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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Day one: We got to the airport no problem, boarded the plane also with no problem. The problems started about 10 minutes after we buckled Zoey into her carseat. She did NOT want to sit. So we were one of "those" families with Zoey making Chewbacca noises pretty much the whole way down. The only time she was quiet was when I let her out of the seat and she was jumping on us or trying to climb up the back of the carseat into the lap of the woman behind us. We got to Orlando and I went to the Alamo kiosk but I had mistakenly canclled our ressie for the SUV. There was no way we were gonna get our luggage plus the stroller into a regular trunk. So I used the confirmation for the Standard car ($26!) & upgraded at the kiosk to the SUV. It ended up actually being $11 cheaper than the ressie I accidentally cancelled. Bonus! We picked a 4 door Jeep Wrangler which was nice and we wereon our way. We got to Pop & i went to the Online check-in line. Both people in front of us seemed to be having some kind of issue so that took me about 20 minutes of waiting. Our room was SMALL. I guess we are all bigger than we used to be(LOL) because we had stayed at Values many times but I felt so claustrophobic. And the a/c was not working right & it was making a buzzing noise all night. I would have changed but it was so late already. We had a pretty crappy night sleep & we vowed never again. if we ever need to stay one night for cash to save points it wil be POFQ or nothing. The food court was nutty and breakfast this morning was even worse.
Day two: We eat & leave Pop. The kids headed out to HS & we checked in at SSR (not online check-in). We waited less than 5 minutes to check in and got a room in the Granstand as requested. Our room was ready (10:30 am) and we brought the luggage up. Our room is very nice with a nice view of the golf course. Close to the bus stop & the cool pool. It is MUCH smaller than the OKW 1BR we are used to though. The jury is out as to whether or not we will stay here again. I just don't think we want to give up the extra space of OKW. We headed out to Wal-mart & bought our supplies & dropped the stuff off, returned the car to the Dolphin (SUPER easy) & met the kids at EPCOT. DH had to take the bus with ZOey since we had to leave the carseat in the room so I was solo for a bit. We all met up at EPCOT. The kids had a FP for kim Possible at 3:15 and that was cool. We did adventures in Mexico, Germany, China, France & the UK. Then we headed over to the shop in FW where I convinced DS to get Crocs. He insists on wearing those big giant Nike sneakers & his feet were hurting. He loves the Crocs....so comfy but will not be caught dead in them back home, LOL. After that we headed to Garden Grill for our ADR. News flash: Zoey doesn't like the characters (I'm beginning to wonder if this is even my child?!?) Other than that she was pretty good-hot but good) all day. We then headed back to SSR where I unpacked all the clothes & settled us all in. We all showered and that was that. It is very hot, no rain today. I didn't notice huge crowds. The kids rode ToT, RnRC, ST. The only thing they couldn't ride that they wanted to was TSMM.....they got there too late for an early FP return time.
On deck tomorrow: MGM or Epcot again, big pool & H& V for dinner.
Sorry you had a few issues. Sounds like everything is okay now. Hope you have a great time. How old is your little one? I had to warm DD up to the characters her first trip. We leave in less than 2 weeks. I would love to hear how the crowds and lines are. This is our first time at PORS. Sounds like you like POFQ. I hope we enjoy this resort. Have a great rest of your trip.
Sorry you had a few issues. Sounds like everything is okay now. Hope you have a great time. How old is your little one? I had to warm DD up to the characters her first trip. We leave in less than 2 weeks. I would love to hear how the crowds and lines are. This is our first time at PORS. Sounds like you like POFQ. I hope we enjoy this resort. Have a great rest of your trip.
She just turned a year. We have stayed at POFQ before & it is nice. We are at SSR now in a 1BR with DVC. My BFF is coming down today & she is staying at POR. We have been over there while staying at FQ & it seems nice. They have a good food court too.
Last night was MUCH better! The sofabed here is much better than at OKW. It is memory foam & the kids slept much better on it. The baby just woke up & we're off to EPCOT!
If you are in Hollywood Studios today we will be there. Hope to see you. I have my PP pin on my tan bag
We have a 5:25 at H & V! The baby is napping..finally. She is off her nap schedule here. Hopefully she wakes up in time for us to make our ADR. Tomorrow we will be at MK all day with CP at 4:55.
So we got to EPCOT just around 9 am. We got FP for Soarin & rode TT. Then we headed over to the land pavilion & had some breakfast until our FP time. We went 2 and 2 taking turns staying with Zoey. Then Sam & I headed over to MS (the sissy side!) whiel Craig & logan headed over to FW with the baby. MS was about a 15 minute wait. We walked right onto TT...we didn't even have to sit through the little pre-show! Today is hot but I'm really not noticing it being terribly crowded so far. The true test will be tomorrow at MK. After dinner we are going to head over to DtD & do some shopping. We saw a lot of characters out in japan & there were pretty much no lines-we walked right up to Mickey, Minnie, Donald & peter Pan. We also so The Sherriff of Nottingham & Brer Bear. later on we saw Belle & Jasmine as well. No more than 3 or 4 families waiting for each.
This afternoon we made it back from Epcot & visited the Grandstand Pool. It is very cute with "geyser' sprayers in the pool & a fountain area for kiddies. there is also a little bar area where you can refill your mug and get drinks (alcoholic & non) & chips & stuff. I do want to make it over to the big pool though! After about half an hour I brought Zoey back to the room for a bath & a nap (Yes!!!). She got up just in time for us to make it to our ADR at H& V. We purchased a TiW card yesterday at EPCOT & used it tonight. DHS closed at 7 tonight & wasn't very crowded. Walk-ups were being seated at H & V. We had a great waiter who brought us b-day buttins for each of the b-days we are celebrating & cards signed by JoJo & Goliath. We were headed over to Dtd but we heard thunder so we headed back to the room for the ponchos & stroller rain cover & the sky opened up & it has been thunder/lightning & rain ever since. So we are in for the night & happy we didn't get stuck in a thunderstorn with the baby. At least we will be well rested for our early day tomorrow at MK. Days like this are a good reason to stay at BLT. You can still do stuff inside the hotel without getting wet!! I am happy we did as much as we did today without getting rained on.
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club