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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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There are other changes as well.
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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.
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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.
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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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Déjà Vu All Over Again October 5 – 9, 2012 Boardwalk Villas
Here we are again. Another fall, another P-Sha Trip Report. And it’s a lot like my other fall TRs. A visit to Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. A stay at an Epcot area resort. Oh, and lots of visits to the Food & Wine Festival booths. Déjà vu all over again.
The thing that sometimes changes is my traveling companion. This year, it’ll be my DM, Mable. She’s a regular, though she didn’t come with me last year. I booked a room at the Boardwalk Villas, and I learned a valuable lesson, but more on that in just a bit.
Our flight was early afternoon, so DM and I went for mani-pedis before heading to the airport. We grabbed lunch there – pizza, which is from a good place – I’d venture to say it’s the best airport pizza in the country!
I bought a drink for the plane (I seem to get thirsty before beverage service begins) and then it was almost time for boarding. I’d done EBCI, so I boarded before DM. I was able to score the exit row with 2 seats, so neither of us (i.e. DM) had to take the middle seat.
Our flight was fine, if a little bumpy. We landed a full 20 minutes early, which is always a good thing. However, that was the last time we’d do anything early that day – the clock was working against us for sure and the rest of the day, it took a long time for us to do everything! It was raining at the time, which worried me because we were going to MNSSHP, but it stopped shortly after we got off the plane.
So we landed 20 minutes early, but we wasted all those minutes because our gate wasn’t ready. Then we walked over to get our DME to the Boardwalk. We’d just missed one! We had to wait for another bus to arrive, and then for it to fill up. Ordinarily, it only takes me about an hour from the time I land until I’m checking in at the resort, but this day – not so much! And we were heading right to MNSSHP, so I was hoping to be able to spend a little time in our room getting settled and relaxing a bit before we left.
The bus finally got moving and we were the second stop, so that wasn’t too bad. I’d done online check in, so it didn’t take very long to check us in. I’d booked a pool view room, but only because standard view rooms weren’t available. Well, that turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The pool view rooms are very close to the lobby – remember last year? My room next to the Tower of Terror? This was so much more convenient! I’ll be booking the pool/garden view from now on.
The room was on the same floor as the lobby, just a few doors down from the elevators.
I was happy to note that they had the new RFID entry, so once I put my KTTW card in its little holder, it didn’t have to come out again.
We had an interesting balcony – our room had the little round window, so it seemed like a porthole! This actually was great, because we could sit out there in our pajamas and nobody at the pool could see us!
After putting our stuff down and grabbing what we’d need for the party, we had to head to the park. Again, time wasn’t on our side as we had to wait at least 20 minutes for a bus. Karen texted me to find out what we were up to and I had to admit that we weren’t even in the park. Jill and her family were attending the party that night too, and they weren’t even ready, so I felt better about our slight tardiness.
The bus was packed, but we managed to both get seats. I spent the ride chatting with the woman next to me. She found out I was a regular visitor and then pumped me with questions. She wanted dinner suggestions because the only place they knew to eat was the pizza window! I helped her out.
After making stops at the Swan and Dolphin, we finally arrived at the Magic Kingdom at just about 8:00.
That’s 3 full hours after we’d landed! Anyway, we were there and we hadn’t really missed anything. We were both hungry, so our first stop was Cosmic Rays. I got chicken nuggets and DM had the angus cheeseburger.
We enjoyed our dinner while watching Cosmic Ray. DM informed me that she was so stuffed from eating her giant cheeseburger that she wouldn’t eat anything else all night. I know my DM, and I figured there’s no way she’d be able to resist holding candy in her hand and not eating it, and I told her so. She insisted that she wouldn’t eat a single piece of candy. We’ll see who was right. Any bets?
When we were finished with dinner, I asked DM what she wanted to do. She wanted to start trick-or-treating. Surprised? Well, you haven’t been paying attention to my other trip reports, then! We went through the first treat trail in Tomorrowland, right outside of Cosmic Ray’s. Before we got 4 steps away, DM was digging through the bag and had picked out something to eat! I reminded her about how stuffed she was, but she said the walk from Cosmic Ray’s (all 25 steps) had helped her digest her food and now she had room for candy. So anyone want to bet how much candy she eats before the end of the night?
It was time to find a spot for Wishes, so we walked to the hub. I was worried about crowds because Jill told me the party would be crowded because of the rain the night before. However, it was one of the least crowded parties I’ve been to in a very long time. Maybe the weather kept people away – it seemed like it might rain, but it never actually did. I felt about 3 or 4 drops as we waited for the fireworks, but it never did more than that.
These were taken about 10 minutes before the start of Hallowishes – not crowded!
We enjoyed the fireworks – I think Hallowishes is the best non-regular-Wishes Wishes. Or whatever. I took a few pictures, but mostly just enjoyed the show.
Then I asked DM what she wanted to do. Silly question! Trick-or-treating, of course. I have to say that as much as I tease my DM, it thrills me to bits to be able to watch her become a kid again.
We headed over to Adventureland to get on lines there. After we went through the line in front of POTC (by the way, the lines were pretty short because of the low crowds), DM wanted to go through the same line again. There were two stations at the front, so I agreed and we went to the other side this time. DM wanted to go through the same one again! I felt bad and waited at the entrance while DM went through one more time.
