Getting Ready for Another Awesome August Adventure! PTR - Page 4 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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my DH and I love Boardwalk. The picture that you have for Boardwalk is the same view we had last time we stayed there. Dining looks good too. Glad the closures won't mess up your trip.
I'm lucky in the driving dept, ds 16 has had his license since January and he has been the chauffer this summer as well as my errand boy! So I really have no excuse for not cleaning or packing other than I'm easily distracted!
POTC is a huge bummer, but the rest I can live with!
I'm hoping by next summer DS16 will have his license, but I'm not sure!
I'm so sad about POTC!! It's one of my favorites. But, we'll be back!
You better get packing!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Glad the closures won't interfere much with your plans!
It's not too bad for the end of summer. There's usually more closures than that!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lonereb
my DH and I love Boardwalk. The picture that you have for Boardwalk is the same view we had last time we stayed there. Dining looks good too. Glad the closures won't mess up your trip.
We do too! We had the most awesome room and view last summer. I'm afraid we won't get as lucky this time.
So excited to not have to cook for a week!
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Shelly
Disney Destinations Specialist
Magical Vacations Travel
We have a super early flight and should be in Orlando by about 10:00am!
We will check in at the Polynesian and our room will very likely not be ready that early!
So, we are heading off to a place we haven't been since January 2014:
Animal Kingdom s not our favorite park, but I am really looking forward to it this time. I think because it's been so long since we've been there.
We will do a Counter Service lunch there. Not sure where. Any ideas? I am considering the Yak & Yeti CS restaurant. But, I know it will be too funky for the kids, and maybe even too funky for us! Thoughts?
We have a FP for Dinosaur between 12-1.
DS16 and I have a FP for Expedition Everest between 1:30-2:30. DH and DS13 have one for ITTBAB. Not sure that they will even need it though. DS16 will likely go through the single rider line several more times on EE. He loves it! I do too, but only once.
Then we all have a FP for the Safari between 2:30-3:30.
I'm hoping to do a little more walking around AK than we normally do. There are so many things in that park that we have yet to see. But, I know it will be about 1000 degrees and as soon as we get that text saying our room is ready we will definitely be tempted to head back to the Poly.
We have no real evening plans, other than to hang out at the Poly and enjoy! I'm sure we'll be hitting the new pool! Dinner will likely be at Captain Cook's.
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Shelly
Disney Destinations Specialist
Magical Vacations Travel
We ate CS at Yak and Yeti once and we honestly weren't fans but I know people love it. We love Flame Tree. It wasn't open when we were there last month so we ate at Pizzafari and we really enjoyed it!
We really enjoyed our AK day on our last trip and it isn't a park we really care for. We wanted to walk some of the trails but then it started raining so we never did. It's on our "must do" list for our next trip.
I love Captain Cook's! The pork nachos are to die for. You'll love the Poly pool!
We ate CS at Yak and Yeti once and we honestly weren't fans but I know people love it. We love Flame Tree. It wasn't open when we were there last month so we ate at Pizzafari and we really enjoyed it!
We really enjoyed our AK day on our last trip and it isn't a park we really care for. We wanted to walk some of the trails but then it started raining so we never did. It's on our "must do" list for our next trip.
I love Captain Cook's! The pork nachos are to die for. You'll love the Poly pool!
I'm a bit afraid! We may just end up at Flame Tree. Pizzafari will be closed during our trip.
I always set out to do way more at AK than we actually do. IDK what it is about that park, but it never holds our interest for too long. Maybe it will be better after all the new stuff opens there!
Looking forward to the Poly pool!
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Shelly
Disney Destinations Specialist
Magical Vacations Travel
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Today will be a Rope Drop day! We will get up and take the monorail to Magic Kingdom!
We will start with the usual - Peter Pan and It's a Small World! We always go there first, kind of a tradition I guess. Or, we just can't justify waiting in line for them later in the day!
Our Fast Passes are:
Little Mermaid - 9-10
Mine Train - 10-11
Space Mtn - 11:30-12:30 for DS16 and I
Buzz - 11:30-12:30 for DH & DS13
We are trying something new for lunch - Be Our Guest! We have done dinner there, and I did breakfast there on my work trip in June. Looking forward to trying lunch!
Not sure what we will do/ride after lunch. We'll just have to see where the day takes us I guess! We likely won't last much longer than about 2:00 in the heat.
When we're done we'll head back to the Poly for a rest and probably a swim!
The evening will bring some DTD shopping and dinner at Paradiso 37. Never been there before, but I hear it's good!
Looking forward to seeing all the changes and new things at DTD!
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Shelly
Disney Destinations Specialist
Magical Vacations Travel
We usually head to Peter Pan's Flight and Winnie the Pooh first, too. That whole area gets so full later in the day so we try to do as much and then head out to other parts of MK. For some reason though, we always seem to end the day back in Fantasyland. I guess it's our favorite part of MK.
We usually head to Peter Pan's Flight and Winnie the Pooh first, too. That whole area gets so full later in the day so we try to do as much and then head out to other parts of MK. For some reason though, we always seem to end the day back in Fantasyland. I guess it's our favorite part of MK.
Thanks, getting excited!
Yep, Fantasyland is a madhouse by late morning/early afternoon. There's no way I would wait 90+ minutes to ride PP!!
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Shelly
Disney Destinations Specialist
Magical Vacations Travel