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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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That picture of Josie in bed with Duffy and the rose just melted my heart. That's how a perfect day should end. I also love the fact that out of all the movies they were playing, it was Dumbo....just too magical for words. Did you ever find out who "amazing guy" was?
What a magical first day for Josie, she is the perfect princess for the day and what a smile. Glad that she forgot the whole missing Disney Jr and enjoyed her magical moment. What a great way to end off your first day....Dumbo is one of our favorites, seems your building was perfect location for the movie.
Glad you are enjoying POR, we love that resort so much, it was the first I stayed at with the girls.
I cry at everything my kids do. EVERYTHING!! I cry at concerts, awards ceremonies etc. They hate it. I love her all cuddled with her rose and Duffy. So cute!!
What a great first day and such a cool memory - Princess for the day! I don't think there is a mom out there that hasn't been a blubbering idiot at least once when it involved their kid(s). I cried at a slide show at church one time.
Looking forward to hearing more.
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I love that josie loved being Princess for the day at BatB! But my favorite part of that story: 1-when you told her Disney Junior was closed and quickly went the other way and 2-when you told her to zip it. Because that totally would've been me!
What a perfect ending to your first day - Dumbo & Baby Mine.
Dude, I felt so bad about telling her it was closed when clearly people were walking into the show But I was really in a jam. And well the zip it comment, I mean I feel like I say that one daily
Quote:
Originally Posted by lexiemom
What a perfect ending to your magical day.
I think you made the right choice starting at DHS, I am glad your magical moment worked out! I just love the smile on Josie's face as the CM is leading her away from the stage with her rose.
I know, that one is my fave too. Thank you.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dsteiny23
First of all, I have always been and will most likely always be a blubber-er! For ALL things kid related. When Tyler had a hand chime concert in first grade, I sobbed...SOBBED...from the moment he picked up the chime til we got in the car to go home. Craig shook his head and my mother just handed me tissues
So...the first time we left Jason and went to Disney without him when he was two, I sat in the car and cried while Craig dropped him off at daycare where Nana would pick him up from later. So...I got a little choked up reading about you leaving Andre and looking at that adorable face in your pictures...and then again seeing Josie's face all lit up with the rose from the prince. And then you had to see Dumbo and listen to Baby Mine (which makes me cry every time I see it)!! So...you can stop now with all the tear jerking updates!!
Love the room...can't believe you were tidying up at 5am. Blah!! Can't believe people weren't tipping!! We tend to be over-tippers. We are big pizza planet fans...and I 'think' from Josie's face she was Great face!! Okay...got tissues, bring on the next update.
I promise..........no more tear jerkers coming up. OK, well maybe one, but not really. It was just a "moment" and in the end a bit dorky. I really thought I was a tough one.........guess not
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
how awesome was that? Very cool that Josie got to have a special moment at BatB.
It was specail, and I thank my friend so much for making that happen.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BlueCinderellaEyes
I hear you on the crying thing! When Tyler did skated infround of 20, 000 people for the Scotiabank Skaters durring the Buffalo / Sens game I did the same thing! Josie is a little doll!
Glad I'm not alone!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by sc507
Ok, could Josie be any cuter? Her smile in those pictures was adorable! What a special moment - is she still talking about it?
No she doesn't talk about it everyday, but at times she will. She has played with that darn rose so much the wire is starting to come out of it, so it's hanging on her wall at the moment. Her uncle is a magician and I want him to suspend it with his "magic wire" in the middle of her room
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
What an amazing magical moment that was!
Pure Disney at it's best right?
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
What a special moment! Nice of your friend and very nice of the complete stranger who set it up for you! (I remember from Cam's report a couple of years ago that Stefanie was Princess of the Day also)
Ya know, I remembered that as well leading up to this day. All while this was going on I couldn't stop thinking of Cam and her family too. Actually the whole trip for that matter, but this day even more so. I remember how excited she was too. It is a nice memory to have of her.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Congrats to Josie for being Princess of the Day! She looks like she had a great time! More please!
