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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Somehow along the way . . . a tradition has been created in Thom’s family where we alternate between Wisconsin and Disney World as the site of our annual Koenigs Bomb. This year, it was Disney’s turn which also meant that it was my turn to plan.
Two years ago we had stayed in a two-bedroom villa at Bay Lake Towers which was absolutely perfect for our party of eight. This year, however, we had finally managed to convince Thom’s niece, Amanda, to come with us. She had been to our last two Wisconsin Koenigs Bombs, but had conflicts with our Disney trips . . . that is until this year!
The Koenigs Bomb cast of characters includes Thom’s sister, Amy, and her two children, Morgan and Jack, Thom’s brother, Chuck and Thom’s niece, Amanda (her mom is Thom’s oldest sister, Kathy, who passed away when Amanda was a little girl). And us, of course.
Now that we were a party of nine, I decided to go all out and try for the Grand Villa at Bay Lake Towers. The problem was that we only had enough points for a lake view for two of the three nights. I contemplated renting the remaining points, but ultimately decided that I would just book the Thursday and Friday nights at 11 months and try for the Saturday night at 7 months. I do this trick at Hilton Head every year also since DVC members rarely want to spend the high cost of points for a Saturday night Grand Villa stay . . . although I fully expect to get busted one of these years. Thankfully, I was able to snag that Saturday night at 7 months . . . once again proving that I’m the only nut job out there who is willing to spend that many points on one night!
When Bob and Larry surprised us in December with a party in a BLT Grand Villa, I was able to experience firsthand a taste of what our trip might be like. And I could report that it was going to be very, very good.
At some point after we reached the 180 day mark, I made a park plan for us and an ADR each day, but very little else needed to be done until late summer. Once we returned from our Disneyland and Northern California adventure in August, we went into full planning mode for this trip.
Thom booked our train travel while I preordered the Photo Pass Plus (they love ride photos so this new package was perfect), added the QS Dining Plan and bought our MNSSHP party tickets. Once I booked everyone’s Magical Express, I was done . . . or so I thought.
Thom’s sister, Amy, and I talked about a month before our trip and I told her that she wouldn’t need to buy tickets with park hoppers based on our itinerary. She was most happy with this news, but then I received an email within the next couple of days asking to see said itinerary. Easy enough.
After seeing the itinerary, Amy had a few easy questions, but the big kicker was her request not to go to Epcot. Since they would not have park hoppers, she didn’t want to spend the entire day at Epcot. After thinking about it, I could see where she was coming from since her children are teenagers now and Epcot does not have the big “thrill” rides like the other parks. That actually was an easy request, so I just flip flopped a couple of days and luckily was able to replace our La Hacienda ADR with Kona Café (booking a party of 9 at the last moment is not always that easy ).
Our first day at Disney was actually Maddie’s 7th birthday, so I wanted to make that day as fun as possible. That evening was our dinner at Kona Café, so I called the cake hotline the weekend before we left to order a Lilo and Stitch cake for her (after nonchalantly asking her about her favorite characters ). They made it an extremely easy process and made sure that I ordered the right amount of cake!
The day before we left, I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to book a towncar for us. As soon as I got home from work, I called Tiffany Towncar and had one booked within minutes. When I asked if she needed a credit card to hold the reservation, she said no since she recognized our name and knew that we did business with them a lot (sometimes it does help to have a funky name ).
With that last bit of business taken care of, we had an enjoyable last evening before our trip. In the span of a few hours, we took my dad out for dinner, sent the dogs off with the boarder and finished packing. At one point, Amy called to ask if we would have a washer and dryer. I assured her that we would have a laundry room fit for royalty . . . . that is, if they actually did their own laundry.
I must have had a deep couple of hours of sleep because when my alarm went off at 12:45 a.m. I had absolutely no idea where I was, who I was or why I was waking up at this awful hour. I finally woke up enough to realize what was going on and pulled myself out of bed. We got the girls going, but didn’t hurry too much because Thom had discovered that the train was running late on his Amtrak phone app.
Once we reached the train station, we probably only waited 15 minutes before the train blew in. As usual, we were the only people boarding the sleeper car, so we were in our rooms quickly. This was Thom’s first time riding in a roomette and he was immediately impressed (he loves any time that there is an efficient use of space ).
Our rooms were directly across from each other, but we didn’t spend too much chit chatting since it was the middle of the night. Once our bags were stowed, we said goodnight and closed our doors. Mary Devall was sleeping in the room with me and, as soon as she was settled in the top bunk, I snuggled down in the bottom bunk. It did take me a while to go to sleep, but I’m pretty sure that I was out before the first stop an hour down the road.
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About This Page: 
This year, it was Disney’s turn which also meant that it was my turn to plan. 
Thankfully, I was able to snag that Saturday night at 7 months . . . once again proving that I’m the only nut job out there who is willing to spend that many points on one night! 
). 
That evening was our dinner at Kona Café, so I called the cake hotline the weekend before we left to order a Lilo and Stitch cake for her (after nonchalantly asking her about her favorite characters 
). They made it an extremely easy process and made sure that I ordered the right amount of cake!
I finally woke up enough to realize what was going on and pulled myself out of bed. We got the girls going, but didn’t hurry too much because Thom had discovered that the train was running late on his Amtrak phone app.
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