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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Well, it’s been quite some time, BUT it is time to finally get this TR started.
I do apologize for the delay in posting this…….however, if you followed along with my PTR (link here: http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...ars-magic.html) you will probably understand that this trip ended with heartbreak for us and it was very difficult to get the TR started and we were dealing with some major family issues due to the passing of my father in law. Then of course the holidays then came around, which was both good and eh – it was difficult to celebrate when we were missing my father in law so much – but we also knew that he would not want us dwelling either – just as he did not want us to postpone our annual summer trip to Disney – and my husband is now living by the motto of “you only live once, and you never know how long you’ve got – so live it up!”
Sorry for a bit of sadness here – but we really are doing okay – each day gets a little easier – but it sure does suck when you miss someone so badly ……..BUT like my father in law told us before he passed – “Life your life, enjoy life, and don’t wait” so that is what we are trying to do!!!
Just a quick back track (in case you did not follow my PTR and don’t want to go back to read it) ~ back in June of 2012 my father in law was diagnosed with Mesothelioma. He fought long and hard to kick that cancer’s rear, in and out of the hospital and nursing homes many times throughout the year. We had had our trip planned for quite some time and my father in law insisted that we continue with our plans and did not want us to change them for anything!!! His health really kept going back and forth, back and forth. Around Easter he had entered the hospital and that first week we did not think he would make it – he was one stubborn man and bounced back (not 100%, but enough) – he was then transferred to a nursing facility and we all basically took up residence with him. Come time for our trip and again, he insisted that we continue with our plans, mostly for the sake of our daughter. We were also dealing with my MIL at the same time who had mental health issues and because of all that was going on, she was quite difficult in all manners to deal with, and both my FIL and SIL knew that we needed the break and to get away (keep in mind, my husband spent most nights sleeping at his dad’s bedside). So with much hesitation, anxiety and every other emotion, we decided to keep our plans and head to Disney for 2 weeks with a split stay between AKL Jambo and BLT to Celebrate 10 years of Magic ~ it had been 10 years (in October) since our very first trip to Disney and becoming DVC members!
Cast of this trip:
Myself: Lisa (41 at the time of trip)
DH: Scott (45 at time of trip)
DD: Emily (13 at time of trip)
So on with the report!
Saturday, June 29, 2013:
We woke bright and early ~ well NOT so bright, as it was about 4am and still very much dark out! Got showers, last minute items thrown into bags, car loaded and just about to walk out the door and the phone rang………..it was 4:45 a.m.………our hearts jumped into our throats as our first thought was something happened to my FIL. Scott quickly reassured me that all was well, it was only Southwest calling to inform us that our flight was being delayed an hour…….Whew! Not that I was happy that our flight was delayed, let’s be real here – that was an hour less of Mickey time , but as my heart was able to go back into place and my stomach settle down, we were able to take our time a bit more, cuddle with the furry kids a bit more before leaving and then we were on our way to the Providence airport.
We arrived at the airport with no traffic, parked in the garage and walked over to the main terminal……..Holy People!!! The security line was very long!! The airport was not even this busy when we flew around New Years! No idea what was going on, except that it seemed that a lot of New Englanders were running away!!! So after we finally got through the line, we were able to grab some breakfast and just wait at the gate for our plane. I had found out, because of course I am nosy and wanted to know why our flight was delayed as it was the first flight out that morning………..apparently there were some major storms that wreaked havoc the night before and the crew was very late coming in and they have to have a specific amount of rest time before they are allowed to fly again – sounds good to me – I would rather my pilots be wide awake, thank you! Our flight was pretty uneventful……….so much so, that we all slept the entire flight!!! I never sleep much on a plane…..just can’t seem to get comfortable enough, but man I must have been exhausted, because I was out!
We landed in sunny Orlando about 3 hours later, found our luggage at baggage claim and made our way over to the Alamo garage and picked our rental car for the next 2 weeks, loaded it up and headed straight for Animal Kingdom Lodge!
Of course, I couldn’t miss this photo op as we entered into the bubble!!!
We arrived at AKL, and being that it was still fairly early (maybe 11:30ish?) our room was not quite ready yet, so we checked our luggage and grabbed what we needed and headed straight for Magic Kingdom! First bit of business was trading my Photopass + voucher for the card/lanyard!!!
With a fresh photopass+ we headed right into Town Square Theater to catch up with our dear friend, Mickey Mouse!!!
After letting Mickey know that we were back and happy to see him, our tummies were asking for fuel, so we headed to Pinocchio Haus for some lunch. Scott & I shared the Caprese flat bread that I had been hearing so much about – and it was YUMMY!!!! Glad that Scott was willing to share with me, there is no way I could have eaten that whole thing myself……….well maybe I could have! Emily was apparently craving some carbs as well, as she opted for the Kids Mac ‘n Cheese (I could not quite remember the last time she ordered from the kids menu, but hey, who was I to argue?).
We enjoyed our view from lunch watching families enjoying It’s a Small World!
Next up was Emily’s favorite ride (well, starting to think every ride in WDW is her favorite ride?!), so we went to Space Mountain……..now as much as I hate this ride, I like it at the same time! Maybe? I am so not a roller coaster person, but when in Disney, you have to ride them, right?! There is just something about Disney roller coasters that make them more do-able! So off we went!
Then it was time to give Buzz a hand, and we rode Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin!
By this time, we had received a text that our room was ready – but Emily wanted to ride POTC before we headed back, so we headed in that direction – grabbing a few photos along the way!
Don't ask me how he squeezed himself in there........and sorry for the blurriness!
After our ride on POTC, we headed back to AKL.
Up Next: A room with a view!
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
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Lovely to have you back to your TR duties again, Lisa! I thought of your family during the holidays and am glad your FIL left you with such good life lessons. Now, on to reading all about how you put those lessons into practice!
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Lovely to have you back to your TR duties again, Lisa! I thought of your family during the holidays and am glad your FIL left you with such good life lessons. Now, on to reading all about how you put those lessons into practice!
Thanks Laurie! We did okay through the holidays, Thanksgiving was particularly hard as it was his favorite holiday and his birthday. But we keep remembering his words!
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
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– but we really are doing okay – each day gets a little easier – but it sure does suck when you miss someone so badly ……..BUT like my father in law told us before he passed – “Life your life, enjoy life, and don’t wait” so that is what we are trying to do!!! 
as our first thought was something happened to my FIL. Scott quickly reassured me that all was well, it was only Southwest calling to inform us that our flight was being delayed an hour…….Whew! Not that I was happy that our flight was delayed, let’s be real here – that was an hour less of Mickey time 
, but as my heart was able to go back into place and my stomach settle down, we were able to take our time a bit more, cuddle with the furry kids a bit more before leaving and then we were on our way to the Providence airport. 
Glad that Scott was willing to share with me, there is no way I could have eaten that whole thing myself……….well maybe I could have! Emily was apparently craving some carbs as well, as she opted for the Kids Mac ‘n Cheese (I could not quite remember the last time she ordered from the kids menu, but hey, who was I to argue?).
along the way!
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