WIZARDS, REAL AND AMAZING, CHRISTMAS PARTIES AND CANDLELIGHT- PTR - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
OMG, you will love Portofino Bay! Such a gorgeous resort! We so loved our two day stay there! We didn't get to fully experience the amenities, but it was quite lovely to take the boat over to the parks, walk the City Walk...The walking path between the parks and the hotel was great too!
Looks like another great trip and want to see how this one unfolds! We will see how many changes you make with this one!
__________________
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!
OMG, you will love Portofino Bay! Such a gorgeous resort! We so loved our two day stay there! We didn't get to fully experience the amenities, but it was quite lovely to take the boat over to the parks, walk the City Walk...The walking path between the parks and the hotel was great too!
I am so excited to stay at Portofino Bay!! I haven't heard of anyone I know who stayed there and had a bad time!! It's good to hear about the walking paths. We love to be able to stroll where we need to be!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
Looks like another great trip and want to see how this one unfolds! We will see how many changes you make with this one!
I know, Dave. I have quite the reputation with that stuff.
Great news! Getting those ticket exchange vouchers in the mail is always a good thing!
__________________
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!
I love the resort upgrades! I'm an AKL snob, too. If I'm not going to have a savanna view then I might as well stay somewhere else. You got your APs! Now you need to customize your AP Magic Bands on the website so you can get the cute little AP slider that goes on them. The AP Magic Bands ship as soon as you are ready after customizing them, too.
I love the resort upgrades! I'm an AKL snob, too. If I'm not going to have a savanna view then I might as well stay somewhere else. You got your APs! Now you need to customize your AP Magic Bands on the website so you can get the cute little AP slider that goes on them. The AP Magic Bands ship as soon as you are ready after customizing them, too.
I agree wit you both! The reason to stay at AKL is .... wait for it ... ANIMALS! I want to wake up to them outside my window!
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
I love the resort upgrades! I'm an AKL snob, too. If I'm not going to have a savanna view then I might as well stay somewhere else. You got your APs! Now you need to customize your AP Magic Bands on the website so you can get the cute little AP slider that goes on them. The AP Magic Bands ship as soon as you are ready after customizing them, too.
I love you so much, Cam!! Even if you didn't really feel that way, I would never know it!! I am on it with the magic bands!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by NanaTink
I agree wit you both! The reason to stay at AKL is .... wait for it ... ANIMALS! I want to wake up to them outside my window!
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.
The next morning Muffin asked me if I wanted to change the reservation at AKL to an additional night because we really didn't need four nights at USF. Well, OKAY BY ME!!!!
So these are our current and hopefully final plans so far:
We are arriving at the Portofino Bay resort on December 3rd. We bought a two day park hopper pass for USF and will probably go to Sea World in the middle because it looks like they only do special holiday stuff on the weekends. We will then move to AKL from the 6th to the 11th of December!!!!! I could not be more excited!!!
This honestly feels right and like a plan we have settled on. Happily, Muffin is even helping me with the details.
At Universal, we can't wait to see the newer Harry Potter stuff! We were last there in 2013 and were very impressed with the original Harry Potter World. I can't wait to have another butter beer!! I also can't wait to see the parks decorated for Christmas!!
We are equally looking forward to Sea World!! We haven't been there in years and also have really enjoyed this park in the past. It is definitely time for another visit!!
The only plans we have so far for WDW are to go to MVMCP on the 8th of December and the CP on the 9th- we don't even know who the narrator will be and we don't care!!
The holiday season is my absolute favorite time to visit WDW. It is incredibly beautiful to see all of the parks and resorts decked out in Christmas finery, I love the music and the festivities and there is just something special in the air.
We have definitely learned some wisdom on our many visits to WDW. For example, we have gotten the Deluxe Dining Plan on our last several trips. We still love to eat, but we are getting older and just can't eat that much anymore so we decided on our last trip that we would not purchase it again. If the regular plan happened to be free, we would jump on that but three meals a day is just too much for us these days. We do plan to renew our TIW pass. We got plenty of use out of that last time and, really, it was well worth the money!
I hope no one takes this the wrong way but I also think we are done with character meals for a bit. We have done most of them and enjoyed them but we probably won't do another one until we either go back with Logan or are able to take Finn.
While we will still get lots of pictures with the characters and around the parks, we will most likely not purchase a photo package this time. I have learned a lot more about my good camera and we figure we can better spend the money elsewhere. (Like on a new Pandora charm, for instance!)
As we already purchased tickets and booked a Candlelight dinner package, I'm sure you guys figured out that MVMCP and the CP are holiday must dos for us!! These events are so fun and festive and we really feel that they have become highlights of our trips!
We have also learned to enjoy the resorts more these days! Other than the two evening events above, we are planning to spend the evenings relaxing at AKL. We would also love to resort hop again to see the wonderful decorations. They are all so different and all so beautiful!!
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.