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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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View Poll Results: Which do you do?
Stay in the parks (either one or park hopping) all day
When I was growing up we did the same thing. Open to close. Now with DH we do pretty much stay in the parks all day, but we don't really get to the parks until 10:00am or so.
We usually wake up early and arrive at the park at open...and then head back to our hotel after lunch...after that we return to a different park with night time entertainment or EMH....sometimes we will spend the afternoon resting and then got ot another resort or pleasure island at night.
I tried to push a little harder last year so that we could fit more in, but the kids really wanted to go to the pool almost every day so I backed off. So my answer is - we were really only at any given park for a max. of 5 hours at a time, and we only rushed around when we were trying to get to one of our ADRs. It's vacation, after all, and even though it's expensive, we didn't want our schedule to be too demanding.
not that i didnt love it when i was little...but my parents friends always called us the griswalds haha ( wallyworld anyone) we were up and out and in the parks from when they opened until they closed...when i was little i was always tiny...very very short for my age...and my dad at 6' something was always holding my hand....needless to say i was ALWAYS that 5 yr old who seemed so happy running around...but i was running because i was trying to keep up oh family memories....good times though good times
For the most part, I stay in the parks from opening to closing. On my last trip to MK, I did go to the Polynesian for a late lunch. It was refreshing to be out of the crowds and relax for an hour. I plan on going to the GF for lunch the next time I go to MK. I will probably eat at one of the resorts the next time I visit DHS and AK. I always stay in Epcot the whole day since I have 11 countries to choose from for lunch/dinner.
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We've never stayed all day in the same park, sometimes we resort hop, most times we have to take a midday break and then sometimes go to another park and sometimes we go back to that park.
First, let me say we usually go in Jan or Feb so crowds tend to be lighter. I am a strong believer that it is all about the kids. I refuse to push my kids past their breaking point. If they are tired we leave. If they want to do a ride we do it, if not, that's fine too. I will not make my kids experience something that they are uncomfortable about, even if I know they would enjoy it.
I was amazed at the difference in the last 2 trips we took. 2 yrs ago, we went for 9 days. We would get a little late start. They generally were done by about 4 or 5. Our ADRs were mostly lunch unless we went somewhere that was only breakfast or dinner. We did later breakfasts and earlier dinners. We didn't get to see everything but I didn't expect to.
This year we went for 12 days. I assumed (you can see where this is going) that touring would be generally the same. I thought this would give us a few days more to see things we hadn't before. They were up early, toured much better (even though it was at the same slow speed) and generally lasted longer during the day. In fact we didn't even take a break back in the resort during the day. In the end we could have gone less days and done everything we wanted to.
I guess my advice to anyone is take cues from the kids. Honestly, if they arent happy, noone will be.
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We're very relaxed with our vacations and are usually not in the parks for more than a few hours at a time. We've never been there at park opening (we're not morning people) in all of the times we've gone.
We break in the middle of the day to go back to the hotel for a swim or nap and then head back in the late afternoon. We often try to utilize evening EMH too. This way we don't get any cranky kids and don't need a vacation from a vacation. We break it down like this usually: park opening to lunchtime in our chosen park, around noon til 3 or 4 at hotel, and from 4 to park closing playing at the park of our choice.
I am taking a teenager to WDW this year in June. She is into the major attractions, so we are planning to be at the parks early. After about 5 hours of rushing around, we will be going back to the resort to cool off and relax. Then we go back out to the parks till they close.
This is easier to accomplish with the park hopper. If I had no hopper I would probably spend the day at the park and leave when we are tired. Hopping allows me to pick the best morning park and the best evening park/show for that day.
We like to take a mid day break when needed. If we are doing well, we stay at the park. If we feel we need a break we will go back to the hotel, take a dip in the pool or just relax for a little while. then back to the parks. As a child, my parents did this. We would then travel in the middle of the summer. Being from a fair family, we burn in the sun, Mom was always a big fan of getting the whole family out of the sun for noon until 3.
Parks all day for me. We may take a midday break for a swim, but I don't even do DTD, or Water Parks, no mini-golf, or Sea World, Universal or anything other than MK, EP, DS, and AK. We like to check out a resort or two different from our own by having a meal there. That's the extent of our NOT IN THE PARK activity.
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oh family memories....good times though good times
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