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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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.
AK is always the hottest park. I don't care when you go. Disney definitely hit the mark though with that hot/humid/jungle feeling. We take it really slow and typically spend all day there. This was the first time we didn't spend 12 hours there, we only spent 9 hours there . We were willing to spend more time there but the darn rain came and stayed with thunder and lightning and pretty much everything would have been closed so there really was nothing we could do anyway. Oh well, there's always next time.
I'm glad you enjoyed your time at the MK too. I haven't eaten at Pecos Bills in years (we never seem to be hungry in that part of the park) but your burger sounded really good. I think it's always fun to chat with others about "holidays." It certainly does pass the time. And getting to the room exhausted? Well you've already read my TR so you know I totally get it.
Good luck with posting the pictures. I'd love to see them and come back when you can to post more.
I slept in until 7:45am. I decided to visit Pop Century and Art of Animation. They both were pretty cool looking, but a little disappointed about their gift shops. I forgot that Disney did away with the Resort themeing. (The muscles in my ankles were hurting, took one naproxen). I walked over to AoA and decided to eat lunch there. It was okay I had the Mongolian Beef with rice and spinach with some nasty cheese. I was not impressed. I think I ate 1/2 of it. I was going to go back to the room, but decide to go to Epcot (my favorite). I basically traveled through the World Showcase, started in Mexico. When I got to Japan I tried Kaki Gori- Most surprising and refreshing. I was such a dope why hadn’t I tried this before? I got the multi flavors. Sat near the store since it was starting to rain then went into the big Japan store. It was very crowded, but I managed to find something for my mom’s 2 cats. I came out and it was pouring rain and waited until it stopped. Continued walking and decided to eat dinner at Seasons. I had soup, chicken Caesar salad, and an iced tea. It was okay. My feet started to hurt so I went back to the room. (Soarin’ was way too long to wait). Filled 2 bags with ice and iced my tired feet! Then of course found a favorite show of mine, even in Disney; Law & Order CI!!!
I still have Saturday, Sunday, and Monday to post!
__________________
Kate in PA All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them- Walt Disney
I am sorry it has taken me awhile to post....
Saturday August 17th:
I wanted to ride Peter Pan so I got up early. (I had taken 2 naproxen before I left; this saved me because my feet and joints didn’t hurt all day.) I was also meeting my 1st Passporter Family; Darlene, Abby, and Lenny around 1pm. Rode Peter Pan and the line was only 20 minutes. It was a Great ride. Then I walked up to see the new Fantasyland with Belle’s Castle. It was pretty cool! Also pretty dang hot too. Rode Ariel’s ride- seashells were embedded in the ground before the ride. Noticed at around 10:30am there was a line for Be Our Guest. I decide to eat lunch at Casey’s before meeting up with Darlene. I bought Lenny a Birthday present and something for Abby. I then hustled myself back to the train stop in Fantasyland. That is where I finally met Darlene. It was the nicest thing that happened other than going to Disney by myself. Abby was much taller and I may have seen her real smile, other than the one she uses for pictures! LOL! We went on the train 2 times around. Then we all went to It’s a Small World- 3 times, the most I ever went on. The song never stayed in my brain! It was so nice and sweet to talk to another adult and Mom; we talked about all kinds of things. I loved listening to Darlene’s “trip report” before she wrote it. I didn’t over stay my Welcome; I left them because they were going on Peter Pan’s Flight and I was headed back to the room. Actually I decide to go on the Liberty Belle. I took a lot of pictures and then had a coke slurpee. It kept me cool and I ended up finding this path alongside the castle and took some great shots. I was walking down Main Street and decide to go into the candy store. I ended up buying a cake pop and a cupcake. I really wanted cotton candy, but as I was walking through the store, I saw a man making cotton candy- it was purple. He turned to me and said “If you say the magic word (which was space Mickey)” He gave me huge handful of purple cotton candy-FREE! It was so delish! It hit the spot! I went back to the room to drop off my snacks and headed to DTD. Of course the only time I had problems with the bus service it had to be at that time that I was headed down to eat dinner. When I got to the bus stop there was already a long line. The bus for DTD took a long time, I would say at least 25 minutes. When a DTD bus came up, it didn’t stop where the buses are suppose to pick up, but whoever was at the back of that long line was able to get on the bus! Pretty angry people spoke their minds! I was not angry because I knew that a bus was coming, and sure enough one came right away. I was determined to eat at Fulton’s without a reservation. The wait was an hour, but I with some Disney luck, I was sitting at the bar eating the crab legs that were Delish! Other people were doing that as well. I had the best Bartender/Wait Staff, Sara! The corn and the potatoes were good too. After I went to World of Disney and it was quite crowded. I had a nice conversation with a cast member that worked there. I did buy 2 non-Disney shirts for my boys. I went back to my room, I was so very tired!
