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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 tried both types of Butter Beer (one frozen, one regular). They are basically cream soda with a butter scotch flavored whipcream/foam on top. There are 3 different sizes. 1 small, just a plastic cup. 2, a reusable mug with some kind of logo on it. 3, a slightly bigger than #2 reusable mug with the Hog's Head logo on it.
There are 2 places to buy Butter Bear. 1, outside in the middle of the street, while waiting in a long line in the hot sun. 2, inside the Hog's Head Pub in a much smaller line, that also sells real beer. I saw the Pumpkin Brews being sold at drink carts in the area. Its a beer bottle with a plastic pumpkin on the cap. I'm not sure about the other one.
Also, this area will be packed. The Forbidden Journey gift shop is too small and dark. Good luck trying to even walk in there.
I am debating whether or not to go to Universal this fall when we're at Disney, although I would like to see the new Harry Potter area. I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan (nearly rivals my passion for Disney!), but there's just no way that the kids will be up for waiting in a five hour line for a ride. I'll be interested to hear more feedback as the months go by. We're going in October, and given the expense of buying Universal Studios tickets on top of what we've already spent, I'll have to think about it. I don't like Universal's policy of giving fast passes (or whatever they call them) to their hotel guests only. I get it, but I don't like it, since given the choice, I'll always choose to stay at Disney!
I am debating whether or not to go to Universal this fall when we're at Disney, although I would like to see the new Harry Potter area. I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan (nearly rivals my passion for Disney!), but there's just no way that the kids will be up for waiting in a five hour line for a ride. I'll be interested to hear more feedback as the months go by. We're going in October, and given the expense of buying Universal Studios tickets on top of what we've already spent, I'll have to think about it. I don't like Universal's policy of giving fast passes (or whatever they call them) to their hotel guests only. I get it, but I don't like it, since given the choice, I'll always choose to stay at Disney!
IIRC, they have Express VIP whatever they're called passes that are available to everyone, you just have to pay a lot more for them. Those passes wont get you on HP&tFJ anyway. You wont have to wait 5 hours for any ride. I was there a week after WWoHP opened, and I just waited til the afternoon. I waited 75 mins for HP&tFJ, when the wait time was 90 mins.
I was able to get in on Saturday morning. The new ride is awesome! I would say it's better than Spiderman. However, the ride is also a sensory overload. There's so much cool stuff that my jaw dropped, but I didn't know what the story was. I wanted another ride, but the whole area shut down after I got off. The wait at 9:30 am was 75 minutes, but the wait never felt that long. The line was moving pretty well.
More later!
The wait time does not seem too bad. We are going to universal July 27 for just a one day trip. I am hoping to just run straight there to get on the ride. I was so worried when I had heard there are 6 to 7 hour waits for these rides...well considering I am only going one day..we would obviously have to miss it! I hope the crowds are not too terrible on a Tuesday!!
I am debating whether or not to go to Universal this fall when we're at Disney, although I would like to see the new Harry Potter area. I don't like Universal's policy of giving fast passes (or whatever they call them) to their hotel guests only. I get it, but I don't like it, since given the choice, I'll always choose to stay at Disney!
Julie, have you ever tried a Universal resort? We're leaving this Saturday for our Universal fix followed by our first Disney cruise and it will be our fourth time staying at Royal Pacific. Each visit to Orlando is split between Universal's RP and WDW's BC. Royal Pacific has the best resort pool area we've seen, the rooms are large, and the prices are comparable to Disney. Take a 15 minute walk to the parks or take the boat - either way, you'll never have to wait long to get to the parks and start your day.
Once you've experienced the hotel Express Pass at the parks and the accommodations of the resort itself, AND if you'll allow yourself not to feel guilty that you're cheating on Disney (easier said than done, I know), it just might change your mind.
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Debbi
How to be happy in life: Never impose your beliefs on anyone else and never fry bacon in the nude.
Disneyland: '60, '70, '76
WDW: '72, 6/97, ASM 5/99, AKL 8/02, BC & RP 10/03, 7/07, RP & Disney Dream 7/10
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
The Loflins (mestitch and BritInvader) and I went to the WWoHP last Saturday and it was AMAZING! We rode the Forbidden Journey ride three times, and never waited for more than 60 minutes. We were also very nerdy, though, and were so involved in the sights in line that time flew for us. We're all huge HP fans! We did the shops and the other rides, too. Dinner at the Three Broomsticks was delicious, and I highly recommend it to anyone! I bought an AP just for this area of IOA, and cannot wait to go again, probably next week!
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Brandi
Bakelins chillin' at the pool after a fun week at Disney!
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Originally Posted by BeatlesBran
The Loflins (mestitch and BritInvader) and I went to the WWoHP last Saturday and it was AMAZING! We rode the Forbidden Journey ride three times, and never waited for more than 60 minutes. We were also very nerdy, though, and were so involved in the sights in line that time flew for us. We're all huge HP fans! We did the shops and the other rides, too. Dinner at the Three Broomsticks was delicious, and I highly recommend it to anyone! I bought an AP just for this area of IOA, and cannot wait to go again, probably next week!
How exciting! It sounds like you had a wonderful time!
Now I really can't wait to experience the World of Harry Potter!
We went during the soft opening 6.11 and 6.12, and it was pretty amazing. DD and I rode the FJ ride (it's like Spiderman on steroids) and DS and I rode the Dueling Dragons ride. The castle was absolutely amazing! We waited about 45 minutes, but honestly, I was so enthralled with the castle, it didn't seem long at all. It was our first trip to Universal, and although I'm not a big fan of US/IOA, I will definitely go back just to visit WWoHP again!
We just got back from US and IOA. The Harry Potter area is well worth it! Do not go first thing in the morning unless you are really early! The park hours are 9am to 10pm but the park was opened to the general public by 8:15am because of the huge crowds! If you go any later in the morning you will be waiting in a line to receive a ticket to just get into the Harry Potter area.........NOT the ride. Luckily, we didn't have to. We got there right at 8am and walked around the park (following the "queue" line) then waited about an hour to ride the Forbidden Journey, which by the way was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! (in the words of my teenager) That evening we went back to the WWoHP and it was a lot less crowded! I would recommend waiting till early to late evening. We actually rode Forbidden Journey maybe 30 minutes before it broke down trapping people on it LOL!
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Luckily, we didn't have to. We got there right at 8am and walked around the park (following the "queue" line) then waited about an hour to ride the Forbidden Journey, which by the way was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! (in the words of my teenager)
That evening we went back to the WWoHP and it was a lot less crowded! I would recommend waiting till early to late evening. We actually rode Forbidden Journey maybe 30 minutes before it broke down trapping people on it LOL!
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