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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I'm glad that you had a good day at Sea Wolld. I can't believe how many pennies you got! The picture of Aby with the drums is really cute and I love the ones you had taken. I'm not sure that I would like to visit Sea World. I kind if feel like if you have seen one aquarium the rest are about the same. Lenny better watch out and keep a close eye on his scooter. Abby may take it over.
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Sounds like day 2 went well. Great price at the buffet! I cannot believe you found 79 pressed penny machines. . . that was some great detective work on your part--even with a map.
Wow that's a lot of pressed pennies!! I'm loving your TR. I haven't thought about SeaWorld in a long time. I will have to take the Girls in a few years. Thanks for sharing your adventures.
WOWIE WOW!!! Can't believe you got 79 pennies! Glad you had a great day and was able to find shade and a breeze every now and then. After seeing your review, I think we might have to make a trip to Sea World one day. I loved your pictures (and I thought it was funny that Lenny tried to take the pictures with the underwater camera. lol). Hope you find your sunglasses!
You made it to Sea World... I knew Abby would change her mind after a good nites sleep. Sounds like Lenny was well rested too. I was last in SW in San Diego in 2007. I love the Penguin enconter and spent quite some time there ... yeah that smell just about knocks you over ... but I was sharing a room with 3 teenaged nephews so... it was an upgrade I could watch the penguins for hours.. ask the nephews they will tell you that they had to drag me out as I did not mind the coolness as I have meat on my bones. You really cleaned up on the pennies. DId you get any souveniers or pressed penny books there? Love the picture of Abby reflection in the glass and one of those pictures made her look much older. Glad you enjoyed your time in SW even leaving the Disney bubble.
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Glad you had a good day at Sea World. Wow -- 79 pennies! That's impressive. You got so many good photos. I especially love the one of Abby on the manatee sculpture.
I hope you find your sunglasses. I am terrible about losing sunglasses, which is why I now refuse to pay more than $10 or $12 for a pair. My current pair is from DLR -- I managed to make it there in September without my usual pair (which have since been lost). I'm coming on a year of wearing these, which surely means they'll disappear soon!
Great day at Sea World! After reading Cheryl's review and yours, I'm thinking we just might have to head to Sea World for a day. I love Abby's saying she needed one of those (scooters). Too cute!
What a great day at Sea World! You got a lot done for it being such a hot day. I'm afraid to start with the pressed penny collecting because I know I'd become obsessed and HAVE to go everywhere looking for them!
Sounds like you had a good day at Seaworld. I haven't been to the Florida one since the 80's but it sounds like there have been lots of changes for the better.
Hope your penny collecting continues to be so successful.
Just found your TR and i'm already so far behind. So glad that your flight went smoothly and you managed to sleep for a while on the flight. Great pics of Seaworld- it looks like you had a good time. I can't believe how many pressed pennies you managed to get!!!
I hope you managed to get your sunglasses back. I left my fave glasses at medieval times a few year ago and never saw them again( i was gutted)
GREAT day at SeaWorld! I went back in 1999. So it's been a while. I'd like to take the kids some day. But dh says not yet.... Too much at Disney we still havne't done.
Wow at the pennies!!!!!!!!!! Lunch seemed like it was a great price. Esp for a buffet in a theme park! Nice relaxing day (seems to me anyhow. lol) doing the things yáll love to do! Good idea to have dinner in your room. Hope you found your sunglasses. I can't wear them - but I know if I did', I'd surely lose them. I lost my 4yr olds sunglasses on our recent beach trip.
Thanks Elisa - it actually was a relaxing day - we didn't rush anywhere. As for the pennies, you know they kind of turn into a mission with us - we HAVE to see how many we can get. Lunch really was a great price - I think it was only $11.99 each - so like I said, I can't complain for the price. Ah yes, my sunglasses. If only they weren't prescription it wouldn't be such a big deal. But I'm not saying anything.
Quote:
Originally Posted by minushka72
I'm so glad you enjoyed Seaworld. We love it there and go for a day every other trip to Florida. Nicholas and I love the Pets Ahoy show too! Great job getting that many pennies!
Thanks April. I don't blame you for going to Sea World often. We enjoyed it enough that we're contemplating going back the next time we do Disney and maybe for 2 days so we can see all the shows.
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Originally Posted by B.M.
You got 79 pennies in that one day!?! Wow!
I love reading about your day at Sea World; my oldest son is determined to go there the next time we go to Disney!
Yeah - 79. I suppose it doesn't hurt that pretty much every machine had 4 in them so while it's a lot of pennies, it wasn't a huge amount of machines we found. As for going, if marine animals / aquariums are something you like then definitely go for one day.
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Originally Posted by alexsmommy0412
Sounds like you had a great day at SW. We get a few pennies when we went but 79!! We'll have to go back to SW sometime and find the rest.
