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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!

Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!

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Old 10-28-2018, 01:38 PM   #106
patclairesmom
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Just got caught up. Your dinner at FF looks amazing! What a great morning in Toy Story Land. We Slinky Dog Dash. Great pictures from Epcot.
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Old 10-29-2018, 03:11 PM   #107
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Love all your pictures. The chocolate sculptures are amazing! Sorry it’s so hot and hard to deal with!
There was one additional chocolate sculpture, but the glare on the case was so bad I cuoldn't get a decent picture of it.

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Just got caught up. Your dinner at FF looks amazing! What a great morning in Toy Story Land. We Slinky Dog Dash. Great pictures from Epcot.
Thanks!
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Old 10-29-2018, 03:17 PM   #108
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We only had to wait a few minutes at Epcot for a bus to AKL and soon we were pulling up to Kidani Village. I had not gotten a text about our room, but we went to the desk and inquired and the CM (who was from Buffalo ) said yes, a room was ready. Yay! We got a map and headed up to the 3rd floor and then down the long, long, long hallway to our room. Again, we were almost the farthest building from the lobby. (Insert a little more complaining here.)

Very cool lights in the hall.









I took some photos of the room and the savanna view and then we rested a bit.













Our savanna view included 2 zebra, 2 ostrich, 3 Thomson gazelle, and 2 Ankole cattle













We were starting to get anxious for our luggage. It was almost 4:00 which was when they said we could expect it. Earlier in the day, I’d gotten a text that our groceries were delivered, so that was good. We decided to head to bell services and inquire as to the whereabouts of our luggage. The CM was more than helpful and said yes, it had just come in. We decided that since it was only 2 cases, instead of waiting for someone to bring it, we’d take it back with us. We also asked about our groceries and he brought out our three bags for us.

We were happy to have our stuff, but with the cases and three bags of groceries, the walk back to our room seemed a LOT longer!

Then we took some time to put everything away and relaxed for a while. I made a trip to the ice machine and made a make-shift ice bag with a Ziploc bag for my feet which were killing me.

About 20 minutes before we were going to head to the bus for tonight’s DVC Moonlight Magic Event at DHS, it started to pour. We watched the animals and their reaction to the rain. Some just stood there, others walked over to an area near a fence, seemed like they were waiting to be let in.
And 7 Red River Hogs, which we hadn’t seen before, suddenly appeared and were running along a narrow path in the front of the savanna area toward their enclosure. They huddled there, waiting to be let in.

It was still pouring when we were ready to leave for the bus, so we grabbed our ponchos and the umbrella. As for shoes...I love my Teva flip flops for park touring, but they are very slippery on wet pavement, and I didn’t want my sneakers to get soaked, so I decided to wear my water shoes that I’d packed to use at the pool. I put my Tevas in the backpack for when it stopped raining. And we made the decision not to bring the camera. Then we headed to the bus stop.


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Old 10-29-2018, 03:34 PM   #109
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What great sightings you had out on the savannah!

Man, what is it with your room locations this vacation? Did you specify that you wanted the room that was furthest from the lobby or something?
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Old 10-29-2018, 04:06 PM   #110
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What great sightings you had out on the savannah!
It was an interesting savanna location. We had the same animals there, all the time, day and night.

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Man, what is it with your room locations this vacation? Did you specify that you wanted the room that was furthest from the lobby or something?

I usually request upper floor. I'm not sure if I requested near an elevator. But the problem is I usually check the box stating we'd rather have a room that's ready over our other requests. Which is true - but it's unfortunate that there's never a CLOSER room that is ready!
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Old 10-29-2018, 05:00 PM   #111
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That happens to us...at Boardwalk we were literally the last room in the hallway and at AKL we were as far as walking back to the bus stop.

Oh no, I hope the rain lets up for your Moonlight Magic event!
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Old 10-29-2018, 05:16 PM   #112
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I understand now. You were a floor up and across the hall from our room. I didn't realize the rooms across the hall would be considered savanna view until we discovered some animals we had never seen in the viewing windows along our hallway. I check this every day as we came and went as it gave me something to look forward to on that long, long walk.
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Old 10-29-2018, 05:25 PM   #113
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That happens to us...at Boardwalk we were literally the last room in the hallway and at AKL we were as far as walking back to the bus stop.

Oh no, I hope the rain lets up for your Moonlight Magic event!
Who are those lucky folks who get the rooms near the elevators and lobby??
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Old 10-29-2018, 05:28 PM   #114
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I understand now. You were a floor up and across the hall from our room. I didn't realize the rooms across the hall would be considered savanna view until we discovered some animals we had never seen in the viewing windows along our hallway. I check this every day as we came and went as it gave me something to look forward to on that long, long walk.
Yes, it is an interesting layout, for sure! I assumed the savanna view rooms were all on the inside of the horseshoe. But when you see a map, there are smaller savannas on the other side as well.
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Old 10-29-2018, 05:28 PM   #115
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Sorry your room was so far but your view is beautiful!! And! At least there are no hedges blocking it!! I hope the weather clears for your moonlight magic evening!!
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Old 10-29-2018, 05:36 PM   #116
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Sorry your room was so far but your view is beautiful!! And! At least there are no hedges blocking it!! I hope the weather clears for your moonlight magic evening!!
Yes, that's the bright side - no hedges!

The way that rain was coming down, I was a little concerned.
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Old 10-29-2018, 06:10 PM   #117
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Glad there was a room available when you arrived. Sorry it was so far down the hallway! . I hope the rain doesn’t affect your plans tonight!
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Old 10-29-2018, 06:49 PM   #118
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Glad your room was ready and got your luggage shortly after that! Perhaps, you should have brought a golf cart with you to go from the elevator to your room as it's like walking the hallways of the Pentagon as so far away! Nice views from your savanna with a lot of activity.
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Old 10-29-2018, 08:41 PM   #119
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Maybe it's a PassPorter thing to have the furthest room because we just did at the Polynesian. Good thinking to wear your water shoes!
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Old 10-30-2018, 06:29 PM   #120
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Glad there was a room available when you arrived. Sorry it was so far down the hallway! . I hope the rain doesn’t affect your plans tonight!
A ready room is always preferable, but yeah, it was quite a walk!

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Glad your room was ready and got your luggage shortly after that! Perhaps, you should have brought a golf cart with you to go from the elevator to your room as it's like walking the hallways of the Pentagon as so far away! Nice views from your savanna with a lot of activity.
Now there's an idea!

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Maybe it's a PassPorter thing to have the furthest room because we just did at the Polynesian. Good thinking to wear your water shoes!
I was glad that I'd thrown the water shoes in the luggage. The last couple trips we didn't bring them.
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