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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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PassPorter Guide Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Ballston Lake, NY
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It's a good thing I'm heading to eat lunch in a few minutes. All those treats looked yummy Great pictures with the characters. I love the ones of Duffy and Emily with her Duffy Bear.
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Your F&W pics look delicious. What a fantastic day at Epcot!
Thanks!!! It was!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
What a yummy time at Epcot! Love the pictures!
Thanks!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
It's a good thing I'm heading to eat lunch in a few minutes. All those treats looked yummy Great pictures with the characters. I love the ones of Duffy and Emily with her Duffy Bear.
Ha! I warned you! Thanks! Those were some of my fav pics of this trip!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by honeybee723
Oh boy am I super hungry now after reading that last update! Loved all of the food porn, but my tummy's growling now!
LOL! I warned you!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
Fantastic food and photos, too! My favorites are the ones of Em and big and little Duffy. Super-cute!
Thanks!!! Those are some of my fav pics too!
Quote:
Originally Posted by mojjo
Great pics!!! The food looks amazing and you guys look like you had a really great day!
Thanks!! We did!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
You all did a fine job of sampling around the World for the F&WF!
Yes we did!!! It was delish!!
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
Man, Photobucket is Sllllllllooooooooooowwwwwww tonight!! I am trying to ge the next update done tonight before I head to bed - but they are being so slow!!!
I am realizing that I only have 15 more sleeps till the next trip and I am determined to get this TR done before then!!! Wish me luck - as work continues to be INSANE beyone INSANE!!! Today was beyond horrible - I feel like I have been beaten up with all the schlepping of toys, food, and turkeys and still doing my "regular" work on top of it - and then to add fuel to the fire, my last hour was just pure H**L..................I was screamed at, cursed at, and hung up on by 3 different clients all in a row!!! I honestly don't understand why people are so rude and think that by screaming and cursing at you will make you want to help them???? And to make it even worse, these people I am dealing with are calling because they need financial assistance and seriously? you want to bite the hand that feeds you??? I just don't get it...............
I had to keep telling myself........15 more days, 15 more days.........
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
Today we woke early (7ish) as we had a 8:30 ADR at Tusker House (my FAV breakfast!) so we got right there – and apparently I had messed up……or Disney hours did……..as I had it listed as a regular opening day – and figured that we would come out of breakfast and head straight for the safari…..but when we arrived at the park we found that the gates were already open and they were letting everyone with resort keys in!!! Uggghhhh……oh well.
We stopped for our 1st photopass photo for Animal Kingdom of this trip!
We checked in at Tusker House – did our usual of requesting our favorite servers (Neil) section – only to find out that he was off!!! BUMMER!!! I had sent him a message a few months prior that we were coming and to confirm what days he worked – and apparently come to find out they had gone on a cruise! Oh well – next time!
We were told to head straight up to meet the host of breakfast – the #1 man himself (or at least he believes so!)…………Donald!
While we were waiting to have our photograph, there was this little guy before us – maybe 1 ½ - 2 yrs if that – he was fascinated with Donald – he kept nuzzling in Donald’s armpit and just staring up at him – it was the cutest thing ever!!! They ended up sitting a few tables over from us in the restaurant and he reacted the same way when Daisy visited – but when Mickey came – he cried!!!! Daisy went back over and he stopped and just starred and smiled!!! It was the cutest ever!!
Anyway – after the photo and being sat (in that side small room with horrible lighting and shadows – and oh well) we started fixing our plates – I love the sweet potatoes here!!! And of course we had Mickey waffles and all the other breakfast goodies!
We met the usual gang:
Mickey:
Mickey thought it was cool to sign Em's shoe!!!
A Kiss for Mickey!!!
Daisy:
Goofy:
After full bellies and new memories made, we headed for Kilimanjaro Safari’s for our 2 week adventure! Our guide for this adventure was Brent – and he was fantastic!!!
Apparently the rhino did not want to be photographed today
And the hippos were still sleepy!
Baby baboon!!!
Cheetah!!!
Typical Kitties!!!
This guy was hanging out just across from the Lions!
And she was keeping a close eye on him!!!
