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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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I go in August and I already started purchasing thing's and storing them under my bed ... I usually get the full packing done 3 to 4 day's before we go...
I get a solid list together about two weeks out. Then, about two days out, I begin to move actual stuff into the suitcases. Finally, the day of I transfer and pack toiletry items.
Oh, and I'm with Dana, unpacking is NOT my favorite...:
ETA: This is my first cruise, so I'll hope I'm good to go. My first line of defense in the packing realm is to consult my PassPorter Cruise edition.
ETA: This is my first cruise, so I'll hope I'm good to go. My first line of defense in the packing realm is to consult my PassPorter Cruise edition.
I'm doing the same thing! I love the travel sections of stores so I already have toiletries set aside begging to go into a suitcase. I've been grouping things together based on my PassPorter Cruise packing list. Tomorrow I will be 99% packed. I think this part is exciting. The unpacking is the pits.
Well, unlike a lot of people on here. We leave on May 3 and today I just got out our suitcase. I like to pull out most of what we will be wearing. Make sure everything fits, do some laundry and pack as I go so that I don't have a last minute scramble for things. I usually pack for myself and hubby too so I have to make sure he has everything as well.
It's the way I do it so that I don't forget anything. I think if I did the last minute packing thing, I would probably forget lots of stuff.
Well, unlike a lot of people on here. We leave on May 3 and today I just got out our suitcase. I like to pull out most of what we will be wearing. Make sure everything fits, do some laundry and pack as I go so that I don't have a last minute scramble for things. I usually pack for myself and hubby too so I have to make sure he has everything as well.
It's the way I do it so that I don't forget anything. I think if I did the last minute packing thing, I would probably forget lots of stuff.
We leave on May 3 as well, and so far, no packing action here. But, a couple of weeks away, I'll get out the suitcase and start putting things on the guest room bed! I COULD start earlier tho....
Well, a little of all of the above.
Our extra bedroom bed is the "launching area" for suitcases, etc. We have a luggage rack, like what you find in a hotel, and it holds the suitcases with our Disney shirt sets and other items needed only for Disney trips. So, a portion of stuff is perpetually packed.
Since our next trip is a cruise, I'm already thinking about what clothes the son might need--dress pants--and when they will go on sale, so I can grab them. I'm thinking shortly after Easter and I'll buy the next size up. The husband and I are pretty well set for cruising clothes, both casual and dressy. (I also consider color coordination for photos.) So some of the thinking is already happening.
Next will be the list of what to pack and then as items go in the suitcases they get crossed off. We already have a new set of shirts to wear!
Short answer--100's of days in advance right up to the day of for toiletries, etc.
I start thinking about packing the moment I book the cruise! I don't have room to get out the suitcase more than a week in advance, but about a month to 3-weeks before I start setting aside things I want to pack on hangers in a little section of the closet. That way I can see if anything needs cleaning or can dig out out-of-season clothes and make sure they're pressed and ready. I always keep a few things in the suitcase ready to go-- toiletries, power strip, bathing suits and cover-ups, passporter pouch-- things I use only on vacation. I rarely buy new clothes, but months before the trip I'll buy anything I need little by little-- sunscreen, mosquito repellant, bonine, memory cards, etc. The actual packing I do about 5 days before the trip.
I, too, get excited about packing, but HATE unpacking!
I'm a total nerd. I have a suitcase with our Disney clothes packed and ready at all times. I just add the things I can't do in advance about a month to 2 weeks out. My Minnie Mouse jeans are just waiting to see the light of day again!
Other than some last minute items, myself and DS are all packed! DH has decided to do his own packing and he is a major procrastinator. He probably won't pack until the day before we leave.
We have totes with "cruise clothes" and have a carry on with just disney items. Such as ponchos, lanyards, small 3 oz empty bottles. I have had a sack of brand new clothes for the girls from last season when everything went on sale. I pulled out the suit cases the other week and clothes to see where we are with needing to buy before we go. the true packing will be done at least 3 days in advance, so I have time for last minute items, and for work schedule.
I'm perpetually partially packed. I pack in kits & have taken the time & expense to set up several of them so I'm almost always a load of laundry away from being able to pack. I have a toiletry kit, a laundry kit, an electronics kit, a comfort kit, an office supplies kit & a room kit. I also have 8 days worth of underwear & socks always ready to go in one of ebags' slender packing cubes. I buy new underwear & socks approximately once a year so I just wash, dry & "pack" the current ones before taking the new ones out the shopping bag(s). I also have a DW kit that has things that I only use or bring on trips to DW this kit is going away & being replaced by the "Stuff For My Owner's Locker" suitcase as I'll be meeting my locker in January.
I start packing the kits & things that aren't in kits such as clothes in to a suitcase several days to a week before I leave. My computer, cell phone, kindle, ipod, & ID & insurance card are the last things to get packed or in the case of the ID & insurance card transferred over to the wallet I'm taking with me on the trip.
We have what has become an unplanned tradition of starting packing some time after 9 pm for our early flight out the next morning. And an amusing side story.
Long ago, when we were immortal, we used to do some very serious mountain climbing. We were on Denali and were in the tent the night before the summit push. The four of us were in our tent getting ready to go to sleep. "What time do we need to get up?" "Two." "What time is it now?" "Two thirty." So that's always been our running joke.
I suspect we aren't the only ones in that shape. Since I'm mailing stuff out to CS to reduce out luggage weight, we are doing a little pre-planning. And also doing some planning for our packages going home when we check out and head for the port and after we get off the ship.
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