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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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'm glad the park was starting to empty out for you. It's great when you get such short waits like that!
It was truely the best time to be there that week as it was so busy all day long.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lfredsbo
Sounds like a great evening so far! Glad the crowds are clearing out!
We finally were seeing a ray of hope!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
You all did a great job of squeezing in a bit more fun before calling it a night.
We tried our best!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lindawdw
So glad that you had such a nice meal at BOG and I didn't know that they had the hidden mickeys on the ceiling! I'll have to check it out on our upcoming trip Looks like a beautiful night at the MK and how great that you only had a 10 minute wait for BTMRR!!! Your granddaughter's pictures are beautiful
The meal was very good. I really like that restaurant.
We were so happy to have the short wait.
I get to spend time with her tomorrow and I am excited!
Quote:
Originally Posted by disneydreamer33
Congrats! She's adorable!!!!
The food at BOG looked delish! Can't wait to try the cupcakes.
Glad the park was starting to clear out and the wait times were getting shorter!
I was too!
Quote:
Originally Posted by xwewhisper
Glad the park started to clear out for you! Love the "where are we" little details!
It's fun to do. I did that a little bit with my last trip. I didn't tell many people where I was going or doing so I on facebook I tried to do a few posts of where are we going.
Well there were no worries….Claire loved it this time around.
She loved it so much that she wanted to ride it again. Yay!!!! This time the line was a little longer, probably about 20 minutes now.
Fireworks were going off now, which I think is one of the reasons why the line was not too bad.
It also had started to sprinkle, but we were fine with that. We got loaded and this time in the front car.
We laughed the whole time as we got bulleted with some rain. Sprinkles feel like pellets as you whiz around the mountain. There was also a spot that had a drip and wouldn’t you know I got a nice big drip right on my head. Claire loved that part.
That was a lot of fun, but the rain, though light, was steady and we decided to make our way towards the front.
As we got to the front I saw a photopass photographer and decided to ask him to take our picture, but I wanted the backside to get our jackets. This guy just didn’t get it. I kept saying I want the Disneyland logo to show and he gave us a deer in the headlights look. This is what we ended up with.
I had to crop it down to get closer to show the backs of our jackets.
He probably thought we were strange wearing Disneyland jackets at Disney World…..but that was the whole point. LOL.
We started to move on and the castle show started so we stopped to watch a bit.
I tried not to get in others way, but others weren’t so polite and we had to move several times as it seemed like we attracted the umbrella people and they would stop to watch directly in front of us.
Of course they had some Frozen added in and Claire loved it.
Did I mention how much I dislike umbrellas? I know they are allowed, but seriously, if you are stopping for a show, you should really put them down so others can see too.
With that we went up front to our locker.
And out to the monorail.
And back to the Grand Floridian to get our car.
The rain had pretty much stopped now and Claire said her feet hurt and asked if she could take off her shoes.
We walked back to the car and set Siri to get us back to the Marriott. Once we got on the main road it was now becoming easier to get to the Marriott and I could find my own way.
I believe Claire fell asleep in the car as we drove and then we both went right to bed when we got to the room. Of course I had turned on the TV to catch up on the missing Malaysia plane.
One thing I don’t think I mentioned today. Skip would be flying down Thursday to meet up with us. He and Claire were to be sailing on birth certificates, but I told him his was so old and raggedy that he should get a new one. I had pestered him about this for a few weeks before the trip. Well… today he decided to go and do it. He also planned to buy some new pants as he thinks I am shrinking all of his clothes……it’s not me making them shrink! LOL. So he called to tell me I told him the wrong address but they gave him the correct one to go to. OK, good! Then he later calls to tell me that the truck is broke down and he has to call a tow truck and he is not going to be getting a new birth certificate. UGH! I just knew he was going to blame this on me somehow. But he did say “remember that thing the truck did to you last year” Yes I did…and he blamed me back then for doing something wrong, even though I had not touched anything. “Well that’s the problem…and we have been having it for a year and we just never got it fixed and now it went totally out”. So it never was my fault…. I knew it!!!!!
So it looked like Skip was going to have to take his chances with the old worn birth certificate.
Great pictures of the making memories show on the castle! I agree with you about the umbrellas in the park! I hope Skip didn't have a problem with the birth certificate!
Great ride on BTMMR! We've ridden in the rain and it does add to the excitement. Love the castle show, too.
We did a lot of laughing with the rain hitting us. Claire always acts like it's horrible, but I know she secretly loves stuff like that. But because I don't like it as much she pretends she doesn't either.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Great shots of the castle show, even with the umbrellas. I hope it all works out with Skip and the birth certificate.
Thanks.
There is more to that story, but he did sail!
Quote:
Originally Posted by disneydreamer33
I love the jackets and the PP shots. Hey, I am wearing a DL tshirt to WDW this week. I see nothing wrong with it!!! lol
I wore my DL tee there too!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lindawdw
Great pictures of the making memories show on the castle! I agree with you about the umbrellas in the park! I hope Skip didn't have a problem with the birth certificate!
I was really amazed early on how a family with an umbrella just came to a complete stop in front of us and then turned around. I am sure I grumbled something kind of loud to Claire as we moved away to actually see.
