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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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Travel - road trip! We like driving and had our usual great time. The only problem was construction through Ohio and being overly tired to start the trip. But we were lucky and won't ever do that again. Full nights rest before starting out for us! We drove farther on the way down this time and stayed at Drury Inn, which we liked. On the way back we stayed at Holiday Inn Express and found that quite comfortable as well.
WDW stay - We stayed at AKL - Kidani which was a first for us. We were a bit disappointed with it. There were dirty dishes in the hallway for an excessive amount of time. There were dead leaves and trash around the walkways and the bus area. There weren't any Mickey Premium ice cream bars in the gift shop and the staff didn't seem to want to rectify that. While we liked the room and the savannah view, we really did not care for Kidani. I don't think we will be going back.
Food - well, what can I say? We always seem to eat VERY WELL while we are at Disney. A few of our favorites - Narcoossee's, Raglan Road, Boma and we can add Splitsville to this list as well. I found out I like crab legs thanks to Fulton's. We had dinner at BOG and thought that it is over rated. Sorry, just not our fav. New to us was Food and Wine. While we went there once before, we never actually ate. This time, we tried a lot! I think we hit almost every booth over the course of 3 days. Favorites - cronut, beef bourguignon from France, and I really liked the waffle with berry compote from Belgium and the corn cheesecake at Mexico and the 15 year Glenfidditch scotch from Scotland!
Extras - PP meets! Finally we got to meet Cam and Luke! They are great people and would have loved to have had more time with them. Maybe next time. And a second "semi meet" with Tracy A. in the middle of the gift shop. It was quick. Too quick. Maybe next time, we can do more than say "hi - don't I know you". Maybe a drink or something! And not to forget Heather - a brief hug while getting on EE isn't enough either. But she is another great hugger!
MNSSHP - we had fun dressing up and we were actually the only ones wearing Togas (that we saw anyway). And I think that's true because we had people yelling "Toga! Toga!" and asking for our picture. Love the parade and the Headless Horseman. We also stayed for the special fireworks. We didn't "trick or treat" - don't need that much candy!
F&WF - we did see a few "acts". Listened to Wilson Phillips and Dennis DeYoung during Eat to the Beat. We got "passports" and had them stamped while we went around the world.
Cruise - this was our first cruise. 4 days was short but just enough after the previous 10 days at WDW. We had a wonderful time making chocolate in Nassau and laying in a hammock on Castaway Cay. We dressed as Pirates for Pirate night and had fun after dinner up on deck watching a movie on tunnel vision. Then there was the Pirate party and fireworks. The cruise was a great way to "get our feet wet" so to speak. We just relaxed. We didn't do much "socializing" on board. There were decks we didn't even get to see/explore. We booked our next cruise while on board - a 7 night Western Caribbean!
Overall - It was a long, long vacation. Could have done without the cough/illness but I rode it out. I think it wore me down some though. Like anything, it had it's ups and downs. By the end, we were just getting on each others nerves. But overall - a relaxing, successful vacation with new experiences, old favorites and we did it together!
Up next - keep your eyes peeled for another PTR as we will be doing another WDW/Cruise in November.
Thanks for following along. Sorry for all the delays.
Until next time -
Tracy and Chuck
Coop and ChukkerB
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