Thank you, I'm banging this TR out. Another update coming right up again!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
Oh wow, that was such a magical moment! Josie looks so adorable!
Thank you
Quote:
Originally Posted by stardust190
Aww. What a special moment for Josie. How nice that your friend was able to help you with that. Did you ever figure out what performer it was? It sure looks like you're having a lovely time!
I thought it was this one guy and I texted her, and it wasn't. so now I have to go through all the pics I did take so we can put a face to this magical moment. Through his texts to me, he was a sweetheart!
Quote:
Originally Posted by JKnott17
What a magical moment for Josie! I the picture of her and her rose.
Thank you!!!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by misty hailey
Awesome moment!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by buzzspal2
What a great first day.
Thanks!!!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by honeybee723
That picture of Josie in bed with Duffy and the rose just melted my heart. That's how a perfect day should end. I also love the fact that out of all the movies they were playing, it was Dumbo....just too magical for words. Did you ever find out who "amazing guy" was?
The Dumbo thing threw me for a loop. This trip was meant to be afterall.
I'm going through some pics with my friend this weekend to figure it all out. He deserves some big HUGS!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcc0313
What a magical first day for Josie, she is the perfect princess for the day and what a smile. Glad that she forgot the whole missing Disney Jr and enjoyed her magical moment. What a great way to end off your first day....Dumbo is one of our favorites, seems your building was perfect location for the movie.
Glad you are enjoying POR, we love that resort so much, it was the first I stayed at with the girls.
I did feel bad about the Disney Jr show because we all love that one. I was shocked that the last showing was at 5pm though. ANd HS had EMH evening this night too.
I talked to Arnaud about switching to POR, but he is a big lover of the monorail resorts, I am too but I'm also a big lover of saving some cash. He said we can discuss it when Andre is to the age where we have to start paying for him too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 3kidsandamom
I cry at everything my kids do. EVERYTHING!! I cry at concerts, awards ceremonies etc. They hate it. I love her all cuddled with her rose and Duffy. So cute!!
LOL, well I guess I have now joined the club because I have been a hot mess lately
Quote:
Originally Posted by mommapants
What a great first day and such a cool memory - Princess for the day! I don't think there is a mom out there that hasn't been a blubbering idiot at least once when it involved their kid(s). I cried at a slide show at church one time.
Looking forward to hearing more.
Thank you, I have more coming right up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lazanya
What a magical day! So cool to be Princess for the day! Love it!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by clio
The picture of Josie sleeping with Duffy and the rose is so sweet. I cry over everything, too.
Liz
Thank you!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by mousestruck
Now that's a day you and Josie will never forget! Gotta love that Disney magic. (And that last photo is just precious!!!)
We will never forget this day, or this trip that is for sure.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ariel14
Love that pic of Josie with the rose and Duffy! So sweet! I cry at everything my kids do too!
I had a wakeup call set for 6:30am, not sure why I even bothered with that because both of my kids are early birds………really, don’t be jealous. So Stitch gave us a good screaming and Josie thought it was HILLARIOUS!!! I got her set up with her normal breakfast routine…….yogurt, milk, banana and half of my granola bar. Then I went to fix some coffee for me. I ordered D&D grounds from Garden Grocer and also my fat free vanilla creamer. I brought my own 4 cup filters and went to tackle the coffee machine, this is what I have been doing for the past few years and it has worked wonders. Come to my surprise I see this contraption!!!!!!
WTH?? This was like some weird version of a Keurig I guess, with individual bags for the coffee. It wound up being fine, but so wasn’t expecting that. Exactly when will the new Starbucks be coming?????
Grabbed 2 waters from my fridge and we loaded up on sunscreen and were ready to head to the bus stop. Now yesterday when I had checked in, the guy at the desk told me the main stop (South Depot) would be best for me. I guess depending on where you room is located in Oak Manor, this could be true, but after riding through the resort I thought that the East Depot spot would be closer, so I gave it a try. It was closer too. So we waited just a few minutes and were off on a somewhat empty bus.
