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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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It's funny you mentioned the car at Sci-Fi, because that's the only kind of car we've ever gotten! I guess because we're always a party of two, they put us in one.
Great day at DHS
Good for you for getting your way into his NFL autograph trip And now it's in print so it's finalized!
What a great day at DHS! It sounds like a great lunch, although there was no food pics . I want to try Sci-Fi the next time I go. I actually had an adr for it on our trip but decided to change it to H&V so my son could meet Jake and the rest.
Your boys would enjoy Sci-Fi! And sorry, no pictures, but everyone knows what cheeseburgers look like!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Linnynad
OMG, poor Isaiah........That would have done me in. Glad you are all going bananas on buying him so many sweet treasures.
I am still laughing about the hippo fart that would have sent this family overboard and I'm sure we would have been asked to leave the park from such annoying laughter
This sounded like a great day, you really are the best Aunt ever!!!!
I'm a pizza snob too my friend, but for whatever reason, I truly enjoy the pizza from Pizza Planet....weird right??
Trust me, the boys laughed about it for days and days. And maybe you like Disney pizza because it's sprinkled with pixie dust.
Quote:
Originally Posted by goofyboysmama
What a great day! You ARE the best aunt ever - ya makin' me look bad. I've got some work to do
It's easier for me to spoil them because I don't have kids of my own.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoJayMom
Sounds like a fun filled day at DHS!!! You are an AWESOME aunt and I am sure their favorite
They tell me I am, but usually just before they ask me to buy them something.
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
Day Nine – Sunday, September 2 Our last full day But with a PassPorter meet!
I was up early as usual. The boys were slow to get moving, so once I was ready, I headed out with my camera to get some pictures of the resort. WARNING! I took a lot of pictures, and I’m posting them all.
I started with getting pictures of the Lion King section.
A hidden Mickey
I went down to check out what I could of the Little Mermaid section. It was still under construction and there was a fence so you couldn’t go in and explore, but I stretched up above the fence and zoomed in with my camera (which I must tell you, I love having 20x optical zoom ).
It was really looking good, but that wasn’t surprising, considering how fantastic the rest of the place looked.
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Next I went over to the Finding Nemo area. I liked the look of it, but I think with having the Big Blue Pool right in the middle of it, it would be too busy and for that reason I wouldn’t stay in this section.
There’s also a little playground area there. Like I said, lots going on in this section!
The bridge to Pop Century
There are signs with movie trivia scattered throughout the resort.
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There is a very large arcade right near the lobby.
And the gift shop is large and well-equipped.
Sorry about the blurry photo, but I wanted to show the selection of resort-specific merchandise
And right through the gift shop is Landscape of Flavors, the food court, which is excellent!
I went on back to the room to get the boys moving. The traffic cone light fixtures were very cute, but the ones in the Lion King section were kinda cute, too.
We had breakfast in the room and then the boys got ready for a day in the parks. I suggested we go to MK and they were up for that. I had a hidden agenda because Kelly (OhToodles!) was at the MK and I wanted to at least say hi to her.
We walked to the bus stop, taking the shortcut past our windows.
Our room was right behind the middle tree, on the first floor
A MK bus arrived within a few minutes. One other family got on with us and then we left. Daniel went all the way to the back of the bus, so it looked like he was the only one on it!
My phone had been wonky so I was hoping to find Kelly and her family at the Barbershop where her boys had appointments for a haircut. I figured it wasn’t long after their appointment time, so hopefully they’d still be in there.
I headed inside and found Kelly and Lukas. Kelly was crying. By this time, Lukas had stopped crying, but poor Kelly was still emotional. Lukas finished up and we headed out where I met the rest of Kelly’s family. At first I didn’t see Dylan, but then someone pointed him out, hanging out in his stroller.
We chatted for a bit and then I figured I’d better get moving. My nephews were being very patient, but I could tell they were ready to ride something. I think Dylan wanted to ride Pirates, but my nephews wanted some thrills, so we parted ways. But not before getting a picture!
I’m really glad I got a chance to see Kelly again and meet her family. I hope the next time we meet, we’ll actually be able to spend some time hanging out! We went over and did Space Mountain. The standby was short enough that we could do it right then, without waiting for FPs. Daniel’s pose in the ride photo cracked me up for a good 10 minutes.
