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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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This is my first attempt at a PTR. I read other reports all the time…literally….and had to put mine down in writing for fun. I am super excited about our upcoming DW trip!!!!! We leave in just a few weeks…not that anyone’s counting J, and I just booked the Magical Express. This is my 5th trip, but my 1st with my husband and my two older boys ages 4 & 5. The two younger ones are too young for me to get excited about taking them yet. Plus it will be nice to have one on one time with the others. We are going two days after my son’s 4th bday and I thought it would be a great idea to talk about celebrating his birthday while we are there. Even a mom with great intentions misses things sometimes…my 5 year old started fussing immediately about why he didn’t get to go for his birthday. So I don’t know yet if we will even talk about his bday there, but I am sure I will figure something out to make the older one feel a part of the festivities.
We are going for 5 days and staying at the Contemporary on the club level. I went back and forth on the meal plan, and knowing how we eat I decided to go for the club level instead. We don’t eat a lot of food, definitely not an appetizer and dessert with most meals. Plus it will be nice to grab a quick light breakfast before we hit the parks. My soon to be 4 year old only eats PB&J, yogurt, cereal, bacon, granola bars and pancakes for the most part and some fruit choices. Frustrating…... Plus while I adore my kids, they are absolutely awful in sit down restaurants!
We decided to stay at the Contemporary for its location to the Magic Kingdom. Walking and riding the monorail sounds wonderful….especially coming back for naps and at the end of the day. We are trying our hardest to not have a set plan, and I don’t know how that is going to work yet. I am trying to figure out fast passes to get first without clueing my husband in to what I am doing. He dislikes (on a very high scale) a planned vacation.
We leave early Wednesday morning and I bought some fun things on sale and mostly on-line. I plan to give them their mickey mouse club bag full of goodies on the plane (disposable cameras, flashlights, coloring book, etc.). I also bought cool fun toys and t-shirts on-line and I am going to have the concierge leave in the room with a fun note from one of the characters every day for them to discover once we come back in the afternoon for naps.....I stole this idea from a frequent DW vacationer on this forum Hopefully this will be a great addition to our trip. My plan is this will save a little money so we will not buy everything they see and want at all the parks. While they nap I plan to workout at the gym. We’ll see if that fits into the schedule. The only thing we have planned is the Pirate’s League and Pirates and Pals Fireworks Voyage for Friday evening.
My tentative plan is to go to Magic Kingdom when we arrive on Wednesday, go to Epcot Thursday (since it is EMH at Magic Kingdom and will be packed that day), Magic Kingdom Friday and Saturday is still up in the air right now….Maybe HS or AK depending on what the boys want to do. Definitely pool on Sunday morning since we have to leave the resort by noon to catch our 3:00 flight. I changed our 5 day park hopper to a 4 day park hopper since Sunday would be a waste to only go for 2 hours and the kids will love the pool, I hope J. Planning on renting a double stroller at the parks. If anyone has any advice if this is a good idea or if we should rent from an outside company and have them deliver it to the Contemporary, I would greatly appreciate any advice.
I am beginning the process of scouting out menus for places to eat lunch and dinner that everyone will enjoy (mainly that they have pb&J, fruit and yogurt parfaits). I am going to try my hardest to get the bday boy to start eating chicken before we go but there are no guarantees. I guess if he misses a meal or two out of stubbornness, I should get over it. As my doctor says, he will eat when he’s hungry. Hard to be a mom though and not feed your children what they like.
I bought fun mickey and pals shirts that are matching and bright colors for the boys so hopefully we will be able to keep track of them. Might even write our phone number or have a bracelet of some sort on their wrist will our info for a worst case scenario….we lost one of them for about 30 minutes at SeaWorld and I thought my life was over. Was the worst feeling a mom should never experience. Needless to say I wasn’t the one in charge of him at that moment, but who’s pointing fingers . Well that’s it for now. Hopefully the next few weeks will fly by because I am driving my husband crazy with all my over planning for my much needed Disney World fix. My dream is with 4 kids we will be going every year….here’s to dreaming!
We have rented from Orlando Stroller before and really like them. The stroller was at bell service when we checked in and we left it with them when we checked out. You can even rent a stroller cover for the rain. It was cheaper then renting at the parks, it was more comfortable then the ones at the parks, plus you can have a stroller for outside the parks if you need it.
We ordered a bracelet for my daughter and a dog tag for my son made with their names and our cell phone numbers on it. We drilled it into my 2 year olds head so much that she would point to it and say call mommies cell phone.
Have a great trip!
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My little peapods first DW Adventure! PTR
Hopefully this will be a great addition to our trip. My plan is this will save a little money so we will not buy everything they see and want at all the parks. While they nap I plan to workout at the gym. We’ll see if that fits into the schedule. The only thing we have planned is the Pirate’s League and Pirates and Pals Fireworks Voyage for Friday evening.
. Well that’s it for now. Hopefully the next few weeks will fly by because I am driving my husband crazy with all my over planning for my much needed Disney World fix. My dream is with 4 kids we will be going every year….here’s to dreaming!
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