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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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08-07-2002, 07:27 AM
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#16
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Community Rank: Trailblazer 
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: jacksonville, fl usa
Concierge Level: 3
Posts: 5,790
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Re: The McCuskers Take California!
Finally...I can read your report! All sounds like a great way to begin the week. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
More...more...more!
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08-07-2002, 07:28 PM
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#17
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Community Rank: Explorer 
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Connecticut
Posts: 7,150
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Re: The McCuskers Take California!
Hooray! The trip report! So like where is the rest of it huh? [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
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08-07-2002, 07:38 PM
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#18
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Community Rank: Trailblazer
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Posts: 5,094
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Re: The McCuskers Take California!
Sounds great already - can't wait to read some more! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
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08-07-2002, 11:03 PM
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#19
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Mrs. Jack Sparrow
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Aboard the Black Pearl
Concierge Level: 7
Posts: 21,228
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Re: The McCuskers Take California!
What no peanuts?? i figured you were throwing them. HEE HEE, sound fun so far can't wait to read more.
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08-08-2002, 08:49 AM
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#20
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Community Rank: Legend 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Newtown Square, PA
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 23,859
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Re: The McCuskers Take California!
Okay, you guys!! Sorry this is taking so long but I couldn't find one of my memory sticks! Here are some catch up pictures:
Me and Katie hoping our faces don't freeze!
Chris and Mike looking very tired!
Katie and Sean looking mad!
Dollar Rent a Car!
Philadelphia International Airport
Okay, now we can go to the hotel!
[ 08-08-2002, 08:50 AM: Message edited by: Tara O'Hara ] |
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08-08-2002, 09:27 AM
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#21
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Community Rank: Legend
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Newtown Square, PA
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 23,859
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Re: The McCuskers Take California!
Anyway, we arrived at the Disneyland Hotel at around 11:30 AM. They actually check in your trunk on the way into the hotel but the way they do it, you could hide just about anything in there and not worry! The guard literally opens your hatch or trunk and shuts it-that's it! Anyway, I have to say that I really thought this hotel was going to be cheesy and I was more than pleasantly surprised!! There are three buildings the Disneyland Hotel is comprised of. They are the Bonita Tower, which is closest to Disneyland, the Sierra Tower and the Marina Tower. Since we had only booked a couple of days prior and had to get two rooms, I thought for sure we would get a parking lot view. Nopers! We had a pool view and were located on the second floor!! The rooms are beautiful and each one has a balcony. You guys!! This is really a luxury resort and in my opinion the best of the three as far as value for your dollar. It has two gift shops, with one being the size of any Disney store, two pools and a baby pool, three full service restaurants, two snack bars and a bar bar that makes awesome pina coladas! The service is wonderful and the CM's are very friendly and helpful! The Neverland pool is newly redone and tons of fun! We immediately got our suits on and went for a swim!
 
We wound up walking over to Downtown Disney (more on this later) and catching the monorail to the park. This is definitely the way to go if you are a resort guest at Disneyland Hotel! Disneyland was open until 11 PM and there was no way we were going to make it that long! We decided we would just go until we couldn't anymore. 
Mike in Toontown!
Katie at Autopia!
Can you tell my other two do not care for pictures?!
The park was very crowded the first day, so we just sort of wandered around and did a few rides. The above pictures are some shots from the park. The Autopia raceway is way cooler then the Tomorrowland Speedway! The cars are neater and the preshow rocks! We went on the Haunted Mansion ( of course), the Matterhorn, Indiana Jones ( which is my all time favorite Disneyland attraction!!), Pirates of the Carribbean and Space Mountain. In my humble opinion, both of these attractions beat out their sister rides in Disneyworld. The Pirates is just beautiful with all of the fireflies and the restaurant surrounding it. I also love the way they did the caves in this attraction-very different from Florida! Space Mountain is a two seater in Disneyland and the ride is just much smoother! We were walking zombies after all of this and you must remember it was three hours later for us so we took the monrail back to Downtown Disney and had dinner at the Rainforest! 
We had a great dinner and the first celebration of Mike's "Birthday Week". The waitress brought out a lava cake for Mike which was very cool!
Chris, Sean and Mike at the Rainforest
The Birthday Week boy!
After dinner, we caught the monorail back to the hotel and crashed! I will tell you more about Downtown Disney next!
[ 08-08-2002, 11:21 AM: Message edited by: Tara O'Hara ] |
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08-08-2002, 11:05 AM
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#22
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Community Rank: Legend
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: North Central Ohio
Posts: 21,629
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Re: The McCuskers Take California!
Tara, I'm having soooo much fun reading your trip report!! Love the pictures!!! More!! More!! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
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08-08-2002, 11:13 AM
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#23
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Community Rank: Trailblazer
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Posts: 5,094
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Re: The McCuskers Take California!
Loving this report, Tara! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] You're family pictures are just wonderful - keep 'em coming!
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08-08-2002, 01:46 PM
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#24
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Community Rank: Trailblazer
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: jacksonville, fl usa
Concierge Level: 3
Posts: 5,790
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Re: The McCuskers Take California!
Tara...great report! And love the pictures! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] Your kids are just soooo cute. [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img]
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08-08-2002, 02:24 PM
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#25
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Sep 2001
Posts: 7,478
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Re: The McCuskers Take California!
"When Irish eyes are smiling...." Well if your brood doesn't have the cutest Irish mugs!! And Tara, you really do have a writing style that draws the reader in. I am enjoying reading your report so much. Looking forward to your next installment.
Nancy [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
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08-08-2002, 02:28 PM
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#26
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Community Rank: Legend
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: WI
Posts: 17,126
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Re: The McCuskers Take California!
Quote:
Originally posted by Tara O'Hara:
This game ended when we got yelled at by the flight attendant. Of course, after that, I had to push the call light for anything I could think of! I pushed it twice in a row for a pillow and then a blanket! ( That'll teach them to yell at me! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] )
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<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">Tara, you are evil! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] J/K! Loving your report so far! Can't wait for more!! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] |
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08-08-2002, 02:36 PM
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#27
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Community Rank: Wayfarer 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Yarmouth, MA
Posts: 136
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Re: The McCuskers Take California!
LOL Tara, I love your report!! Of course, when I used to be a flight attendant, if I had people like you on board, I'd secretly disable your call button!! [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] Can't wait to read more!!
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08-08-2002, 02:48 PM
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#28
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Community Rank: Jetsetter 
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: New York City
Posts: 2,471
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Re: The McCuskers Take California!
Excellent Report! I must agree with Nancy W, they have the map of Ireland written on their faces.
Keep on wirting!
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08-08-2002, 10:09 PM
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#29
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Community Rank: Legend
Join Date: Mar 2001
Posts: 17,365
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Re: The McCuskers Take California!
Hooray! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
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08-08-2002, 11:43 PM
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#30
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Mrs. Jack Sparrow
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Aboard the Black Pearl
Concierge Level: 7
Posts: 21,228
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Re: The McCuskers Take California!
This is a very goood report.What resons would you give to try to talk someone in to staying at The Disneyland Hotel instead of the Grand Californian?
can you debate?
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