Forums Closed
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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
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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.
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01-16-2006, 06:32 PM
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#16
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Living Seas wannabe
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 31,940
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Re: Midsummer Magic- Pre Trip 1/15/06
Great update Mo!! And congrats on scoring the convertible!!!
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Sponsored links
Check out the many e-books by PassPorter. The e-books are free to download if you have a PassPorter's Club pass.
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01-16-2006, 06:56 PM
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#17
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Community Rank: Jetsetter 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Wishing I was at WDW
Posts: 2,384
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Re: Midsummer Magic- Pre Trip 1/15/06
Great update!
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01-17-2006, 02:56 PM
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#18
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Community Rank: Explorer 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: New York
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 7,960
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Re: Midsummer Magic- Pre Trip 1/15/06
Great start! And congrats on the convertible! Hurry back with more, please!
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01-17-2006, 08:11 PM
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#19
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Community Rank: Trailblazer 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 5,668
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Re: Midsummer Magic- Updated 1/16/06- Arrival at WDW!
Loving your report so far Maureen! Can't wait for more [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
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01-17-2006, 08:59 PM
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#20
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Fort Smith, Arkansas
Posts: 10,721
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Re: Midsummer Magic- EPCOT evening Update 1/17
July 21, 2005:
Our check in at the Polynesian was as usual very pleasant and we had a CM named Meredith who was so friendly and Disney like she got a mention in my follow up email to Disney after we got home. We were given our leis and I got our requested Tahiti, second floor room. We are usually happy enough to walk to our room but we felt like a ride from one of the Island Guides so we headed back outside to Bell Services.
It took a few minutes to get us a guide but well worth the wait. Sam was very friendly and once he found out we were frequent visitors, actually didn’t bog us down with stuff we already knew. We just chatted instead as he drove us over to the Tahiti building.
Our room was sparkling clean as usual and the view really nice. Interestingly, we were on the corner end, so close to the ferry loading area at the TTC, we could have probably had a conversation with other guests boarding it. The walk to the Great Ceremonial House would be a bit longer than we are used to – as usually we are in Tokelau- but on the flip side, getting to the monorail at the TTC would be a piece of cake.
Before he left, Sam asked about our departure date and told us he would be working Sunday morning, that he hoped to see us then. He was an awesome CM.
Approaching 6:45 or so, Kevan requested the kaluha pork sandwich from Captain Cook’s. He loves this thing and I was happy to find something else to eat- so we headed there. There was practically no one in it! It was a good and very quick meal too- I think from start to finish we were in the place about 25 minutes. Probably not only due to quick preparation but also to the fact that were starving and inhaled everything in record time.
We headed to the atrium, where we took a quick walk through Boutiki, as this was our first glimpse of it. So much better than News from Polynesia and the other apparel stores that were previous to it. Up to the second floor to wait for the monorail- it would be EPCOT and EMH tonight! I had been talking about Soarin’ since returning from the girls trip in May- so needless to say that was first on Kevan’s mind!
Headed straight into the park with not a long wait at all and got our wristbands straightaway. Kevan wanted to see the wait time for Mission Space so we headed first to the Information Center to check out wait times. I about died when Soarin came up on the electronic marquis- at 7:30 it was 110 minutes standby and of course- all the Fastpasses were looooong gone! Kevan was a bit disappointed as was I, but Mission Space looked like 15-20 minutes so I suggested he go on that while I browsed MouseGears. We took our cell phones and he told me he would call when he was done.
I had a grand time at MouseGears by myself- it was deliciously cool in there and they have such a great selection of stuff and most of the time, it’s not so crowded you can’t get by people like at WOD. I contemplated the Stitch backpack but I knew it would be really hot on my back so I decided to skip it. I did find some cute new Stitch pins and picked them up right away.
Kevan called about 20 minutes later and said he was on his way over. After meeting up, we decided to head over to World Showcase and walk around. We stopped for a Photo Pass picture near International Gateway, which turned out pretty cute. Moving on. While we wanted to see Illuminations, I was fine to just stop and watch it wherever we ended up when it began. So we decided to keep walking until close to show time.
We stopped off at the UK for some Cadbury and then went on to France. I checked on Impressions de France- the next showing was about to begin. Angie and Lynn got me in here in May and I forgot what a spectacular film this was- so I dragged Kevan in there ( yes, dragged as he protested). We both enjoyed it and he too, forgot how great the photography was.
