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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Sorry to see your trip come to an end, but it looks like you got to see a lot of DLR. I don't like the "Disney Parks" logo as well, and I've mentioned it to several management level people I've met in the past...still, I've got to assume it's a financial decision. Unfortunately, that results in many of us buying a lot less than we would have if the items were specific to each Disney park!
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Huge Disney Fan...Always Have Been...Always Will Be!
Disneyland 60th Anniversary Celebration TR here!
2013 WDW trip here!
2011 trip to Hawaii here!
Just got caught up! I can't believe your trip report is almost over. The World of Color sounds like it would be so neat to see in person, I would love to see it one day.
Glad you enjoyed WOC. I can't wait to see it for the first time. My last trip, I missed the soft opening by a couple of weeks! Sounds like it was a really fun trip. I'm sad to hear there isn't much DL specific merchandise, though. Looking forward to your final thoughts.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OneLittleSpark
Sounds like productive shopping. Can't wait to hear you final thoughts!
Coming right up!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
I hate that more and more of the park merchandise is generic "Disney Parks" stuff. Sorry your trip is winding to a close!
It makes me mad too about the generic stuff, especially since I was looking for things for friends who I know probably won't get out to Disneyland. I wanted something that said Disneyland.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
So sorry to see this trip come to an end, as I've really enjoyed reading all about it.
Thanks Cheryl!
Quote:
Originally Posted by shnewell
Sorry to hear your trip is coming to an end, but glad you got in some last minute shopping. Looking forward to your final thoughts!
I'm sad it's over too. Hopefully I'll be able to get back out there soon!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dlandmom2
Sorry to see your trip come to an end, but it looks like you got to see a lot of DLR. I don't like the "Disney Parks" logo as well, and I've mentioned it to several management level people I've met in the past...still, I've got to assume it's a financial decision. Unfortunately, that results in many of us buying a lot less than we would have if the items were specific to each Disney park!
I agree, I find myself buying less and less at Disney!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lazanya
All caught up! What a great time you're having! Love all the pictures! (kinda makes me wanna go to DL now! )
Every Disney fan should check out DL at least once
Quote:
Originally Posted by lexiemom
Just got caught up! I can't believe your trip report is almost over. The World of Color sounds like it would be so neat to see in person, I would love to see it one day.
Hopefully you'll be able to check World of Color someday!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Just getting caught up again Kathy! More great pictures! Glad you had a great time at DL and DCA! Sorry it's all over!
Thanks Marnie!
Quote:
Originally Posted by PrincessSharon
Glad you enjoyed WOC. I can't wait to see it for the first time. My last trip, I missed the soft opening by a couple of weeks! Sounds like it was a really fun trip. I'm sad to hear there isn't much DL specific merchandise, though. Looking forward to your final thoughts.
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First I'd like to thank everyone for reading along. I was so excited to share my first trip to Disneyland with everyone.
Final Thoughts:
The Hotel: If you are looking for an inexpensive place to stay and don't mind the walk, I recommend the Motel 6. It was really a lot nicer than I expect and the walk was only 15 mins. There is a shuttle, but we actually figured out that it took the same time to walk to the park as it took for the shuttle to get to the park. The room was very spacious. We had plenty of room for Arabella's pack and play and stroller and we weren't tripping over anything.
Disneyland: If you go thinking it will be just like WDW, you're in for a surprise. DL is smaller and the layout was a little confusing (probably because I don't know it like the back of my hand) However it has a charm that WDW doesn't have. Walking down Main Street, you can feel Walt in the park.
Personally I found the rides that are the same in both parks were better at DL. The only ones I can't compare are Pirates (it was closed), Space Mt. (I don't like this ride) and Splash Mt. (Didn't get a chance to ride) I loved the addition of the characters to Small World. I've heard others say they don't like them, but I think it's a cute touch. Haunted Mansion with the Holiday layover was awesome!!! I loved how the outside was decorated, it made it that much spookier. The queue for Big Thunder was really cool. Lots of little details to look at while you waited in line. And I'm not sure, but the ride felt longer to me than the one at WDW. And Jungle Cruise was the same, with the exception of the missing temple.
ToonTown is always what I thought ToonTown should look like. It was such a cute area and made me want to move in and be Mickey's neighbor! I do wish I spent a little more time in there, but it was always super crowded.
California Adventure: The construction walls made it a little hard to enjoy this park. But I think once they are done, this is going to look great! For those waiting for the Little Mermaid ride at WDW, you are going to love it!! Probably one of my favorite rides at DCA. Soarin was exactly the same, with the exception of the queue. And Tower of Terror was different, but better at DCA.
World of Color was the highlight of the trip for me. If you are at DLR, don't miss it! Get a FP for the 9pm show if possible. It seemed less crowded than all the people waiting for the 10:30pm show.
Mickey's Halloween Party: I have nothing to compare this too since I've never done MNSSHP. We had a great time though and I came home with so much candy! The lines for characters were very long, but if you are willing to wait, you can meet a lot of villians.
All in all, this was a great weekend trip. Next time I would like to go during the week to see how the crowd differs from the weekend. In fact, my mom was talking about maybe heading out to Arizona for Christmas next year and maybe just maybe a little road trip to Disneyland
Great TR, Kathy!! Thanks for sharing your vacation with us!
I agree with you that DLR has a certain charm that WDW lacks. When we planned our first trip to DLR in September 2010, everyone told us we would be disappointed by it because we had been to WDW so many times. On the contrary, we fell in love with it! It is a nice way to get a Disney "fix" without the overwhelming-ness (ok, that's not really a word) of a WDW trip.
I'm glad you enjoyed your trip and hope you will get a chance to return to DLR soon!!
Great TR, Kathy! Makes me miss DL! I agree that their version of the same rides is often better, and can say that goes for PotC and Splash Mtn.
Hope you're able to get back there again to spend more time.
Thanks, Kathy. I really enjoyed the TR and wrap-up. I agree with you that the feel of DL is just more Disney than MK. I think Pirates and Splash are the only two rides I've done at both parks. Small World was closed for re-hab when I was at DL. Pirates I agree is better at DL. Splash I like better at WDW because I don't like the logs at DL. I love just walking around DL-- charm is the perfect description.
Thanks for all the tips on the things at DCA I've never done. I can't wait!
Great report Kathy, thanks for sharing your adventure! I have never been to DL and probably never will. I don't have anyone in the west to go to that would warrant a trip to DL, and WDW is just so much closer to me...and bigger! LOL
DisneyDana, Ashli, and I always have this argument. D-Dana prefers DL and she is always saying that is has a charm that WDW doesn't have. I can't judge bc of never going to DL, but I can say from everything I have seen and read, I am a WDW girl all the way. Now Ashli just went to DL this year and she said that there were a few things that she felt were better, but overall she is a WDW gal all the way too. We are always debating if DL is Wa;t's original vision (which is Dana's opinion) or whether WDW was Walt's ultimate vision (mine and Ashli's opinion). I just found it interesting that you said the same things Dana always says.
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(kinda makes me wanna go to DL now! 
The World of Color sounds like it would be so neat to see in person, I would love to see it one day.
"Sparky"(My first trip.)
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