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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
View Poll Results: Notice that I have been quiet for two whole days! Why do you think this is?!
You have been very busy delivering babies!
10
19.23%
You have once again completely changed things around!
On Sunday, we got up with the chickens and had a lot of ground to cover!! We first went to the gym and then the pool. We then got breakfast which was not included, but it was very reasonable and the food was delicious!! We both got the buffet. Muffin loves the fresh salmon here and I enjoyed a really good egg white omelet with spinach and mushrooms.
After breakfast, we were off to our first stop of the day; The Museum of Science and Industry! We had to get a cab because it was just too far to walk. In fact, the cab fare was close to 20 bucks! We got there way early because we thought it opened at 9AM and it really opened at 9:30AM! We bought City Passes which included this museum, The Field Museum, The Art Institute of Chicago and the Willis Tower. It also included The Shedd Aquarium but no way did we have time to do that again, although I wouldn't have minded. The booklets cost 94 bucks each and were well worth it to us!! Anyway!
While we were standing in line to get our tickets redeemed, there was a woman, her mom and her two boys, who were around 8 and 10. These boys gave me a headache!! They kept playing with the rope lines and one of them disconnected it at one point. They also kept banging into me because they were messing around and neither the mom or the grandmom had anything to say to them about their behavior! I couldn't wait to get our tickets and get away from them!!
When we got up to the front of the line, we had a lot of choices to make!! Our pass included the museum and one special exhibit. There were lots of cool looking things to choose from and we wound up picking the U-505 Submarine tour and paid an extra 11 bucks each to see "Robot Revolution". We decided that we have to come back here again because there was also a Coal Mine and some cool movies that we didn't get to see.
First we walked through a Circus exhibition. There were many displays on the history of the Circus and some fun interactive exhibits.
This display was my favorite. It was a moving miniature circus going through a town. One of the performers built it in his spare time.
When you look through these windows, you see your face on a circus performer's body. It was cool!!
This was one of the bodies you saw your head on!
Poor Muffin!
Then we walked through a series of life sized window displays that you had to find things in.
The submarine tour was AWESOME!! The U-505 sat outside of the museum for many years and when the decision was made to bring it inside, they actually had to build a room around it!! It is HUGE!! So, for those of you who do not know, the U-505 was the only submarine captured by the US Navy during World War II. She was designed to attack shipping with torpedoes and was very effective in stopping ships. She was captured off the coast of West Africa and towed to Bermuda in secret. Lots of very important information was gathered from her capture, including an Enigma machine. All but one of the crew survived the attack.
This was the captain's quarters. Yeesh! There were 59 men living on this boat and two bathrooms!
The galley
These were the bunks and there were only 35 of them for 59 men. Some of the junior officers had to time share their space. Yuck!
Also, it was about 93 degrees in the cooler parts of the boat!!
Next we milled about for a bit before our Robot Experience time.
This is a giant 'Mousetrap' sort of contraption. A metal ball flows through it and it does lots of cool stuff!
A cool train that you can go in
A vortex
The city of Chicago complete with working trains
A closer look
These photos are all from the Robot Experience. It is truly amazing what we are able to do with robots and it just keeps getting more advanced!!
This little guy could actually climb this ladder
This is a DaVinci Robot. We have one at work for surgeries!
These guys are playing soccer
This is a therapy robot. It is a baby seal and responds when you touch it!
This is a facial recognition robot. It maps your face and then follows you around.
These are Swarm robots and are used in the military.
This guy kicks your butt at tic-tac-toe
This guy plays Blackjack, but I beat him!
This one does push-ups, headstands and karate moves
This robot can climb walls
Next, we went inside a 727.
Can anyone remember taking these steps to exit the plane?
Foucault's Pendulum
This Museum was so fun and we would go back in a heartbeat!!
About This Page: 
We got there way early because we thought it opened at 9AM and it really opened at 9:30AM! 
We bought City Passes which included this museum, The Field Museum, The Art Institute of Chicago and the Willis Tower. It also included The Shedd Aquarium but no way did we have time to do that again, although I wouldn't have minded. The booklets cost 94 bucks each and were well worth it to us!! 
Anyway!
They kept playing with the rope lines and one of them disconnected it at one point. They also kept banging into me because they were messing around and neither the mom or the grandmom had anything to say to them about their behavior! I couldn't wait to get our tickets and get away from them!!
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