What you did way back when- you can't do that now! - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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What you did way back when- you can't do that now!
So this question came up because my younger son has told me (twice now) that when he graduates college in May of 2019 he wants to go to WDW!
And specifically he wants to go to Sci Fi .... so of course I started to think of all the trips we took when they were much younger. Those trips were longer 10 days, Moderate/ Value, both boys sharing a bed, one day park pass, and no dining plan (unless it was free- and we only did that one trip).
So now tentatively I am thinking about it...2019...Now that they are much older, things will have to be different.
1. They each have to have their own bed...there is NO way they will share a bed.... lol (they are so big in height, I wouldn't be able to be get them to share anyway!)
2. They LOVE CBR, but I would have to get 2 rooms. (I was thinking of moving up to Deluxe)
3. Definitely get Park Hoppers! (They LOVED the water parks when they were younger- wonder if they want to go in 2019? I could pay OOP)
4. Dining plan not sure about this one- More than likely will be going right after graduation, the week of May 12th or the 19th. We will need to have a conversation about it.
5. Can't do 10 days- probably be 6 nights/7 days. (enough time together to enjoy WDW as adults)
So what worked Beautifully when they were younger- is NOT going to work now that they are MUCH older. They will be 26 and 22 by the time we do this College Graduation Trip...AND totally forgot they will be able to drink alcohol.... OOPS!
Whole different thinking.... so has anyone learned from way back when that now it being 2017 that the things you did then you just CAN'T do them now?
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Kate in PA All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them- Walt Disney
There are things I can't do now due to severe osteoarthritis in my knees that I used to do. Walking around the parks and the hotel, standing (like in a line) for more than a few minutes, Tower of Terror, It's a Small World, Rockin' Roller Coaster, and others that I'm not thinking of at the moment. I've never been on Seven Dwarves Mine Train because there's no way I'd be able to get down in and then up and out of those mine cars. Of course I'll be able to do these things once I get my knees replaced whenever that will end happening.
I went to WDW with my mom after law school and I must admit it was a very different trip but it was also one of the best ones. We took lots of Photopass pics, did some shows we hadn't seen/done in a while, took things a little slower but also did the Food & Wine Festival. We had an excellent trip and I would highly recommend an adult trip as child/parent. Don't get me wrong, we still did the character meals & meet/greets but we had so much fun with it too.
We once ended up at WDW when my husband's cousin was also staying there (different resort). Our kids are really close and we were able to meet up at POFQ and all swim together in the pool. It sounds silly but, it's a memory my kids will never forget. I don't think it will ever happen again because now there is no pool hopping and we will probably never get to stay in the same resort.
When my kids were smaller we could book one value room. Now that they are bigger sharing a double bed just won't work since it's important to get a good night's sleep!
I also wanted to mention if you're doing Park Hoppers and a Water Park it would be less expensive to buy the combo Park Hopper, Water Park & More tickets than pay out of pocket for the water park. Hopefully that will still be the case in 2019.
When my kids were smaller we could book one value room. Now that they are bigger sharing a double bed just won't work since it's important to get a good night's sleep!
I also wanted to mention if you're doing Park Hoppers and a Water Park it would be less expensive to buy the combo Park Hopper, Water Park & More tickets than pay out of pocket for the water park. Hopefully that will still be the case in 2019.
Thank you Disney Dork for the suggestion!
It's funny when the boys were younger, I would get the Magic your way (no park hopper) with water park option- for as many days as we were there in Disney...but I am not even sure they would want to go there...I see a conversation about that as well!
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Kate in PA All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them- Walt Disney
We can no longer do one room with more than 2 adults. Our first family trip, 15 years ago, there were 4 of us in a value room, two adults, a 14-year old and a 6-year old. I've just come to like my space more now.
As someone mentioned above we used to pool-hop. It was fun to try out the different ones. We also used to love the Fleetwood trailers at the campgrounds that were nicer and larger than any hotel room but cost less. Not any more now that they are cabins.
With kids much older now, we cannot fit into one room comfortably at value or mod. resort plus grandma is now coming too!
The kid's cannot be bribed to behave by offering pool time either -lol.
A foodcourt meal for dinner just doesn't fill anyone. And there's no sharing a meal with a child for lunch anymore...
Wearing matching shirts has to be saved for one special day (MVMCP) and let them pick whichever Disney shirt any other day. Long gone are the days that they had to find the ziplock bag with today's day clothes in it. In the lead up to Disney they all deny they will wear D-shirts but they all go along with it just for me - ahhhh.
Best change is that the "kids" now make "adult" decisions on what outside Disney things we do...Yes - Universal is too expensive these days, no we don't need to go to Ripley's or a dinner show and my favourite "Can we do Walmart first?"
I must admit I did love doing WDW with a stroller! I can wait for grandkids though!
- The dining plan doesn't work for us anymore. All 3 kids are Disney "adults" and the plan for all 5 is super expensive. There's no way we'd spend that much paying OOP.
- No more matching shirts. The kids will not even wear the same color, not even once.
I forgot about that...picking out clothes and shirts for both my boys.
Today there is NO WAY I could do that...since one likes tight shirts and the other one likes loose-fitting ones...2 different styles!
And forget getting them wearing a matching shirt..I had trouble even when they were younger...I got away with one year where we all wore a castle shirt for one day! Now I would have to beg...and anyway I would have trouble myself, since I don't wear t-shirts now!
Great memories....
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Kate in PA All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them- Walt Disney
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I would highly recommend an adult trip as child/parent. Don't get me wrong, we still did the character meals & meet/greets but we had so much fun with it too.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk
Completely agree with this! When my DD graduated from college, a mother/daughter WDW was what she wanted for her graduation gift. It is still one of my (and her!) favorite trips.
Completely agree with this! When my DD graduated from college, a mother/daughter WDW was what she wanted for her graduation gift. It is still one of my (and her!) favorite trips.
Thank you.... maybe my oldest son won't want to go and I can have a REALLY Great time in Disney with my youngest..to celebrate his Graduation! (But it would be sad if his brother did not come, since they both liked Disney when they were younger...)
We shall see...............
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Kate in PA All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them- Walt Disney
No more sneaking goodies from the Target Dollar spot or clearance at the Disney Store in the suitcase for surprises instead of buying pricey souvenirs. Now we just give them each a small gift card and they have to supplement with their own money.
I miss mid day naptime too! It was a great time to get laundry taken care of on recharge. Of course the trade off is my husband and I can sit on a bench, have a treat and let the kids go!
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