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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I think it will be Carthay Circle. I'm going with a friend (a non-Disney fan) and she's very...I don't know. Non Disney fan-ish? Ha. Can I make a reservation without a ticket? God it is so odd not knowing these things! I can plan a WDW trip in 15 minutes. this is all new!
edit: yes, i can make a reservation without a ticket. but no, i can not do it without a credit card. and i have zero control over my friend and i have no idea if she will want to have dinner reservations so no, i can't make them.
and...an update. friend agreed to reservation (enthusiastically) so now we have a 6:50 reservation at Carthay Circle. yay!
some questions:
world of color is at 10:15 even though the park closes at 10. ummm...?
do i need a lunch reservation or can i just do counter service? i'd rather do counter service. i will likely be in DL for lunch; planning on DL for morning/afternoon and CA for evening.
Good luck choosing a counter service at DL.
WoC is still quite popular with crowds lining up for the second show even when the first show is ongoing. So, yeah, it seems odd that the second show is at 10:15 even though the park closes at 10, but it's all good. Think of the great photos you can take on the way out!
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
ah--i see what you mean about choosing a CS lunch location. after only a bit of googling, i'm overwhelmed! suggestions, anyone???
i am not opposed to eating late breakfast, early lunch, and late lunch. like all THREE. i rarely eat when i travel, so this trip is going to make up for it in one 15 hour period!
EDIT: currently considering...
-corn dog castle (for sure, if in CA any time around lunch. am considering canceling dinner reservation, that's how much i want a corn dog right now. casey's is my fav in WDW)
-rancho del zocalo (though i was just in new mexico and actual mexico for a combined total of 9 days this month so maybe not?)
-royal street verandah (for veggie gumbo bread bowl)
-hungry bear (possible winner--fried green tomato sandwich AND lemon cupcake that is supposedly amazing?)
-french market (because it got good reviews and i love new orleans and the nola portion of DL is the thing that is different from WDW)
Hungry Bear is my favorite. The food is decent and the location is serene. Take a table next to the river and watch the Mark Twain go by...I love it there!
Hungry Bear is my favorite. The food is decent and the location is serene. Take a table next to the river and watch the Mark Twain go by...I love it there!
ok! you had me at 'serene'! (also: i discovered that there are corn dogs in DL too. i am getting a corn dog, too. yes, yes i am.)
Yeah sure!! It's always nice to hear about DL trips. Especially for first timers, or timers-who-haven't-been-in-awhile!!
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
Absolutely, tell us all about the nitty-gritty details about where, when and what you ate (with photos please!). It's weeks till we go there and I need to live vicariously through your photo journals! More please! Food pics and details please.
wow--i'm not really great about follow-up, am i? yikes! sorry about that.
long story short--i had a great time, but it was VERY different than if i'd gone on my own. my local friend (orange county) definitely approached DL differently than i did. i got the more 'DL as a local' experience, which was cool in and of itself. but there was much i did not get to do. also, it was cold and raining the whole day, which made me more than willing to leave early (we left around 5pm, when the sun started to set and it got REALLY cold) as per her request. we ended up canceling our carthay circle reservation. :-(
but i WILL be back. i've returned to socal for work since then, but chose to spend my few free days that week on catalina island (which i HIGHLY recommend!)
for more on my one day in disney, i did write this post:
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