After hitting all the spots in Adventureland, we moved on to Frontierland. We sometimes went through a trail twice, but never three times again. And DM’s favorite was the one by Splash Mountain because there were plenty of stations (and generous CMs!).
I noticed some really cool MNSSHP lighting on Big Thunder Mountain.
After we finished all the trails in Frontierland, it was time to find a spot for the second parade. Perfect planning on my part. Because it wasn’t a crowded night, it wasn’t a problem. DM was even able to snag a bench while I sat right at the rope, hoping to get some good photos.
I got a mediocre one of the Headless Horseman. My problem is I’m always enjoying watching and then have to scramble for the photo!
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I the MNSSHP parade – in fact, it’s my favorite parade of all (and that song is so catchy!). Of course, I’m never happy with my pictures, but that’s an issue I’ve come to accept. And it still doesn’t stop me from taking pictures. Lots of them, in fact.
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When the parade ended, we made a quick stop in the Diamond Horseshoe to get some candy and then DM decided she was ready to head back. I tried to talk her into riding the HM with me, knowing she’d just be stuck behind the parade, but she didn’t listen. She later complained that it took her forever to get out of the park because she was stuck behind the parade.
DM made the wrong choice for another reason, which I discovered when I got to the Haunted Mansion.
As I approached, I spotted the Koenigs! In fact, I think that family in white taking a Photopass photo in the above picture is the Koenigs. They looked appropriately gory in their spider bite costumes. I didn’t think to take a photo, so you’ll have to wait for Jill’s TR for that. Anyway, they hadn’t been at the party too long and had just done the HM, so we said our temporary goodbyes.
The HM had a pretty sizable crowd. Everyone wants to ride it during MNSSHP. I always used to wish that WDW got the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay, but now I’m happy it doesn’t. I like riding the original spooky HM during the Halloween season.
With that taken care of, I decided I wanted to see how Storybook Circus was progressing. As I walked through Fantasyland, I did some trick-or-treating.
And there was a big trail from Storybook Circus to Tomorrowland that I went through and got lots of candy. One of the stations had a couple of CMs who apologized because they were out of candy. I told them it was fine, my bag was full anyway!
In Tomorrowland, I stopped at the dance party for a bit.
I took a spin on the Peoplemover and then decided to call it a night (it was almost midnight, anyway). I walked to Main Street, getting a few pictures on the way.
As I walked down Main Street, Mary Devall walked up beside me. I didn’t mention this before, but I was wearing a big orange pumpkin with Mickey ears on my head, so I suppose I was easy to spot. We talked about our evenings and I showed her my big bag of candy. It happened to have Sour Patch Kids right on top, and Mary Devall told me that’s “the good stuff.”
We all walked out together and I said goodnight to them at the bus stop (they were at BLT, so I think they walked back). The next day was DHS for them and I was hoping to catch up with them there so I could ride TOT with the group!
I waited about 10 minutes or so for a bus back to the BW. I got a seat, which was nice. Back at the room – hey, I forgot to mention that DM and I had both forgotten the room number – we had to rely on finding it – which would be easy. But in any case, with the RFID KKTW cards, it’s a little less embarrassing when you try your key at the wrong door! Anyway, when I got back, DM was still awake. I decided to save the unpacking for the morning and just hit the hay.
Up Next: What makes us both cry?
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
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Great start. We have never actually forgotten our room number but we are very good at forgetting where we parked the car. We lost it once at TTC for over an hour at lunchtime in July with three young kids. Seriously thought someone was going to get heat stroke before we found it. So now I try and photograph the area and maybe should snap the room number too
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Oh, goody! I thought maybe you weren't writing this trip up, but I should know better. Great time at the party. Hope your mom's trick-or-treat bag wasn't empty by the time you got back to the room!
So glad I caught your TR at the beginning.
I love the picture of the Railroad station all in red!
Even though you had a bit of a late start it turned out to be a great night!
Can't wait for more!
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And it’s a lot like my other fall TRs. A visit to Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. A stay at an Epcot area resort. Oh, and lots of visits to the Food & Wine Festival booths. 
Déjà vu all over again. 
Then we walked over to get our DME to the Boardwalk. We’d just missed one! We had to wait for another bus to arrive, and then for it to fill up. Ordinarily, it only takes me about an hour from the time I land until I’m checking in at the resort, but this day – not so much! And we were heading right to MNSSHP, so I was hoping to be able to spend a little time in our room getting settled and relaxing a bit before we left.
This was so much more convenient! I’ll be booking the pool/garden view from now on. 
I helped her out. 
So anyone want to bet how much candy she eats before the end of the night? 
Trick-or-treating, of course. I have to say that as much as I tease my DM, it thrills me to bits to be able to watch her become a kid again.
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the MNSSHP parade – in fact, it’s my favorite parade of all (and that song is so catchy!). Of course, I’m never happy with my pictures, but that’s an issue I’ve come to accept. And it still doesn’t stop me from taking pictures. Lots of them, in fact. 
PassPorter Guide Author
In fact, I think that family in white taking a Photopass photo in the above picture is the Koenigs. They looked appropriately gory in their spider bite costumes. 
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