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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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07-25-2004, 03:30 PM
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#1
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Community Rank: Traveler
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Cleveland, OH
Posts: 272
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Calling all those who go to the Carolinas!
Hi everyone!
I am planning a trip to the Carolina coast for next June for my parents' 30th anniversary. There will be a total of six adults (my parents, DH and me, sis and her boyfriend) and we would like to rent a house.
I am looking for recommendations on where we should go (location-wise). We have never been to this area, so we are not sure what areas are nice. We are pretty laid back people and are looking for something not too commercial but not too rustic either.
Anybody had experiences with a coastal vacation in the Carolinas? What recommendations can you make?
Thanks!!
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07-25-2004, 05:35 PM
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#2
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Community Rank: Adventurer
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Raleigh, North Carolina
Posts: 589
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Re: Calling all those who go to the Carolinas!
Hello!
I live in NC and love the following beaches: Anywhere on the Outer Banks, Atlantic Beach, Topsail Beach, Wrightsville Beach. Feel free to ask any questions!
Good Luck!
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07-25-2004, 06:57 PM
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#3
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Community Rank: Traveler
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Cleveland, OH
Posts: 272
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Re: Calling all those who go to the Carolinas!
[ QUOTE ]
Hello!
I live in NC and love the following beaches: Anywhere on the Outer Banks, Atlantic Beach, Topsail Beach, Wrightsville Beach. Feel free to ask any questions!
Good Luck!
[/ QUOTE ]
Thanks for your response!! Are these islands or still on the mainland? We want to make sure we can take a car or two there and I saw that one of the islands in southern NC is a "no auto" island.
Also, what types of things are there to do at those places you mentioned? Mini golf or anything like that? My husband likes to regular golf, and the rest of us like mini golf. I'm also assuming that there would be cottages/condos to rent in these locations? I am going to look on a map to try and find these places.
Thanks for the help!!
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07-25-2004, 08:07 PM
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#4
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Community Rank: Adventurer
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Raleigh, North Carolina
Posts: 589
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Re: Calling all those who go to the Carolinas!
The 'no car' place your are talking about is Bald Head Island. All of the places I mentioned you can take a car to! Actually I think all of them are 'islands' but not like you are thinking. They should all have mini golf and most likely regular golf too. Activities would include: the beach of course, mini-golf, shopping, seafood restaurants. If you go to Atlantic Beach/Emerald Isle one of the North Carolina Aquariums is there. Also Beaufort and Swansboro which are both quaint towns aren't too far away (30 minutes max). I really like to go to Emerald Isle. You could definitely rent a house or condo at any place I have mentioned.
Here are some links:
http://www.crystalcoast.com/ for Atlantic Beach/Emerald Isle
http://www.villagerealtyobx.com/ for Outer Banks
http://www.wrightsville.com/
http://www.topsail-realty.com/
Hope this helps!
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07-25-2004, 10:05 PM
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#5
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Community Rank: Traveler
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: NC
Posts: 245
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Re: Calling all those who go to the Carolinas!
I have to say that my favorite beach to visit is Atlantic Beach?emerald Island as well. THere are many sites to see, a few golf courses, Historic areas (Beaufort, Fort Macon), Aquarium, a few Mini Golf complexes with Water Slides and Bumper Cars, but you have lots of cottages to choose from.
I would be happy to send you some information from some of the rental companies that you could contact directly. I am back and forth to Emerald Isle all summer and would be happy to send some brochures.
Just let me know!
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07-25-2004, 10:18 PM
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#6
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 8,784
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Re: Calling all those who go to the Carolinas!
We rented a home in Duck, NC in June 2002 and loved it. Its on the Outer Banks -- Cars travel in this area. I would not go south of Duck, but north of Duck is also nice. If you are interested in renting a house in the Outer Banks, try a company called ResortQuest. I believe its www.resortquest.com. They rent hundreds of homes in OBX alone (also Bethany Beach, Florida, Hawaii, Montana, lots of other places). They will send you a catalog of their homes, or you can look online. Next summer's homes / prices don't come out until 1st of September. The homes are very clean (maids come and clean homes before you arrive), pools are well maintained. I just feel very comfortable because you know what you are getting. They categorize the homes into bronze, silver, gold, platinum. It was just me, my husband and my then 2yo son. So we just rented a townhome which was a silver. It was very nice. Though I think next time will go with a small home that is gold or platinum because they usually have private pools / hot tubs. We had a community pool, but were just steps away from the beach. I love the Outer Banks, wish I could take 2 vacations every summer-- one to Disney and one to OBX.
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07-26-2004, 05:56 PM
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#7
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Community Rank: Adventurer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Broadview Hts., Ohio
Posts: 597
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Re: Calling all those who go to the Carolinas!
We've been going to the Wild Dunes Resort on the Isle of Palms for 5 years now and we LOVE it! ( www.wilddunes.com)
The resort is beautiful and there are accomodations for every budget. (we rent 37 Grand Pavillion) The main attraction is the golf courses there - but they have a wonderful (private) beach, many swimming pools, tennis courts, great childrens and teen programs - I could go on and on. Then - your a skip away from Charleston! The historic houses, the restaurants, the museams, and the shopping. And you must include at least one plantation per visit!
If you have any questions feel free to PM me.
Laura
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07-27-2004, 01:40 PM
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#8
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Community Rank: Globetrotter
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Virginia
Posts: 3,498
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Re: Calling all those who go to the Carolinas!
Laura - I just went to the Wild Dunes website. It's beautiful there. I think this is a must see on my next vacation. I really like that it is close to Charleston, too. The homes for rent are very pretty. Grand Pavillion 37 is gorgeous!
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07-27-2004, 03:08 PM
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#9
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Community Rank: Adventurer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Broadview Hts., Ohio
Posts: 597
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Re: Calling all those who go to the Carolinas!
The first year we stayed at the Linkside villas and they were very nice (and less expensive than a house)
Also, some other websites like - www.dunesproperties.com and www.vrbo.com also rent out properties in Wild Dunes for much cheaper. But if you do that, make sure you understand if all the resorts amenities are included in your stay.
Laura
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07-29-2004, 09:55 AM
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#10
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Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Chapel Hill, NC USA
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 36,592
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Re: Calling all those who go to the Carolinas!
When I first read this an replied, I was thinking you were talking about NC. But, my all time favorite beach place is in SC.....Hilton Head Island. You must look into going there. Also, look at Kiawah Island as well. Both have a laid back feel, but there is plenty to do and see on the islands if you want to venture off the beach.
-HiddenMickey
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