Today we were not going to Disney! I know, it’s a complete shock! But I had free tickets to Sea World burning a hole in my pocket. This was also the day I arranged to have a tour of Discovery Cove. My parents were going to go to Sea World as well.
I got up early as always and I am sure I walked the grounds a bit, but this is the only picture I have to show for it.
We all got ready and headed off to Sea World, which was basically just around the corner. It’s very close to the Marriott Grand Vista.
We drove separately because my parents like to leave early. Claire and I had to get in line to redeem my vouchers.
When we got the tickets, I asked how to get the shuttle to Discovery Cove and she told me where to go and it sounded easy enough.
Tickets in hand, we were ready to enter.
Manta went over our head.
Manta is a coaster that tilts you to your tummy so it appears you are flying under the track…..I wondered what idiot would even think about riding that. Well…. Claire asked to ride it and I told her there is no way she would like that. She was just beginning to like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and this was a big step up.
We moved on and found the flamingos……and those that have read reports by me before know that I have an obsession with flamingos and tend to take a lot of pictures of them.
We already had to make a potty break…God forbid we actually walk in more than 10 steps. LOL.
We found some rays swimming around.
We made our way to the back of the park.
Not our kind of ride (or at least mine as I hate getting wet), but fun to watch.
I wanted to see penguins.
We got in line for the penguin empire ride. It was something like an hour long wait. I was messaging my friend Brook and she told me it was nice, but not worth that long of a wait. I worried too as time would run out and I had to leave by a certain time to go to Discovery Cove. We ended up getting out and trying to find out if we could just see the penguins without going on the ride. Every TM I asked told me no. That is kind of a bummer. They told me we could skip the ride and go directly in to see the penguins, but we still had to wait in that line. We just decided we would check back later.
We found the Sea Lions and watched them for a little bit.
And we were already hungry and I didn’t want to be starving while touring Discovery Cove, so we went in search of lunch.
The selection in there really wasn’t all that great, but we decided to share chicken. It looked like some decent portions.
Well it wasn’t. It was mostly crust with very little meat in there at all.
Claire is a mash potato junky so I basically only got a taste of that as well.
We also got the refillable mug for the day. Actually I found they had a better deal for one nearer the front. This one had discounted refills but the other one had better discounts at other spots in the park.
As we sat there I did get to see a penguin…..just not the kind I thought I would.
While we sat there I called Mom and Dad and they met up with us. They were going to take Claire now. We still had a little bit of time, so we headed into a small aquarium.
Fish were swimming below our feet.
And above our heads.
That’s my dad’s hand photobombing the picture.
It wasn’t a very big aquarium, but it still had some neat things to see.
And then I was off to the front to catch the shuttle.
I ran into these guys and they just were so funny looking so I had to stop and take some pictures.
And a walk by the crazy Manta.
Oh there are the flamingoes again!
Oh…this is Sea World’s 50th Anniversary as well. I found out later there was an app you could download and do sort of a treasure hunt for a prize. I never told this to Claire as I didn’t want to spend the day looking for things. LOL. I did however look for a 50th anniversary magnet and there wasn’t any.
I walked along the side and found the shuttle stop and picked up the phone and told the person who answered that I wanted to go to Discovery Cove. They asked how many and I told them 1 and they said a shuttle was on the way.
As I waited I saw a little bus arrive and unload a lady in a wheel chair. She was with her husband and they asked if this is where they catch the shuttle to DC. I told them yes and that I had called but they did ask how many would be going, so perhaps they should call too. So they did.
Soon the shuttle arrived and the driver was super nice, but she was working her tail off. She got the lady loaded and we all said DC and then she looked at the couple’s info. They were older and not from the US. And very confused. They did not have DC included in their package. The driver told them they could go to Aquatica or Sea World but not DC. They decided on Aquatica, but they asked a ton of questions. They were nice, but I was now watching my time tick and I didn’t want to be late….good thing I had left a little early.
Finally we were on our way, but wouldn’t you know, we had to drop them off first and then me. I ended up arriving to DC right on time without a minute to spare…but at least I made it!
Great start to the morning! And yeah................me = idiot who tried Manta NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER again!!!! I am NOT a roller coaster person AT ALL, so NO idea what the heck possessed me to try it with my family - Let's just say it was not pretty! I couldn't talk for two days due to the screaming!!!
Can't wait to see your photos of DC as I want to visit there some day!
__________________
Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
Manta is a coaster that tilts you to your tummy so it appears you are flying under the track…..I wondered what idiot would even think about riding that.
This idiot would think about riding that . Looks like lots of fun to me! (Although as I get older, I find myself having more irrational thoughts on roller coasters about what would happen if the safety harnesses somehow stopped working !)
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.
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Your granddaughter's pictures are beautiful
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I hope it all works out with Skip and the birth certificate. 
NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER again!!!! I am NOT a roller coaster person AT ALL, so NO idea what the heck possessed me to try it with my family - Let's just say it was not pretty! I couldn't talk for two days due to the screaming!!! 
. Looks like lots of fun to me! (Although as I get older, I find myself having more irrational thoughts on roller coasters about what would happen if the safety harnesses somehow stopped working 
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