Brent and Cinderella celebrate Jordan's 17th birthday. (Ariel too.) COMPLETE 4/7 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Hello! My name is Brent, and welcome to our Trip! This is a trip celebrating my daughter Jordan’s 17th birthday. She is a big Ariel fan. Here are a few pictures from past trips:
And I am, Brent. Those of you who have followed our Brent and Liz Trip Reports in the past know that I need no introduction. I am devoted to Cinderella through and through and she has given myself and my lovely wife, Liz, many wonderful memories in the past. Here are a few pictures of me and all my Cinderella-ness.
We arrived at Detroit Metro airport right on schedule and parked in the cheap lot. I took a picture of the pole - 7B. That way we know where it is when we get back in a week.
Checked our bags and got through security in fine shape. So far so good and it’s all going smooth. Our gate was a bit of a hike from security so we hopped on the fake monorail. Found our gate and had plenty of seats so Jordan sat with the bags while I went in search of food. I found McDonalds for our dinner. The plane boarded on time and we were off on schedule Our plane actually used the runway by the lot where we parked so we were even able to wave goodbye to our van. The flight was magnificently uneventful and we landed in sunny, warm Orlando! Got our rental car from Dollar , a white Avenger. Usually we do Alamo, but Dollar had a rate of $105 for the week. Couldn’t hardly say no to that. We were on our way pretty much on schedule! It was a warm night. The first thing we noticed was the toll plazas were a lot less staffed and they have installed exact coin lanes. There was one lane open for cash, and it had a big line. Mental note, pack a roll of quarters next time! Got to Art of Animation and checked in. Our room was in the Little Mermaid section, Ursula building with a view of the lake:
It was now going on 10:30. We toyed with the idea of heading to the MK, but I settled for a swim instead. We got our mugs from the cafeteria, got rehydrated then I went for a swim. Felt so good to be swimming outside! It’s worth noting they were already redoing the floors in the Food court. Didn’t this resort just open?
Wednesday March 12, Epcot and the Frozen girls in the morning, MK in the evening….
I awoke at 6 am and made my coffee run and to make my way around the resort. They finished the floor in the food court the night before and I was the first guest to use it. I thought it was quite an honor. Coffee in hand I set out to see the resort. I made my way through the cars area then over the Bridge to Pop at which point my coffee mug had run dry. It also started to rain a bit, so I refilled my coffee mug at Pop then headed back to our room. I woke Jordan then went for a swim in the Flipping your Fins pool. Lifeguards are on duty at 7 am there. After that we headed to Epcot for breakfast at Akershush. Breakfast was good and the Princess interaction was great. Jordan got to finally meet Ariel in her new dress.
But my dearly beloved Cinderella was not there! On the bright side, Snow White was there and she asked about Liz. I think this Snow White tried to draw a moustache on my picture in my autograph book last trip. Good day so far
After breakfast, Jordan lined up immediately for the Frozen girls, Anna and Elsa. It was a 4 hour wait! She was determined, however, and as long as one of us held our place in line the other one could wander around Epcot. So I wandered around, rode the Land. Did some shopping, had a beer, then took my turn in line. Right when the Monsoon hit. ahhhh the things we do for our kids.. The sun came out and we finally met them!
Anna talked to me quite a bit. Claimed her new friend Cinderella told her all about me. She knew my name and all about my tattoos and me devotion to the white gloved one. Nice to know I’m talked about. She said she was worried about the upcoming coronation because she kind of messed up the last one she attended. I assured her Cinderella would make her feel more than welcome and would take care of everything. It was pretty cool. Jordan was spending time with Elsa showing her the snowflake necklace a friend got her for her birthday. She really liked it. I don’t know if it was worth waiting four hours in the rain, but it was a pretty cool encounter.
By now it was almost 2:30 (!) so we headed for the rental car because I had not made my beer stop, errrr bottled water stop at Walmart yet. I was fretting a little bit because it was getting late and a stop at Walmart would put a real kink in the rest of the day. At that point we were almost driving by the Hess station on Beuna Vista near the Epcot resort and boardwalk entrance. It was then I had this realization and fairly blurted out. Jordan! There’s a gas station!! Gas stations have beer, errrrrr water bottles! All these years I’ve been going to walmart and driving right by this gas station and they had the items I wanted right there all the time! Wow! So it was back to the resort to drink a ummm water bottle or two. We had a quick stop at the Pop food court for some Tye Dye Cheesecake then walked back over to the pool near our room and swam for a bit to freshen up then it was on to the MK by bus and my first, long awaited meeting with Cinderella! I also found something to adorn my magic band.
Then my first meeting with Cinderella. I was nervous as always and she was as sweet as ever. She noticed the bow my daughter gave me right away in the colors of her dear mother’s dress.
Then we saw Aurora, good to see her too!
Now it was on to Tony’s for dinner. Then Jordan had to meet Ariel. She just had a fit over Jordan’s shirt and obvious admiration for her. They talked for quite awhile. Jordan told her all about the swim team season and at one point they exchanged a perfectly timed impromptu hi-five. I just kind of stood there but she did say she liked the collection I had on my shirt. Here are pictures.
After that Jordan went in the gift shop for awhile and I checked out the line to see Cinderella again. I was in luck! It was short! Cinderella loved my book, my shirt and seemed genuinely glad to see me. A very friendly cast member running the line took lots of pictures for me.
Then we rode Space Mountain
, and went shopping back in the gift shop where Jordan decided to build her own light sabre. We walked around a bit more then headed out. Big day tomorrow! Jordan’s birthday!
Next: Breakfast at the Castle, and an Ariel who likes me too???
Thank goodness Anna and Elsa are moving to the MK Fairy Tale hall so I can try and get a fast pass for when we go in June. My 7 year old is thrilled to not wait in a 4 1/2 hour line.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Great start to the birthday trip! I think Disney made a wise decision in moving Anna and Elsa and making a FP+ for their meet and greet. 4 hour is a very long wait. Love the bling for your Magic Band.
About This Page: 
I am devoted to Cinderella through and through and she has given myself and my lovely wife, Liz, many wonderful memories in the past. Here are a few pictures of me and all my Cinderella-ness. 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Deb
~ Jenn 
Love all the pictures! How great you got to meet Anna and Elsa! 
*Melissa
I think Disney made a wise decision in moving Anna and Elsa and making a FP+ for their meet and greet. 4 hour is a very long wait. Love the bling for your Magic Band. 
Linear Mode
