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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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We got up this morning excited about our day at California Adventure. We didn't get up as early as I had planned (a theme of this trip), but considering my daughter's meltdown last night, I figured we would all be better off to sleep in a bit. We were up by 7:45, had another great breakfast at the Hilton and were off. We walked and it was so pleasant. I can't even begin to describe how much I love California weather. It was in the high 60s and sunny with a little breeze. It was still early morning so I knew it would get hotter. But even when its hot, the weather here cannot be beat. We made it to the park about 9:15 and I stopped to get a return time for Radiator Springs. I was SO excited to see Cars Land. But we stopped for some photo pass shots and wondered into the Bug's Land area and did a few of the cute rides there. We then went over to Tower of Terror. The line was pretty short so we did that. My boys loved it but my daughter said that would be one she would never do again. It kind of surprised me because she loves rides. She loved Expedition Everest at WDW and loves Space Mountain. I guess ToT is where she draws the line.
After ToT it was time to head to Cars Land. We made our way over and it was just as impressive as I had hoped. The detail was amazing and it was just like you were transported to the movie. We stopped for pictures and had a great time taking in the atmosphere. Radiator Springs Racers is in the back so we got to see everthing else first. The fast pass line was still about a 20 minute wait at that point. But, the ride was so AWESOME. I don't want to give away spoilers for anyone who hasn't been on it yet. But when we were done, all of us agreed that it was our number one favorite ride ever. We went straight for the fast pass machine so we could ride again. Soarin has always been my favorite ride and I thought Disney could never top it. They did. Soarin got knocked to number 2 , at least on my list
We got a return time for Soarin and by this time the kids were hungry again, so we decided to eat at Flo's. To our surprise, it wasn't crowded at all, and we walked right up. It was about 11;30, so still pretty early for lunch. I had the rotisserie chicken and mashed potatoes. It was very tasty and good. My kids had mac and cheese and my dh had the roast beef sandwich. My dad had the salad. Everyone finished their plates and was happy with their choices. I thought the restaurant was very well done and very pleasant. The window seat gives you a nice view of Radiator Springs Racers. Very nice lunch!!!!!
After lunch we headed to Soarin, but the ride was down. So they allowed us to pick another ride to put in its place so my kids decided it was back to Radiator Springs!!!!! Loved it again. We looked around in the shops and got to see Mater and McQueen drive down the street. We also rode the Junkyard Jamboree which was a big hit as well. We got some ice cream at the Cozy Cone which was super cute. Can you tell I completely love Cars Land??? By this time it was around 2:00 and it was getting hot. Not WDW hot, but hot. So my dd, ds , my dad and I headed back to the room. My dh and my other ds wanted to look around Paradise Pier a bit. On the way out, we saw Oswald and got some great PP pics with him. We rode the toy story bus back and rested up to return to California Adventure for the evening!!!!
We rested for a while in the hotel and then let the kids swim for a bit. We decided to eat at Bubba Gump's this evening. We have never been there and it turned out to be a great choice. I had the Jambalaya which was fantastic!!!! It was very spicy but I LOVE spicy. I really wish we has one around here because it was REALLY good and I am still thinking about it. My kids had popcorn shrimp and I honestly don't remember what my DH and my dad had. But whatever it was everyone enjoyed their meal immensely. It was an easy walk from there to the parks and we headed straight for California Adventure. We rode the jellyfish ride and walked around Paradise Pier. My kids were obsessed with Cars Land and we had a fast pass so we headed there next. Radiator Springs is AWESOME at night. All the lights were so cool. Riding the Racers at night is a totally different experience than riding it during the day. Both equally great, though!!!!! Unbelievably, when we were leaving a family came up to us and asked us if we would like their 3 fast passes!!!!! My boys were thrilled to ride it AGAIN so my DH and the two boys did that while my DD, me and my dad headed to Soarin. On the way, the DJ car came down the road and had a dance party in the middle of the street. My daughter LOVED it and danced for about 15 minutes. She was so excited and happy!!!! So after that we made it to Soarin. I know they just revamped the film and theaters here. It was SO much better than in WDW. The Soarin in WDW is in desperate need of a refurb!!!!!! It seemed longer here and I'm not sure but I think there might have been some new scenes or maybe just different angles on the scenery? Whatever they did it was great and I was as excited as the first time I rode in at WDW. I knew we had to come back the next day so my DH and boys could ride it too. We met up with them outside of Soarin and headed back the hotel. On the way out we got some views of the DL fireworks which was great. We didn't stay for WOC so I knew we had to choose between WOC and the parade on our last day..........
