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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Congrats on the loan! Fingers crossed everything else goes smoothly for you.
Glad you got Inventions and getting the Plaza. Yes, we've found the English from the Disneyland Paris Cast Members can be a little lacking, especially over the phone.
You certainly were busy with everything you've been purchasing.
Great plans for Disney Studios! From what I've seen in other TRs, Ratatouille and Crush's Coaster are two rides I would absolutely love! Good job with all of the ticket purchases and reservations made!
Looks all is going well with a few minor complications with the reservation and credit card but looks like it worked out!
You are right, everything seems to be moving right along.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
Definitely make sure to notify your credit card company of the days you'll be traveling, as well as what countries you'll be in which dates. You don't want a hold put on it when you're traveling.
Is it an Oyster card or some other type of rail pass for England? I've purchased Oyster cards from home and the work fine.
That is something I definitely need to write down or I will forget. Apparently the Railcard is a separate card that can be purchased by anyone and it's meant to encourage people to ride the British trains and so they give 1/3 off tickets.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Details are coming together! Great job!
Thanks! I'm almost done with details.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Congrats on the loan! Fingers crossed everything else goes smoothly for you.
Glad you got Inventions and getting the Plaza. Yes, we've found the English from the Disneyland Paris Cast Members can be a little lacking, especially over the phone.
You certainly were busy with everything you've been purchasing.
Thank you! I'm glad about Inventions too. I've been busy but almost done.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Congrats on the loan! Great job getting thru to France and making all the reservations and tickets!!
Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
Great plans for Disney Studios! From what I've seen in other TRs, Ratatouille and Crush's Coaster are two rides I would absolutely love! Good job with all of the ticket purchases and reservations made!
Friday, July 14
We will be arriving on the Eurostar and will have to figured out the tube right off to find our way to our apartment rental. Once there, after settling in - we will need to find a grocery store and make dinner; maybe take a walk around the neighborhood.
Saturday, July 15th.
We got a London pass and I am certainly going to make use of it; our first thing this morning is a hop on hop off bus tour, just to get the lay of the land.
We are seeing Wicked at 2:30 today and I ordered a lunch before hand.
Afterward we will walk over to Westminster since it is very close to the theater.
The rest of this day is up in the air depending upon how we feel.
Looks like some nice plans for London. If I'm correct from memory the trip is about 2.5 hours from Gare du Nord in Paris. Forget which station you arrive in London. You don't reach the high speeds in France until about a half hour into the trip and not in the tunnel. Unless things have changed you don;t at the high speeds in the UK, but that was 1996. I took one of the TGV French trains (not called the Eurostar) from Paris to Reims, France (Champagne region) in 2013 and we reached top speeds of 190 mph. There was an onboard display in my car, which was cool to watch!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
I've just found your PTR. We're leaving for Paris and London in 2 weeks ourselves. I've read most but not all of your report. I have 2 random thoughts.
While everyone says stay awake, we've tried both methods a couple of times and napping works for us. Just 1.5-2 hours. Then we force ourselves up, shower, and go outside to walk around, eat dinner. After that we feel fine.
Many folks recommend an herbal product but I've not tried it myself - Mier Labs "No-Jet-Lag".
I also take a Zzz-Quil on the plane to help me sleep.
For rooftop view in Paris consider the Monparnasse Tower which include nice view of Eiffel Tower. If you can time it for sunset, great. Avoid night as the best views gone by then https://www.tourmontparnasse56.com/en/
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Don't let your heart be filled with sorrow, for all you know, tomorrow, the dream that you wish will come true.
Looks like some nice plans for London. If I'm correct from memory the trip is about 2.5 hours from Gare du Nord in Paris. Forget which station you arrive in London. You don't reach the high speeds in France until about a half hour into the trip and not in the tunnel. Unless things have changed you don;t at the high speeds in the UK, but that was 1996. I took one of the TGV French trains (not called the Eurostar) from Paris to Reims, France (Champagne region) in 2013 and we reached top speeds of 190 mph. There was an onboard display in my car, which was cool to watch!
Wow! that is fast...it's supposed to take about 3 hours from DLP. I believe we arrive at St. Pancras Int'l.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Great plans!
It's a beginning...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lumieregirl
I've just found your PTR. We're leaving for Paris and London in 2 weeks ourselves. I've read most but not all of your report. I have 2 random thoughts.
While everyone says stay awake, we've tried both methods a couple of times and napping works for us. Just 1.5-2 hours. Then we force ourselves up, shower, and go outside to walk around, eat dinner. After that we feel fine.
Many folks recommend an herbal product but I've not tried it myself - Mier Labs "No-Jet-Lag".
