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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Ladies, I just spent the good part of two days reading the PTR and TR and LAUGHING my butt off. I so have to get my TR going before my next trip, but now I'm scared because there's no way mine could be a SMIDGE as interesting as this one! ROFL
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Heather ~ Peanut's Mommy!
Member of The Mickey Milers
I woke up at about 6:45. I slipped out onto the balcony to watch the animals. There was a lot of activity, but I didn’t take any photos. The best part, though, was when a little girl a few rooms down came out onto her balcony to watch the giraffes. The giraffe was too far away for her liking, apparently, so she yelled out, “Hey giraaaaaa-affe! Over heeeeee-re! On the ballllll-cony!” Cracked me up!
Once everyone inside started stirring, I too went in and started to get ready. After we had breakfast (bagels for most of us), we headed down to the car. It was a quick drive over to AK. I have to say that the AK tree is my favorite of the park trees.
The plan was to ride the safari first, but I think the queue was really long, so we had to put that off. We walked over to Everest where we were to meet up with Bob (Larry decided to sleep in a bit that morning). The standby for EE wasn’t bad, so we decided to do that. Jill, Eileen, Karen and I got in line while Heather stayed behind to wait for Bob. I spotted them getting into line just a few minutes after we did, so we let some people go ahead of us. Unfortunately, they got in the Single Riders line, so we never saw them. After a few minutes, we continued on. Jill and Karen took the row ahead of us.
The look on the face of that woman behind us cracks me up! And this was taken during what Mary Devall calls the “boring part” of the ride!
I love Eileen’s expression in our ride photo, too
We found Heather and Bob waiting for us and decided to head to the other side of the park. We bumped into the tiaras and I got to say goodbye to them. The first of many sad goodbyes to come.
I really only wanted to do one thing, so after visiting some tortoises, we went over to Camp Minnie Mickey. I didn’t have a lot of time, so I was glad to see there wasn’t much of a line. When it was my turn, the Photopass photographer took a picture of me walking up to Goofy with the absolute doofiest expression on my face. I’m not posting it. And here I thought I’m always all cool and everything. I guess my dorkiness is obvious to even casual observers. Anyway, here are the other photos.
And then Jill and Karen joined me.
I have no idea where Heather, Bob and Eileen were. I must have had other things on my mind and didn’t even notice where they’d gotten off to. It was time for me to go to the MK for day 2 of the D23 event, so I said goodbye to the gang and headed to the car.
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
Good job Donald! Mickey didn't mind. In fact, the only one who ever complains is Donald Duck, and that's usually when I have Mickey Mouse on my shirt! Once Donald made me cover it up in the photo!
I think Heather and Eileen and Bob were using the fancy facilities in Camp Minnie Mickey!
I know that at some point during this day I took off! I had lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express. Went to WOD to pick up my wristlet--I have the black Mickey Mouse D&B now! Then I had to get back to the room to watch the Saints game! Which we thankfully won and are now preparing for our very first Superbowl!!!
I laughed at that woman behind Eileen and her expression as soon as I saw that picture! While all of you were riding EE and hanging out with Goofy we must have been heading to breakfast with Donald.
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Oh my gosh! There is more D23 event yet to come? That $195 is probably the best $195 you ever spent Sharon. I mean it. I kinda wish I belonged now too. You might have to PM me with more info about upcoming stuff.....
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I think Heather and Eileen and Bob were using the fancy facilities in Camp Minnie Mickey!
We were... and what lovely, TOTALLY EMPTY bathrooms they were!
And, I'd like to say that Shashi completely cracked me up on EE -- she really, really, REALLY does get terrified of the Yeti in "b mode." Her screaming got me screaming!
Karen... I'm so thrilled that you finally commented. I was about to resort to outright lies to tease you into getting involved in this TR! (Of course, now that you've made fun of my ginormous head, I'll have to do something to get my revenge.)
Totally loved reading your perspective on events, Karen! Great update, Sharon! Your pictures with Goofy are terrific! Though I'd love to see the expression on your face when you first saw him.
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Several BOTTLES?! Larry, she'll be sloshing it everywhere!
Eileen
Well I said Jill would be fine. I didn't say she'd be sloshing well at that point.
Quote:
Originally Posted by zacksmom_1993
We originally had an ADR for 5, but when Shashi decided to ditch us for her new fancy D23 friends () I figured we could add both Bob and Larry and make a party of 6. My memory was that there weren't any tables for 5 explicitly, and if there were I'd just act all bossy and ugly American-like and demand to be seated as a party of 6. I hear the French LOVE that. Anyway, it was no problem adding a guest and we were soon sitting at a lovely round table designed for 5 or 6 people.
I was very happy to be invited! I had not eaten at Chefs for some years and really enjoyed it over and above how much I adored the company I was keeping!
Quote:
Originally Posted by zacksmom_1993
One of my joys of this trip was watching you, Bob, and Larry pick out and enjoy wine. Larry had one time talked about wanting to "jump in and splash around" in one of the glasses he ordered (I think at California Grill.) Isn't that just the best visual of a truly tasty bottle of wine? And my darling Heather just knows her stuff! Her picks were perfection, and I love how you can tell how much she cares for her friends in how she ensures that we get the right product and the best service at restaurants. Permit me to get sappy for a minute: I've become like a feisty mama bear about Passporter because it has introduced me to some of the most fascinating, kindest, best people I've ever met. And Chefs de France was perfection because I was dining with 5 of them!
I got seriously verklempt reading this--right backatcha! It was such a joy that you could be with us this year. And thank you for providing the wine for this meal!
The "jump in and splash around" thing originated back when I lived in Maryland and used to go to wine tastings all the time. But I reuse it [Yes, Bob... and reuse it and reuse it....] because it does work for me. I usually haul it out when some bold, spicy, jammy red wine appears.
Quote:
Originally Posted by zacksmom_1993
Geez! What a bunch of saps! I was totally unaffected by Illuminations and the group of people I was with. Whatevs!
Riii-ight. Pull the other one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by zacksmom_1993
I also have to admit that there may have been a small puddle in the way back of said SUV after the stunt was executed so brilliantly by Shashi. Best. Night. Ever.
So true, so true! And you know what? I am still laughing whenever someone refers to this.
By the way--my hanging back to walk Sharon to the resort after she parked the SUV? It was so I could mop up all the puddles.
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Cracked me up!
The first of many sad goodbyes to come. 
I’m not posting it. 
And here I thought I’m always all cool and everything. I guess my dorkiness is obvious to even casual observers. 
Anyway, here are the other photos.
I must have had other things on my mind and didn’t even notice where they’d gotten off to. 
It was time for me to go to the MK for day 2 of the D23 event, so I said goodbye to the gang and headed to the car.
Mickey didn't mind. In fact, the only one who ever complains is Donald Duck, and that's usually when I have Mickey Mouse on my shirt! Once Donald made me cover it up in the photo! 
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
That $195 is probably the best $195 you ever spent Sharon. 
(Of course, now that you've made fun of my ginormous head, I'll have to do something to get my revenge.)
Deb
Her picks were perfection, and I love how you can tell how much she cares for her friends in how she ensures that we get the right product and the best service at restaurants. Permit me to get sappy for a minute: I've become like a feisty mama bear about Passporter because it has introduced me to some of the most fascinating, kindest, best people I've ever met. And Chefs de France was perfection because I was dining with 5 of them!
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