Epcot had EMH this morning and they didn’ t open those gates one minute before 8am. I knew we would be heading right to the character spot first, we always do this first and we get in and out of there in minutes. However, they weren’t opening until 9am this day. Alright then, moving on. I have talked to Josie a lot about Soarin’ and she was really looking forward to riding it, so we joined the herds of nut cases and walked over to the Land to get FP and then jump in line. We walked right on, got buckled in and were off!!! Josie was swinging her little feet, saying “weeeee” and just having a good old time…………….UNTIL, the jet planes flew by. She jumped and then started to whine a bit. They are super loud so I can’t blame her. I calmed her down but now you could tell she was just “eh” about this ride and wasn’t so happy go lucky anymore. She started to come around again when we saw Disneyland……………UNTIL that last BIG firework went off, and then we lost her again. As we were getting off the ride, she said to me “Mom, don’t take me on that again….OK?” I could have just said yes, but I wanted to talk about it with her some more, so as we walked we did just that. I asked her if she liked any parts of it because it sure seemed liked she did. She said, yeah….I liked all of it, but I didn’t like those airplanes. OK, well now that we know about them I guess we could prepare for them if we ever ride it again. She said she thought I was right but what about that BIG firework at the end. I said we can prepare for that too. She said she could deal with that and would it be OK if we rode it another time, just not today………….I told her that was not a problem.
We moved on over to Nemo and explored the tanks quite a bit, even said hello to Bruce. The first TT show wasn’t until 9:45. EMH in the AM at Epcot were now starting to annoy me. No meet and greet and now no TT. OK. I decided to head back to the character spot and get in line, I’m glad we did because a line was forming and of course once we got inside, we were in and out of there pretty quick.
After our meets with the fab 5 we headed back to TT. We took Josie in here when she was 2 and as soon as Crush came out and everyone started talking she got nervous and started crying, so we exited and haven’t made it back in there since. I knew we wouldn’t have a problem this time……..well at least not in the same way. She loved the show, but after as everyone started leaving she got really upset that she didn’t get to talk on the microphone!!!???! What?? That is what you are upset about? I asked her if everyone got a chance, to which she said no, do you see those kids upset? She said no. I told her we could come back and maybe she would get her turn and then she said…………..nah, it’s OK. Can we just get something to eat instead???!!??
By this point it may have been close to 10am and I could not find a darn thing to snack on aside from maybe an ice cream. Another thing that was really annoying again with EMH. So we were close to SE at this point and it looked like it was about to rain so I said lets go on this. Of course it stopped twice while we were in there and Josie was really looking and listening to everything, but she wasn’t all too thrilled with the ride.
As we excited I did noticed it sprinkled a bit and looked like some more rain might be coming, but nothing too bad. So from there we finally decided to go check out the butterfly pavilion.
This was just way too cute. I was amazed at the amount of butterflies just flying past us, I tried my best to take some pics but they were never staying still long enough to do so. Once again, Disney has outdone them with this.
We were both getting so hungry and my ADR for CDF wasn’t until 12:30 and it wasn’t even 11am yet. WS wasn’t open yet either. At this point I feel like we have been at Epcot forever and haven’t done too much. I noticed Duffy would be out at 11:30 so after a meet with him we would take a boat over to Morocco to visit Jasmine and Aladdin and whoever else we come across and by that time maybe it would be close to our ADR.
So that was the plan. Leaving the butterfly house I was looking for one of the play areas for the kids when we came across Merida. OK, so I don’t really know much about her or her new movie Brave, but right before our trip we did see some Brave merchandise on our Disney store so Josie kinda had a clue on her. Her line was short so we jumped on in. The girls right before us got up to meet her and at that point a CM asked Merida to bring us all inside as it had started to rain, she turned away from the teens she was with and grabbed Josie by the hand and said “ Come on with me and my princess everyone!” Josie was all………….see ya later mom!!!! There she went just skipping off with her new BFF.
