Going north, south, east and west - UPDATED 12/18 - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Saturday 18 October – part one: wow, this thing is popular!
There’s a saying that there’s no rest for the wicked and that very much applied to us this morning. I had asked a 6.45am wake up call, but was awake 30 minutes before that, so started to get ready for the day, which meant finding all our summer clothes. We were out of the hotel and on the shuttle bus by 7.15am. Not bad going.
The driver we had really went out of his way to help everyone. There were just six of us on board and he dropped the others off at kerbside check in for their respective airlines, which he didn’t have to do, and then he offered to take us downstairs to the rental car area, so that we wouldn’t have to negotiate elevators. Well, we weren’t going to say no to that. He was so nice and got a very nice tip for his troubles.
We were quickly inside and had to wait a few minutes for the Americans in front of us to sort their car rental out. Of course, the Brits were faster through than they were. How ironic is that?
We quickly found our car, a Chevy Impala (our favourite) that was parked right next to the car rental window.
Ours is the one at the front of the shot Ready to go! And we’re on our way!
Our luck continued as there was just no traffic on the road to Disney at all and before we knew it, we were passing through the famous arches and back on property.
Getting closer… And we’re back home!
We checked in at the Beach Club and got our room keys, so that we could go and start using the Deluxe Dining Plan. I must admit that I nearly had a fit when the Cast Member told me that we owed money, as I had totally forgotten that you pay for this on arrival. I’m used to money being taken from your credit card the second you give the details out!
We headed off again in the car, room keys in hand and drove over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. You know, that name change is going to take a bit of getting used to. We were just two rows back from the AAA diamond parking lot, so we walked into the park, rather than catching the tram. It was still just Extra Magic Hours and the crowds of people waiting to go in were quite something.
We went straight for Toy Story Mania as I just wanted to get Fastpasses before we did anything else and it’s just as well we did. We got there at 8.50am and the return time was 12.10pm, with a 40 minute wait showing already. My goodness, this thing is really popular!
Fastpasses safely in hand, we walked round some of the park, just getting photos as we really didn’t have time to do anything before our breakfast ADR at Hollywood and Vine a few minutes later. It was lovely to be able to enjoy the park while it was this quiet and of course, while the majority of people were off enjoying the Tower of Terror, Rock’n’Roller Coaster or Toy Story Mania.
Wow, Toy Story Mania looks amazing! Can't wait to try it out for myself in April I love looking at your pictures (even though they make waiting for April even harder )... Can't wait to see pictures of Hollywood and Vine!
Oh Cheryl! We must have only missed you in the Studios by about 15 minutes. Your pictures almost mirror mine, but I had taken them starting about 8:20.
I have to say I agree with you about the name for the Studios. I really liked typing "MGM". It was quick and everyone knew what you meant. Typing DHS makes me think of Durant High School (my kids' school), and the "studios" takes longer.
Oh Cheryl! We must have only missed you in the Studios by about 15 minutes. Your pictures almost mirror mine, but I had taken them starting about 8:20.
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Looks like a great start to the morning. Everytime someone types DHS for the studios - my brain jumps to "Department of Homeland Security"... MGM just works better IMHO....
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)... Can't wait to see pictures of Hollywood and Vine!
My Princesses Sarah and Hannah
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