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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Your ADRs look great! Good luck with getting a Be Our Guest dinner tomorrow morning! It's going to be crazy! I'm opting out and won't even try for my Nov-Dec trip this year. I like the menu, though, and may try to fit in a lunch in December, although I expect that whole area of the park will be mobbed all the time!
That's such an andorable photo of Natasha! I hope she does well at Best Friends. That'll make your future Disney plans so much easier for you.
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Your ADRs look great! Good luck with getting a Be Our Guest dinner tomorrow morning! It's going to be crazy! I'm opting out and won't even try for my Nov-Dec trip this year. I like the menu, though, and may try to fit in a lunch in December, although I expect that whole area of the park will be mobbed all the time!
That's such an andorable photo of Natasha! I hope she does well at Best Friends. That'll make your future Disney plans so much easier for you.
Laurie - Natasha was about 4.5 months old there. She always had such a serious look on her face when she was little ... At 8 wks:
Here is my BE OUR GUEST call-in Adventure:
I woke up at 6:30am, time to take the dog for a walk and make a cup of coffee. Test dialed at 6:55am - got the WDW Dining is closed. But at least I had the right number. Started dialing ... And NOTHING! No busy signal, nothing.
Then it would take about 30 seconds before getting a busy signal. Kept redialing, same thing. Busy or the occasional "all circuits are busy." this went on for an hour. Yes, I sat there redialing the whole time - it was like playing a video game: Dial >Speaker On > Busy > End > Repeat
Understand, I'm not even sure the whole family will enjoy the BOG menu, but I am now determined to get a reservation. I finally try another number that gets me through to the automated system.
Me: "Dining Reservation"
Robot: "Would you like to make a new dining reservation?"
Me: "Yes"
Robot: "Please say the name of your restaurant"
Me: "Be Our Guest"
Robot: "Cinderella's Royal Table, is this correct?"
Me: "No ... Be Our Guest"
Robot: "Garden Grill - is this Correct?"
Me: "No"
Robot: "Please stay on the line so I can put you on hold for the rest of your life..."
One hour and twenty-seven minutes later, I get a real person. He was very nice. After all this time on hold, my preferred time of 6:00pm on Jan 8th was NOT available. $&?!$&@!!
I had to settle for 6:05pm.
My total dialing + "on hold" time was 2 hrs 27 minutes. Twice as long as it will take to eat dinner.
Oh my goodness, I know you must have been frustrated, but that was funny! I'm so glad you are a go with the flow type who was willing to settle for 5 minutes past your requested time! Congrats! That's fantastic! I sure hope others had similar luck (well, not with the wait time...!).
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Huge Disney Fan...Always Have Been...Always Will Be!
Disneyland 60th Anniversary Celebration TR here!
2013 WDW trip here!
2011 trip to Hawaii here!
Oh, too funny! What a morning! And repeat that by thousands all over the world! I can't believe that, after finally getting through to the automated system the robot hadn't been programmed to recognize "Be Our Guest"!!
Oh, baby Natasha! I go all nutty over dogs in general, but have a soft spot for cocker spaniels. That soft look to their mouths, and the look in their eyes. Natasha does seem very serious. The cocker I had while growing up never looked like he was thinking about anything in particular. Sweet, but a bit slow! Natasha has something on her mind!
Lol - getting reservations for BOG is an E-ticket ride, for sure. Still no email confirmation, and it's not showing in the online reservations yet. I did give my resort reservation number and credit card info, so I'm assuming things are just backed up. What will be, will be ...
I feel sorry for folks who wanted to make there regular 180 day reservations today, as well as those calling to book vacations!
well............somehow I missed the beginning of this..............BUT got all caught up.............and HAVE to say that I the MOST excited to see all your photos!!!! Once again - you are one talented photographer!!! You are giving me some mojo to get going on my photography studies!!!
Congrats on the DVC!!! We are home owners at SSR..............and I have to say, that even though we have stayed at other DVC resorts (VWL, BWV, OKW) we always seem to come back to SSR
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Great plans! Congrats on getting an ADR to Be Our Guest, but what a wait!
Thanks - it is still a bit "up in the air.?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Glad you were able to get it!
. Stay tuned
Quote:
Originally Posted by lfredsbo
well............somehow I missed the beginning of this..............BUT got all caught up.............and HAVE to say that I the MOST excited to see all your photos!!!! Once again - you are one talented photographer!!! You are giving me some mojo to get going on my photography studies!!!
Congrats on the DVC!!! We are home owners at SSR..............and I have to say, that even though we have stayed at other DVC resorts (VWL, BWV, OKW) we always seem to come back to SSR
Thanks for the kind words. I started getting interested in photography a few years ago after I retired. It makes our travels interesting. Good luck with your studies.
I left off with the trials of snagging a BOG reservation. We will get back to that, but first there is more news. We had offered Jenn, the youngest daughter, and her boyfriend a trip to Florida in the spring. I thought this might take us back to WDW for a fourth trip...
After checking out their vacation schedules, Ted (the boyfriend) decided he wasn't up for a trip to Florida. He has limited time off, and I think he also hates to fly. Jenn decided she was coming anyway, and would join the whole group for the January trip! This works out great, since she can sleep on the pull out sofa in the 2 bedroom Villa at VWL. The family of four will share the second bedroom, and the old folks will take the Master (was there any doubt?)
Now to add one more to all my ADRs - it doesn't look like there should be an issue, assuming I don't have to wait forever to get through to Dining. I may just rebook some on the website. I'm one of those who prefers dealing with a computer, over talking to a live human being
The only ADR we may have a problem with is BOG - I actually have a second reservation that I made on a different day, since my original booked-by-a-human one is still not showing in my online reservations. I'm not too concerned - lunch may be a better option for us anyway.
Oh, I forgot - Jenn celebrates her 40th birthday this January, so it will be extra nice to have her join the trip.
And, because I can't do a post without photos - here are a few more from Morocco taken in May:
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That's great that Jenn will be able to celebrate her birthday with you! Love the pics of Morocco...reminds me that I really missed so much on my visit!
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Huge Disney Fan...Always Have Been...Always Will Be!
Disneyland 60th Anniversary Celebration TR here!
2013 WDW trip here!
2011 trip to Hawaii here!
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Good luck with BoG! 
Congrats! That's fantastic! I sure hope others had similar luck (well, not with the wait time...!).
Congrats on getting an ADR to Be Our Guest, but what a wait! 
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