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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I can't wait to hear all about it and I am so excited about your reviews of Paint the Night and Disneyland Forever - I'm so looking forward to seeing those in particular.
You're going to LOVE them!
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Originally Posted by lauriep
I'm so glad it was a great trip! Can't wait for the report.
Coming right up!
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
Glad you had a great trip and looking fwd to the TR! I too, use the single rider lines and love them at WDW!
We found there are more single rider lines at DLR than at WDW!
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
Welcome back! Sounds like a fanatastic trip, even if you didn't get a chocolate shake!
It was a great trip! The chocolate shake is already on the list for next time!
Our first day was a very LONG travel day. We had an 8:30 a.m. flight from Logan, which means we left the house around 6:00 a.m. I had good intentions of getting to bed by 9:00 the night before, but of course that didn't happen. My DD and I had pedicure appointments. Then there's always last minute laundry and cleaning to do, and then my DD ran into an issue with her cell phone refusing to find the cellular network. An hour at the Sprint store and a new sim card didn't solve the issue. The Sprint technician told us to reset the card to factory settings after saving all of her pictures to my laptop. So we did that, but when she tried to reset it to factory settings, she got some kind of error about her cloud password. Apparently this isn't the same as her Apple ID. I don't know. Sometimes I find Apple products, itunes, etc. so confusing! After wasting several hours on this, we gave up and decided to wait until after the trip to try and fix the problem. Anyhow, this all pushed the final packing to much later than planned, so I was up until after midnight... ugh.
We arrived at Logan airport at about 6:45 on travel day, and parked in Long Term parking for the first time ever for either DH or I. Usually we park in Central Parking, which is much more convenient. But for a 9 day trip, Long Term parking was much more reasonable. It was an easy shuttle ride to the airport, then a breeze through baggage drop-off. Security was pretty easy, and then we grabbed Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks for breakfast. As we were heading to the gate, I got a text that our flight was delayed an hour... ugh! Then a little while later I got another text that it was delayed even longer. Good think we had a long layover in Chicago!
Our plane finally arrived, and we had an easy flight to Chicago Midway. We got lunch at Harry Caray's pub. The food was okay, but nothing special. Then I got a text that our second flight was delayed. Come on, Southwest! Two delays for two flights is NOT a good record. We left about an hour late and then had a long boring flight to LAX. I was still hopeful that we'd get there in time to walk to Downtown Disney for dinner. We finally arrived in LA and had a short walk to baggage claim. It seemed to take forever for the bags to start to come out, but luckily ours were some of the first ones out. Then it was right outside and we easily found the rental car shuttles. A Budget shuttle was leaving just as we got there, but another one showed up almost right away. I had rented a car through Priceline to get the best price. I still wasn't thrilled with the price, but I found the rentals very expensive out of LAX, so I got the best price I could. The shuttle to Budget was pretty quick, and I jumped off as quick as I could to beat the crowd to the line. Omigosh, the line was curving all around the lobby and out the door... this didn't look good. I was so impatient by this time. It had been a very long, tiring day and I just wanted to get to Disney!! I think it took about 45 minutes to get to the front of the line, and then after the agent tried everything she could to sell us an upgrade, additional options, gas, insurance, etc., we were finally done. Or so we thought. Nope... then we had to wait another 10-15 minutes (which turned into 20) while they "got the car ready". This is getting ridiculous! We finally got the car and left LAX TWO HOURS after we landed. So much for my plans of walking around Downtown Disney, and picking up our park tickets tonight. Ugh. It took us forever to find our way out of LAX and onto the freeway, and my GPS seemed to keep taking us in circles. We got to Anaheim about 9:00 (midnight to our tired bodies) and headed to a Target to pick up some water, diet coke, pop-tarts, and chocolate (you know, the essentials ). We pulled into the condo complex right around 9:35 and then finally some magic happened! The fireworks had started and we could see them from the parking lot. We stood and watched those for a while, and then went inside and unpacked. We all liked the condo a lot. It gave us so much more space than a hotel room would, and we had a nice refrigerator and washer and dryer. The owner left us a little welcome gift with sunglasses, a Disney bag, and some snacks. So nice! I didn't take any pictures of the condo, but it looked pretty much as shown in the link in my first post. It was very clean, and pretty much everything was provided that we could need. The beds were comfortable and the bedding was fine. One note for anyone considering staying at this complex is that there are LOTS of cats wandering around outside. We weren't sure if they belonged to the residents, or if they were feral cats that wandered around. There were cat food bowls outside of some of the condos. There was also a smell of cat urine in some of the alleys between the condos. This wasn't an issue for us, as we are cat people, but it might be an issue for some.
Sorry to hear about the cell phone woes, flight problems and rental car ordeal. At least you got to DL, even though day one was pretty much gone!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Travel days can be so frustrating, but yours also sounds incredibly exhausting. The rental car delays just sound dreadful. I'm glad at least when you finally got to the condo it was comfortable.
What an awful experience with the rental car! At least the fireworks were a nice treat.