Then the boys wanted to ride Splash and BTMRR. We walked over there, but stopped when I noticed a Photopass photographer with nothing to do.
We grabbed Splash FPs, but BTMRR standby was longer than we felt like waiting, so we went over and did the Haunted Mansion. This time I had a very long beard attached to my face! Good thing it went right away!
Our Splash FP was already ripe, so we went over there and rode it. It was a lot of fun, but I have to say, this ride photo is one of my favorites. Everyone in the log is doing something funny. Noah looks like he's holding his breath, about to go underwater! And that girl in the front row probably would’ve paid me to keep this pic out of the TR! The guy behind Noah is funny, too!
We grabbed some popcorn and some drinks and had a short break in a semi-shady area. I haven’t mentioned it often, but just know that it was hot and humid the entire trip! Our BTMRR FPs would be ripe in about 25 minutes, so I figured it was a good excuse to take the train – one loop around takes just about 20 minutes.
When we got back to Frontierland, we were still a little early for our return time, but now you can use the FP 5 minutes early, so we didn’t have to wait. The boys were ready for a pool break, and frankly, so was I, so we returned to AOA.
Back at the resort, I picked up our packages on the way back to our room. Between the stuff we’d bought for Isaiah and the stuff we saved him from the gift basket Meg sent, he had quite a haul. And DB and DSIL had taken him to IHOP and the movies, so he wasn’t too upset to be home anymore.
We spent some time at the BBP.
We finally did hear more characters than music. It depends on the time of day what you hear. The characters do most of their “talking” in the early afternoon.
I have to complain about the BBP. There is a gate that you need to use your room key to get into to prevent pool hopping, but it was almost always open. I don’t think pool hopping is that big of an issue, but when it was time for games around the pool, every kid that won was a local. Every single one! Just sayin’. Even the CM was like “wow, everyone is from nearby today!” Now it’s possible that all these families were enjoying “staycations” over the holiday weekend, but I very much doubt that. Hopefully this problem will solve itself as the newness wears off. If not, they should go to using wristbands like at the Beach Club (and let me tell you, the difference between those pools is like night and day, but maybe locals think they can blend in better at AOA?)
When I’d had enough of swimming, I relaxed and watched the boys have fun for a while. I thought about going back to the room to grab my Kindle, but I kept thinking the minute I got back the boys would be ready to leave.
Daniel wanted to play ping pong and Noah didn’t (Noah is a slightly sedentary kid and Daniel always wants to be doing something) so I was drafted to play with him. There is a gumball type machine where you get the ping pong balls. I guess that’s a value resort thing. Anyway, I’d brought a quarter with me (which is more annoying than having to actually pay for it – having to bring the stupid quarter with you to the pool) so we could play (Daniel had been wanting to play since we’d arrived, but we never had a quarter to buy a ball).
Anyway, the machine failed to dispense a ball when we put in a quarter. It’s really a matter of the machine not being built for that kind of thing – if the ball’s not already sitting in the little chute thing, it’s not going to come out. I was not about to go all the way back to our room for another quarter, so I asked a CM for help. After asking about three different CMs, one finally said she’d call her manager over. I felt like a total cheapskate, but I wasn’t being cheap! I was being lazy! Anyway, the manager comes with a quarter (you’d think he’d just give me a ball ) and after shaking the machine to be sure there wouldn’t be another mishap, we got our ball. Did I mention that when Daniel and I played at Kidani last year, we just walked up and grabbed a ball? My name is Sharon, and I’m a resort snob.
Daniel and I played for a while and then Noah got out of the pool, so I suggested we get dressed and have dinner.
I was excited to try the food court because I’d heard plenty of good things about it. I had trouble making up my mind what to get – there were a lot of interesting choices! I took photos of the menu boards (and Mel, I thought of your request when I did it ).
Both the boys got burgers. Daniel didn’t want the pizza, which is telling. The boy lives on pizza. When he has a little spending money, he asks if he can order Papa John’s pizza. He’s not a pizza snob like I am, either. Hello? Papa John’s should prove that Any pizza – even WDW pizza – is fine with him. But after eating the pizza the night before, he got a burger. Maybe he was just tired of pizza. No, that never happens – the pizza at LOF is lousy, but I didn’t say it, Daniel did.
