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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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What a freakin' adorable kid you have. I especially loved him with the princesses..those pictures were just precious. I am sorry this was your last day. I have enjoyed reading your report very much.
Terrific day at MK! So that you made rope drop! Cameron's bashfulness with the princesses is totally adorable! What a sweet little boy he is! Great picture of the two of you with the castle!
I'm glad you got to see the rope drop ceremony. I've only caught it twice, but I love it! I definitely want to make it a priority to see it this September again. Your son is freakin' adorable! So shy with the princesses! I love your pictures from Buzz Lightyear Spaceranger Spin. Too funny!
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We were at MK that day too! I did not see us in any of your pictures. I will have to look back at my notes to see if we may have crossed paths at any time. I can not tell you though until I write that part of my TR. Don't want to give it away just yet.
I love the picture of Cam sitting on the bench beside Minnie! He is so cute! I also love the pictures of him with the Princesses. I think he was just shy because they were so pretty. Asher was like that when he was little. He did not even want to go see the Princesses because they were so pretty. Our first trip with him to WDW he was 2 and we were watching the Spector Magic parade. We were sitting on the curb on Main Street and at the end Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs came walking by. Snow saw him sitting on the curb and came over to us. When he saw her coming he just froze. She took his cheeks in her hands and said, "you are so beautiful!" Then she kissed his forehead. Asher didn't move a muscle. Snow walked on with the parade and I know it was a good minute before Asher finally moved and turned to us and he said, "mama, Snow White kissed me right there." He was in total shock and awe. He did not want to wash his forehead the rest of the week. It was so cute. He was just so mesmerized by the princesses that he just couldn't go see them.
I was thinking when Cam saw Belle that he acted more shy with her because he thinks Beast is his buddy and she is Beasts girl so he doesn't want to offend.
Thanks. Such a cute story of Asher and Snow White. I don't even think Cameron knows who Snow White is at this point. We don't own that many princess movies at the moment so he's really only seen Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. I find it funny that even though he really didn't know who Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty were he was still bashful. He really isn't like that with anyone. He's just not usually a shy kid. Must be because they are real princesses.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
What a great last day at MK! So great that Cameron got to meet the princesses. You should take advantage of that now. As a mother of 3 boys I never get to meet any princess because my boys don't want to.
I love the Mickey ears!
I figure my time to take Cameron to meet the princesses is limited. Maybe my next one will be a little princess and I'll still get to check in on the princesses. Although with a little girl I might have to wait in the fairy line. I never saw that line shorter than 40 minutes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MGW
The pics with the Princesses are just too cute! So adorable!
My son was alwyas one to just sit quietly and take it all in, looking like he wasn't having a good time, and then blab about it incessantly afterward!
I'm sorry to see this trip come to an end!
Cameron was exactly like your son. Honestly, on rides and such he always looked bored. I couldn't tell if he liked anything until afterwards when he would talk about it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by shnewell
So sad it's your last day in the parks!! Glad you got to see the opening show at MK - that's always a treat!
The pictures of Cam with the princesses are beyond adorable. I guess he gets all bumfuzzled by pretty girls!
The photos of Nate in the stocks and the Buzz ride pictures are pretty hilarious.
And I think Cam has figured out the quickest method to get a Mickey bar all his own.
I was sad it was the last day in the parks for us too. I'm so glad I ended the park days with the opening show at MK. So wonderful. I'm still baffled by Cam's reaction to the princesses. He is just never like that at all.He talks to everyone and is never shy. But these were real princesses so maybe that's the difference.
And I wasn't too happy with Cam's method for getting a Mickey Bar. But the ice cream definitely stopped the meltdowns. He's getting better these days at requesting things instead of completely screaming until he get's what he wants. So I have hope for the boy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
What a great day you had at MK! Love the pictures of Cameron with the princesses!
Thanks! It was definitely a great day and the princess pictures are probably my favorite of the trip.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DawnK
What a freakin' adorable kid you have. I especially loved him with the princesses..those pictures were just precious. I am sorry this was your last day. I have enjoyed reading your report very much.
Thank you! Cameron loves to look at the pictures of him with the princesses. Of course now that we're home he talks about them like they are best friends. Just talking to him you would never know how bashful he was around them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Terrific day at MK! So that you made rope drop! Cameron's bashfulness with the princesses is totally adorable! What a sweet little boy he is! Great picture of the two of you with the castle!
Thanks!We did luck out with getting such a sweet little boy. He has his moments where I wonder if he's really sweet or not, but as a whole he's a really good kid.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jessie092408
I'm glad you got to see the rope drop ceremony. I've only caught it twice, but I love it! I definitely want to make it a priority to see it this September again. Your son is freakin' adorable! So shy with the princesses! I love your pictures from Buzz Lightyear Spaceranger Spin. Too funny!
I'd say I plan on making it to rope drop on every trip, but I really like sleeping in on vacation so we shall see. I couldn't believe our Buzz pictures. I had no idea they were taking our pictures. I was apparently just that into the ride.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ilovedisney247
Great day at MK! I love the Buzz shots!
Thank you!
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
A great day at MK!!! I love the pictures of Cameron with the Princesses, he's so cute!!!
Thanks! I didn't know if I was going to take him to see the princesses or not.He doesn't really know them that well so I thought about skipping it. I'm so glad I didn't because I love the pictures of him with them.
Those pictures of Cam with the princesses are priceless! I love the shy little look he gives each one of them. You can tell the girls were smitten with him. I think that Sleeping Beauty is the same one we had, and she wasn't very interactive with Hope either.