Our favorite pavilion is definitely Japan so we headed there next. I first got a Kaki Gori shaved ice and it tasted wonderful. We both love Mitsukoshi so that was next. We picked up a few decorative pieces for our Asian themed bedroom, and then moved on to the grocery portion where Kevan loves looking at the saki sets and dishware.
Browsing Mitsukoshi
We picked up some fun candies for the kids and then headed outside to see if we should try and score some spot for Illuminations. We actually stood on one of the benches near the pagoda- it turned out to be a great view. Illuminations gives me goosebumps every single time- this time was no different.
After Illuminations, we continued our walk around the world. We browsed a few stores in Germany and Norway but then headed back to Future World to try for Test Track or Soarin- hopefully, lines would be better.
Uh, not happening tonight- both Test Track and Soarin still had ridiculously long waits. Instead, we were content to take a ride on Spaceship Earth before calling it a night. It had been a very long day and the tired factor was beginning to creep in.
We caught the monorail before it pulled out and were on our way back to the Poly. We got off at the TTC this time and it was literally 3 or so minutes by the time we reached Tahiti. I love the Polynesian at night- the torches and sounds of the water set the mood perfectly.
I needed a little bit of time to wind down, so I read the Polynesian Press newsletter, then checked out the room service menu and the little breakfast card you can set out the night before. Eureka- show it to Kevan and get breakfast via room service in the am!! We ordered Tonga Toast, potatoes and fruit to share. After a quick shower and call home to check on everyone, lights out and we were out- in seconds.
Coming Up: Now this is the way to eat toast! |
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01-17-2006, 09:48 PM
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#21
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Missouri
Posts: 4,595
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Re: Midsummer Magic- EPCOT evening Update 1/17
Loving the report! Can't wait to hear more!
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01-17-2006, 11:40 PM
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#22
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Illinois
Concierge Level: 1
Posts: 9,564
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Re: Midsummer Magic- EPCOT evening Update 1/17
Just got caught up Mo! Amen to HOT in July!! Can't wait to hear more!
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01-18-2006, 02:24 AM
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#23
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PassPorter Message Board Manager
 PassPorter Guide Author
Community Rank: Legend VIP 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Maidstone, Kent, UK
Concierge Level: 3
Posts: 190,285
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Re: Midsummer Magic- EPCOT evening Update 1/17
I can't believe that wait for Soarin! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/jawdrop.gif[/img] It sounds like you still had a great evening at Epcot and I love the twilight shot of Japan. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
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01-18-2006, 06:08 AM
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#24
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RED SOX NATION!!
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Connecticut
Concierge Level: 9
Posts: 136,854
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Re: Midsummer Magic- EPCOT evening Update 1/17
Great update Maureen [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zwavin.gif[/img]
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01-18-2006, 02:27 PM
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#25
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Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ohio Football Hall Of Fame
Posts: 42,304
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Re: Midsummer Magic- EPCOT evening Update 1/17
Great update Maureen!!! Sounds like a really fabulous evening!! Can't wait to read more!!
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01-18-2006, 02:42 PM
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#26
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Community Rank: Legend 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Louisville, KY
Concierge Level: 7
Posts: 18,767
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Re: Midsummer Magic- EPCOT evening Update 1/17
Sounds like a terrific evening Maureen!! Looking forward to more!
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01-18-2006, 03:47 PM
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#27
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Community Rank: Trailblazer
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: South East London
Posts: 5,164
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Re: Midsummer Magic- EPCOT evening Update 1/17
Great update Maureen, I'm so glad you decided to do this report [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/thewave.gif[/img] I can't believe the wait for Soarin [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] I hope you both got to ride it before you went home! More please [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
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01-18-2006, 07:59 PM
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#28
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Living Seas wannabe
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 31,940
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Re: Midsummer Magic- EPCOT evening Update 1/17
SOunds like you had a really nice evening at EPCOT!!
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01-19-2006, 03:39 PM
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#29
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: SW MO
Concierge Level: 1
Posts: 10,461
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Re: Midsummer Magic- EPCOT evening Update 1/17
We are at the Poly almost everyday even though we don't stay there. We walk over from SOG to use the Disney transportation.
I love the ambiance of the Poly. For our first night we always eat at the Kona Cafe . Then we stay for the MK fireworks and EWP. The Poly is sooo romantic. Great TR!
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01-20-2006, 08:10 AM
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#30
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Community Rank: Legend
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: North Central Ohio
Posts: 21,629
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Re: Midsummer Magic- EPCOT evening Update 1/17
Hey Maureen! You were there on my birthday(21st)! I know I'm never gonna celebrate my own in WDW cause I just can't stand the heat and crowds, but at least you did!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
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