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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Just wanted to say how much I am enjoying your "no plans" trip. You seem to both really be enjoying yourselves so I'm thinking it is a pretty good way to go. All the snacking makes me jealous....DH wants to eat big meals where I would rather do more snacking! Can't wait for more.
I'm thoroughly enjoying your TR. The idea of going without a plan and winging it would have had me twitching when I was a commando traveler. It seems to be working well for you. I look forward to more photos and adventures from you.
Checking in from our cruise we find that, unfortunately (but not surprisingly), our room is not ready. I ensure they have my mobile number so they can text me when the room is ready. However, after consideration, we are not feeling like going anywhere due to our early morning wake up and so decide to camp out on a comfy loveseat in the lobby.
Lunch time rolls around and feeling a little hungry, I head to Good’s Food to Go for a little take-out. DW asks for the chicken noodle soup, which she loves. I get the jerk chicken pita and it is excellent, full of flavourful chicken.
It’s getting to be around 3:30PM and still no text. I go up to the check-in desk to inquire and (big surprise) the room IS ready. We head to Bell Services to get their assistance and dude brings around the limo version of the golf cart and transports us to our room. We’re in bungalow 24 which is nicely located near the Hospitality House and has a bus stop nearby, as well.
Welcome home!
The view from the veranda.
Along the side.
The front yard.
The room itself is not too bad. As advertised there is a lot of space and a little more storage than BWV as there is a 4 drawer dresser that also serves as the TV stand. Once again, there is no end table on my side of the bed and the suitcase, when unpacked, will have to do.
Our plan for today is to unpack and get our laundry done (no charge for these machines!). We grab our stuff and go get started, planning on getting dinner at Good’s. DW gets the ham & cheese sammich and I get their chicken nuggets and fries, both are very good. As we are finishing our dinner, one of the CM rolls up a cart and announces there will be a movie/music trivia contest. This one was a lot less hard-core than the trivia contests aboard the cruise ship and everybody has a good time with it. Laundry all done, we head back to our room for a little TV before turning in.
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I am enjoying your report. Love the snacking. We have starting going more in that direction and cutting a few days of big meals from our trips. Sorry about the "lovely" view at OKW.😉
To day we decide to go to Hollywood Studios, putting off going to the Magic Kingdom until the last two days of the trip. A check of the app shows FPs available for everything except Toy Story Midway Mania and the Anna & Elsa Sing Along.
We get to the park and, once again, I get the Blue Ring of Shame with our new magic bands (the AP card works fine). I head off to Guest Relations and they fix everything up after a phone call to tech support. I don’t what the problem is but lately, it seems, every new set of MBs does not want to work for park entry but works for everything else. Anyway, it gets fixed and the CM gives us a Golden Fast Pass so we head straight for TSMM. The scores are close but I managed to squeeze out a few more points than DW.
What’s more fun than?
After that we decide to select some FPs as the wait times are starting to increase. We opt for Indiana Jones, Star Tours, and the Great Movie Ride. Passing by, the Sorcerer’s Hat is being further disassembled.
Lunchtime is at Starring Roles Café and, this time, we split one of those ginormous ham sandwiches but we each get a cupcake – Red Velvet for DW and Butterfinger for me.
The Indiana Jones Adventure is one of our favourites as an entertaining show. Even though there was a malfunction involving the boulder, the show was still an exciting and enjoyable one.
Star Tours is as thrilling as always and we enjoy the Great Movie Ride despite the fact that we got the Gangster treatment again. Next time, I’ll try to get inn the first car for the Western skit.
Dinner time and we want to check out the food trucks at Downtown Disney so we hop on a bus and head over there. Really hard to decide as it all looks so good. DW for the chicken nuggets and fries from one truck and I get a gyro and feta fries from another. After dinner we call it quits and head back to the resort.