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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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While there, the tears that had been threatening for the last couple of hours finally came. I couldn’t believe how beautiful this park looked and I really didn’t want to leave. I vowed there and then that we would come back here again, as one visit to Tokyo Disney just isn’t enough. : Mark, for all his apprehension before we flew out here, immediately agreed with me.
Aw - I'm tearing up just thinking about this part of our future trip (positive thinking - it WILL happen!), and that's like four years away...
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Tinkerboo (or in the real world, Toyah) Reading Challenge 2015: 0/84
Follow my journey from sweaty panting mess to running goddess (I hope!) Out walking with The Boy...
You sure do seem to have time this trip right. Cherry blossoms and a full moon, too.
I've already asked my dh if he would mind if I went to Japan without him. Say, sometime around 2013?
Sounds like a plan.... there are a lot of us planning to go then!
Great updates!! But No Way would Tokyo be your new home. It needs to be Florida(Celebration) so that it'll be easier for me to come visit. No way Tokyo
You mean you wouldn't come and visit us in Tokyo Disney? Go on... you know you want to!
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What beautiful photos! I can't wait to see it in person. I agree about Mark, he's a keeper. I would've been in tears having to leave DisneySea early than I was ready and knowing that the next day I was going home. Not sure that I want to read the next installment. So glad that you have a plan to go back. That always dulls the pain.
Aw - I'm tearing up just thinking about this part of our future trip (positive thinking - it WILL happen!), and that's like four years away...
Remember, this is what I quoted at the time. In fact, I've had to change the very last couple of lines of this trip report to reflect developments since we got back...
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
So sorry to hear that your ankle acted up badly on your last night there, but you sure toughed it out and enjoyed the most of your last evening (what an amazing park at night). Your photos were great, I loved how different everything looked in the evening.
What a wonderful surprise from Mark, and I am so glad that you found some shirts you liked. I have been debating about trying to get away for a few days in December (I still owe myself a mom trip) and hearing about Mark's hats might just be the push I need
When the wake up call came at 5.30, I really didn’t want to know. Not only was it early, but it was our last day and I really didn’t want to leave here, either Tokyo Disney or Japan. : I had absolutely fallen in love with both over the last couple of weeks and I now left here, just as determined to come back as I had been to come out here in the first place. When we left, I had no idea how or when, but now 2013 is looking like a good plan – and has the makings of perhaps the most amazing PassPorter meet ever.
We were quickly showered and the rest of the packing was done, more easily than we thought, so we then had time to kill. Well, what else would we do, but sit and look at the beautiful view below us? Already, Cast Members were out, getting the park ready for another day and we just sat and watched them at work.
The light was lovely and was catching things in the distance, so for the first time, I saw the castle at Tokyo Disneyland and realised that was clearly visible from our room, along with some of the Tokyo Bay hotels. It was lovely…
We lingered as long as we could before heading down to check out. That done, it was outside to wait for the airport bus and that was where our problems started…
They asked for our tickets and I handed over the one that we had been given, but then got told that we should have two. I hadn’t touched them since we got the tickets from bell services, so I knew that was all we had been given and they had a receipt that showed that we had paid for two. I thought that would be fine, but apparently not. We were told that we would have to pay for the other ticket, which was 2400¥. Just as well we kept some cash back. I was pretty fuming when the bus arrived, but there was nothing we could do about it.
We called at a few of the Tokyo Bay hotels and then the Disneyland Hotel, before we got on to the expressway. By the time we got to the airport, it was 8.35, an hour and a half after we started out. That was a lot longer than I had expected.
We had to have our passports checked when we got to the airport and then when we got to terminal two, a woman boarded the bus and asked for me by name. She told us that the missing ticket had been found at the hotel and gave us our money back. How about that for service? I know that it wasn’t in the room anywhere, because I checked it thoroughly before we left, so I guess they went back and double checked at bell services and presumably found it there.
Our final stop was terminal and that was ours, so we got off the bus and headed into the terminal, seeing the Virgin Atlantic check-in counters straight ahead of us. There weren’t too many people already in line, but the counters didn’t open until 9.00, which did surprise us a bit, as usually it’s three hours before international flights, not two and a half hours.
We got talking to a couple behind us, who had been on their annual visit to see their son. He had married a Japanese woman and now they had two children. They had just been out to celebrate the five year old’s birthday. They were so nice and it was such a shame when they realised that they were in the wrong line and were travelling in Economy and not Premium Economy. Off they headed and a couple of minutes, check in was open.
We quickly checked in and had no problems with the weight of either case. We had weighed them this morning and know that both were about a kilogram overweight, but the woman didn’t even check the weight. Result! The carry on luggage wasn’t weighed either, which was a bonus, as I’m sure mine was overweight as well.
We headed through security and that was straightforward enough. Then we started to walk down towards our gate. On the way, we had a quick look in the duty free shop, but there wasn’t much in there. Our priority was to grab some breakfast and, when we saw McDonalds, I knew we had to eat there, as they have the locally cinnamon melts, while Mark had the sausage and egg McMuffin. It was exactly what we both needed.