I just have to mention again how great the weather is here. It did get a bit warm for a few hours in the afternoon but the evenings are just PERFECT. I don't know........I had my heart set on a WDW trip either late 2016/early 2017 but my mind is already wondering if we could come back to California!!!!
What a great Thursday evening. I'm now excited for the Soarin' refurb. I've done Soaring at DL (2013) and WDW (2014) and they seemed identical. I'm excited for improved picture quality, for sure.
I haven't been on RSR at night, now I know I have to add "grab fast-passes for RSR" to a later- morning agenda.
Today is our day to do a day trip to the San Diego Zoo. We were especially excited because we booked a "Inside Look Tour" Koala and Friends.
We were up bright and early and were done with breakfast by 8 and on the road. I was very apprehensive about traffic because of all the horror stories I read about concerning SoCal freeways and traffic. It was crowded, but honestly nothing terrible and nothing I hadn't experienced before on other busy freeways. Maybe we just got lucky!!!! It was very foggy out so we couldn't see much. I really enjoyed the landscapes and scenery of California as it is so different from the East Coast and Pennsylvania specifically. We still hadn't caught our first glimpse of the Pacific and the fog didn't help us out. I knew at points we were driving almost right next to it but we couldn't see a thing
We enjoyed seeing San Diego as we drove through. My sons were amazed that the airport was right in the middle of the city. San Diego looked so cool and when we return ( I definitely want to return to California soon!), I want to spend more than just a day trip there. We made it to the zoo with no problems and got parked and started for the entrance. First let me say that as much as I was impressed with Anaheim weather, San Diego is way better.
My DS(10) loves animals and he was so excited for this portion of our trip. We got some pictures at the entrance and headed in. We collected our map and were on our way. We started out looking at the monkeys and they were awesome. But, for some reason, about 30 minutes in, my daughter completely lost it. I don't know if she just hit the wall that day in terms of overstimulation, excitement, lack of regular schedule, sleep, or whatever. But we had a full-on, kicking screaming, hitting, running meltdown going on in the monkey trail She has mild ASD and ADHD so I am prepared that this happens from time to time. I was hoping the low key zoo would be a calm day for her. The people around us were looking at her and me like we had 3 heads. I usually can ignore the looks but for whatever reason they were really getting to me that day. After several attempts of redirecting and calming, I knew we had to do something. Luckily, my dad offered to take her to get something to eat. I am so grateful because my other kiddos were so looking forward to this and I hated for them to suffer too. So we went on with our tour and my DD and DDad went off to find a snack. I texted my dad a few minutes later and they were having an early lunch in the cafe by the entrance and then they were going to go to the playground at the children's zoo. I felt bad that my dad was missing out on the zoo but so grateful that we could enjoy the experience with our other kids.
So we toured the zoo and my daughter was happy as a clam at the playground and my dad found a shady bench and he was happy too. Plus I knew he would get to see things on our tour that started at 2:00. So we saw the elephants, the tigers, the polar bears, the California Condor (which my son loved), and some other bears as well. Let me say the zoo is HUGE and did a lot of walking. We stopped for a bite to eat and then took the sky ride back to the other side of the zoo to meet up with my dad and daughter. The skyride was really fun and you could see a lot of beautiful buildings and some views of the city.
It was almost time for our tour so we headed back near the entrance and met up with our tour. It was the 6 of us plus one more person and we had a tour guide named Janet who was awesome. We rode on a large golf cart type vehicle and the first thing she did was take us on a tour of the entire zoo. She drove us by almost every exhibit and gave us some cool stories and history to go with it. Had I known the tour would be that comprehensive and thorough it would've saved a lot of walking and trekking around. We then circled back and stopped at the giraffes. We got off and got to go behind the exhibit and feed them!!! My kids were so excited and it was so cool. They came right over and ate the lettuce right out of our hands. My dd was calm and happy for the tour so it was a wonderful experience that saved the day We spent a good 20 minutes with the giraffes and then got back in the cart stopping to see more exhibits on the way to the Pandas!!!!!!! We got to see the pandas without waiting in line and got to go in some roped off areas to get a closer look. It was very awesome and we learned so much from Janet the tourguide. The line for the pandas was very long and I felt this part of the tour was so worth the cost. Then finally we went the Koala exhibit. We got to go in the building to see where they are cared for, we walked through the exhibit where the keepers go and got up close and personal views of the koalas. My kids were in awe and they are so cute!!!! Apparently they are quite ornery and mean, but cute none the less!!!!!!! We spent a good half hour in the exhibit and got to see (and smell) where the eucalyptus is stored.
