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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Yay, you started!!!! You guys jumped right in with both feet!! Looks like a great start to the trip, love the pictures from Storybook Circus!!!
I would just ask one of the mods to update the title of your thread instead of moving everything around!
Thanks! Yes we did!!!
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Originally Posted by JKnott17
Great start! What a fun first day
Thanks!! Yes it was!!
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Originally Posted by sc507
Just signing on here - glad I didn't miss too much! Holy busy first day! Not liking the sounds of that car....
Thanks! coming......
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Originally Posted by chezp
Don't worry - one of the guides can change the title of your thread. Your best bet is to private message the guides of this forum and ask them to do it.
Thanks!! Taken care of!
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Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
Good start, but think I'd be exhausted with that early flight!
Thanks!! We slept the entire flight!
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Originally Posted by Cam22
What a fun first day with time at DTD and MK! Your room looks wonderful!
Thanks!!
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
Now for that rental car…………uuuggghhh……….I had noticed when we were first in the car heading from the airport to the resort a couple of ants, flicked them away and thought that was the end……..uh no …………..now that the car had been sitting in the hot sun for a few hours, when we got back in – there were dozens of ants in the front passenger area!!! We found that there was piece of candy in the door! I was disgusted!
Well, even with all this craziness, we realized that we were doing okay on time, so we decided that we would stop at Walmart to get groceries and Scott would call the rental company while I was shopping to see what they would do………
With groceries, carefully double bagged and tied in the trunk, we headed back to the resort – the phone call to the rental company did not go so well…..we would have to drive the car back to the airport to exchange it! I was appalled (we usually rent from Alamo……and this time chose a different company for price……lesson learned…..).
Well we took groceries back to room (checking carefully to make sure no little pests came with us), got dressed for dinner and headed to the Poly for Spirit of Luau show (deciding that Scott and I just would not enjoy as many adult beverages as we would have to exchange car after dinner).
When we arrived at the Poly, it was raining and we were concerned about the show, but they assured us that the show would go on…………as they were handing out everyone a poncho! This didn’t seem like it was going to be fun! Having never been to the show, I was not sure why we would need a poncho! But it was because you have to walk a country mile to the area that the show takes place – all outside! Whew……I had visions of sitting there eating in the rain, wet sloppy food!
After everyone was done taking their photos (included in Photopass+), they rounded us up and we started the trek out to the Luau. We had reserved Category 1, and we were seated basically in the center, but at the end of our table, so there were a few people in front of us, but we still really enjoyed the show! Of course, with this being a first for us, we didn’t miss some of the events that apparently normally take place – such as inviting guests up to dance – the rain was still occurring, therefore they did not invite anyone on stage.
We really enjoyed the food – but of course, I love ribs and chicken, so I was perfectly content! Emily really enjoyed all the pineapple she could eat!
Some Pics from the show - really shows our view from our table!
I had received a phone call prior to our visit regarding the dessert, as I have a berry allergy and would not be able to have the volcano cake, so I had white chocolate mouse………well, sorta, Scott and Emily are not big chocolate fans, therefore they did not really care for the volcano, so they ate my dessert ~ although this pic looks like Em was enjoying it !
Our favorite part of the show was the fire dancer!!! It was amazing!
After our full bellies, and entertained brains, we left the Poly and headed for MCO – Scott had offered to drop Em & I off at the room, but I knew he was tired, and didn’t want him to make that long drive by himself.
When we arrived at the airport car rental – of course, the girl Scott had spoken to did not bother to tell anyone that we would be coming to exchange the ant filled car – and the attendant had no idea what was going on – and told Scott that he would have to go inside to the airport counter to speak with the manager………..are you kidding me?? It is now 11 at night, and we are taking time out of our vacation for something that was their fault for not cleaning the car (we realized that it appeared that they did not even vacuum the car) and now he had to trek all the way into the airport to get the manager himself??? Yeah……not liking the customer service here…….So Em & I found a bench to sit on (as she was starting to fall asleep at this point) and Scott went and got the manager who walked back with Scott to upgrade us to the next size (although didn’t seem like an upgrade ~ Impala to Malibu?) and make sure the car was clean and stated that he would comp us one day on our bill.
Very tired and worn out we headed back to SSR to climb into bed and call it a night!!!
Up next: What do you mean she left?
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
Situation with the car sounded beyond horrific. Definately sounds like a letter to head office (might want to hint that their name might somehow come out here on boards and number of people that might see a less than favorable comment or two about them and level of service they provide as well as you might have to let your reg. TA know to NEVER book you with them and that they will get full story Just an idea) might be what is called for.
On a much happier note Lucille wants to do SOA next Nov and now I know just where to find pictures to show her about the show
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What a headache with the car!!! Glad you finally got in all worked out, but I really think they should have done more for you. Glad you had a great time at the luau though.
What a packed first day! but we do the same thing - gotta pack in all you can.
Sounds like a good first day, except for the car rental. Love the pictures of the luau!
Yuck at the dirty car! That is not a great way to start a vacation. Dinner sounded great! But sorry for the hassle at the car rental place.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeL
Situation with the car sounded beyond horrific. Definately sounds like a letter to head office (might want to hint that their name might somehow come out here on boards and number of people that might see a less than favorable comment or two about them and level of service they provide as well as you might have to let your reg. TA know to NEVER book you with them and that they will get full story Just an idea) might be what is called for.
On a much happier note Lucille wants to do SOA next Nov and now I know just where to find pictures to show her about the show
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
What a pain about the car! The show sounds like fun.
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Originally Posted by KMB733
What a headache with the car!!! Glad you finally got in all worked out, but I really think they should have done more for you. Glad you had a great time at the luau though.
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Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Sorry about the car! . Great pics of the luau!!!
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Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
Lousy about the rental car! Definitely would be sending a complaint letter upon return home!!
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Originally Posted by Cam22
Bummer about the rental car! But the luau sounded like delicious fun!
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Originally Posted by OhToodles!
What a packed first day! but we do the same thing - gotta pack in all you can.
Sounds like a good first day, except for the car rental. Love the pictures of the luau!
Thanks everyone!!! It was a GREAT day.............except for all the unwanted "guests"................when we returned home, before we even got off the plane, Scott had received an email with a survey from the rental company............of course, he was EAGER to complete it.............and figured he would start there......knowing full well he was going to inform someone - the next morning he received a phone call from the corporate office and they refunded us more $$$ for the rental car for the inconvience - including the tolls that we were charged going back and forth. But we did ASSURE them that we would NOT be recommending that company, regardless of the bottom DOLLAR ()...........
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
So I'd like to know what car rental company this was so I make sure to never ever use them. First, I would have freaked out if I saw ants crawling around in my car, and would have been afraid to get back in it. Second, I think they should have done more than just comp you for that one day. To not clean out the car before giving it to the next customer is just disgusting! Glad that you had an enjoyable time at the luau though. It really is a great show.
The luau looked like a lot of fun!! What a headache about the rental car, I would have been disgusted about it too. I'm glad that the corporate office did a little more for you, but sometimes its just too little too late!
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Your room looks wonderful!
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…………..now that the car had been sitting in the hot sun for a few hours, when we got back in – there were dozens of ants in the front passenger area!!! We found that there was piece of candy in the door! I was disgusted! 
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The show sounds like fun. 
. Great pics of the luau!!!
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
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