Kissing Divers, Rain, Black Eyes and Dreams TR - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Destination: Pop Century
Dates: Aug 23-Sept 1
9 days/8 nights
So we are going to Disney after waiting two years and one baby later. My husband, Rusty will be driving, me, Alisa, and my two sons, Harrison who is two and Hayden who is 11 months will be going on this trip.
We waited for Daddy to come home on Friday at 5:00 and left shortly after with the van packed to the gills. We are leaving Evansville, IN and planning to drive until somewhere between Nashville and Chattanooga. We ended up stopping at a Days Inn in Murfreesboro (I think). Then headed on our way early the next morning. Stopping at Rock City in Chattanooga and then traveling to a La Quinta in Ocala. Stopping again for the night to get ready to go to Disney in the morning!!!
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So we left the LaQuinta in Ocala around 8:30 after eating our complimentary blueberry muffin and waffle. We got the kids up early and Harrison was not too happy about this but he just doesn't realize where we are going or how much his mommy is ready to get to Disney!!!
After packing the van again and getting gas off we go to Disney. We checked into pop century around 10:30. Check in was a bear. Tons and tons of people and some angry that they were going to miss their flight. I was grinning from ear to ear. Rusty took the restless kids to watch tv as I stood in line and he rejoined as I made my way to the front. We checked in and our room is ready! Whahooo except no crib--oh well good thing we brought our packnplay. We are in the 70's building room 0411. We are right by the big wheel and across from the giant mickey phone. Hayden loves the phone and points and says ohhh each time we pass--secretly I do the same!
After getting to the room, Rusty stays with Hayden while Harrison and I go to unpack the car. Yeah never take a 2 yr old with you to unpack a car. I had two roller suitcases and a huge bag and he had one suitcase. He gets 2 ft from the car and says I can't push it you do it. I have no more hands so I just leave it and come back on the next round leaving him in the room.
Now off to Epcot--we have ressies for dinner but since it's not even 11 yet we are starving. So off to ride spaceship earth and eat at the Electric Umbrella.
Here are the epcot gates--I never noticed them before
Off to Spaceship earth--the traditional ride each time we go in or leave the park
Hayden and my future---
Then off to Electric Umbrella for a burger and chicken nuggets. But not before a grumpy older CM told me that I couldn't use a QS and pay for a extra choc milk. He got mad and yelled this one's a void and had to redo it! Oh well I don't think I'm the first person to ever do that!
Somehow I seem to always forget to take a pic until after we're done--here's the aftermath.
Great Start. Sorry about the grumpy CM. Sometimes you get them, sometimes you don't. I just tried to make life easy for everyone so I always told the CM before I ordered I was on a dining plan. It made it easier when I ordered something I couldn't have - they just told me it wasn't included instead of ringing it in and then having to void it.