Once inside she told Josie she’d be with her in a minute and went right back to the teen girls. Then we finally got our meet with her. Those 2 talked forever, about what……………..haven’t got a clue, but Josie was super happy about this!!!!!
So after that surprise meet I couldn’t take the hunger anymore, we finally found a pretzel cart and split one with large water. I also went in to grab Josie her Passport to get stamped around WS. We then made our way over to the first of the few play areas they had set up and boy was this cute!!! Josie had so much fun running in her and playing with the other kids.
They did a great job with wiping it down from the misting rain that kept happening too. I knew it would be hard to get her out of there, but telling her we could meet Duffy helped a little.
The line for Duffy was starting to get long and it started to mist again. It wasn’t to the point where I felt I had to bust out the ponchos, but I did bust out the umbrella for me, and pulled the canopy over Josie in the stroller. Soon we got to meet Duffy, and that was a big hit since we have never met him before.
After that I noticed a boat was loading so we jumped on that and took a nice little ride over to Morocco and found the line for Aladdin. Once in line, it started to mist…………..again!!! Jasmine was supposed to be there too, but she wasn’t. Josie has yet to meet her so she was bummed for a minute, but had a nice little chat with this fine young man.
Now we came across another one of the play areas set up for the kids for the F&GF, so we took the time to explore this area as well.
I moved on down to CDF, knowing we were early for our ADR but hoped they could get us in anyway. The hostess said it wasn’t a problem, but I did ask her if Remy would be out and she assured me he would be very soon!!!
We were seated and quickly put our order in. I double checked again with our server about Remy, as this was the main reason I wanted to come here, and he too assured me that he would be around soon. Not much later my onion soup, Josie’s salad and our baguette came out and all so far were delish! I thought the soup was really mild, but not too bad. Anything with melted cheese can’t be bad……………or can it???
When my croque monsieur came out I thought it looked cold. Like not real melty looking on the top like it should. But I was starving so I just dug into it. As I suspected, it was a bit on the cold side. I thought maybe it would get better, but it didn’t. I kept looking for our waiter and he was nowhere to be found. I kept eating, which I shouldn’t have done, but I just wanted something to eat and while it wasn’t terrible, it really could have been so much better. I finally had a chance to mention it to the server but at this point I had eaten half of it, so I didn’t make a big deal. Our deserts soon came and while mine was lovely, Josie just wasn’t into her giant cookie. The girl just isn’t a big fan of sweets, what can I say?? It came with her meal and I thought maybe she would pick at it, but no. She was fine without it. So now we were done and still NO REMY!!! I couldn’t bother sitting around to just wait for him, so we split. Josie had been asking for a while now if we could just go back to the hotel and swim. I wasn’t going to push her on the topic so that is where we headed next.
We didn’t wait long for a bus once again, which was nice and soon we were back in the room getting ready for a dip in the pool.
This felt good to just bob around for a while because I had noticed that my shins were starting to bother me and I think it was because my new fit flops were feeling like they were stretched out??? I had read reviews on the Nubuck material of the new ones I got and people had mentioned they don’t feel as snug as the leather ones do. I believe this to be true because later that night I put my leather ones on and all felt fine. I still do like my new nude colored ones, but maybe for a long day of walking they may not be the best.
After our swim, we took showers and we both lay down to take a little disco nap.
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Despite the slow start at Epcot, it sounds like you had a nice day so far. My DD HATES the planes and the fireworks in Soarin', but has been on it enough now that she knows when to clamp down on her ears . Great photo pass pics!
__________________
Stacey
Why do these kids look so pathetic?
Find out in: A New Grade, A New House, and A Surprise!Final Thoughts 01/30
It really looks like they went all out with things for kids at the F&G festival this year. The butterfly gardens and the playgrounds look amazing! I'd have been pretty irritated that Remy never came out after everyone assured you he was coming.
What's the deal with these new coffeemakers?? I wonder if they're all over the place now. So, you can't use your own coffee any more?
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