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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 don't do rides. At all. The wildest I do is Norway at Epcot. DH likes rides but won't ride alone. So would we be wasting time and money to visit US/IOA? I'd really like to visit at least once.
Yes. US ? IOA has the best rides in Orlando but if you don't do rides and DH doesn't do rides solo you'd be wasting your time. How about Seaworld? Great shows, very few rides
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Shrek 4D - 3D movie
Twister - you stand and watch (and feel) tornado winds
Terminator 2:3D - 3D movie (awesome!)
Universal Horror Make Up Show - very funny show that features make up special effects
Jaws - very slow boat ride - similar to Maelstrom
Disaster - part show and part slow moving ride similar to the Backlot Tour (but better IMHO)
Animal Actors on Location - live animal show
E.T. - Dark ride - similar to Peter Pan
IOA:
Jurassic Park Discovery Center - interactive exhibits related to dinosaurs
8th Voyage of Sinbad - stunt show
Posideon's Fury - walk through show
High in the Sky Suess Trolley - very slow moving train that is overhead of Suess Landing
Caro-Suess-el - merry go round
One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish - similar to Dumbo
Cat in the Hat - dark ride - similar to Pooh, but has a few swings and jerks.
You can see there are a lot more shows in US than IOA. If you want to visit once, I think there is enough for you to do in both parks to be worth one day's visit. IOA has beautiful theming in each "island". If you're a shutterbug there are plenty of photo ops.
We've been twice, even though we're in a similar position. We do a few more rides, but we hate coasters - neither of us can cope with them. :
Borrowing the list of "lite" or non-rides above, here's what we did:
US:
Shrek 4D - 3D movie - yes and loved it, a lot of fun
Twister - you stand and watch (and feel) tornado winds - very well done, we had no problems with this
Terminator 2:3D - 3D movie (awesome!) - absolutely amazing. A definite must-see. We went back to Universal a second time really to see this and we weren't disappointed.
Universal Horror Make Up Show - very funny show that features make up special effects - we didn't see this, lack of time.
Jaws - very slow boat ride - similar to Maelstrom - we loved this and thought it was a lot of fun and it is similar to Maelstrom.
Disaster - part show and part slow moving ride similar to the Backlot Tour (but better IMHO) - this was a lot of fun and much better than the Backlot Tour.
Animal Actors on Location - live animal show - again, we missed this due to lack of time.
E.T. - Dark ride - similar to Peter Pan - one of our absolute favourites, this is so cute and a very Disney-esque ride.
IOA:
We didn't do much in IOA, but what we enjoyed was seeing all the amazing theming in this park. To us, that was worth going there alone.
Jurassic Park Discovery Center - interactive exhibits related to dinosaurs - these were really interesting.
8th Voyage of Sinbad - stunt show - didn't see this
Posideon's Fury - walk through show - didn't see this
High in the Sky Suess Trolley - very slow moving train that is overhead of Suess Landing - didn't do this
Caro-Suess-el - merry go round - didn't do this
One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish - similar to Dumbo - our friends did this and it looked like a lot of fun.
Cat in the Hat - dark ride - similar to Pooh, but has a few swings and jerks. - we did do this and it was a lot of fun.
You can see there are a lot more shows in US than IOA. If you want to visit once, I think there is enough for you to do in both parks to be worth one day's visit. IOA has beautiful theming in each "island". If you're a shutterbug there are plenty of photo ops.
I would agree with this - it's worth at least a one day visit. We visited one day one vacation and went back for another day the next vacation as we still had things we hadn't done or seen.
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We don't love thrill rides, but we loved US. There are really only one or two things you would need to rule out. We did not visit IOA, although we plan to do both parks this December since we had such a good time at US.
US is worth a trip, IoA not so much. Although there is one BIG reason to go to IoA and that is Mythos. This restaurant is well worth the extra $$ to get a park hopper tix.
I would do regular universal if your are not a ride person
__________________
Heather - "I'm Tinkerbell's biggest fan!"
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
We visited both Universal and Islands of Adventure along with Seaworld during our recent visit to Orlando. If you're not a fan of rides I would also suggest you visit Seaworld. It is an awesome park, with so many non ride things for you to do!
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Offsite May 2005, POR September 2006, POR August 2007, POFQ December 2008, POR February 2010,
Pop Century April 2011,
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Shrek 4D - 3D movie
Twister - you stand and watch (and feel) tornado winds
Terminator 2:3D - 3D movie (awesome!)
Universal Horror Make Up Show - very funny show that features make up special effects
Jaws - very slow boat ride - similar to Maelstrom
Disaster - part show and part slow moving ride similar to the Backlot Tour (but better IMHO)
Animal Actors on Location - live animal show
E.T. - Dark ride - similar to Peter Pan
IOA:
Jurassic Park Discovery Center - interactive exhibits related to dinosaurs
8th Voyage of Sinbad - stunt show
Posideon's Fury - walk through show
High in the Sky Suess Trolley - very slow moving train that is overhead of Suess Landing
Caro-Suess-el - merry go round
One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish - similar to Dumbo
Cat in the Hat - dark ride - similar to Pooh, but has a few swings and jerks.
***Excellent list...give it a try atleast once. I think you'll have a wonderful time... 2 Great Parks!
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