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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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When do you recommend is the best time of the day to have it done?
Preference. Obviously the earlier you do it, the more out of the day you get with the effect, although the amount of spray they use can tend to make it last for a couple of days or more.
Do they usually where the costumes throughtout the day...riding the rides?
Again, preference. It all depends on how comfortable the child is in the dress. I'd always recommend having a spare change of clothes just in case.
Do you like the MK or Downtown location better and does it matter?
The MK one is more convenient considering where it is. It also starts serving at 8 am which is a nice way to get into the park before opening (assuming it's non-EMH and the park opens at 9). The MK one is smaller, has less photographers and is much busier. The DTD location is the only one that offers the Hannah Montana makeover.
If you don't take the photo option, are the photopass people in there taking shots? are we allowed to take our own photos?
Yes. and it all goes onto PhotoPass regardless. You can even make full use of either studio at MK and DTD. See Disney's PhotoPass - April 2009 for more information.
When do you recommend is the best time of the day to have it done?
DD and DNiece did theirs around 1pm. I did that so they would have lunch in their tummies and be complacent. This is really a matter of choice and depends on the child.
Do they usually wear the costumes throughout the day...riding the rides?
The girls wore their costumes the rest of the day and got a lot of attention! There was no problem with riding the rides in the dresses.
Do you like the MK or Downtown location better and does it matter?
We have only used the MK location. It fit better as it was a birthday present for the girls and we were in the park that day.
If you don't take the photo option, are the photopass people in there taking shots? are we allowed to take our own photos?
There are photopass photographers taking pictures during the makeovers. It is fun. I wouldn't try to take my own photos, but that is just me. The locations are kind of crowded inside and get kind of chaotic. I wish there was a limit on how many family members could come in with each girl. Be prepared for it to be crowded is all I'm saying.
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We have done it twice. The first time it was more toward late afternoon and the second was in the early morning. I think the girls liked it in the morning better, then they were princesses all day long.
I agree with Brad about the change of clothes and shoes. The cute shoes you get at the BBB are not comfortable and soon you have princessess in tennis shoes or crocs! But it doesn't matter...they are still cute and comfortable!
We have only done the MK boutique. It was crowded. But still just fine. The Photopass people do a nice job. But I also took my own pictures too. Not a problem at all.
My girls love going to BBB. They always list it as one of their favorite things that they did on vacation!
Thanks for everyones responses/tips and the photopass link. Good to hear about the dresses and rides. This is will be a great surprise b-day gift for my DD!
When do you recommend is the best time of the day to have it done? I would do whatever time works best in your touring plan. I booked DD at 3:00 on our first day there. She loved it. Her hair stayed up for several days. We had it done on Saturday and finally took her hair down on Monday night.
Do they usually where the costumes throughtout the day...riding the rides? DD wore her dress the rest of the day and put it back on for our other 2 princess meals we had later in the week. We also left her hair up for several days. They put so much spray and gel on their hair that it really doesn't move at all.
Do you like the MK or Downtown location better and does it matter? Only went to the MK location since we were in MK the day that we had it done. I did see the downtown location when we went to DTD and it looked to be much bigger.
If you don't take the photo option, are the photopass people in there taking shots? are we allowed to take our own photos? You can take as many photos as you would like. There are several photopass photographers that were there rotating around taking pics. Also, if you select the castle package (includes hair, makeup and outfit) then you automatically get the photo package. We paid $200 and got the hair/make-up, Belle outfit (included dress, shoes, crown, wand), photo package - pics were beautiful. We were able to have them all loaded onto our photopass card and we were also able to pick 3 poses that they gave us various prints of.
We took DD at 1 (at the MK) since we had a late 3:30 lunch at CRT for her birthday and it worked out perfectly (we are doing it this year as well for her b-day but I am thinking of scheduling it a bit earlier this year).
She was Jasmine so she had the pants and shirt - she wore it most of the day but by evening she had changed back into her t-shirt and shorts (as she said she was getting itchy).
They do spray a ton of spray in there so it will definitely last - I removed a few of the hairpins as they bothered her but other than that it stayed well.
We had done the Castle package so she got the pictures done which came out beautifully, we had also ordered the CD so we got all the extra ones that did not come in the package. Also they took tons of pictures during her time getting made up, I took a few but they got some great ones. There was also a PP person right outside the castle (while we were waiting for our CRT ADR) who took tons of pictures of her.
It was definitely a great experience as she loved it and cannot wait to do it again.
When do you recommend is the best time of the day to have it done?
We did it early afternoon last time. She is first thing in the morning this trip. It didn't last because she wanted to go swimming as soon as we returned to the hotel. This time I am hoping she gets the day out of it! Although it was easy to put back in her hair.
Do they usually where the costumes throughtout the day...riding the rides?
She wore her dress but I had an extra set of clothing in a backpack for her. She ended up with a tee under the dress because it was itchy but she was a trooper and wore those shoes all day!
Do you like the MK or Downtown location better and does it matter?
Can't say, we have only done MK
If you don't take the photo option, are the photopass people in there taking shots? are we allowed to take our own photos?
YEs and yes. They took photo's but mine were much better. The photographer there that day didn't do a very good job. Her lighting was off and I am pretty certain she was frazled. They had no problem letting people take as many pictures s they wanted and filming the experience..
go down mainstreet - next to Tony's Restaurant - inside is the camera Kodak place -ask for the photopass person there to take pictures - they do a great job - no cost, no ressies - then continue back into the movie theatre - they have a few photo op stages set up 101 Dalmatians come to mind...
dd wore her Princess dress until it got to hot - I had paced a space bag and I think she wore shorts under the dress, and I packed a shirt - we went to a restroom, and off came the dress - and I just added it to the space bag, rolled the air out and kept it rolled up and it fit in my tote bag!
go down mainstreet - next to Tony's Restaurant - inside is the camera Kodak place -ask for the photopass person there to take pictures - they do a great job - no cost, no ressies - then continue back into the movie theatre - they have a few photo op stages set up 101 Dalmatians come to mind...
dd wore her Princess dress until it got to hot - I had paced a space bag and I think she wore shorts under the dress, and I packed a shirt - we went to a restroom, and off came the dress - and I just added it to the space bag, rolled the air out and kept it rolled up and it fit in my tote bag!
space bag is a great idea. It would be good for packing it too!
go down mainstreet - next to Tony's Restaurant - inside is the camera Kodak place -ask for the photopass person there to take pictures - they do a great job - no cost, no ressies - then continue back into the movie theatre - they have a few photo op stages set up 101 Dalmatians come to mind...
dd wore her Princess dress until it got to hot - I had paced a space bag and I think she wore shorts under the dress, and I packed a shirt - we went to a restroom, and off came the dress - and I just added it to the space bag, rolled the air out and kept it rolled up and it fit in my tote bag!
She was Jasmine so she had the pants and shirt - she wore it most of the day but by evening she had changed back into her t-shirt and shorts (as she said she was getting itchy).
I think we are going to do Jasmine...just because I thought it might be easier with the pants all day...and of course she is one of DD's favorites.
I think we are going to do Jasmine...just because I thought it might be easier with the pants all day...and of course she is one of DD's favorites.
I am packing both Jasmine and Cinderella....or as my daughter calls here Cinderlella! I asked her the other day if she ever went back to Disney what princess would she want to dress as and she still says Cinderella. I am sure she would rather have Snow White or Ariel but I just can't pack two big dresses. I did that last year and now with the luggage tariffs I am trying to get it down to 3 instead of our usual 5.
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