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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Nancy, you would have so much fun with my family AND the Tiaras! I suspect more than Commandments will be broken while we are there.
To update the trip since my last posting, we've had a flight change, which required that I go in and choose the seats. We prefer exit row or aisle seats, so I got aisle seats for the flights to Honolulu. The flights I got are as follows: 7:10 AM (yes, that is AM people) flight with Delta to Salt Lake City. Change planes and depart Salt Lake City at 11:40 am, with arrival in Honolulu at 2:20 pm.
I've been searching for options on how to be at the airport at the unnatural hour of 5:30 am-ish. Get up at 3:30 am and leave the house by 5:00 am to drive ourselves and park for ten days? At least $80 and added crankiness. Would a neighbor want to get up and drive us? I don't think so. Supershuttle for the 4 of us? At least $100. Each way. So, I opted for booking a hotel room across the street from the airport for $125, free parking, and we can take the shuttle over to our terminal. And we get to sleep till 4:59 AM. Less cranky. I also booked a rental car that is in the actual terminal, so we have less traveling to do.
My family, my brother and Mary Jean and Dennis are the first group to arrive. Everyone else is arriving on Sunday.
Our plans have been updated as far as activities. On the evening after we arrive, we are going to eat at Tony Roma's. I haven't been to one in years, and Mary Jean and Dennis ate at that one three years ago and said it was nice. There are fireworks on the beach later that night.
The first full day of our trip is Mary Jean and Dennis' 20th wedding annivesary, so after a day on the beach with #75 sunscreen, we are going out to dinner to celebrate with them at the Oceanarium. This restaurant has a big aquarium in it, with the divers who drop in and hold Happy Anniversary signs etc. So we are eating there. I've ordered fresh flower leis for Mary Jean, Grace and Rachel and myself. Mary Jean and Dennis got married in Guam, but our family could not attend, as I was pregnant with Grace. That's a looooong flight from Baltimore. So, we are celebrating it big for her for this anniversary.
On Sunday, the rest of the group arrives later in the afternoon, so we are going to be poolside most of the day, alternating with the beach, naps, shave ice and FABs till they get there. I suspect we will eat at the hotel that night since we all want to catch up with everyone and maybe walk on the beach and the neighborhood after dinner.
I think Monday some of the group are heading out to the USS Arizona and we want to see if Mary Jean and Dennis' house is still there. The Navy was refurbing some of the neighborhoods so it might be gone by now. We are also planning a visit to the Ko'alina area, where the Disney property is being built.
Tuesday night is Luau night. I've got a grass skirt ready to go. And I will be up on stage. I hear a Mai Tai calling my name...........I think Mary Jean, Tonja and Louise have one with their names on one too. I wonder who will join me on stage in a grass skirt..............
Wednesday I think is my Shark Dive Day, and possibly Louise's surfing lessons. Still taking names of those who want to join me.....Bueller....Bueller? And a visit to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel (the pink one, and famous Mai Tai's). I'll be channeling my inner Elvis. Pat wants to go to the stadium for the flea market, but I've BTDT, and don't need another thing.
The rest of the week will include a tour of the island to the Dole Plantation, North Shore to eat at a "local" hamburger shop, and some in the group are in search of Dog the Bounty Hunter. Um, yeah. Not me. I think I'm taller than all of them on that show.
The trip will wrap up on Saturday afternoon, when we head over to the airport at 4:30 for a 6:00 flight home with Delta. Ten of us are on the same flight, with Louise booked on United. It's a direct flight to Detroit, so we can all sleep on the plane (if we are medicated). It's good for Mary Jean and Dennis as that is their home airport, except for the 1.5 hour drive west to Charlotte. We will board a plane for a quick 1 hour flight to Baltimore.
I've started the box of stuff we will need to take (collapsable coolers, sunscreens, snorkles and swim fins, sun hat, etc) to get started.
My next piece of research is Where to Send the Dogs. I can kennel them, but it will cost as much as the plane fare. So, I'm trying to see if I can only kennel the two small dogs, and find a neighbor willing to keep Colby, who is still a rambunctious puppy who eats things that are not food. Or kennel Colby and Weenie and see if Camille will keep Trixie at her house.
So, that's the update. My desktop countdown says it's now 47 days, 8 hours and 7 minutes till our flight leaves.
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.
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Oh How jealous can I be??? The Ko'alina resort looks really interesting (we saw a presentation on the cruise...) - can't wait to hear how the plans are coming. Shark Dive?? ME ME ME (jumping up and and down waving my hand wildly) - I want to go!!!
Oh Terri, you just had a fabulous hunnymoon! Do you have any leave left??? I'd love a dive buddy!
We actually swam at the Ko'alina lagoons in 2002, and I think Marriott was the only resort there at the time. So we are curious to see the developement there, as it is a lovely spot on the beach with fantastic lagoons for swimming and very nice beach spots with palm trees and grassy knolls behind the sand.
I am going to pay close attention to your TR when it appears. I am thinking of surprising DH with a trip to Hawaii for our anniversary. All of our vacations are spent with family (took 3 teens on our 25th anniversary cruise, travelled with a group of 21 to WDW in the summer) and I thought it might be nice to go without a crowd (although I cannot even imagine what that would be like).
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.
Really, I'm working on my TR. It's so hard when you have so many photos to upload from many cameras and people. But the first step is starting, which I have done.
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Disney Magic - Oct 2015
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I was feeling all guilty that I'm so late to the party and... I didn't miss anything! Get crackin' sister! 
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