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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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'll be at Disneyland on August 14-15.
How are the crowds at the newly-refurbished DCA?
Should I spend both days at the Magic Kingdom, and wait until my next visit (January 3, 2013) to visit DCA? This is assuming that January 3 will be as empty as usually reported.
Thanks.
Attendance at DCA, for the first time ever, is higher than for Disneyland Park. Some say nearly twice as high on a regular basis. So, an all-Disneyland Park visit does make good sense.
But what has good sense to do with it, when there's so much new stuff to see at DCA?
Getting into Cars Land? Crazy. Getting a good view of World of Color? Major challenge. But if you're not insistent on actually riding something in Cars Land... I can't imagine avoiding the park altogether. And queues for the older attractions will be a bit more manageable than they are in Cars Land, though hardly as low as they used to be at this time of year.
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Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions
Will you be staying at a Disneyland hotel on property? If so, and if they are offering early hours for Disney hotel guests on the two days you're here, then it would be worth getting to DCA right at opening and doing the new Cars Land rides.
When we were there a few weeks ago, a CM told us that half of DLR was at Cars Land, which means the rest of DCA and all of DL were relatively open. He was right. While it was still crowded, it was nowhere near as crowded as summers usually are. In fact, a few rides were almost walk-ons for us.
If you're not staying on property or if early hours aren't offered the days you're here, then you might not want to spend your limited time waiting in LONG lines for the Cars Land rides.
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Huge Disney Fan...Always Have Been...Always Will Be!
Disneyland 60th Anniversary Celebration TR here!
2013 WDW trip here!
2011 trip to Hawaii here!
Dave: thanks for the response; your books are awesome! I will be there at opening (no apaprent extra-magic hours that day), and, while I like the rides, atmosphere is important, so, I may be able to get onto one or two, and then enjoy the rest of DCA (Soarin' Over California is the most fun I can legally have!) I've already seen the "Color" show, so will probably be on rides while that's playing as well.
Dland mom2: As you can see by my response to Dave, I will plan and be happy whether or not I get on a "Cars" ride.
I agree with what Dave said about not avoiding the park altogether. I'm not sure about all rides, but I know some have single rider lines. If you are going alone or don't mind splitting up your party, perhaps there is single rider lines for the Cars Land rides to help you avoid the lines and crowds some.
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~Joby/Lil~Me stealing Capt. Jack Sparrow's treasure!
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I was at DCA today, and at about 3:30 in the afternoon, Mater's Junkyard Jamboree had a listed wait time of 20 minutes. Just go with the flow, and you might be pleasantly surprised!
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Huge Disney Fan...Always Have Been...Always Will Be!
Disneyland 60th Anniversary Celebration TR here!
2013 WDW trip here!
2011 trip to Hawaii here!
Thanks, lilianna, Tonichelle and Dlandmom2 for your responses.
I need to keep my eyes peeled for single-rider lines, as they are not common in my experience at DW. "Soarin' Over California" at DCA is the only single-rider line I've ever actually used.
It is funny that a popular ride can suddenly and unexpectedly have a reasonable wait time. That happens all the time at DW's "Haunted Mansion," which has neither single-rider nor fast-pass, but does have a shortcut around the cemetery.
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Tom Ferguson - Cruella DeVil is DiVine!
DVC - Home Resort: Saratoga Springs
Disney Cruise Junky!
It is funny that a popular ride can suddenly and unexpectedly have a reasonable wait time. That happens all the time at DW's "Haunted Mansion," which has neither single-rider nor fast-pass, but does have a shortcut around the cemetery.
Ah, but WDW's cemetery is much more interactive and fun than DLR's.
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~Joby/Lil~Me stealing Capt. Jack Sparrow's treasure!
We go to DL/CA almost every Friday and Sunday. The waits for Radiator Springs Racers have been anywhere from 120 to 240 minutes. The longest we've waited in the RSR single rider line has been 40 minutes. Yesterday, a CM told me that the fast passes are gone within 30 minutes of park opening. At 8:20 yesterday morning, there were FPs available with return times of 10:45-11:00 PM. Crazy.
Mater's Junkyard Jamboree waits have been under 30 minutes. Luigi's Flying Tires wait is usually under an hour.
The good news is that Toy Story Midway Mania waits are now under an hour - sometimes as short as 30 minutes. We've had short waits for California Screamin' as well. There used to be horrible lines for Soarin' Over California, but those lines have also gotten shorter. Goofy's Sky School (my favorite ride) is still over 45 minutes most of the time. Tower of Terror & Grizzly River Rapids have been between 30 and 60 minutes. Little Mermaid is a walk on.
Over at DL many of the lines have been much shorter, most notably Indiana Jones and Big Thunder Mountain. Space Mountain, Matterhorn & Splash Mountain are all still longish, but not as bad as earlier this year. The Fantasyland rides are all still 30 to 60 minutes.
I would go to both parks. I'm a local with a premium pass so I can go whenever I want and I still try to visit both parks each time I go. I've always loved CA and I like it even more now that Carsland has opened. It's just beautiful and I love the 3 new rides.
It turned out that I spent 2 wonderful days at the Magic Kingdom. Usually, I only do 1 day there, counting the hours. It was bliss; small crowds and, with judicious use of FastPass and early arrival at the park, no more than a 20 minute wait for any one ride (except for Roger Rabbit, certainly the most trying line in the park when it comes to annoying behavior).
January 3 is reserved for DCA, which, I hope, shall be more placid than it was this summer.
And, now that the construction is finished, the plaza between the two parks is breathtaking!
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Tom Ferguson - Cruella DeVil is DiVine!
DVC - Home Resort: Saratoga Springs
Disney Cruise Junky!
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It turned out that I spent 2 wonderful days at the Magic Kingdom. Usually, I only do 1 day there, counting the hours. It was bliss; small crowds and, with judicious use of FastPass and early arrival at the park, no more than a 20 minute wait for any one ride (except for Roger Rabbit, certainly the most trying line in the park when it comes to annoying behavior).
Sounds like there's a story there.
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~Joby/Lil~Me stealing Capt. Jack Sparrow's treasure!