Those pictures of Cam with the princesses are priceless! I love the shy little look he gives each one of them. You can tell the girls were smitten with him. I think that Sleeping Beauty is the same one we had, and she wasn't very interactive with Hope either.
I love the princess pictures too. I just hope he wasn't too miserable. He kind of looks a little sad almost. I'm not sure what was with Sleeping Beauty. Cinderella and Belle told Cam stories and really tried to make him comfortable. Aurora didn't really talk to him at all. I think she maybe said "Hello tiny prince". I thought it was maybe because Cam was being shy, but if she didn't interact with Hope either than maybe that's just the way she is.
Our last day in Disney World. And we don’t even get to enjoy it. When I had booked our return flights I didn’t think 10 AM was all that early. Then I remembered that the Magical Express picks you up 3 hours before the flight. So 7 AM should be our pickup. Except our pickup was actually scheduled for 6:45 AM. YUCK!
We set an alarm for 4:30 AM so we could get ready and finish packing. I don’t think anyone was happy about having to get up this early. It was definitely a sad day. Once all the adults were ready it was time to wake up the toddler so we could go and grab breakfast. This is what I found in the pack and play:
I told him he had to get up and he sat up and looked at me:
Then rolled over and tried to go back to sleep:
Cameron didn’t want to leave and I couldn’t blame him. We finally managed to get him dressed and then headed with all of our crap to the airline check in. Our boarding passes were printed and our luggage taken to the airport for us. I just love that they do that for you. 2 suitcases, a toddler, a stroller and 2 carryon’s are not easy to tote around.
We headed into the Pop food court to get some breakfast. We had 5 counter service credits left on the dining plan so were trying to find a way to use them up. We ended up getting 2 bagels, 2 juice, a chocolate croissant, a blueberry muffin, 2 bananas and an orange. We weren’t sure where the orange came from. We had just looked at Cameron in the stroller and he had an orange. We figured that he must have pulled it off a shelf somewhere. And he seemed to want it so we let him keep it.
Once we got to the table with everyone else we asked Jean if she had given Cam the orange. She said that she gave it to him in the room. Apparently it was left over from our Garden Grocer order. So we paid for it with a dining plan credit, but we already owned it. Oh well. The dining plan had been free and we ended up with a left over counter service credit anyways. I think Jean, Jim and Breanna had about 5 counter service credits left.
We ended up taking a little too long with our breakfast and by the time we headed toward the bus it was already 6:45 AM. The driver had been loading up luggage and I asked him if he needed our packet. He said “This is the 6:45 AM bus” I told him that was the bus I was supposed to be on. I think he thought we were there for the next bus. He took our bags and stroller and let us onto the bus. Luckily it wasn’t packed.
The bus ride back to the airport is always sad. And Cameron was pretty cranky the whole time so that wasn’t fun. I guess waking up before 6 AM is not his cup of tea. It’s not mine either so I couldn’t blame him. We arrived at MCO and found the security check was crazy busy. We got in line only to learn that we were at the WRONG security check for our flight. So we had to cross the airport and get back in line.
We finally made it into the airport and found our gate. It was crowded so we had to sit across the way. Cameron ran off some steam. He was the only one of us with any energy this morning. After a while our flight started to board. Nate and I figured we could pre-board as families with small children, but apparently they don’t do that at MCO. It turned out to be for the best though as Cameron was restless the whole time waiting for takeoff. Once the plane finally got moving he conked right out.
The flight as a whole was fairly uneventful. Cameron slept for about an hour. When he woke up he was done sitting. It was a little challenging keeping him in a seat, but we managed with Legos, a DVD and toy cars. I did end up taking him into the bathroom to change him and that was not fun at all. He’s only 1 1/2 and the table wasn’t long enough for him. He didn’t like the experience and neither did I.
Our flight landed at about 12:30 PM. We collected our bags and my mom picked us up. We said goodbye to the rest of our travel group and were soon on our way home. It was nice to get home by about 2 PM. My dad ended up coming over and we showed my parents pictures from our trip and gave them the gifts we had bought them. We had an entire evening to unwind and unpack so that was a plus. I’m just not sure if the early morning flights are worth it.
Trip Favorites
Nate – The Magic Kingdom evening shows. Visiting the countries at Epcot and just hanging with his family – especially his boy.
Missy – Watching my son experience Disney World for the first time. It was so fun to share this magic with him and I can’t wait to bring him back and see what he ends up liking at the different stages of his life.
Cameron – Choo-choo. The Boneyard. Mickey Bars!
Breanna – Getting to visit Animal Kingdom, Epcot fireworks, Magic Kingdom fireworks, the character breakfast and the phone calls people kept getting from Goofy.
Jean – Soarin’, Cameron’s excitement throughout the trip and the Safari at Animal Kingdom.
Jim – Hanging in the hotel room at night and watching Cameron run around like a crazy person, the fireworks at the parks, the meal at Le Cellier, the Boneyard at Animal Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom castle light show.
Weather in Orlando: 66 and sunny when we left. Weather at home: 43 and foggy. Really warm weather for Minnesota in February. It still wasn’t nice to come back to.
Aww, I can't believe it's over already. It's always so sad when you have to leave the bubble. I've gotten more emotional over the years and on my last trip I got all teary eyed when we left Epcot. Silly me!
An early morning flight is definitely not good. I don't like the waking up early part.
Thanks for sharing your trip with us! It was fun reading along.
So sad your trip is over! The early morning flight is tough! But it's nice to be home earlier in the day.
At the Houston airport, they don't let families with small children board early for outbound flights to MCO either (at least on Continental/United) because there are so many that it would fill the majority of the plane!
I didn't add it all up, but you definitely walked more than a marathon during your trip. Thanks for sharing it with us!
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.