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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Wow, it sounds like the Poly's undergone some major changes. I knew about the lobby area, but I didn't realise they were doing away with the bit outside as well. My goodness, we're going to notice some huge differences when we go back there next year...
They are making the new area too, and lots of stuff going on there. It's a mess...and if I was staying there now with all this work, I probably wouldn't be very happY!
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Originally Posted by Cam22
Your breakfast pictures have made me very hungry!
It makes me hungry too!
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Originally Posted by pamcarey
Claire is wearing the perfect shirt for this breakfast! It warms my heart to hear that a pediatrician has trouble getting her kids to eat healthy, too!
She was. I found that on Etsy with the skirt and we just had to get it!
I know...I love it when Dr's have issues with their kids too.
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Originally Posted by rhinohunter
We exchanged into the Grande Vista while we were members of II. It is a great resort. We are now RCI World Points members and they only exchange through II.
It really nice a nice resort. I never did walk around the whole place, but I was told it had a couple of pools, but we only went to the main one.
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Originally Posted by TinkerbellJenn99
Not to hijack here - but i am so using this phrase at the gym.. I am honestly
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Originally Posted by TinkerbellJenn99
I just LOVE your shirt Jen! Cheshire is one of my favs!
Thanks. I got several shirts from the Disney store on clearance and I brought several along with me.
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Originally Posted by mommapants
that breakfast looks good. I hope you were wearing gas masks as to NOT get the sickness.
Ok...I must be missing something....are people getting sick at the Poly?
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Originally Posted by lfredsbo
Your dad does sound like a hoot!!!
Siri can be quite annoying with me as well - love when you ask her to find something- and she comes up with the total opposite!
I am one that LOVES the bread at Ohana!!! Good thing I was eating lunch while I read this!
A Hoot is one word to call him.
I asked Siri for directions today using the voice command thing...it was in a suburb called Maumee.....it kept telling me it couldn't find Mall Me. LOL!
I know a lot of people like that bread, but I just can't stand coconut. While at a party today I ate a cookie and it tasted awful...and then I saw it had shredded coconut in it....they ruined a perfectly good cookie!
Soon the characters started making their way around.
See Luke in this next picture? He was fascinated with Claire’s autograph book and kept grabbing it and at one point he “autographed” it for her as well. LOL
Stitch was pretty entertaining!
Our next visitor was Pluto.
I love this next picture.
Luke was really curious about Pluto.
With breakfast done, we all agreed it was a very good meal and we were now stuffed. The bills came out and once again, Dad makes some comment about not being with Katie and he is not on the dining plan. Now he has lived with women his whole life…and you would think if we told him this was how it was, he would just shut up and do it…nope he has to ask questions. Luckily the waitress wasn’t paying attention to him.
We all said our goodbyes and Claire and I grabbed the monorail to Magic Kingdom. I think Mom and Dad were using the bathroom and then heading over too. Katie was going back to check on Thad.
And we scan our bands to get in and the CM asks if I had tickets left because it shows them all used. Um yes, just picked up my ticket yesterday…I have 4 days left. So he says he will reset it and I am good to go.
Yep…. It was crowded here today too.
Lovely cranes all during our trip.
So we are walking down the sidewalk and this bozo in a scooter starts honking and he is driving like a mad man and runs into us and several other people. I say in my not so nice voice “EXCUSE YOU”. I mean if I could go faster, don’t you think I would? And just turns and glares at me…sorry buddy…I can win awards for glaring and you don’t intimidate me at all. So we watch him honk all the way down the side walk and still not making much more headway than us.
Lovely walls up all over the place here. We had to weave in and out of people to get down Main Street and these walls seem to make people walk slower.
There goes Scooter guy! Yeah look how far ahead he got by ramming into people….JERK!
We kept moving and of course there wasn’t much of a line for the dole whips, right when we are too full to get one.
Shuffle, shuffle.
I believe we were heading towards Pirates, but the line was just too long…but take a look at the upper left of this next picture.
Not sure what is up there, but people were coming out.
Even this new adventure had long lines for sign up and we never did try it.
Claire has a one track mind and Splash Mountain was all she was thinking about.
We got in line, and I don’t remember the exact wait time, but I think it was 30-45 minutes.
We got in line just in time as it grew quite longer after us.
We talked with the people in front of us…who were from Ohio as well, who were staying offsite and didn’t understand the whole FP+. I tried to explain a bit of it. They weren’t impressed with it and I can see why since they couldn’t get any till they got to the parks….and let’s just say those kiosks lines were MEGA long.
The line moved fairly fast, but I think we still waited at least whatever the posted wait time was.
Crowded day at MK. Did you ever find out what happened at POC? Some people on scooters think they can do whatever they want by virtue of their handicap and seem to have no sense of courtesy. Others seem to understand and act more civil.
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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.
I just found your TR today and was thoroughly entertained by your storytelling! You have such a refreshing honesty in your encounters with people I found myself laughing out loud while reading I have always enjoyed my Mother/Daughter trips with my girls as it's nice to have time away from "the real world" where you can just talk and laugh together. I haven't stayed at the POFQ in many years so I really enjoyed seeing all of your pictures! Looking forward to hearing more
Great photos with the characters at O'hana! Definitely looks like a crowded MK day.
It sure was!
Quote:
Originally Posted by rhinohunter
Crowded day at MK. Did you ever find out what happened at POC? Some people on scooters think they can do whatever they want by virtue of their handicap and seem to have no sense of courtesy. Others seem to understand and act more civil.
No I didn't.
Yes...I understand the need for them and don't mind it at all...but they don't get special treatment when it comes to walking down mainstreet...wait like the rest of us.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
Too funny about your dad and insisting he wasn't on the dining plan... LOL.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2
My Dad!!!! I should be used to it by now. Hah!
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Originally Posted by chezp
Great photos with the characters at 'Ohana! What an idiot that guy on the scooter was!
Thanks
And yes...he was. Claire and I just looked at each other and rolled our eyes.
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Originally Posted by lfredsbo
Great character interactions at Ohana! And WOW - it does certainly look packed in the park! What a rude man on the scooter
Did you ever find out what that man was doing upstairs of the PoTC?
I never did find out. But we thought it was cool. We are easily entertained!
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Originally Posted by xwewhisper
Looks like a great breakfast but eep are you in for a crowded day!
We had a very crowded week!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lindawdw
I just found your TR today and was thoroughly entertained by your storytelling! You have such a refreshing honesty in your encounters with people I found myself laughing out loud while reading I have always enjoyed my Mother/Daughter trips with my girls as it's nice to have time away from "the real world" where you can just talk and laugh together. I haven't stayed at the POFQ in many years so I really enjoyed seeing all of your pictures! Looking forward to hearing more
Welcome and thanks for joining!
I tend to tell it like it is sometimes. I try to be honest too....not all trips are perfect...well none of them are ,but some are better than others. I have read some TR's where every single moment of every day was fabulous....and you know they are lying. I am lucky to have a good kid, but she is not perfect at all either, but she is a pretty good traveling buddy! We like to be goofy together.
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I am going to take a quick break from this Trip Report to post some personal pictures. As many of you know, my oldest daughter, Paige is expecting a baby girl in Oct. Over the weekend we took some maternity pictures. We went to a local metropark and then did some in the back yard. She had some things in mind and I just let her decide and gave a few suggestions and we snapped probably around 100 pictures. Here are a few of those....and I am still working on editing the rest, but I am almost done..but these are a few of my favorites.
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your shirt Jen! Cheshire is one of my favs! 
Definitely looks like a crowded MK day.
PassPorter Guide Author
I should be used to it by now. Hah!
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