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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Another great update with some great pics! I almost feel like I was there! And I agree with Kenny, I also am very surprised to see most if not all the signs in English (I am guessing the castmembers were all English-speaking as well including the tour guide?)
A lot of them were but not all of them. That's where the odd bit of Japanese came in handy to tell them how many people there were in your party, for example.
More great pics!!! That is a beautiful park! What's up with the caramel popcorn...how boring . New Orleans square is just beautiful. I've never been to DL is it like that there as well? And how cute the "Chip" cup. I love it.
Wonderful photos. In every other report I've read about Tokyo Disney the crowds are omnipresent and it always looks like touring would be very difficult. Were the crowds light for you because of the time of year? Day of the week?
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More great pics!!! That is a beautiful park! What's up with the caramel popcorn...how boring . New Orleans square is just beautiful. I've never been to DL is it like that there as well? And how cute the "Chip" cup. I love it.
Wonderful photos. In every other report I've read about Tokyo Disney the crowds are omnipresent and it always looks like touring would be very difficult. Were the crowds light for you because of the time of year? Day of the week?
I think a bit of both. It's like every other park in the world. You need to plan your visit. Had we gone a week or so earlier, the Japanese schools would have been out and, by all accounts, it would have been nuts there. However, the schools went back at the start of the week we visited and I also knew that visiting midweek would be a lot quieter than going at a weekend. Everything I'd read suggested this would be a very quiet time to visit - and so it proved to be.
Wednesday 8 April – part five: a tight squeeze in the Haunted Mansion
Full again, it was off again and we stopped for a photo with another of the mosaics, as the lines had shortened considerably by now.
It must have been around here that we went for a restroom break and the reason I say that is that I found an interesting photo in my collection. I had thought for a while that, if I went to a restroom and no-one else was in there and I just happened to have my camera around my neck, I would have to get a photo of the unique toilet facilities they have for women. Well, here was my chance:
Yep, that’s what it looks like – nice, huh?
Then we wandered over to Snow White’s Grotto, getting some photos on the way:
This was our second meeting point with Donna and her family and we made it and found them fine. We stood there chatting for ages. Like all good PassPorter meets, it was as if we had known each other forever.
Finally, we headed towards Fantasyland, as we hadn’t made it there yet. This did seem to be where more of the crowds were, so we spent a bit of time browsing the area.
I wanted to go on the Haunted Mansion – yes, its in Fantasyland here, which is a bit freaky, especially as it towers over Dumbo. Very surreal!
We went with Frank, while Donna had the kids. Their youngest wasn’t at all well sadly. We ended up squeezing into one car, which was quite a tight squeeze. This Haunted Mansion was much better than any others we’ve seen and had some nifty effects I’ve not seen anywhere else, particularly with the library and the books moving.
When we came out, we spotted a couple of characters. It was lovely, the way they dealt with the characters here. They would just appear and, although there are handlers around, they’re a way off and there’s no official line as such, but because the Japanese are such a polite society, this works. I can’t ever imagine this working in other parks, especially not Disneyland Paris.
We headed towards Critter Country, which here, is right next door to Fantasyland, so Donna could get a couple of Fastpasses for Splash Mountain.
Then it was back into Fantasyland, which has some lovely theming:
Our next stop was the Mickey Mouse Revue. This used to be at Walt Disney World and was shipped over here in its entirety in 1983, when this park opened. Sadly, this will close for good in about six weeks time. (It has already closed now you read this), so I was keen to check it out. I didn’t know much about it, except that it was full of audio-animatronic characters, the most Disney had ever attempted when it opened at Walt Disney World, as Pirates of the Caribbean hadn’t opened at that point.
After a tour through Mickey’s history in Japan, we went in. It’s a musical show with all the numbers in Japanese, including Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo, which was very surreal and made us all laugh! It’s filled with audio-animatronic characters you know and love. That’s the best way to explain it and it was really cute. I think it’s a great shame they’re closing it and, as Mark said, it would be good to see it back in America.
Once out of there, Frank took their oldest to Toontown, as he wanted to ride Gadget’s Go Coaster, while Donna and her youngest headed with us to It’s a Small World, which we just have to go on, despite Mark’s protests! It was fine and we thought a bit shorter than the other ones at the other parks.
I think a bit of both. It's like every other park in the world. You need to plan your visit. Had we gone a week or so earlier, the Japanese schools would have been out and, by all accounts, it would have been nuts there. However, the schools went back at the start of the week we visited and I also knew that visiting midweek would be a lot quieter than going at a weekend. Everything I'd read suggested this would be a very quiet time to visit - and so it proved to be.
Thanks for the info. Good planning! For some reason I was under the impression that the Tokyo park was just always mobbed, with long, long lines for everything--rides, snack carts, restrooms.
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Everything looks all shiny and spiffy and soooo pretty in your photos. Glad to see that the weather was cooperating. Any new maganet (I mean magnet) purchases yet?
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Sorry we were late! Glad you were able to partake in that waffle though 
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. New Orleans square is just beautiful. I've never been to DL is it like that there as well? And how cute the "Chip" cup. I love it.
It was fine and we thought a bit shorter than the other ones at the other parks. 
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