I also take a Zzz-Quil on the plane to help me sleep.
For rooftop view in Paris consider the Monparnasse Tower which include nice view of Eiffel Tower. If you can time it for sunset, great. Avoid night as the best views gone by then https://www.tourmontparnasse56.com/en/
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Congrats on your trip, I hope you have a great time!
I cannot sleep sitting up which is my main issue on a plane. I was planning on getting up a little earlier each day to help adjust but that hasn't happened. We'll just have to do the best we can and hope Athens memories doesn't melt into our jet lagged brain foggy minds. Thanks for the tip about the tower.
DD graduated, family's gone home. I got mostly packed and we moved the majority of our belongings last Saturday and got some more Sunday. We still need to pick up a dresser and last of boxes and 2 bookshelves from storage shed, most likely this Sunday after church. My oldest daughter wanted to earn some money and so I put her to work unpacking while I'm at work. Then when I get off work I go home (so far I've had a meeting or dr appt or something after work so end up in busy rush hour and taking me 1.5 hours to go what should take 35 minutes!) I continue to sort, unpack, do laundry. I've been getting to bed about an hour later than my normal so am tired too. The good news is that the house is coming together quickly which is what I wanted since we leave in 8 days!!! I didn't want DH to be left with piles of boxes everywhere.
DD (youngest) is unsettled by all the changes, graduation, no classes, moving, and haven't packed for trip and just lots of stuff going on. Hopefully, things will calm down a bit in the next couple of days so we can breathe a bit before we leave.
I have purchased the last of our train trips and entrance tickets to places we're headed outside of London. The one I missed due to busy-ness was Warner Brothers Harry Potter Tour. When I finally got a few minutes to do so, there were no dates open until nearly mid-August so we will have to miss that. I have still planning to do for London but will sketch in the events I currently have on my calendar.
Sun. July 16
Kensington Park to see the palace and find the stature of Peter Pan Then over to Hyde Park to see Speakers Corner. That evening we are attending a Medieval Banquet at DD's request.
Monday July 17
We have a 11 hour! tour this day - here is the description...
Description
The Cotswolds
As the tour drives through the Cotswolds, you’ll see quintessential English countryside from the coach. Rolling hills, sleepy villages and market towns dot the landscape as far as the eye can see.
Warwick Castle
Get to grips with everything medieval at your final destination – fabulously interactive Warwick Castle! This fortress dates back to 1068 and still gives a thoroughly authentic medieval experience in the 21st century. Feel the weight of a sword and become a knight, or see the State Dining Room, decked out for a Victorian dinner party. Free Lunch Pack – More Sightseeing Time
To save you time, money and the struggle of finding somewhere to eat, our tour also includes a totally tasty Lunch pack! Avoid wasting time waiting for a meal in a restaurant - it means you can make the most of each stop and won’t waste valuable exploring time.
Stratford-Upon-Avon & Shakespeare’s Birthplace
William Shakespeare called the market town of Stratford-Upon-Avon home, and you will visit the brilliant poet and playwright’s birthplace during this tour. Walk through the house where he grew up as the legendary Bard is brought to life!
Walking Tour of Oxford
Oxford is famous for being home to the oldest university in the English speaking world – countless bright young things have wandered the town’s cobbled streets over the years! During this guided walking tour you will see the stunning Bodleian Library and furtively discover unspoilt narrow alleyways, ancient squares and towering spires.
Brasenose College
Brasenose College was founded in 1509 by Sir Richard Sutton, a lawyer, and William Smyth, Bishop of Lincoln. Named after its bronze door knocker, Brasenose boasts fairytale architecture and a rolling green lawn. Past students include the writer William Golding and David Cameron, ex Prime Minister of the UK.
After visiting Oxford, you will leave the university city and return to London.
I know that tour as it's the one I took in 1996 and enjoyed it very much. It was a long day but Brasenose College wasn't included but everything else was. I probably enjoyed Warwick Castle most of all.
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
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Fingers crossed everything else goes smoothly for you. 
getting the Plaza. Yes, we've found the English from the Disneyland Paris Cast Members can be a little lacking, especially over the phone. 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
. Apparently the Railcard is a separate card that can be purchased by anyone and it's meant to encourage people to ride the British trains and so they give 1/3 off tickets.
.
Alaskan Mom aka Bonnie
The good news is that the house is coming together quickly which is what I wanted since we leave in 8 days!!! I didn't want DH to be left with piles of boxes everywhere. 
. Hopefully, things will calm down a bit in the next couple of days so we can breathe a bit before we leave.
I have still planning to do for London but will sketch in the events I currently have on my calendar.
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