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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Ok, I know, I know … I’ve been neglecting this PTR. I really wish I had a good excuse. We’ve been busy, but doing what I couldn’t tell you . I thought I was supposed to have more time now that it was summer, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. All of the things I had envisioned being done by this point, well, they aren’t . We are having trouble finding our way into a good summer routine, is anyone else having this problem? Anyway ….
Before I get on with another update about our plans, I thought I would share with you a mini trip we took a couple of weeks ago out to Hershey, PA. The girls have been asking to go to Hersheypark for some time now, but we never did it mainly because of the cost. Just planning a 2 or 3 night stay was astronomical, and when I compared what I would get for that price at Disney it was hard to bite the bullet and get it booked . Well, a family member decided to gift us some Marriott points and I found a good deal on park tickets through AAA, so the trip was a go and the girls couldn’t have been more excited!
We booked 2 nights at the Fairfield Inn Harrisburg/Hershey, which was “just minutes” away from the park though it was not as close as it sounded it was a 20 minute drive without traffic and planned to leave on Monday morning, 6/25.
We made the 2 ½ hour drive out to Hershey without incident and made it to our hotel around 12:30 pm. Check in was not until 3 pm, but I was hoping a room would be available for us. Sadly, there wasn’t, so we decided to grab some lunch across the street and then head over to the “free” Chocolate World. I put free in quotes, because it is free to enter (and there are a couple of free activites), but the majority of things inside did cost money. Inside, there is a large foodcourt and store selling various park merchandise as well as all kinds of Hershey chocolate/candy products. The girls were in heaven here. The two free activities included a ride through the “chocolate factory” to see how they make those famous Hershey Bars, and a spot where you can pretend to be a product packer in the Kisses factory. It is free to do, but at the end you can purchase the box of Kisses that you just packed if you choose. It was expensive ($7 for a tiny little box), but there was never any pressure to buy.
Other activities that were available for a fee were a 3D movie, a Trolley Tour of the town of Hershey, a chocolate tasting led by a chocolatier, a “design your own candy bar” and some kind of “make your own dessert” thing. Tickets could be purchased al a carte, or there were various combo tickets you could buy that would give you a slight discount, depending on how many activities you wanted to. We ended up just browsing the store and riding through the chocolate factory before heading back to the hotel to check in, but before we left we did purchase tickets for a Trolley Tour later that evening.
We checked in and freshened up at the hotel before heading back to Chocolate World to board our trolley for the tour. All in all, the tour took about an hour. It was a little corny at times, funny at times, but very informative. It takes you throughout the town of Hershey, and there was a lot of information given about Mr. Hershey and his famous chocolate bars. I’m not sure that I would do it again, but I don’t regret doing it once. There was free chocolate!
After the tour we grabbed a bite to eat at a Red Robin that was just outside of the park, and then we headed over to the park to enjoy our preview (a nice perk of buying day tickets, you are allowed to enter the park 2 ½ hours before closing the night before you plan on using your full day ticket). We managed to get a lot of rides in during those couple of hours, and the girls discovered a new found love of roller coasters! I, however, realized that I do NOT like coasters anymore . At one point, I had Abby (my tiny little 6 year old) holding my hand during a ride, trying to comfort me after I screamed that I didn’t like it . Fun times!
Our plan for the next day was to arrive at park opening and go straight to the waterpark area for a few hours, but the weather did not cooperate with us. The temperature had dropped by quite a bit overnight and it was rather chilly in the morning. We spent the whole day in the park, from opening to close. Man were we tired, but we had a ball and found out that we had two little, budding thrill seekers on our hands. Kaeli now wants to try and conquer ToT and RnRC this trip, after the rides she tried at Hershey I have no doubts that she will.
We got a good nights sleep and slept in a bit on Wednesday morning before heading back home. While I got dressed and packed up the room, Chris took the girls down to the pool for a little while after breakfast. After a quick change, we got our things ready and checked out around noon before heading home.
It was a great little getaway and we had lots of fun, but I did find myself comparing things to Disney (like I usually do at other theme parks), and things aren’t always up to the caliber that we are used to at WDW. I will say, though, that they handle food allergies excellently. There is a wealth of information on ingredients and safe options on their website, they even go as far as to list all menu items, ingredients and cross contamination alerts for all of the restaurants in the parks. Any of the staff members that we spoke to regarding Kaeli’s allergy were well trained and able to answer any questions that we had, which really put us at ease. The girls had a blast, and they have already put in a request to return for another trip next summer!
I didn’t bring my camera with me, but here are a few shots we got with our camera phones:
I was happy to have been able to test out some purchases I made for our upcoming WDW trip, a new bag
About This Page: 
. I thought I was supposed to have more time now that it was summer, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. All of the things I had envisioned being done by this point, well, they aren’t 
. We are having trouble finding our way into a good summer routine, is anyone else having this problem? Anyway ….
. Well, a family member decided to gift us some Marriott points and I found a good deal on park tickets through AAA, so the trip was a go and the girls couldn’t have been more excited! 
. At one point, I had Abby (my tiny little 6 year old) holding my hand during a ride, trying to comfort me after I screamed that I didn’t like it 
. Fun times!
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