posts: 5,943
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Re: Still Glowing From the Fun! 5/12-5/21
Great start to your report!
Congrats on making it through the long drive, and sounds like you had a great time at KSC, and an incredible price on your vacation home!
Can't wait to hear more! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
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05-23-2003, 10:11 AM
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#5
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Community Rank: Adventurer 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Northern NJ
Posts: 969
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Re: Still Glowing From the Fun! 5/12-5/21
Sounds great so far! Keep it coming!
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05-23-2003, 01:20 PM
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#6
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Community Rank: Wayfarer 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Cincinnati
Posts: 197
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Re: Still Glowing From the Fun! 5/12-5/21
Quote:
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Hearing your kids have that much fun made me smile so hard my face hurt a little!
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<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">The best smiling you can do!
Great report so far. I'm anxious to read more and find out how your son reacted to WDW. |
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