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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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When making our ADR's we have some favorites that we go to each time and I like to try 1 or 2 new places and this year was no execption.
At my 180 day mark at 6 am when I could start booking online I was working. I am a nursing supervisor so I rounded the hospital a litttle early and told everyone not to bug me from 6:00 to 6:30. I was surprised that they listened. I was able to book all my ADR's by 6:20 and did not get interupted once.
Here goes:
Sat 8/28
Breakfast at Crystal Palace (must do each trip)
Dinner at California Grill (new to us)
Sun 8/29
Dinner at Kouzzina (new to us)
Mon 8/30
Dinner LeCellier (my favorite and a must do)
Tue 8/31
Dinner Boma (DH favorite and must do)
Wed 9/1
Dinner Chef de France (new to us)
Thurs 9/2
Breakfast Chef Mickey's (have done dinner, but not breakfast before)
Dinner Whispering Canyon (we love dinner here)
Fri 9/3
Dinner CRT (did breakfast two years ago, now looking forward to trying dinner)
Sat 9/4
Dinner Ohana (must do each trip)
Sun 9/5
Breakfast Cape May (have done dinner, but not breakfast before) --Will eat breakfast then leave to drive home
We will also eat at Beaches and Cream on 8/27 for dinner after we arrive at the Beach Club.
After I planed the where, when, and ADR's I still had over 180 days left until we would arrive.
Well for me that is way to much time on my hands. So I started to think of other things to do while at WDW. So I started looking online at all my favorite sites and boy did that get me into trouble. I have four other special things planned for our trip. I should not be allowed my credit card and the internet when planning for a trip.
Here goes:
First I have planned to have Disney Florist do a in room Celebration for us.
Second I booked the Pirates and Pals cruise.
Thrid I plan to do a photopass shot at BC of our family
Last MNSSHP for Sept 3 if available. (this will be our third time. We still have not seen the parade, but we will this time)
So as you can see this is a no expense spared trip. Even though this is our third trip in three years I wanted to make it extra special. I think that this will truely be the first trip that DS remembers as he gets older. The only problem I see is what will I do next time?
I don't have time to add any new pictures today, but I will add more pictures next week.
Well now it is time to share the details I have planned for our trip.
We find it easier to drive than fly with the extras we need to take because of DS age, plus it is nice to have our car on property.
So we will leave on Thurday August 26 to start driving down. i will take DH to work and DS has preschool summer camp from 9:30-12:00. I will load up the car while DS is at school then pick him up. We will come home, eat lunch, attempt take a nap, then go pick up DH at 4:00pm and leave .
I will pick up Mc Donald's for DS before we pick up DH so he can eat when he gets hungry. DH and I will stop and get something when we get hungry. We will drive until we get to Charlotte, NC. We will stay at a Hampton on the border of South Carolina. We usually get there around midnight.
Hopefully DS will have fallen asleep by 9:00 pm. I will also doze on the trip. We will get up around 6:00 am and get ready to leave. We will grab a quick breakfast at the Hampton and drive the rest of the way.
We will stop for lunch when we get hungry. And hopefully get to the Beach Club between 3-4 pm.
My plans for our first night is to unpack, eat dinner at Beaches-n-Cream, swim, and if we feel up to it watch the movie on the beach and roast smores.
Our trip last year we stayed at POP. We had the best room for us. We were in the Seventy section on the first floor right by the food court. When you walked out our door there was twister and a short walk away was the pop up jets. Here a few picutures from that trip.
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