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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
I read about this site while reading a blog and wonderd if it was worth the 21.95 to join and if it was a trustworthy site. Has anyone used it before? Any experiences good, bad or indifferent would be good to hear! thanks!!
I love TGM and have used him for years!! His info is extremely accurate and I love how he gives you the reasons behind his advice - very educating. Great site
I love TGM. I think it is 100% worth it the first time you subscribe and use him. You just need to be prepared to read a lot of articles. His site is about teaching you how to tour and understand how the crowd flows.
It is very worth it for learning what parks to be at even on subsequent visists. With that said, I don't think it is as worth it for subsequent visits.. He does not update his articles and some can be very out of date. HOWEVER! You can get the up to date information with some digging and using the forums.
Just don't expect the forums to be active like they are here. Basically, I highly recommend TGM for people that haven't used TGM before. You will learn a ton the first time around.
I have found great success using Touring Plans (the Unofficial Guide's website). Their recommendations are based upon gathered statistical data that is kept up to date and current at all times.
The "why" is fully explained in the book, which isn't essential to using Touring Plans but helpful if you aren't familiar with it. I generally tell someone visiting WDW for the first time ...if you buy only one guide book, get PassPorter, but if you buy 2, get PassPorter and the Unofficial Guide!
TP is $10.95 for a 1yr subscription...and there is a discount if you have the UG book.
I would get TP for the Crowd Calendar and touring plans alone...but one of the best things about it is their Lines app (iPhone, Droid, BlackBerry). Lots of the info from their website, plus estimated AND real time wait times for every ride/attraction at the four major parks.
His site is about teaching you how to tour and understand how the crowd flows.
For me, I already understand what TGM is teaching, so I just go with Touringplans.com -- which is cheaper and has a crowd calendar with an excellent track record. (TGMs is good too!)
But, if you're struggling to understand how best to arrange your days or how to go touring through a park, TGM is an excellent place to start.
I'm with Eileen where I already understand his "lessons," but I still use him because I found that his per-park-per-day predictions help me with my plans and ADRs.
The more frequent you use him, the more of a discount you will receive -- 3 or more times a year and oh how I wish I could qualify for it but one trip a year is all DH and I can do! -- however, he also provides a sort of "loyalty" discount after using his service multiple times in the past few years, which I got this year for the first time!
On the other hand, TP is also really great with their crowd predictions, but I swear they were completely off for DH and my November trip this past year?!
Regardless, they are all certainly worth trying at least once! The worst that could happen is that you learn you like one better than the other -- or find new must-have tools for future trips!
I also use and love TGM. I have long ago stopped reading the articles because we just don't need them. But I love his Least Crowded Parks charts and use them to plan my trip. He does not tell you where to go or what to do, but he gives you the reasons why things are the way they are and this makes planning easy for me. I have been at slow times and insane times and even in the insane crowded times, TGM has been spot on. Worth every penny for me and totally legit.
Love, love, love TGM ! I use him every trip. I, too, have "learned his lessons" for touring but I prefer his best days calendar to touringplans. He also has tons of info and tips on just about anything and everything at WDW. One other thing that hasn't been mentioned is that he will ask for your vacation dates and he'll send you info on discounts that come out for your dates, reminders of when you can make adrs, tour ressies, etc., notify you if park hours and/or his recommended parks change. Pretty cool. It's well worth the money IMO.
I like Tour Guide Mike alright, how ever I am disappointed on how much of his stuff is out of date. There is still some valuable info there, just not sire if I would spend the $$ again. If you have never been to Disney the the good info will out way the out of date info
TP is $10.95 for a 1yr subscription...and there is a discount if you have the UG book.
If you subscribe to the All Ears newsletter there is also a discount code in the newsletter. Thats what making me lean towards Touring Plans instead of TGM - the cost!! But we shall see...
I agree with all above. I subscribed and it is a lot of great info, BUT the site is very outdated!! In this day and age the website should much easier to navigate and the information can be 4-5 years old in some cases (the parks have changed!)
Love Love Love Touring Plans and think they have their finger on the pulse with all of their Lines data. You can log on and see what wait times are projected to be for each attraction at each hour of the day on the dates you are planning to go and it's based on TONS of research and data they collect daily and it's updated daily!!! ex. HS adds a last minute late Fantasmic and it changes the whole dynamic of the parks that evening! I love to go on lines and chat with poeple txting from the park and posting the current wait times and actual times.. had no idea there could be such a difference between what Disney posts and the actual!
PS You can download their BetaMouse podcast free after you download Passporter Moms of course!
It's just okay. I used it several years ago, along with touringplans.com, the PassPorter and every other guidebook out there for the first couple of trips.
Then I didn't get TGM again until last July and the reason why I got it was because I was taking my Mom who had only been a couple of times before. The articles are good to read and the way he explains why you should or should not go into the park. Mom found it interesting. I now use the touringplans.com and follow their advice, for the most part.
Would I get it again? I might do it when I bring first-timers.
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The worst that could happen is that you learn you like one better than the other -- or find new must-have tools for future trips! 
! I use him every trip. I, too, have "learned his lessons" for touring but I prefer his best days calendar to touringplans. He also has tons of info and tips on just about anything and everything at WDW. One other thing that hasn't been mentioned is that he will ask for your vacation dates and he'll send you info on discounts that come out for your dates, reminders of when you can make adrs, tour ressies, etc., notify you if park hours and/or his recommended parks change. Pretty cool. It's well worth the money IMO.
<--- Disney Fantasy 2016!
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