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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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What an awesome, awesome trip we had!! This TR will probably be very long as I want to tell you ALL about it!!! We had gorgeous, warm weather and found lots of fun, new things to do! Okay, let's get started......
Day #1 - A Travel Day 2-05-15
We left a cold and windy VA and started our LONG drive. Other than a quick stop at Wal-Mart for snacks and new windshield wipers, the drive today was pretty uneventful.
We listened to LOTS of SiriusXM during our drive....I thought it was that one of the first songs that came on was this one...
We stopped for lunch at Dairy Queen, and while I can't say much for the chicken strip basket I got, the mint chip blizzard made up for it. YUM!
We made it to South of the Border by 5:30.....
and stopped for the night at Country Inn & Suites in Pooler, GA around 8:30.
Dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse and day one was in the books.
I took a bath and wrote some notes in my journal while Peter watched some tv.
Day 2 - Another Travel Day / Arrive at WDW 2-06-15
I woke up at 6:30, but didn't get out of bed until 7:00. Peter got a shower while I got ready. We had breakfast, then left the hotel around 8:45. It was 31 degrees.
We gassed up the SUV and started the last leg of our drive. Gas was so much cheaper this year, and made driving a money saving option. We got it for under $2.00 at several stations, but the average price per gallon was around $2.19-$2.29.
Other than stopping at a rest stop after entering Florida, we drove straight through to Orlando.
It was now 52 degrees and very sunny!!
WE'RE HERE!!!!!!!!
We were scheduled to check in on Saturday morning, but got there today and just added the extra night. Of course, this would be a room only reservation for tonight, so no dining plan or park tickets until our package started tomorrow. No problem in WDW, there are plenty of things to do and places to eat without going to the parks.
We drove straight to ALL STAR MUSIC resort and talked with the CM. A quick phone call and we were in!
Broadway Section 8 Room #8447
We drove around to find our room, I changed clothes, and we drove back around to park the car. We were headed to DTD, so we got in line for our very first bus of our trip.
It was now 2:30 and we were starving! We decided to just get a sandwich, as we planned to have dinner somewhere a little later.
We chose Earl of Sandwich.....best.sandwiches.ever!
We both got the Italian- salami, capicola, ham, mortadella, mozzarella, roma tomato, peppers and Italian dressing. Peter added a fruit cup and we both got sodas. OOP=$24.96
We had decided we would try to take the balloon ride (Characters In Flight), since we never got to do it last trip.
BUT....it was not running due to wind.
Next, we took the bus over to the Boardwalk to hang out and possibly have dinner and watch Epcot's fireworks.
We had never been inside this resort...it is gorgeous!
We sat out on the deck overlooking the boardwalk for a little while, just taking it all in.
We walked around a little and looked at menus. I had originally thought we might try Big River Grille, but Peter didn't seem interested, so we walked on around to Yacht Club, and checked out Captain's Grille.
We just weren't feeling it here and knew where we wanted to go. We took the bus over to Magic Kingdom, and hopped on the monorail.
We hoped to eat at Kona, but soon found out that there was nothing available. The CM told us though that Kona offered their full menu at Kona Island (the sushi bar right next to the restaurant).
image credit: google
It's first come-first serve for seats (in front of window). We decided to do this and were seated in a few minutes. The food was awesome as usual!
Peter chose: Sesame Seared Sea Scallops - with Rice, Wakame Salad, and Tarragon-Champagne Beurre Blanc Warm Apple Tart - with Cinnamon Gelato and Bacon-Macadamia Nut Brittle - Sauces
For me: Pan-Asian Noodles with Shrimp - Yakisoba Noodles, Wok-seared with Vegetables in a Ginger-Garlic Sauce Chocolate Fondue - with Tropical Fruit and House-made Cookies
OOP= $78.22 + cash tip
After dinner, we took the monorail back to MK, then the bus back back to our resort. What a great first day in Disney!!!!!
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Your photos are making me wish we were back at WDW right now! We always get a pic of that hippocampus chandelier at BWI! So cool. Looking forward to reading along!
I'm so excited that you've started. Your travels sound quite smooth. Your first day at Disney started so well. We love EoS, and now you have me thinking we might need to make time for this in May.
Your photos are making me wish we were back at WDW right now! We always get a pic of that hippocampus chandelier at BWI! So cool. Looking forward to reading along!
Thank you! We love resort hopping! Thanks for following along...more to come!
Quote:
Originally Posted by shazza
Great start to your trip!
It was a great first day in Disney! Thanks for reading!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by B.M.
Great start!
Thanks...lots more to come!
Quote:
Originally Posted by disney fan 46
Nice first day!
A great start to our trip! Thanks for reading!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tara O'Hara
You two are so cute and it sounds like you had a great first day! That food at Kona Island looks fabulous!!
Looking forward to hearing more!
Tara
Thanks! We love Kona and love the no-wait counter option. More to come!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
I'm so excited that you've started. Your travels sound quite smooth. Your first day at Disney started so well. We love EoS, and now you have me thinking we might need to make time for this in May.
Thanks for reading! We hadn't been to EoS in a few years...YUM! I mentioned you several times during the trip while telling Peter things about Disney! I have so much to share...more to come!
Quote:
Originally Posted by dj1028
Great start to your report! We leave for WDW and ASM on Monday and are so excited!
That's awesome- I am sooooo jealous!!!
Thanks for reading! (have a great trip!)
Cant tell you how i needed to read your TR today. The snow here has me so down. Wish i was in WDW too. How did the remodeled Poly look to you? Still lots of construction going on from what you could see?
Cant tell you how i needed to read your TR today. The snow here has me so down. Wish i was in WDW too. How did the remodeled Poly look to you? Still lots of construction going on from what you could see?
Thanks for reading! Coming home to this icy/snowy mess here in VA is a bummer! We had beautiful warm weather while in FL. As for the Poly, it looks great! They were doing lots of work when we went outside to get a Dole Whip. I love the Poly....we ate there 3 times during this trip!
So glad you started! Sounds like an uneventful trip down, which is good.
And extra night at the World - also good! I love the feeling of getting in line to take the first bus ride of the trip!!! And dinner at Kona looked delicious!
So glad you started! Sounds like an uneventful trip down, which is good.
And extra night at the World - also good! I love the feeling of getting in line to take the first bus ride of the trip!!! And dinner at Kona looked delicious!
Thanks for reading!! The drive was long but thankfully, uneventful. We love Kona and was glad to find out about the walk-up option!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nemo125
What a great 1st unplanned day at Disney! Sounded nice and relaxing and carefree! Can't wait fore more!
A great first day! Thanks for reading! More coming up!
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that one of the first songs that came on was this one...
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Disney Magic - Oct 2015
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