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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Great work managing two parks in one evening! I love the Laila perfume. It's always a bit sad when it comes to the last night.
The Laila, that's my special occasions perfume.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JKnott17
Even if you did figure it out, that was a sweet surprise from Arben and your boys
Looks like a fun night at MK, perfect last night!
They try. Although, Arben managed to surprise me on Valentine's Day. He made reservations at a restaurant and called my mom to take the kids for the night. We had a nice date night.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great pictures from Epcot and MK! Sorry it's all coming to an end!
Thanks! It's always sad when a Disney trip comes to an end.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheAyers
What fun! I haven't done the Laugh Floor in a couple of trips...I need to do that again! It looks like you guys had a really good time.
The Laugh Floor is hilarious! We did it twice on our trip. You should really try it on our trip.
We woke up this morning and slowly got ready. We finished up the packing, looking in every nook and cranny, making sure nothing was left behind. We took our time because our first fastpass was for later in the day.
After finishing everything, we bid farewell to our lovely villa and closed the door behind us. It was probably 10:30 by now. We carried our luggage down to the lobby. Sprit Airlines doesn't participate in RAC (stupid Spirit ), so we stored all our luggage and headed out.
As soon as we passed the doors, I turned right around. I'd forgotten to check out. After taking care of that, we headed to the bus stop. Shortly after, a bus arrived and we were on our way to our last park of the trip ~ Epcot.
Our first FP+ was for Nemo, so we headed over to the Seas. After our ride, we explored a little.
Our next FP+ was Soarin. We still had a little time before our time slot, so we did Living with the Land (which had a line ). This ride is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Apparently, I didn't take any pictures.
After the ride we went to Soarin. And I must confess something, please don't laugh. You know the white thingy in the seat, where you are supposed to pass your seatbelt through if you don't reach a certain height (mostly kids)? Well I put my seatbelt through it because I think I might fall. There, I said it.
Here's a picture of what I'm talking about. I got it from the internet.
Anyways... I always enjoy this ride but I do think it's time for a new movie. The image is getting kind of grainy. They should do a Soarin over Florida, now that would be nice.
Our last fastpass was for Figment but I think we skipped it. We were getting kind of hungry and I was in the mood for some Mexican food. AJ and Arben thought that was a great idea, the younger ones didn't agree. We took them to Electric Umbrella. Abniel got the Chicken Tenders with fries and Adriel got the Meatball Sub with fries. Adriel polished his off in no time, he's my human vacuum cleaner. Abniel had a little trouble finishing his, I helped him out. Arben and AJ went to Mexico to buy our food while I waited for the kids to finish.
After they were done we headed over there. Arben had gotten 2 orders of Nachos and and order of Chicken Tacos. Yummy, yum, yum!!!
It was around 3 when we finished, our pick up was for 6 pm, so we just decided to make our way back to the resort. On our way out we got some pictures.
And some PP pics
Before the exit, we posed for one last set of photos. I told the photographer we wanted to do a sad pose because we were leaving this evening. He was all for it.
First the normal pose pictures
Then our sad pic
We spotted this guy, as we were leaving, and stopped to meet him.
We boarded our bus, arrived at AKV, and retrieved our luggage. We looked for a quiet place to park our stuff. We settled on the Library, which by the way, we hadn't seen until this last day. We all changed our clothes and freshened up.
There was a World Cup game going on so we watched that for a bit. I also took some pictures of the animals outside.
OK, I took a lot of pictures.
The boys discovered the Community Hall and played a little there. Then we went to the Arcade, where I proceeded to smoke AJ in air hockey.
Abniel thinks he's so cool.
I didn't exactly smoke him, but I did win at the last seconds.
I wanted to weigh our luggage. We headed to the RAC counter and the nice CM did us the favor. He was actually surprised Spirit's weight limit is 40lbs and not the normal 50lbs all the other airlines have.
Anyways, one of the suitcases was over by a bit. I took out my neck pillow and weighed it, that wasn't it. Then I got out AJ's new KK book and weighed that. Ding, ding, ding. We weighed the suitcase again and it was right on the limit.
We took a seat in the lobby. It was nearing our pick up time for the Tragical Express and we didn't want to miss it. I went to the gift shop and bought a couple of snacks and the boys refilled their mugs for the last time.
Then we took our sad selfie.
Tragical express arrived and we lugged our stuff outside and boarded. I have no idea where we went to pick up more people. I only remember stopping at AoA.
The drive to the airport was uneventful and the goodbye video made all the more painful to leave.
We got to the airport, retrieved our luggage, tipped the driver and headed in. We used the self check-in machine, because if you check in at the counter and they print your boarding pass, Spirit will charge you for each one. Have I mentioned how much I hate Spirit? Anyways, we then went to check our luggage. With everything set, we headed over to security.
Security was a breeze and this time nobody quizzed our kids on their birthdates. We found our gate and settled down. I went to the shop because I wanted to buy something to read, specifically I wanted a Reader's Digest but there were none around. I bought some more snacks and some drinks.
Soon it was boarding time. This leg of the trip AJ, Arben, and I sat in one row and Abniel & Adriel sat in the row across from us. Next to them sat an elderly lady.
Well, the boys spent the entire flight laughing and giggling. I had no idea why.
