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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Location: Davenport, Florida 20 minutes from the mouse
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Our First of Three
This is the first of three trips to WDW that we have planned.
Cast:
Me...Marci
Jessica 11
Day 1 travel and arrival.
We started at a very early 3am wake up for our van pick up at 4:30am. We live about 45 minutes from LAX and I didn't want to be rushing for an 8:30am flight. We had plenty of time to spare. Our experience with TSA was ok. I went through the scanner and Jessica was put through the metal detector and my walker was swabbed.
Arrival at MCO was early...whooo hooo. Made our way to DME and had about a 20-30 minute wait for our bus to All Star Movies. We stopped at CS first and then all the All Stars.
We did the online check in and it was a breeze. I had requested (I know... no guarantees) the Fantasia buildings and was assigned to the Toy Story building. A little disapointed we kept this room since it was only one night. I actually liked the location and the room.
We unloaded our carry on's and headed over to MK to get my GAC and catch the monorail to the Poly for our ADR at Kona Cafe. This was our first time at the Poly and Kona Cafe. Wow, they have great food there. Both Jessica and I had the noodles with peanut sauce (hers on the side) with shrimp. There were so many shrimp I couldn't believe it. We had dessert as well, Jessica with a sundae and me with the no sugar added apple tart. Ohhhh so yummy.
With dinner done, we headed back to our room with a stop at the gift shop. Jessica was ready to start her shopping spree. I opened my mouth and asked if they give discounts to Disneyland premium passholders. The CM checked with her lead and said yes... WHOOO HOOOOO I went back to the room to get my passes and made our purchase.
We went back to the room to get ready for an early day as we were moving over to CBR first thing in the morning.
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Our First of Three day 2 Epcot
We got up early and checked out of ASMO and took a taxi over to CBR. We did the online check in again and was pleasantly supprised to be upgraded from a standard room to a preferred room in Martinique building 25, with a garden view.
I picked up my scooter for the week and we headed off to Epcot. We had ADR's at Tokyo Dining and went straight to WS. Tokyo Dining was incredible. The food was so good. Jessica had salmon sashimi and a kids chicken teriyaki meal that came in a monorail dish. I had salmon roe sushi and a spicy tuna roll along with a kids meal of tempura. Luckly for me they plateded mine on a regular plate.
With our late breakfast/lunch done we wandered back through WS to Test Track. I feel the need for speed. After that we went over to Spaceship Earth. Our room was ready and we headed back to unpack and rest up before heading back for dinner.
I called mousekeeping to bring a sharps container, something that will be a recurring theme. We then headed back with heavier coats back to Epcot and our dinner ADR at Garden Grill. OMG.... that place is wonderful. The food was so fresh and fantastic. I can't wait to go back there again.
After dinner I felt the need for speed again By this time is was getting late and we went back to the room for the night.
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Our Firs ot Three Day 3
We took our time getting up and headed over to MK. I forgot they were filming on Friday and Main Street was very crowded. Once past Main Street we headed into Adventureland and the Magic Carpets. We also had our pics taken with Baloo the bear from Jungle Book. We opened up Aloha Isle and had our breakfas of Dole Whips. MMMMM.
We made it over to BMTRR. HM, before we headed over to Bay Lake Tower for a DVC event. We signed up for it the day before. This is a members event at the Top of the World lounge. They served finger sandwiches and chocolate marble cheese cake. They did a trivia game with prizes. The top prize drawing was for $100.00. Everyone got fastpass cards as well as a lithograph of the new Aulani DVC resort in Hawaii. I didn't win any other prizes, maybe next time. I thought this was fun, Jessica didn't and was board. The view was incredible from the lounge. We ended by taking a tour of the DVC villas. They actually looked better in person than in the pictures.
We were going to head over to AK, but went back to the room for a bit to rest and get our heavier coats for the evening.
Our dinner ADR was for 1900 Park Fare. The food was good and the step sisters were soooo funny. This was our third time there, and while we like it, I think it is time to move on and try something new.
We were going to go back to MK, but after that crowd earlier, we went back to Epcot. You guessed it, I felt the need for speed. After that we tried Mission Space green. I didn't mind it, but was a little unsure about being in such an enclosed space. It was not that bad at all. Jessica was board on this attraction, she is such a thrill ride junkie.
With that, we called it a day and went back to the room. We had early breakfast ADR the next day.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ilovedisney247
Great start! Keep the updates coming! How did you find out about the DVC event?
I found out about the DVC event from another board. It is held daily at 1pm at Bay Lake Tower. You need to make ressies for it from one of the DVC booths at the resorts or the parks. I made mine from Epcot. When they bring you up to the lounge they give you a tote bag with a portfolio in it. I also got a litho of Aulani as well as the fastpasses. I got two cards, each card was good for 3 fastpasses, with 3 attractions on each, a total of 9 per card.
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Our First of Three Day 4 Jessica's Birthday
Today my baby turned 11.
We got an early start to get to AK for Donald's breakfast at Tusker House. Breakfas was very good, so was the character interaction. We finished up just after the park opened and headed over to the Safari. The animals were very active that morning. We even saw a baby elephant and it's mom. Too cute. With the safari over we went to Rafiki's Planet Watch.
We had never ridden Dinosaur before so we wanted to try it. Loved it. After our first trip was over we met up with a fellow Passporter and spent the day and evening with them. Had a great time. It was so funny, they were staying at the same resort and turned out to have the room above us.
We all went on a few attractions. Jessica didn't have to ride EE by herself for the first time, although she later rode single rider.
We all left the park just around closing to go back to the room to rest up for the evening. Plans were to go to MK, but we ended up at Epcot.
We were having such a good time at AK that I cancelled our ADR for WCC and ended up at Sunshine Seasons.
While we were at Epcot.... I felt the need for speed again and we went on Test Track. Didn't get to do too much but love being at Epcot.
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Our First of Three Day 5
Today we spent the morning at Epcot. Got to find Nemo and spend some time at the Living Seas. On to The Land for a nice slow boat ride at Living with the Land. It was getting warm, the warmest day of our trip. We headed back to CBR to go for a swim.
After lunch at the food court at CBR, we headed over to the pool. Jessica enjoyed the swim and the slide. She only did the slide once since there was a long line for it. I enjoyed the hot tub. We only were at the pool for about an hour but it was a refreshing break.
We wanted to get an early start to our dinner plans and got ready. We caught the bus to DHS and were going to take the boat over to the Beach Club, but missed. We opted for the walk way and it was so nice and pretty. We went to Cape May Cafe to check in early. We were seated about 20 minutes later. We were to meet up with someone I know from another board, but didn't see her. We later met up over dessert. They were at the same restaurant. Dinner was very good. I probably would have enjoyed it more if we didn't have a late lunch.
After dinner it was time for EMH at DHS. This would be our only time at this park. We started off at RnR for Jessica to go single rider. Next stop was TSMM and then on to The Osbourne Family Lights. Just incredible. Since we were there during EMH it made for a less crowded experience. We finished our night there with a trip to Narnia and The Great Movie Ride. Attachment 46295 Jessica at Beach Club
Next up: AK/MK
Thanks for reading
__________________
Marci
DD Jessica 18
Last edited by Disney4us2; 09-25-2011 at 12:48 PM..
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After that we went over to Spaceship Earth. Our room was ready and we headed back to unpack and rest up before heading back for dinner.
Waiting to eat with Goofy - DLR May 2010
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