After our safari was cut short due to those nasty poachers – we peeked in on my gorilla friend
and then decided to walk the Pangani Forest Trail (I love this area!) to see if Lily and family were out.
Unfortunately – Lily was pretty far away and only stayed for a short time and then seemed to have taken off for a shady spot to nap.
Now it was time to find that Yeti – so on to Expedition Everest it was!
But we found this along the way!!!
Of course…..we had to stop for a few photopass photos along the way!!!
Finally, we were boarding the train for our expedition to find the Yeti!
And then we found another photopass photographer! (I am getting my money’s worth of this photopass+!)
Next we headed to Dinoland to ride Dinosaur – however, it was down, so we then took a spin on Primeval Whirl (why do I subject myself to this torture??? I absolutely HATE this ride!!! I come off with immediate bruises every single time!) and Em was excited as Scott was able to ride it this time (although he really should not with his back, but last summer, he was only 8 weeks post-op and couldn’t ride it!)
wonder if she caught any extra protein???
After being beaten up by the Primeval Whirl – we started heading towards the front of the park – and we found Dug & Russell!!! We got in line – and of course they had to go in for a snack break but we were told they would be back in about 10 minutes, so we waited – Scott went to get some Dibs (the ice cream bites) to snack on while waiting. He made it back just in time for Dug & Russell’s return!
This was such a FUN character interaction – Dug was licking and sniffing all of us and Em thought he was just bizarre (she was starting to show her teen side now).
We strolled into some of the shops – Emily had seen a skirt she wanted to wear to the MNSSHP with her tee – so we were on the hunt for it – turns out, it was sold in the kids store over by Africa – so we trekked over there – and of course, I am thinking there is no way this skirt is going to fit her if it is kids size – BUT it did!!! She was so excited and purchased it for herself! Again – happy to be getting the Premium Annual pass discount!!
It was now time for some relaxing and cooling off (it was HOT!!!) so we headed back to SSR and quickly got into our bathing suits – I had packed up some snacks (the remainder of the apple & cheese tray – adding some more cheese and crackers and granola) and some adult beverages for Scott & I and we walked downstairs to the pool! I have to say that I really enjoyed being next to the Grandstand pool – it was so quiet there – you didn’t have to fight for a lounge chair or table. And I was more excited that Emily really enjoyed it there and didn’t even want to go to the main pool!
We stayed at the pool for a few hours, just relaxing, playing in the water – Scott took a nap ~ I enjoyed my Bud Lime-a-Ritas! We were all good!!
My Little Mermaid!!!
View of our building from in the pool!
Goggle face!
Yep - absolutely put this on facebook for all the guys at the firehouse to see how SCott spends his afternoons on vacation!
Emily loved hanging out in this area!!!
We sprayed each other with these guys for quite some time!!
See how empty it was??? LOVE it!!!
It was time to head back up to the room to shower and get ready for the MNSSHP!!!
Up next: Really…….please don’t rain on my parade!!!!
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
Yum - Tusker House! Great pics from Animal Kingdom and the pool at SSR.
Here's hoping your work days calm down some - it has to be frustrating, especially when you are trying to help people!
Thanks! Yes - my job can be just as frustrating as it can be rewarding! Good thing I have Disney to immerse myself in!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coop
Looking like fun! Em is sooo cute! I've never tried Primevil whirl, or Dinosaur for that matter. We tend to skip Dinoland all together.
Thanks for the compliments on Em! She is pretty darn cute! Just wished she looked more like me - not a mini of her father!! LOL!! You have to go over to Dinoland at least to check it out - just skip Primeval!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by sc507
Oops, I was behind! What a great day at Epcot - you really got a lot done! And some yummy food consumed too
Your AK day was busy too! Nice that you had a break at the pool. Great pictures for both days - love the ones with Dug especially
Thanks!! Dug was a riot!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
What a great morning at AK! Love the pictures! Looks like a fun time at the pool!
Thanks!! We did have a great time!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
What a great day!
getting the rest of the report done before you head out again!
Thanks! I am determined!!
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
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Great pictures with the characters. I love the ones of Duffy and Emily with her Duffy Bear.
Loved all of the food porn, but my tummy's growling now!
PassPorter Guide Author
getting the rest of the report done before you head out again! 
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