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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 great trip, Lisa. i love the sleeping pic on the DME. If you look on my FB pics there is one of Lillian on a horse. She looks terrifed and always asks me to take it down...LOL She always tells me there will be pay back. LOL
Thanks! Don't you just love blackmail pics!!!
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Originally Posted by Jillybean
What a fantastic mother/daughter birthday trip! There is just something about spending one-on-one time with your best girl in your happy place, isn't there?
Thanks! Mommy/daughter trips are the BEST!!!
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Originally Posted by melduckie
Such a great trip Lisa
Thanks!!!
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Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
What a great last day! Glad Emily got to ride the western side! Great pictures from both DHS and MK! Looking forward to your final thoughts!
Thanks!!! Coming right up!
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
This trip was done on a complete whim, planning just a few short weeks before it happened ~ and we enjoyed every moment of it! Although I wish that Scott would have been able to join us…….however, I truly treasure each and every mommy/daughter moment I get with my girl ~ especially trips! But we did miss Scott…..sometimes! And I really wish that I would have been feeling better. The discomfort, aches and pains continued and by the time we reached the plane, I was so swollen that it was painful to walk. I was also starting to feel feverish, and for the next 2 nights woke up in the middle of the night with sweats. So I finally gave in and went to my doctor who immediately thought it was Lyme disease. Me being “me” did not want to take antibiotics just because the symptoms were there – I wanted to wait for the blood test results ~ which of course the doctor was right and called me several days later at 8pm in the evening to inform me that indeed the results were positive for Lyme. Let me just say this is something I do NOT wish on anyone!!! Although I was feeling much better after a round of antibiotics, I still have not been 100%. I tire very easily, have gained weight and still suffer from some aches every now and then. I am just now getting back into my gym routine but it is hard. However, I was glad to know that there was a valid reason for my not feeling well, the timing of it just sucked.
Anyway – back to the thoughts of this trip………..
Yes, this was a SHORT trip, having only 3 nights, 4 days to play, we made the BEST of it! This was probably one of the least expensive weekend getaways we have ever taken anywhere!!!!
Our Annual passes were still good, so no costs for park tickets.
We had Southwest credits, so airfare was minimum.
We had drop off and pick up at airport, so no parking fees or before flight hotel fees.
We used DME rather than rental car – and that was free!
Although we had 3 character/table meals booked, we only kept 1, and we used TIW discount for that, so food costs were kept to a minimum ~ and many CS meals and/or snacks, we shared!
We had a room discount using the Disney Visa (DVC was not an option as we had used all our allotted points in July), paying less than $100/night.
So I was very happy with how much we saved during this trip! Hershey Park would have cost us probably 4 times what we paid for this, not to mention wear and tear on the car! And even in the Cape or NYC, there weren’t many hotels that were less than $300 per night! And then we would have had gas/tolls etc. on top of that, not to mention entertainment/food costs.
This trip was very different in the sense that it was very focused on rides and attractions. We usually love to find as many characters as we can, but this trip we did not – I believe we only had 11-12 character interactions – but then again we had just spent almost 2 weeks there in July with tons of character interactions!
We also usually really enjoy our table service meals – but as I was letting Emily call the shots for this trip, we ate snacks and/or counter service quite a bit, which worked fine for us – again I believe this had to do with the timing of the trip!
We were able to use the magic bands for the first time ~ and I will admit – I was very hesitant about these things……..BUT we loved them!!! The convenience was great! Especially when you come back to the room late at night and don’t have to dig in your lanyard or bag to find your room key, it was already on your wrist! Same with shopping and paying for items ~ no need to find that room key. The only gripe I had about it was that I still had to dig out my annual pass for discounts……..but seriously not a big deal – but it would be nice if there was a way to identify that it is an annual pass for this purpose.
The Fastpass + program – again – I was very hesitant, but we felt that it worked pretty well for us. There was no need to run into the park first thing in the morning. And when we changed our mind of which park we were going to visit, it was very easy to change those plans (now, if we did not each have smartphones, it may have easily been a different story).
I believe that covers it! We had a fantastic time and I truly hope that my girl and I will continue to take trips with just the 2 of us! Have been checking out Disneyland Paris for future reference!
Hope you will join me on my next TR! I am getting all caught up from falling behind on my TR’s! And the next one is just Scott & I for the Food & Wine Festival……just a month after this trip happened………I think someone was jealous??? Lol! I will post a link to that one here when I get it started! Because before you know it, it will be time for our annual summer trip to Disney……leaving here June 30th for 12 nights!!!
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
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Great wrap up! Love how these little weekends can be so cost effective, I did the same thing last year for a solo trip! Can't wait to hear about the next trips as well DLP is my next conquest, with my mom! So if you need any help when that time comes I'll be here!
Great wrap-up! I remember when you were diagnosed with Lyme, but forgot that it was after this weekend trip. Now it all makes sense, but what a time for it to manifest! You still had a great trip, though, and Emily certainly did!
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So glad that you were able to finally get the western side on GMR. Even though it was the last day you still got a lot of things done and got in some last minute fun.
Enjoyed the final thoughts and wrap up and glad you got to spend this mother/daughter time. Can't wait to read your other trip report
Great wrap to a great trip! I also forgot this was right before the Lyme diagnosis! Glad you are feeling better - I have heard it is a long road to recovery from that.
Great wrap up and great deals you took advantage of too.........sometimes it just all works!!
Disneyland Paris sounds wonderful.....hope you make that happen.
I am so sorry to hear about the Lyme's......gosh I hope you can get that under control and start to feel like yourself again. Its a nasty disease, I wish you all the best.
Great wrap up from this trip. That is some special mother/daughter time together. Sorry to hear about the Lyme disease. Hope you get to feeling better!
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And I really wish that I would have been feeling better. The discomfort, aches and pains continued and by the time we reached the plane, I was so swollen that it was painful to walk. 
I was also starting to feel feverish, and for the next 2 nights woke up in the middle of the night with sweats. So I finally gave in and went to my doctor who immediately thought it was Lyme disease. Me being “me” did not want to take antibiotics just because the symptoms were there – I wanted to wait for the blood test results ~ which of course the doctor was right and called me several days later at 8pm in the evening to inform me that indeed the results were positive for Lyme. Let me just say this is something I do NOT wish on anyone!!! Although I was feeling much better after a round of antibiotics, I still have not been 100%. I tire very easily, have gained weight and still suffer from some aches every now and then. I am just now getting back into my gym routine but it is hard. However, I was glad to know that there was a valid reason for my not feeling well, the timing of it just sucked. 
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