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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I finally finished reading this TR! What a fantastic time you had! I loved reading about your Wild Africa Trek tour solo! Sounds awesome!! Can't wait to see the PP pics!
Just realizing that I celebrated my 10th, 30th & 40th bdays at Disney World!!! Guess where I'll be in 10 years?!?!
Jennie, I have really enjoyed your TR. My first time at WDW was when I turned 20. I celebrated my 50th there and will be planning a Grand Gathering the year I hit 60 and my friends' twin grandsons turn 5. That is gonna be FUN.
Here's to you enjoying many more bdays at WDW with good friends!
I finally finished reading this TR! What a fantastic time you had! I loved reading about your Wild Africa Trek tour solo! Sounds awesome!! Can't wait to see the PP pics!
Thank you!! So, I downloaded all the pics (400+!!) and went to upload the other day. Well, all the pics have to be given titles so I know which ones are which For Pete's sake, it might be 2012 by the time I get that done!
I really enjoyed the solo Trek. Inspired me to make my October trip to the F&WF possibly a solo adventure. I'm a Chatty Cathy and ask tons of questions so I think I might make a ton of new friends while relaxing at my own pace. Just in the planning stages but if I buy my airfare this weekend, a PTR just might surface!! Stay tuned!
Jennie, I have really enjoyed your TR. My first time at WDW was when I turned 20. I celebrated my 50th there and will be planning a Grand Gathering the year I hit 60 and my friends' twin grandsons turn 5. That is gonna be FUN.
Here's to you enjoying many more bdays at WDW with good friends!
You are my hero and I shall follow in your footsteps!! Now I wonder, who will have more silly fun?? You or the 5 year olds?? Think it might be a tie!
I forgot to ask earlier - your DATWS passports. Did you order those or make your own? I want to try and make my own for our September trip and was curious what yours looked like.
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I forgot to ask earlier - your DATWS passports. Did you order those or make your own? I want to try and make my own for our September trip and was curious what yours looked like.
if you click the fourth image, you'll get a close up look at them. They are made from heavy duty card stock which can be picked up at a craft store. Punch a hole and use any lanyard.
I went to allears.net menus under Epcot and looked at each country's beverage options and made a list of the one's I thought I'd prefer.
Hands down, my faves are the Grand Marnier & Grey Goose Slushies from a non descript cart on the walkway in front of France. Second, the Canto Loopy from the Joy of Tea Stand in China (cantoloupe juice & vodka). Must let you know about the little know sake bar way in the back of the Mitsukoshi store in Japan, it's not listed on the allears menus.
We also had Dos Equis & Passionfruit Margaritas in Mexico (not to mention the tequila flights in Cava de Tequila with the sangrita chaser!!). Just Voss water in Norway, a frozen cola at the Refreshment Post, Germany is where I started the Wine Walk - $20 for 2 samples at Germany, Italy & France, Morocco has a bunch of stuff but we opted for a "surprise" concoction from the CM at the cart outside the cafe, A Golden Blend in UK (1/2 Guiness 1/2 Stella) and a Torontopolitan in Canada. Everything was great except the wines from Germany. Next time, I'll still with beer and still get the two wines off the list at Italy (Banfi Castello San Angelo Pinot Grigio & Banfi Rosa Regale both which I drink at home - discovered in WDW!!)
Thanks for all the info! On our August trip my DH tried to drink around the world in one day, but didn't succeed. We were at the sake bar in Japan but it was a bit crowded at the time so we skipped it. I will get to partake in the drinking this year as I won't be preggo this time.
Thanks for all the info! On our August trip my DH tried to drink around the world in one day, but didn't succeed. We were at the sake bar in Japan but it was a bit crowded at the time so we skipped it. I will get to partake in the drinking this year as I won't be preggo this time.
No prob. Back in the day, we would DATWS in one day (open to close) but now we split it into two days. Congrats on being able to raise your glass this go round!
BTW, last October I did a F&WF marathon and thought I was still 21 and hit up 22 booths in 6 hours. While I did not make a fool of myself, my body revolted around 4am. Still hit up IoA the next day. This is when I discovered SeaBands are not just for motion sickness!!
No prob. Back in the day, we would DATWS in one day (open to close) but now we split it into two days. Congrats on being able to raise your glass this go round!
BTW, last October I did a F&WF marathon and thought I was still 21 and hit up 22 booths in 6 hours. While I did not make a fool of myself, my body revolted around 4am. Still hit up IoA the next day. This is when I discovered SeaBands are not just for motion sickness!!
LOL! Good to know about the SeaBands - maybe I'll get those for a moment like that.
Wow, great trip you had, enjoyed reading your report. Sorry about a few bumps in the road. Was curious if I read it right, but did you pay for your Photopass CD in advance. Only reason I was asking, is I did before our January trip and then also did the trek and received the photopass code from them. After we got home I was able to get the money back that I had already prepaid. They put all of the pictures together from the trek and any photopass pictures we had done. Looking forward to your PTR for your next trip. Sounds like fun!!!
Wow, great trip you had, enjoyed reading your report. Sorry about a few bumps in the road. Was curious if I read it right, but did you pay for your Photopass CD in advance. Only reason I was asking, is I did before our January trip and then also did the trek and received the photopass code from them. After we got home I was able to get the money back that I had already prepaid. They put all of the pictures together from the trek and any photopass pictures we had done. Looking forward to your PTR for your next trip. Sounds like fun!!!
Yep, prepaid. Oh well, maybe I'll try to use my Trek code to pay for my next one!!
I REALLY have to upload some PP pics but first I have to have time to weed thru them and give each one a title - right now they're all just wacky numbers and I have no idea which one is which when I go to upload!
I should be starting a PTR for my October trip AS LONG as I book my flights this weekend! I just noticed that tomorrow is the 180 day mark. Not sure what I'll be doing as far as ADRs perhaps just book some hot places and cancel if I don't feel like going?!? Not sure!