The flight was unevenful and we landed at Ft. Lauderdale. I asked the boys what was all the laughter about. Well, they said the woman had fallen asleep and the entire time she was, umm, passing gas. That was funny to them. Boys...
We met up with our friends, who had been on the same flight with us before. They had a great vacation too.
The gate seemed a little chaotic and there was people everywhere. Soon it was boarding time.
This time we split up the two youngest. AJ, Adriel, and I were in one row. Arben and Abniel in the one across. I think everyone fell asleep except me.
We arrived at PR at around 2:30 am. We got off the plane, which btw, is via stairs. The airport is small. I feel important everytime I go down them.
Luggage started coming out, but ours took a little while to appear. After we had collected everything we headed out, stopping for potty breaks.
My mom had left our car in the parking lot earlier in the evening. We found it, loaded it up, paid the parking fee and headed home.
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Glad you were able to get in a little fun at Epcot before you had to leave. I totally agree about the Soarin movie. It really needs to be updated! Looking forward to your final thoughts!
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Very long last day, but you all managed quite a bit of fun before leaving the bubble. I love your dad PhotoPass photos at Epcot. ;waytogo: Classic! Your pictures around AKL have made me a little homesick. Rather sad that your trip is now over.
Sorry to see the trip end, but a nice day at Epcot. And, it looks like everyone got into the spirit of the last day photos. Looking forward to your final thoughts.
I had nothing to do today except read trip reports and I am so glad that I read yours!! Your family is beautiful and it surely looks like you enjoy each others company and had a fabulous time!!
Also, as a mother who has been through some rough stuff with her kids, hang in there! Just keep doing whatever you can for them. You sound like a great mom!!
A great way to end your vacation with a lot of fun in Epcot. I always do the same thing on my departure day by vising one of the parks, an ADR and just take a later flight! Makes the trip that much better.
__________________
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!
Just got caught up with your last few updates! It looks like you had some nice weather the last two days and got a lot done in the parks. It's always fun to take the monorail from Epcot to the MK How great that you got to meet Talking Mickey! I hope to do that on my next trip! Always sad that last day when you have to get on the "Tragical" Express. Look forward to your final thoughts!
Glad you were able to get in a little fun at Epcot before you had to leave. I totally agree about the Soarin movie. It really needs to be updated! Looking forward to your final thoughts!
Soarin needs a little work. It's one of my favorite rides but it should be updated.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Very long last day, but you all managed quite a bit of fun before leaving the bubble. I love your dad PhotoPass photos at Epcot. ;waytogo: Classic! Your pictures around AKL have made me a little homesick. Rather sad that your trip is now over.
I'm thinking the sad pictures will become a tradition on future trips.
Quote:
Originally Posted by shazza
Sorry to see the trip end, but a nice day at Epcot. And, it looks like everyone got into the spirit of the last day photos. Looking forward to your final thoughts.
Yeah, they knew they had to go with the flow. Don't wanna make momma mad on the day you're leaving.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DMA
Love your sad photos. It's always so hard to leave!!
Thanks! It is hard to leave. Doesn't matter the length of the trip, you always want to stay longer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tara O'Hara
I had nothing to do today except read trip reports and I am so glad that I read yours!! Your family is beautiful and it surely looks like you enjoy each others company and had a fabulous time!!
Also, as a mother who has been through some rough stuff with her kids, hang in there! Just keep doing whatever you can for them. You sound like a great mom!!
Thank you for sharing your adventures!!
Tara
Aww, thanks for your kind words!
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
A great way to end your vacation with a lot of fun in Epcot. I always do the same thing on my departure day by vising one of the parks, an ADR and just take a later flight! Makes the trip that much better.
And it makes it a little bit easier to leave because you had some fun and magic right before you leave.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great last day! Love the pictures from Epcot and AKL! Looking forward to your final thoughts!
Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lindawdw
Just got caught up with your last few updates! It looks like you had some nice weather the last two days and got a lot done in the parks. It's always fun to take the monorail from Epcot to the MK How great that you got to meet Talking Mickey! I hope to do that on my next trip! Always sad that last day when you have to get on the "Tragical" Express. Look forward to your final thoughts!
Yes, especially on that last day. Weather was perfect, allowing us to enjoy some park time before leaving the bubble.
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I love the Laila perfume. It's always a bit sad when it comes to the last night. 
Sorry it's all coming to an end! 
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We finished up the packing, looking in every nook and cranny, making sure nothing was left behind. We took our time because our first fastpass was for later in the day.
It was probably 10:30 by now. We carried our luggage down to the lobby. Sprit Airlines doesn't participate in RAC (stupid Spirit 
), so we stored all our luggage and headed out. 
After taking care of that, we headed to the bus stop. Shortly after, a bus arrived and we were on our way to our last park of the trip ~ Epcot.
). This ride is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Apparently, I didn't take any pictures.
There, I said it. 
AJ and Arben thought that was a great idea, the younger ones didn't agree. 
We took them to Electric Umbrella. Abniel got the Chicken Tenders with fries and Adriel got the Meatball Sub with fries. Adriel polished his off in no time, he's my human vacuum cleaner. 
Abniel had a little trouble finishing his, I helped him out. Arben and AJ went to Mexico to buy our food while I waited for the kids to finish.
Yummy, yum, yum!!!
We all changed our clothes and freshened up. 
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