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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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This is going to be my second attempt at a trip report. My first attempt was a pre-trip report that never made it to completion... oops! Let me begin by telling you a bit about myself. I am a 26 year old High School Special Education classroom aide. My husband is a wealth management adviser. We have been together for 9 years, and married for 3 of those years. We have a 3 year old mutt named Spencer. He is a wonderful dog, and he plays a prominent role in this TR... I wish he didn't though!
After months of planning and preparing, I was down to the wire trying to figure out what to do with our dog while we were gone. The last time that we went away and boarded him he was very sick. I really didn't want to put him through that, so that was not an option. Last year, when we made our pilgrimage to WDW, the dog spent the week with my cousin and he family. He did well, but I couldn't ask her to do that again. She has two dogs of her own, a two year old, and an 8 month old. So, the obvious answer was having a pet sitter come and take care of him in our home. I asked my friend from work to come and be his mommy for the week. She was great and Spencer really seemed to like her.
The morning of our departure came (August 21) and my friend came over to be with the dog while we packed the car and got on the road. After a few hours of driving I received a text telling me how great Spencer was being and that she would be back to take him out and play with him in a couple of hours. I was still feeling guilty for leaving him behind, but knowing that he was happy and comfortable at home made me feel a little better. We made it to my cousin's house in 9 hours (we drive from South Jersey to Raleigh, NC). It took us way longer than it should have because there was a ton of traffic!
The next morning we woke up around 7:30 to get on the road and finish the drive to WDW. Around 8:30 my dad called me. My dog was sick... (I apologize now if you have a weak stomach...) He had thrown up several times and had diarrhea several times on the beige carpet of our living room. I spent the next few hours on the phone with my dad and my friend, and debating whether we should just go home and forget about the trip. We decided to head to Disney and play it by ear. We were only a full days drive from home, so we could get to him if we really needed to.
Will Spencer get better.... Will my trip be everything I hoped... stay tuned to find out the answers to these questions and many more...
Poor Spencer. And poor Spencer's Mommy and Daddy, too. It's tough to enjoy yourself when you know your beloved furry kid isn't well. Don't leave us hanging, please .
Sharon
We made it to Florida through a completely uneventful drive (except for the marathon phone calls and texts). That's when the rain hit... we could see the wall of rain before we drive into it. It was crazy! Traffic moved at a snail's pace down Route 4. As we crawled along, I sent up a prayer that we would not have this kind of luck through out the trip... hahaha... wishful thinking!
Finally... We pulled through the Disney gates! A few minutes later and we were parking at POFQ. I neglected to make a room request this year, so we were relegated to Building 7... on the third floor... eek! It was quite a haul to and from pretty much everything, and that is saying something given the small size of the resort. As we unloaded the car, the rain caught up with us. We got ourselves under cover before the down pour hit. Once in our room, we got ourselves settled in, grabbed the ponchos from last summer's trip, and made our way to the Magic Kingdom. We had dinner reservations at The Wave in the Contemporary in a couple of hours. We weren't quite sure if we wanted to use our 1st day of our 6 day MYW Park Hopper that night or our last day, so we elected to do some resort hopping on the monorail loop. DH had never been to any of the hotels on the monorail, so it was a lot of fun to wander. We decided to go and check out the Grand Floridian first. We wandered around the lobby and checked out some of the stores. The pool was closed due to the weather, but we went under an overhang to check it out anyway.
We decided to skip the Poly because we would be there in the morning for breakfast. We hopped back on the monorail and made our way over to the Contemporary. The Wave is located on the ground floor of the resort. We checked in about 10 minutes early, and waited in the very nice lobby for about 5 minutes. We were seated quickly and had an awesome server. She was from New York and she was hilarious! We had an absolutely incredible meal (I apologize for the lack of food pictures in this report... Hubby thinks I'm weird when I take pictures in the restaurants. I will post the name and description from allears.net so you can visualize and make yummy noises...).
Craig (DH) had the Apple Brined Pork Tenderloin - with Bourbon Sweet Mashed potatoes, warm spinach-bacon salad and Sassafras Jus $21.99 and Organic Beer Flight - Three samplings $7.25. I had Grilled Beef Tenderloin - port wine jus, potato and onion gratin and summer ratatouille $28.99 and the Chardonnay wine flight $15.99. For dessert we had Creamy Indulgence - Cheesecake with Raspberry Coulis, Coconut Panna Cotta with Passion Fruit Drizzle, Chocolate-Passion Fruit Mousse with Pecan-Olive Brittle $7.99 and Decadent Flavors - Blueberry Compote with Yogurt Gelato, Lemon Cornbread with Vanilla Panna Cotta, Chocolate Mousse with Salted Caramel Sauce $7.99. As a surprise for our Anniversary, we were also brought some sparkling wine with our dessert.
disney 8.22 and 8.23 007.jpg
Of the desserts my favorites were the Chocolate-Passion Fruit Mousse with Pecan-Olive Brittle and the Chocolate Mousse with Salted Caramel Sauce. My least favorite was the Lemon Cornbread with Vanilla Panna Cotta. This was by far my favorite meal of the trip.
So now the question was... should we see if it is worth going to Magic Kingdom tonight? Check back again to find out...
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
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. I really didn't want to put him through that, so that was not an option. Last year, when we made our pilgrimage to WDW, the dog spent the week with my cousin and he family. He did well, but I couldn't ask her to do that again. She has two dogs of her own, a two year old, and an 8 month old. So, the obvious answer was having a pet sitter come and take care of him in our home. I asked my friend from work to come and be his mommy for the week. She was great and Spencer really seemed to like her.
(August 21) and my friend came over to be with the dog while we packed the car and got on the road. After a few hours of driving I received a text telling me how great Spencer was being and that she would be back to take him out and play with him in a couple of hours. I was still feeling guilty for leaving him behind, but knowing that he was happy and comfortable at home made me feel a little better. We made it to my cousin's house in 9 hours 
(we drive from South Jersey to Raleigh, NC). It took us way longer than it should have because there was a ton of traffic!
. I spent the next few hours on the phone with my dad and my friend, and debating whether we should just go home and forget about the trip. We decided to head to Disney and play it by ear. We were only a full days drive from home, so we could get to him if we really needed to.
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Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
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Traffic moved at a snail's pace down Route 4. As we crawled along, I sent up a prayer that we would not have this kind of luck through out the trip... hahaha... wishful thinking!
Once in our room, we got ourselves settled in, grabbed the ponchos from last summer's trip, and made our way to the Magic Kingdom. We had dinner reservations at The Wave in the Contemporary in a couple of hours.
We weren't quite sure if we wanted to use our 1st day of our 6 day MYW Park Hopper that night or our last day, so we elected to do some resort hopping on the monorail loop. DH had never been to any of the hotels on the monorail, so it was a lot of fun to wander. We decided to go and check out the Grand Floridian first. We wandered around the lobby and checked out some of the stores. The pool was closed due to the weather, but we went under an overhang to check it out anyway.
She was from New York and she was hilarious! We had an absolutely incredible meal (I apologize for the lack of food pictures in this report... Hubby thinks I'm weird when I take pictures in the restaurants. I will post the name and description from allears.net so you can visualize and make yummy noises...). 
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