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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Wow! It's less than a week away from our vacation and I am ready but I'm not ready. Our travel dates are 11/12 - 11/18.
A little background:
I started planning this trip just before Labor Day when I was depressed that we had not taken a real vacation this year. The stars were aligned for a Disney trip when I read about free dining for my birthday week, which was also the same week of a business conference I had dreams of attending. At my DD's annual physical, she was measured at 48" and her Dr. declared "Wow, she is now tall enough for the big rides at Disney." Passporter Guide Books were on sale for $1.00 and Jet Blue was offering some sweet deals from Westchester Airport. I double checked availability, added up the costs and then counted my pin money. YES! This trip can really happen.
So I broached the idea to my husband.........and he thought I was crazy. He's a non-believer. Sadly, he's never been to the World and has no desire to go, but he really needed some R & R. He pondered it for a few days, while I began making reservations. Dining reservations anyway, and they included CRT, Hoop Dee Doo, Le Cellier and character breakfasts. As he hemmed and hawed, I went ahead and reserved POFQ for 5 nights with free dining. I started to have palpitations when airline prices began to rise and the costs could stifle the trip. I sat down to have a heart to heart with my honey, and said "Look I've booked the trip, but airline prices are beginning to rise. What do you care to do?'' "I'd love a vacation, but to me, Disney is not a vacation. Go ahead and take the kids (2 out of 3, since oldest DS is in college) but I'm not ready for this." Hmmm, should I rethink my plans and plan an escape for 2 or stick with my idea and head to Disney? "Maybe, I'll change my mind." he said. Well, that's all I needed to hear, so I danced around the room, and shouted "Hey kids! We're going to Disney." Never, ever, ever could I plan a surprise trip. Whenever I make the decision to go, I get a goofy look on my face, my guidebooks come out and I'm glued to Passporter. The kids jumped up and down with me and my DH just shook his head. My older son looked at us with the same look as my husband and exclaimed "I'd rather go fishing." Okay, sonny, stay home, go to classes and fish when you can I thought. Later on, I'd ask myself, when did he go over to the dark side? He's been to WDW several times and loved it.
After tucking everyone in to bed, I fired up my laptop and began comparing airline rates. My original plan was to take the first flight out on Sunday morning, arriving in Orlando at 10:30 and hoping to be at HS by 1:00. Prices for that flight had escalated and I noticed Jet Blue had an inexpensive rate for Saturday. The last flight out, leaving at 7:30 PM was the cheap fare of the day. I remembered receiving a pin code for room only and decided financially, it would make sense to book the Saturday night flight and book the room with a pin code, and I would still be saving money. I had trouble booking the pin code reservation, so I called Disney to see what was wrong. A lovely CM got me through the hiccup and then told me "I'm sorry but the pin code is no longer available at POFQ." After some consideration, I switched my reservations all to Caribbean Beach Resort, as that what was available. She kept offering me Saratoga Springs, but having visited the real place many times, I wasn't feeling it. After seeing 'Unewillow's' pictures of the resort, I should have booked there. I wasn't thrilled about Caribbean beach, and honestly, I have to get over the ho-hum feeling I've had about this resort because I'm going to Disney!
Who Is Going?
Me - I'll be celebrating my actual birthday while in Epcot! I love reading, photography and scrapbooking. I work FT and recently started an event planning business, specializing in fundraising events. It's been great fun and more successful than I imagined, keeping me busier than I anticipated. My favorite characters have always been Tigger and Eeyore, and more recently Daisy Duck because she wear's high heels. My favorite park is Magic Kingdom, with Epcot a close second. I really want to photograph the Disney details on this trip. I'll have my birthday button attached to my birthday button!
DS 13 - Fun loving, bright, enthusiastic young man. Pluto is his favorite character, but on our last trip became enamored with Jasmine. He just celebrated his birthday, and looks forward to wearing a birthday pin or two around the parks. He is anxious to go horseback riding during our stay.
DD 8 - Beautiful and funny little girl. Her deadpan humor and timing are flawless and we laugh all the time with her. She was a lover of princesses and the color pink on our last trip, but just recently informed me that she has moved on from that stage of her life. This means I'll treasure even more the memories of her trip to Bippity Boppity and how amazing she looked afterwards. We haven't a clue as to who her favorite character will be on this trip. She's looking forward to the Tower of Terror and the "Yeti ride." She, too, just celebrated her birthday and will also be sporting her birthday button.
So if you see three happy folks sporting birthday buttons, feel free to say hello!
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Oh, how I wish it was my DH, but it was not. When DH said he was staying home, I tossed around the idea of inviting my parents along for the trip. My children have always had DisneyGrandNana (DGN) along with them in Disney. I may not have been with them but DGN always was. After a few days and some discussions with the kids, DD called DGN to tell her where we were going and can she come. DGN's immediate reaction was thanks - but no thanks. Our last trip was fun, however my kids are not perfect and DGN is getting older and not as patient as she has been in the past. They talked a bit about their last trip and the good times they had and even chuckled over some of the stumbling blocks. When we had all hung up it seemed as it would be just the three of us.
That evening I began to really put in place our dining reservations. I was so excited to confirm all of the requests the children had made - character breakfasts at Ohana, Chef Mickey's, Crystal Palace, 1900 Park Fare and Cape May Cafe! We scored A level seats for Hoop Dee Doo and the Luau. We would be having dinner at CRT on our last night and for my birthday lunch at LeCellier and dinner at the Coral Reef. Because of all of the 2 credit TS meals, I upgraded from the free dining to the Deluxe Dining Plan. The 3 of us were on a Disney high, and even my DH smiled a bit when he watched our enthusiasm grow. You can still come, I tempted him.............no.
Fast forward a few days and it is time to make my final payment. I went ahead and called in my payment and chatted with a very friendly CM. I made a couple of requests to my ressie and we continued to look forward to the good times ahead.
The next morning DGN called me and asked if the offer was still open for her to come with us. Of course! We will have a blast I said. I spent quite a bit of time on the phone with Disney Dining attempting to add her to our dining reservations, which magically I was able to do.
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Go ahead and take the kids 
(2 out of 3, since oldest DS is in college) but I'm not ready for this." Hmmm, should I rethink my plans and plan an escape for 2 or stick with my idea and head to Disney? "Maybe, I'll change my mind." he said. Well, that's all I needed to hear, so I danced around the room, and shouted "Hey kids! We're going to Disney." Never, ever, ever could I plan a surprise trip. Whenever I make the decision to go, I get a goofy look on my face, my guidebooks come out and I'm glued to Passporter. The kids jumped up and down with me and my DH just shook his head. My older son looked at us with the same look as my husband and exclaimed "I'd rather go fishing." Okay, sonny, stay home, go to classes and fish when you can I thought. Later on, I'd ask myself, when did he go over to the dark side? He's been to WDW several times and loved it.
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Even DH had a hard time concentrating...
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