I got the pasta. When it comes to pasta, I’m like Daniel is with pizza – I can eat it all the time. I forget what I put in it, but whatever I got, it was tasty! I obviously got the bow tie pasta and pesto, with some vegetables (definitely sun-dried tomato – one of my absolute favorite things to eat, ever).
I also got the cheesy pesto bread, just because it looked so delicious. I ended up sharing it with the boys because I had so much bread!
The boys wanted to eat in the room, so we brought the food back. It was great having a kitchen and dining room area! We hung out in the room for a while and then the boys surprised me by asking to go back to the MK. Alrighty then! I was so surprised that I did something I haven’t done in ages. I forgot my camera! I do have a Photopass picture, though.
Anyway, we did the HM again. The boys and I agreed that it’s more fun in the dark – it just sets the mood better. I wanted them to experience another ride that’s better in the dark, so we headed over and did the Jungle Cruise. I don’t remember anything about our skipper, which probably means he or she was completely unremarkable.
We checked the Disney Parks apps for wait times. BTMRR was too long, and none of us wanted to get wet on Splash. Space Mountain was an hour long. Pirates it is! There was a Photopass photographer there, and she made the boys do a pirate pose.
After that, the boys were ready to go back to the resort. I thought for sure that they would milk every minute they could out of their last hours in the park for a year (more than a year they thought at the time), but it was very crowded – more crowded than any park we’d been in the whole trip!
As we approached the bus stop, we could see a very long line of people waiting already. We got in and I estimated that we’d miss the bus currently at the stop (loading a scooter) by about 6 or 7 people. When it was nearly full to the brim, the folks at the front of the line decided to wait for the next bus. They did indicate that anyone behind them was welcome to board, and I considered it, but then I figured we’d wait for the next one and get seats. The bus driver closed up and that’s when I spotted PassPorter Jessica (Jessie092408) and her DH, David. I was sorry I’d decided not to take that bus, because if we had, we would’ve been able to enjoy a nice little chat!
I had another reason to regret not taking that first bus. The second bus arrived and we all got seats. It wasn’t packed like the other one had been. Unfortunately, there was a kid on the bus who cried the whole way back to AOA.
We settled in and got ready for bed. I figured I’d pack up in the morning, and the boys hadn’t really unpacked, so there was no need to worry about them. I found myself disturbed a few times by the fan in the bathroom. It would go on intermittently (and this is me we’re talking about – I don’t spend much time in the bathroom, so it’s not like it would go on because I went in there). It went on and off all day and night, and it was fairly loud. That’s the one complaint I made when I filled out the survey after checking out. If it disturbs me, then I know it’s bound to disturb lots of others!
Up Next: Time to go home
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
AoA is really amazing! The Little Mermaid section looks really nice.
I love Daniel's pose for the Space Mountain picture. So funny!
The pasta looks delicious! I'm like you, I could eat pasta everyday if I had my way. I must have some Italian blood running through me or something.
I just love all your pictures of AOA! I can't wait to see it ourselves next May/June. But now I am sad that it is almost over. It feels like it just started. I suppose all good things must come to an end. I will just have to look forward to your next TR which I am sure is very soon. Those boys are very handsome and just growing up way too fast. I just don't know where the the time goes. LOL
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And now it's in print so it's finalized!
. I want to try Sci-Fi the next time I go. I actually had an adr for it on our trip but decided to change it to H&V so my son could meet Jake and the rest.
that would have sent this family overboard and I'm sure we would have been asked to leave the park from such annoying laughter
By this time, Lukas had stopped crying, but poor Kelly was still emotional. Lukas finished up and we headed out where I met the rest of Kelly’s family. At first I didn’t see Dylan, but then someone pointed him out, hanging out in his stroller. 
Good thing it went right away! 
Now it’s possible that all these families were enjoying “staycations” over the holiday weekend, but I very much doubt that. Hopefully this problem will solve itself as the newness wears off. If not, they should go to using wristbands like at the Beach Club (and let me tell you, the difference between those pools is like night and day, but maybe locals think they can blend in better at AOA?) 
I felt like a total cheapskate, but I wasn’t being cheap! 
I was being lazy! 
I obviously got the bow tie pasta and pesto, with some vegetables (definitely sun-dried tomato – one of my absolute favorite things to eat, ever). 
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