I'd be someone not happy with all the cats.
That's quite bizarre with the stray cats and they didn't necessarily "Rock This Condo!"
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Signing on! Can't wait to hear about your trip. The condo rental seems really nice. I just made my first trip to the DLR and I know I'll be back - I loved it! We stayed at the VGC but I know that might not be possible the next time so I'm making note of good options on VRBO. Sorry about the frustration with the rental car. We had a similarly bad experience when we flew into SFO, a huge wait, then they had to get a car "ready". Luckily we scored an upgrade and a free tank of gas for our trouble, I guess because we were nice and polite. Let's say that others were less than polite.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Yay that you liked the condo and everything was as expected. Weird about so many cats. I've wondered...since there are supposed to be so many cats at Disneyland at night, how to they keep them invisible to guests...and now I have another questions. How do they keep the park from smelling like a litter box?
I have no probs with too many cats as long as they are outside, so not a downside for me. Hopefully there isn't a sandbox at the playground, though. Ewwww!!!
So sorry about the car rental troubles - what a nightmare. We had a bad experience once with Avis when they messed up our reservation - they had different dates for our rental in their computer than what I had on my confirmation. The lady behind the counter was trying to tell me they had no cars available and I showed her my confirmation. She took my drivers license and told me to hold on and disappeared into a back room. After 20 minutes of waiting and no sign of the agent who had my license, I told my husband to go to the next counter (National) and see if we could get a car from them. Within 5 minutes we were set with a car from National. When the lady from Avis finally emerged from the back room I asked for my license back and told her we no longer needed a car - we had gotten one from National. She was very huffy with me and I told her "You took my drivers license and have been gone for over 30 minutes! What did you expect me to do??"
The condo looked beautiful in the pictures - so glad you enjoyed it! Can't wait to hear all about your trip
I'm late as usual, but I snuck in the back way, so maybe nobody noticed. probably shouldn't have pointed it out myself, though Sorry about the travel delays - been there, done that. It's one of the reasons I've changed my mind about cross-country flights. I used to like a stop somewhere, to stretch my legs and break up the flight a little. Now I feel like it's just another opportunity for a delay.
But glad you made it! The car rental process was ridiculous! I'm renting a car, but picking it up at Downtown Disney and only returning it at LAX, so I don't think I'll have problems.
Can't wait to hear about the Disneyland fun!
__________________
Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
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I too, use the single rider lines and love them at WDW! 
and had a short walk to baggage claim. It seemed to take forever for the bags to start to come out, but luckily ours were some of the first ones out. Then it was right outside and we easily found the rental car shuttles. A Budget shuttle was leaving just as we got there, but another one showed up almost right away. I had rented a car through Priceline to get the best price. I still wasn't thrilled with the price, but I found the rentals very expensive out of LAX, so I got the best price I could. The shuttle to Budget was pretty quick, and I jumped off as quick as I could to beat the crowd to the line. Omigosh, the line was curving all around the lobby and out the door... this didn't look good. I was so impatient by this time. It had been a very long, tiring day and I just wanted to get to Disney!! I think it took about 45 minutes to get to the front of the line, and then after the agent tried everything she could to sell us an upgrade, additional options, gas, insurance, etc., we were finally done. Or so we thought. Nope... then we had to wait another 10-15 minutes (which turned into 20) while they "got the car ready". This is getting ridiculous! We finally got the car and left LAX TWO HOURS after we landed. So much for my plans of walking around Downtown Disney, and picking up our park tickets tonight. Ugh. It took us forever to find our way out of LAX and onto the freeway, and my GPS seemed to keep taking us in circles. We got to Anaheim about 9:00 (midnight to our tired bodies) and headed to a Target to pick up some water, diet coke, pop-tarts, and chocolate (you know, the essentials ). We pulled into the condo complex right around 9:35 and then finally some magic happened! The fireworks had started and we could see them from the parking lot. We stood and watched those for a while, and then went inside and unpacked. We all liked the condo a lot. It gave us so much more space than a hotel room would, and we had a nice refrigerator and washer and dryer. The owner left us a little welcome gift with sunglasses, a Disney bag, and some snacks. So nice! I didn't take any pictures of the condo, but it looked pretty much as shown in the link in my first post. It was very clean, and pretty much everything was provided that we could need. The beds were comfortable and the bedding was fine. One note for anyone considering staying at this complex is that there are LOTS of cats wandering around outside. We weren't sure if they belonged to the residents, or if they were feral cats that wandered around. There were cat food bowls outside of some of the condos. There was also a smell of cat urine in some of the alleys between the condos. This wasn't an issue for us, as we are cat people, but it might be an issue for some.
At least you got to DL, even though day one was pretty much gone! 
PassPorter Guide Author
At least you made it... eventually.
probably shouldn't have pointed it out myself, though Sorry about the travel delays - been there, done that. It's one of the reasons I've changed my mind about cross-country flights. I used to like a stop somewhere, to stretch my legs and break up the flight a little. Now I feel like it's just another opportunity for a delay. 
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