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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 am going to do our last 2 days together because at this point, we were EXHAUSTED (imagine if we had commando toured) and I was getting sick and so we didn't really do all that much.
So, Day 7 (Saturday for those wondering) was our last full day at Disney and our planned AK day. Once again we were up early so that we could eat breakfast at Tusker House. Our actual reservation wasn't until 9am-ish so imagine my surprise when they let us into the park when we got there at 8:15am. Yeah, just a little early. We took our time wandering back to Africa and stopped to check out some of the Discovery Island animal spots along the way...until a CM nicely yelled at us to keep moving because they weren't actually open for park visitors yet.
We got to TH and had our picture taken with Donald and then were seated pretty quickly. We actually waited until Mickey and Daisy had come around to our tables to get food because they were so close we didn't want to miss them. Then we attacked the buffet and loaded up so that we would be there when Goofy came around. As always the food was excellent, this was my 3rd time eating there (Bx2, Lx1) and I have yet to have a complaint. Plus, I think the theming over the actual food area is beautiful.
After breakfast we went to EE and grabbed fast passes for later in the day and then wandered back towards the front of the park to decide what our next step was. Along the way we grabbed a photo with Jonah's fav character.
After we got our picture taken I spotted a hair wrapping station and we split up, they went on Kali River while I had my hair wrapped. One day I will ride this when it is hot and I don't mind being soaked for the day, but today was not that day. We all finished up about the same time and from there we made our way over to Camp Minnie/Mickey for the next FotLK show. I can not say enough how much I *LOVE* this show. It makes me a little verklempt every time I see it. No pics, because I was enjoying the show.
C&J wanted to ride Dinosaur so we headed back to Dino land, and this was the point of the day where I started really not feeling great. So, while they rode I sat on a bench and drank a bottle of water and tried to perk myself up. I will also mention that this was the HOTTEST day that we were there. Every other day was in the 80's as well, but there had at least been a breeze and the humidity hadn't been bad. That day, no breeze and something like 80% humidity because of the expected rain. After C&J were done riding we decided to head for some AC to plan our next move and since we had 2 CS credits left we went to Restaurantasaurous for lunch.
Our plan was to go see the 2pm Finding Nemo show, then head over to EE to use our fastpasses and hit the Jungle Trek on the way out. Well...we did go see the Finding Nemo show, which was excellent as always, except we were all so exhausted C&J fell asleep in parts ! So, as a whole we decided to bag the rest of the day (gave our FPs to the couple next to us) and went back to the hotel to sleep until it was time for dinner at WCC. Which is totally what we did, and after a yummy skillet dinner and the best ice cream sundae ever (on my part), we headed back to Kidani to pack our things since tomorrow was check-out.
Day 8 (Sunday) arrived grey and overcast to match our moods and we were glad we had all packed the night before (including me having to buy an extra bag to check!) because it took us a while to get up and get moving. We dropped our bags off at RAC and then headed over to Mara to use our last CS credit for breakfast. I had booked us Boma but we all agreed it was stupid to pay OOP for a meal when we still had credits left.
C&J were picked up by DME at 11:30am and we said our and then I had 4 hours to kill until my bus came. So, I went on a photo safari until it started to pour down rain.
I treated myself to a delish lunch at Sanaa (I had the samosas and shrimp tandoori) which along with the Sudafed helped clear my sinuses for a bit. Then I wandered to the Community Room and shot 2 rounds of pool until it was time fore my DME pick up.
Once at the airport I found out my flight was delayed by half an hour and so I went to the little Spa they have in the terminal and had myself a nice relaxing facial . Then it was time for my flight back to Philly and back to reality. But, I wasn't too sad because I know I'll be back soon.
And that's it!! Thank you all for reading and commenting!!