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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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We got ourselves back on track to DHS and Claire had a burst of energy.
As you can see it was starting to get a little dark now too.
We went in and saw a photopass photographer, so we stopped for a couple.
Hoochie mama in full force here!
And then we made our way back towards Star Tours.
One of these days I will eat here!!! I can never just work it in.
Jedi Training was in full swing, but Claire had no desire to watch.
Evidently this would’ve been the park to visit today and the crowds were a lot less and the line for Star Tours was very fast. I think we also had a sequence we hadn’t seen before…or at least part of it. We always enjoy this ride and it was a lot of fun once again. Once we finished that we made our way out and towards the front again.
We made our way to our bus stop and waited for the POFQ bus. We had quite a wait, but we had an entertaining CM in the area, so it wasn’t too bad. I think we were the only ones on the bus to head back, which was fine by us. I sat there and listened to the music and I swear it was Harry Potter music. I asked the bus driver …he was a nice guy as well…and he said no, but he couldn’t place it. The more I listened to it, I am positive it was Harry Potter music…..which I guess would make sense since ABC Family is the channel that always plays Harry Potter on TV. I posted that I thought I heard it on the bus to facebook….and I had a few people tell me they were sure they have heard it before on a bus as well. After a short ride, we were back at POFQ .
And we got in our POC car and I programmed Siri to find the Marriott…in which she gave me every other Marriott but the one I wanted. Finally after fighting with her for a little bit I was able to pull up the right Marriott and the directions were soon spitting out at us.
Let me say once again…..I hate driving in Disney. I love staying onsite and letting the buses do the work for me. Though it’s not always the most convenient…I do prefer it most days.
I am not familiar with the area at all because of this and I always get lost. Luckily I managed OK going to the Marriott….in the dark…but it took quite some time and it seemed like an odd way to go. As the week went on, I got better at it once I got to a certain point, but I would never find my way on my own without Siri there to guide me…at least from the start. As we got near the Marriott…all of a sudden Siri said we were there. Um… no we are not. She is famous for doing this to me. We drove up and down the road and I found a side entrance and went in, but still couldn’t find there resort. I called my parents and they told me to come back further, so I did and found the guards gate. I pulled in and gave the room number and told him my parking pass was supposed to be waiting for me, so he handed me that and gave me not so great directions to the building. Luckily it wasn’t too far back and Dad was standing outside on the 3rd floor waving to us. The next issue was parking. The lot was crammed packed, but I did manage to find a spot and we unloaded a few suitcases and took those up and then I ran down for the rest of the bags.
I took some quick pictures before settling in. We had a 2 bedroom room, with Claire and me in a room with our own door as well and set up like a studio.
Our room connected to the living room/kitchen area, which also was the door my parents used to enter.
Behind those double doors next to the fridge is a stackable washer and dryer!
I guess that’s all the pictures I took…but I think I took more later. But I am sure one reason was because I had a little someone begging to go to the pool. So we fished out her bathing suit and she quickly got ready to head to the pool. The main one was right across the street, which was nice.
Actually there are several smaller pools over here and 1 big one. It’s really a very pretty pool complex. It had a kiddie pool, hot tub, and I think one was a lap pool.
And tonight they were having a movie at the pool. I believe it was Monsters U. I found us some towels and a seat and Claire got in the pool. Most of the kids in the pool basically were watching the movie, which is pretty much what Claire did too, but she was having a good time. It was getting chilly now, so I covered up with the towel and checked emails on my phone while she watched the movie.
After the movie was over….we got there late and it was closer to over when we arrived….I gave Claire the final warning and then it was time to get out. We did walk around a little bit to check the area out somewhat before heading back to the room though.
We headed back to the room and Claire got ready for bed. I asked my parents if they picked up something at check in for me. My friend Deb had been on a Disney cruise recently and had a voucher for a free photo that she never used. She said she would send it to the resort for me to pick up and I could use it on the ship. Mom said “oh yeah, they told us we had something waiting, but I told them we didn’t so I wouldn’t take it”. UGH! I had even told her the day before about it…I guess she forgot. So I headed back to the check in area and asked the person at the desk. She had to call someone and then she told me security would bring it to the room. I wandered a bit on my way back and as I was walking up, so was security, and I signed for it and got my package with the voucher. That was so nice of Deb and we did use it!
We settled down then and I turned the TV on. The current news at the time was the missing Malaysian airplane. I would watch the updates on this each night. This TV had a timer….which I love and I would set it to go off after a certain amount of time and I could watch TV till I drifted off without worry of the TV left on all night. Soon I drifted off to dreamland. We would have another full day in store for us tomorrow.
That Marriott looks really nice! The room is spacious, and I like the pool area. Which Marriott resort is it? My Aunt has a timeshare at the Marriott Harbour Lake, where we sometimes stay when going to Disney. She can use her points at other Marriotts too though, I'll add this one to the list in case her home resort is sold out!
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Jeeze! What awful luck with the car and I would be royally p*ssed if my husband said something like that to me, especially about his sister refusing to help!! WTFrech Toast is up with that?
Glad things are finally calming down now. I love the pics
I'm trying to memorize this so this is what I can say around my kids. I love it. Now that I am following a program and lifting, (and doing squats) OMG has become 'Oh My Glutes!'
I'm trying to memorize this so this is what I can say around my kids. I love it. Now that I am following a program and lifting, (and doing squats) OMG has become 'Oh My Glutes!'
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Your resort looks beautiful! 
Liz 
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