Almost next door was a bookshop, with exactly what I had been looking for all trip long – English books about Japan, so I got one and looked at two others that I knew I could get at home. When we got back, I did indeed order those two.
There was also a lovely origami shop next door, with some amazing items in there. I think I’ll stick with scrapbooking though. I don’t need another hobby, as scrapbooking keeps me busy enough.
We headed to the gate and grabbed some seats. Then I went and had a look around the airport. It’s a lovely place and I was really taken with all the Japanese art that they had there.
I wandered back to the gate and suggested to Mark that maybe we should check and see how much Japanese change we still had. We emptied our pockets and discovered that we had enough to get a bottle of sake, so I went off to go and get that. Well, it’s better than taking home coins that you can’t change back into your own currency.
We didn’t have long to wait. When they say they’ll be boarding you at a certain time, you never do board at that time, but here, we did and it was Japanese efficiency at its best, with two entrances open on to the plane. Premium and Economy passengers carried on walking and entered further up the plane, while Upper Class entered through the front – very clever.
Our complimentary champagne was handed off as we waited for take-off:
Unsurprisingly, we left on time. Now that’s a rarity these days!
The flight was 12 hours and they brought the food out a little faster than they did on the way out and again, it was very good.
As soon as the entertainment system started, I watched Seven Pounds, which was very good, but very moving and depressing towards the end. After that and a quick nap, I needed something a bit more cheery, so I opted for Bolt, which was a lot of fun and Disney at its best.
Next it was on to more serious staff and Frost Nixon, which was a superb film. It’s fortunate that there were so many films on, as 12 hours is a long time to spend on a plane and a day time flight at that. They did dim the lights to encourage people to sleep, but to be honest, most people I saw were like us and awake for much of the time.
I even managed to get a fourth film in during the flight, Marley and Me, which was pretty cute. A nap after that finished and then it was time for our final meal before arrival to be served.
At some point during the flight, I did manage to avert my eyes from the various films I was watching to get some photos of the landscape outside – I’m guessing this is Russia or China, although I don’t know for definite.
We touched down pretty much on time and once we got off, it was a long walk to passport control. When we got there, we were very glad to be British passport holders. The line for us was almost non-existent, but for non-EU nationals, it was horrendous, with literally a couple of hundred people waiting in line.
Once through, we saw our cases already doing the rounds, so picked them up and headed out, getting a taxi back to the hotel where we had left the car a couple of weeks earlier at the start of this adventure. From there, it was an hour’s drive home and back to reality.
Today we walked 1.45 miles The weather today was already in the low 70s when we left Tokyo, but cloudy, damp and in the low 50s when we landed in London. The best thing today was at least getting to see four films on the flight home. The worst thing today was coming home.
Well, that was fun, Cheryl.A month in the telling (I went back and looked, thefirst post was 6/5)! I think we"ve all gotten too used to waking up and reading about Japan... it will leave us going to work thinking something is missing!
But, anyway, a great story, and I can't wait for "final thoughts".
What a great trip report, thank you very much for sharing with us!! I felt like I was right there with you!! Tokyo Disney is such a beautiful park, I hope that I am able to visit it sometime. Can't wait for your final thoughts!!
Well, that was fun, Cheryl.A month in the telling (I went back and looked, thefirst post was 6/5)! I think we"ve all gotten too used to waking up and reading about Japan... it will leave us going to work thinking something is missing!
But, anyway, a great story, and I can't wait for "final thoughts".
I agree. It's our first thing to do in the morning. The Disney part started 6/5 but don't forget that it started with just Japan. That started at the end of April? What will we do with ourselves Hmmmm, how about start at the beginning.
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Oct '99: CSR ~ May '02: CR ~ Nov '04: SOG ~ May '06: SOG ~ Dec '07: Solo @ Pop ~ May '08: Pop w/friends ~ Oct '08: SOG ~ Dec '09: Pop w/LeAnn ~ Sept '10: Solo @ Pop ~ Spring '11: AKL ~ Jan '12: Pop for 1/2 Marathon ~ Sept '12: 1st trip for DL 1/2 Marathon? ~ Feb '13: Pop w/pals? ~ Mar '13: Tokyo Disney w/PP's?
What a bittersweet entry. But, you have 2013 to look forward to. I too will miss the daily updates and pictures. What a great...and consistently timely...TR writer you are
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
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: Mark, for all his apprehension before we flew out here, immediately agreed with me. 
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I agree about Mark, he's a keeper. I would've been in tears having to leave DisneySea early than I was ready and knowing that the next day I was going home. Not sure that I want to read the next installment. 
So glad that you have a plan to go back. That always dulls the pain.
The carry on luggage wasn’t weighed either, which was a bonus, as I’m sure mine was overweight as well. 
Hmmmm, how about start at the beginning. 
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