After that, she took us to a few remaining animals we hadn't been by yet and headed back to the entrance. It was a 2 hour tour and by this time it was 4:00. We headed to the gift shop to get a few keepsakes and decided to head back to Anaheim. I can't recommend this tour enough. You basically get to see the entire zoo in 2 hours plus some up close and in depth encounters along the way. It was a great experience and I was glad my dad got to see the zoo since he wasn't able to see it on foot earlier in the day.
Sorry about your DD's meltdown, but I'm glad you guys still enjoyed the day - the tour sounded wonderful.
We are used to the meltdowns, we just deal with them and go on with it the best we can. The tour was really fantastic and I'm really glad we were able to go.
I mentioned earlier that we didn't really experience any difficult southern California traffic. Well, we got our first taste on the way back to Anaheim from the San Diego Zoo. We sat and sat and sat and sat on the freeway. It really wasn't all that bad, it just felt like it. We might have sat/ moved at a crawl for about 45 min.
I wanted to work a day in at the beach but it wasn't looking like it would work so my husband suggested we find one to stop at before we head back to the hotel. I read about the beaches and just decided to try Newport. We put it into google maps and we were on our way. I knew there were 2 piers, so we just went with the one we remembered which was Balboa. I just wanted to get my glimpse of the Pacific. With traffic, it took quite a while to get there. By the time we got there it was after 7 and we were all tired and a bit cranky. But, everyone was so excited to see the Pacific. It was absolutely beautiful. The beach was very different from what I am used to on the East Coast. The beach was very sloped for some reason, not something I've seen before. It was also not as wide as the beaches I've been to on the East Coast. But, it was stunningly beautiful in its own way. There was a Ruby's Diner on the end of the pier that we decided to try. We enjoyed the walk out to the end and to our surprise, there was no wait and we got seated outside right above the Pacific Ocean. Of course, my daughter waits until now to announce she has to use the bathroom. However, the waitress told us there were no facilities at Ruby's and the closest bathroom was back on the beach. So we made the trek back. Let me just say that I HATE public restrooms, even clean ones. This one had to be the most filthy disgusting bathroom I have ever seen in my life. Without going into gross details, let's just say it was beyond awful. But apparently not as bad as the men's room, according to my husband. I'll just leave it at clogged and overflowing urinals
Back to a more pleasant topic and a bottle of hand sanitizer later, we were back at our table. We all ordered burgers and my DH and kiddos got shakes as well. I got iced tea as I was beyond thirsty. The burgers were delicious and I sampled my daughter's shake and it was fantastic too. It was peanutbutter. My husband got a salted carmel shake and I took a sip of it too. Everyone loved their meal and it was just awesome to eat at the end of the pier overlooking the Pacific as the sun was beginning to set. Knowing I was afraid of Earthquakes my husband had to tease me and point out this wouldn't be the place to be if the big one hit. Nice.
The walk back on the pier was so fantastic with the sunset. I'll try to post some pictures next. That is my next goal, to figure out how to post pictures here.
We drove back to Anaheim, and the kids fell asleep in the car the were so tired . We got to bed by 10 to get rested for our last day in Anaheim and Disneyland before we headed north!!!!
Well I managed to post a picture of Newport Beach. Its sideways, but at least its posted!!!!! I'll work on posting some more. Sorry if my picture quality is subpar. Most of these pictures were taken on my phone. A photographer I am not
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She has mild ASD and ADHD so I am prepared that this happens from time to time. I was hoping the low key zoo would be a calm day for her. The people around us were looking at her and me like we had 3 heads. I usually can ignore the looks but for whatever reason they were really getting to me that day. 
After several attempts of redirecting and calming, I knew we had to do something. Luckily, my dad offered to take her to get something to eat. I am so grateful because my other kiddos were so looking forward to this and I hated for them to suffer too. So we went on with our tour and my DD and DDad went off to find a snack. I texted my dad a few minutes later and they were having an early lunch in the cafe by the entrance and then they were going to go to the playground at the children's zoo. I felt bad that my dad was missing out on the zoo but so grateful that we could enjoy the experience with our other kids. 
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