Forums Closed
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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
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12-21-2004, 01:42 PM
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#1
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 8,784
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SeaWorld with young children
We are going to Disney again in May for a week, and we were thinking about going to a non-Disney park for a day (since we have never been to any). My 4 year old loves fish, so we were thinking about SeaWorld on this trip, and doing Universal on another trip in the future. I don't know anything about SeaWorld (I actually did go there when I was 10, and hated it). Has anyone been there with young children? Is there alot for a 4yo and 2yo to do there? We would have to give up our day at Epcot to do this. Although we will still have 2 evenings at Epcot (and we did just take the kids to Epcot in September, and they'll go back again in December 2006). What do you think? Should we do SeaWorld, or just stay in Disney the entire trip?
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12-21-2004, 01:51 PM
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#2
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 9,547
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Re: SeaWorld with young children
I love Sea World! There's a ton of stuff for kids to do - shows, exhibits, attractions, characters, etc. I really had a lot of fun there in 2001 and we're planning on going back when we go in July. We also went to Sea World in 1992, before there was really that much to do there, and my brother and I absolutely LOVED it (we were 5 and 3 1/2 at the time)! However, if you are going to be skipping a day at Epcot (one of my favorite parks) I don't know what I would do ... that's a tough decision! Since you've been to Epcot before and you still get to spend 2 nights there I owuld try out Sea World - the Shamu show and Clyde and Seamore show make it worth the price of admission itself. You'll all love it!
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12-21-2004, 01:54 PM
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#3
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Community Rank: Adventurer
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: 1 hr west of Blue Heaven
Posts: 588
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Re: SeaWorld with young children
We went to Sea World just a few weeks ago, and while we don't have small children, we had a great time! Highlights of the day for me -- getting to hand-feed dolphins and stingrays. Very cool
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12-21-2004, 02:29 PM
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#4
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: the Burbs outside of Philadelphia
Concierge Level: 1
Posts: 12,093
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Re: SeaWorld with young children
Let me start by saying that Epcot is my favorite park (World Showcase that is) but if you don't mind skipping it I would definately recommend Sea World. We went in Oct with my dd age 9 and friends of ours who had a 3 yr old. We had a blast. Definately feed the string rays. We also fed the seals (or were they sea lions? We were staying on disney property & didn't have our own vehicle but it was easy to get to Sea World via the Lynx bus which picks up at the TTC and cost $1.25 per person. If you need any info on this let me know.
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12-21-2004, 02:34 PM
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#5
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Community Rank: Trekker
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Michigan
Posts: 1,590
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Re: SeaWorld with young children
We have a fish fanatic here too. After hurricane Jeanne decided to some damage control of her own, we had to figure out what we wanted to do as well in regards to do we do the tea party on Monday or go to Sea World since we could not on Sunday. Our DD told us Sea World. So we did.This is one happening place. Lots to see and do. We could not do it all in one day because they opened later the day after Jeanne. We did do the Shamu dinner, a little pricey, but worth the look on our DD face when he came right up, well almost to our table and looked at her. This was one happening birthday.
A word of warning though. Use Mears with caution. Mears is a nightmare. Especially since you have to call when they first open at 7AM and hope to get one of three spots. We had to return the car that morning and used Mears (we were supposed to have used that rental for SW~but couldn't)they never told us that they would be sending out a taxi to pick us up with. They told us to call them to let them know we wanted to be picked up. We waited over an hour for them to show up. They said 7PM someone will be there. I was livid. I mean, I paid for them to get us there and I could have paid a bit more for a freaking taxi. You pay for a service and expect them to follow thru. No one told us Mears uses taxies. At any rate, live and learn and we would probably use Mears again knowing this but next time we do go? We will go back to Kennedy to do the 2 1/2 tour. This is one thing we missed because of an impending hurricane. But it'll all be worth it. Good luck and enjoy the trip. I do recommend Sea World. We think we may have a biologist on our hands. She takes care of her fish, hamsters and dog very well.
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12-21-2004, 02:54 PM
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#6
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Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Northern NV
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 12,516
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Re: SeaWorld with young children
We have only visited Sea World in California, but my kids loved it. They were 5, 3, and 6mos. at the time. I remember a lot of things for the kids to do versus rides. We plan to visit Sea World in Orlando on our next trip. We read about the behind the scenes penguin tour, and DS is a penguin nut, so we'll try that out too! Enjoy your trip and let us know how Sea World is!
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12-22-2004, 10:28 AM
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#7
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Community Rank: Adventurer
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 617
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Re: SeaWorld with young children
Having just been to Sea World last month, I think it's a wonderful place for people of all ages.
The most popular spots will certainly be the Dolphin Cove, Shamu show and Seymour & Clyde.
I do have to caution...be prepared for A LOT of walking (some buildings are uphill, etc.) as this theme park is very spread out.
If you're staying at a Disney resort (or any other resort) and need transportation to Sea World, you can always take one of the transportation services such as Tiffany Towncar or Quicksilver (we used Quicksilver and they were excellent).
I've also read there is a very inexpensive bus called Lynx which I believe picks you up at Disney's transportation and ticket center.
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12-22-2004, 04:39 PM
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#8
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: new york
Posts: 9,202
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Re: SeaWorld with young children
my parents took us to sea world during our 1997 trip and my sisters where three and one and I was 8 and we all loved it
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12-22-2004, 10:07 PM
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#9
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Community Rank: Trekker
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Concierge Level: 3
Posts: 1,852
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Re: SeaWorld with young children
Dina,
I highly recommend SeaWorld to everyone! I'm sure your children will love it. While I didn't have a young child when I visited this past June, there were oodles of youngin's all looking like they were enjoying themselves. Sounds like a good sign to me. I think as has been mentioned before that the "The Shamu Adventure", "Clyde and Seamore Take Pirate Island", and "Key West Dolphin Fest" are all must sees.
Have fun
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12-22-2004, 11:22 PM
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#10
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Recovering VMK Addict!
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Thornton, CO
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 13,087
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Re: SeaWorld with young children
The little ones will love SeaWorld. Like others have said, Sea World has tons of things for the small children to see and do. If your children likes animals, they will love Sea World.
I also view Sea World as a relaxing day. The park is much smaller than Epcot so there will be less walking for the little ones. The park may not take the whole day so you will have plenty of rest time back at your resort.
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12-28-2004, 04:15 PM
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#11
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Community Rank: Traveler
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Tampa, FL
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 208
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Re: SeaWorld with young children
I visited SeaWorld in Orlando last year and had a wonderful time. Shamu's Happy Harbor is a playground designed for kids. The animal exhibits are great, especially the stingray petting pool. The shows are wonderful, and there is even a Clydesdale barn in the park.
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12-28-2004, 04:21 PM
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#12
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 8,784
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Re: SeaWorld with young children
Thanks everyone. Aidan and I watched Sea World Revealed on Travel Channel the other night, and Aidan decided that he had to get there-- so I'm pretty sure we're going lol!! Thanks so much!!!
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