W did have a great day. If you only have a few pennies, I suggest making copies of the ones you have (B&W works better than color) and then take the paper into the park to compare to the machines. That way you shouldn't end up with the same ones again.
Quote:
Originally Posted by clio
I'm glad you enjoyed Sea World. My daughter used to work at Sea World of Ohio and it was one of our favorite places to go. We were at the one in Orlando 2 years ago and really enjoyed it. Glad you found so many of the penny machines. They really like to hide them sometimes.
Liz
Thanks. That must have been cool for your daughter to work for Sea World. Disney hides the penny machines - right in the gift shop. Sea World wasn't as bad with that. Almost all the machines were outside somewhere. There's only the one at Wild Arctic that I remember as actually being in a store.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoanneS
It's so funny that you commented on the smell of the penguins! My first job was at the New England Aquarium at the time when they were re-doing the penguin enclosure. For a brief time, the penguins lived in the employee lounge and all I remember is how bad they smelled! No one believes me when I tell them that penguins smell bad. They may be cute, but they have an odor issue.
Glad to hear you had a nice day at SeaWorld and can't wait to hear more about your Disney adventures.
Thanks Joanne. No one believed you about the smell? Were they use to it or something - although I can't imagine getting use to it
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcc0313
Sounds like a great day at Sea World and I think the sleep in morning worked as everyone was in better spirits. Glad you had a low crowd day so you were able to see everything you wanted. What a great pressed penny day...
Thanks. The late morning probably did help everyone not to mention a regular eating habit too. (we had a nice breakfast Thursday morning instead of eating on the fly).
What a great day at Sea World, glad to hear Abby woke up wanting to go. I really like the pics they took of you 3 at the park...I can't decide which is my favorite either, I see why you had a hard time deciding! And WOW to the 79 pennies! Looking forward to the rest of the trip!
Thanks. I really didn't have any doubt about Abby wanting to go. She was just so tired she didn't know what she wanted except sleep. I had a hard time to - to the point I almost wished they didn't do things like that. I don't want to have to make decisions on vacation - I make all of them before so I can just go and enjoy
Quote:
Originally Posted by omd
I'm glad that you had a good day at Sea Wolld. I can't believe how many pennies you got! The picture of Aby with the drums is really cute and I love the ones you had taken. I'm not sure that I would like to visit Sea World. I kind if feel like if you have seen one aquarium the rest are about the same. Lenny better watch out and keep a close eye on his scooter. Abby may take it over.
Thanks Olive. I hear you on if you've seen one aquarium you've seen them all but Sea World is something my parents took me and my brother too long before Epcot had the Living seas so it was a matter of I wanted Abby to experience it too. The fact that something about the water "calls" to her made it more enjoyable because she doesn't seem to tire easily of watching things swim around so I knew we'd easily be there the majority of the day making it worth the price of admission. And yes, Lenny does need to keep an eye on his scooter . Anytime he got off for any reason, Abby promptly took his place . Only the one time did we actually let her use it though.
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Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Glad you had a great time at Sea World! Love the pictures!
Thanks Marnie
Quote:
Originally Posted by kangelop
Sounds like day 2 went well. Great price at the buffet! I cannot believe you found 79 pressed penny machines. . . that was some great detective work on your part--even with a map.
Thanks Kim. It did go well and it was a great price for lunch. As for finding the machines (I think there were only about 20 machines, it was 79 pennies we got), I had found info on line at Pennycollector.com before we left so I had some idea of where the machines were before we got the map. The map just made it a lot easier to find them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jdawsonrn
Wow that's a lot of pressed pennies!! I'm loving your TR. I haven't thought about SeaWorld in a long time. I will have to take the Girls in a few years. Thanks for sharing your adventures.
Thanks. I'm glad you're enjoying my TR. And if you think that's a lot of pennies, you should go and read my TR from 2009 (Our Penny Pressing Plans is what it was called). THAT's a lot of pennies. What we did at Sea World is nothing in comparison.
Quote:
Originally Posted by saibot0001
WOWIE WOW!!! Can't believe you got 79 pennies! Glad you had a great day and was able to find shade and a breeze every now and then. After seeing your review, I think we might have to make a trip to Sea World one day. I loved your pictures (and I thought it was funny that Lenny tried to take the pictures with the underwater camera. lol). Hope you find your sunglasses!
Thanks. Part of me can't believe we got that many pennies either but like I said, it turns into a mission to see how many we can get. If we hadn't been able to find places to cool down there's no way we would have made it all day there. If it's something you like then Sea World is definitely worth trying at least once. And I'm not saying anything about my glasses. You guys should know that by now
Quote:
Originally Posted by lazanya
Sounds like you all had a great day at Sea World. Hope you find your sunglasses!