I promise to post the rest of my Trip Report this weekend..... I am not dragging it out on purpose.....
Enjoy! : )
__________________
Kate in PA All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them- Walt Disney
I am going to be real good.. I am going to post the rest of my trip....
Sunday, August 18th:
My last full day at Disney! (I again took 2 naproxen to help me through the day.) I was determined to get on Soarin’ so I got to Epcot early and when I got there the sign read 50 minutes. I decide to do it anyway, no scheduled plans. By the time I got to the pre-boarding, it took 22 minutes! Not sure why the sign said 50 minutes! It was great and better than I remembered! I went to Ellen’s adventure and I always laugh! I was tempted to go on the new test Track, but wasn’t sure and decided to walk around the World Showcase instead. I ate some yummy nachos in Mexico. I had another Kaki Gori again! They are just so refreshing! Plus that day was Beautiful, there wasn’t any humidity and there was a nice breeze. It never rained and when I was done I decide to go and visit my favorite resort, the Polynesian. I took the monorail which brings back so many childhood memories. When I got to the Polynesian, I took some great pictures of the water fountain. Then walked down to the pool; the plan was that I was going to find a chair and just soak up the atmosphere, with my toes free. I could not find a chair, but on the “beach” I did. Took some great shots, but noticed a huge gray rain cloud coming over the Polynesian. I made my way back to the Lobby, and sat down. It poured rain and I decided to rest there. I looked up from my book and there was a wedding couple getting their picture taken in front of the water fall! The bridesmaid’s dress was pretty too. Then I decided to test fate again and I got in line for O’hana’s. Once again I did not have a reservation; I got in line at 4:30pm with 3 couples in front of me and by 5:10pm I had the alarm in my hand. I did get to eat at O’hana’s and even though I wasn’t starving the food was Delish! Brandon my wait-staff took care of me! The chicken with the peanut sauce, just so goooood! I again left full and decided to not go back to POR, but I took the monorail and went to MK. As I was walking to the gate there was lightening and a huge dark cloud over MK. I called my boys and talked to them; they were over my parent’s house having dinner. It started to rain and I ended up being outside of the candy store (where I got the free cotton candy), I did buy some but it wasn’t purple. It was raining so I stood under the awning outside and had a nice conversation with a huge family; I think they were from Ohio and they just got off from a Disney cruise. I decided to ride the train as my last ride. It was so Great! I took some pictures before boarding the train; the castle was in pink and the sky behind it was blue. I got on the bus back to my resort and it was standing room only. I stood and was talking to part of a big family. The lightening and the thunder was big and loud. It was pouring rain when I got off the bus! From the food court to my room, my sneakers were soaked. I finished packing and went to bed.
Keep reading..... Please and Thank you!
__________________
Kate in PA All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them- Walt Disney
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
I got up and decided to eat breakfast at the food court. It was nuts and crowded!! I ended up getting eggs, pancakes and potatoes (no biscuit). I realized there was no way I could eat that food every morning. I went to the gift shop spent some money and came back to the room. Somehow all the things I bought either fit in my suitcase or the extra bag that was coming on the plane with me. Gathered all my stuff and walked to the main building. It was going to be another humid and hot day! I boarded the ME bus, with no sadness! This was a 1st since all the other times I was always sad! I made it to the airport and my suitcase was under the 50 pounds; more Disney luck! I found the gate and sat down to eat the chocolate croissant that I bought earlier. Oh it was so Delish! OMG! Then was talking to 3 little kids, they were so cute! I almost missed boarding the plane because I was talking to one of the kids! I had an aisle seat and spent about 1/2 my time talking to another passenger who was sitting by the window in the same row as me. He was from Birmingham, AL. He was headed to Havertown; I grew up there so I was able to give him some good directions. He had 2 boys, 9 and 8. He was traveling for his job; something to do with training and car insurance. It was nice to have a relaxing conversation with someone like that especially after having a Great and Fantastic time in Disney! My mom picked me up and we met up with my dad and my 2 boys for dinner!
I would definitely go again, solo! (okay it was my 1st time going solo!)
I did list some things I learned from this last trip, but I am still adding to it. I will post as soon as I am done....soon I promise!
Thank you to You for following and giving me such positive words! I am sorry I dragged this report out...but somehow Life got involved! LOL!
__________________
Kate in PA All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them- Walt Disney
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
. We were willing to spend more time there but the darn rain came and stayed with thunder and lightning and pretty much everything would have been closed so there really was nothing we could do anyway. Oh well, there's always next time.
Liz 
Your meal at Fulton's sounded delicious! 
Linear Mode
