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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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DH and I have been tossing around the idea of combining a Disneyland visit with the Star Wars Celebration IV convention at the end of May. We attended SWCII & III when they were in Indianapolis and really enjoyed the experience (despite the massive crowds)
Our plans look something like this:
* Fly out on 5/17
* Spend 5/17 - 5/19 with family in the area
* Visit DL from 5/20 - 5/23
* Attend Star Wars Celebration from 5/24- 5/26
* Fly back out on 5/27
I've gotten price estimates on the flights & DL hotel (heard good things about the Candy Cane Inn & Hojo Anaheim) - but would need to get our Celebration passes before finding out what hotel packages they offer.
We're holding off on actually making any ressies due to some issues with DH's job (crappy management - hopefully he'll be able to transfer to a new team SOON). It sounds like we'll run into some refurbs - the monorail may not be running and (even worse) Fantasmic! may be dark...
Tell me what I have to look forward to - and keep your fingers crossed DH's job situation resolves itself soon... I wanna get this trip rolling!
Kind of planning backwards - we decided to get our Star Wars Celebration IV plans in place, as it seemed those were more time-sensitive.
We got two 4-day badges (as members of the Star Wars Fan Club, we can attend Thursday before the convention opens to the general public) and made reservations at the Kawada Hotel... the 3 hotels were were looking at all had mixed reviews, but this seemed like the better deal, as it was a bit closer than the other two.
Have a quote request in to Dream Come True Vacations & an e-mail sent to the family in the area to see if they'd like us to for a few days before heading to DL. Once we know when we're flying out (family visit or no visit), we'll look at getting our plane tickets.
Right now - only Northwest is showing non-stops from Indianapolis to LAX and they're a bit pricey ... Need to decide if a 1-stop is acceptable/worth the price differential. (I get nervous about lost luggage)
Got our quote back from Dream Come True Vacations - no availability at Candy Cane or Hojo (prob too close to Memorial Day Weekend) - but Liz did list availability at Tropicana and Camelot (formerly Park Inn) - any comments/feedback on either? I think we're leaning towards Tropicana for now.
I also ordered the Disneyland Passporter - getting the planning chapter preview PDF was VERY helpful in providing hotel info - thanks, guys!
Still waiting on info from family to decide on our flights - if we visit with them, we'll fly in on Thursday... if not, we'll probably fly in on Sat & find somewhere cheap to stay Sat night.
I'm slowly getting my spreadsheet filled in - next up is deciding on meals: definitely want to do BLue Bayou again & probably a character breakfast - any suggestions there?
We are doing the same trip for the same reason! My DH and DS(5) will be going to the SW thing on Thurs -- we signed up both in the fan club for this reason. And we all (me and DD (will be 2) also) will go on Friday. We are driving out from TX the weekend before and are planning to do DL all together one day that week and I'll probably take DD when the boys are checking out all things SW on Thurs. We are staying at the Residence Inn Garden Grove -- they have kids' suites with bunk beds in a separate room. Maybe mom and dad will finally get some sleep on a vacation!
Plane tickets are purchased, package is nearly paid off and a couple of meal reservations are made! (Blue Bayou and Lilo & Stitch's Breakfast at PCH Grill).
We just need to confirm with the family (DH's aunt & uncle) that it's OK to stay with them for the first couple days.
Current plans: Wed, 5/16 - stay night in Indy = early flight the next day Thurs 5/17 - Fly from Indy to LAX - spend day with family Fri & Sat 5/18-5/19 - family time. Possibly going to El Capitan to see Meet the Robinsons on Friday.
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Alternate plans if things don't work out with family... possibly at day at Universal? Check out San Diego & the zoo? What else would you folks recommend? Where would be a good/inexpensive place to stay somewhat close to Anaheim?
------------ Sun. 5/20 - Drive to Anaheim, check into Tropicana Inn & Suites & start our Disney fun! Will probably be up late, as DL stays open till 11 & it's the only time we'll have a chance to see the Block Party Bash, Electrical Parade & fireworks.
Mon. 5/21 - DL Early Entry and/or Toontown Morning Madness - probably go over to DCA after lunch at Blue Bayou at 11:30 - keeping fingers crossed for a waterside seat!
Tue. 5/22 - DL Early Entry? (not sure how many times you can take advantage of this during a given trip) - Head over to DCA when it opens & probably catch the DL parade this evening.
Wed. 5/23 - Toontown Morning Madness if we haven't done it already. DCA for the Aladdin show - will try for 12:25 or 1:55 if we miss the first one.
Thur. 5/24 - Breakfast with Lilo & Stitch to wrap up the Disney portion of our visit. Check out of Tropicana, then drive to downtown LA and check into Kawada Hotel.
The Star Wars Celebration (SWCIV) convention opens at noon for Fan Club members - we've already got our badges! Hopefully we'll see some of the more popular stuff today, before the crowds descend over the weekend.
Fri. 5/25 - SWCIV - arrive around 8:30 for our 9a-11a Shopping Pass to pick up show merch. Another perq of being fan club members! Spend the day at the convention, taking breaks as necessary.
Sat. 5/26 Another day at the SW convention - will probably leave earlyish to pack for our flight home in the morning & to get some sleep.
Sun. 5/27 Up *early* to get to LAX for a 9:45a flight! (was 10:20, but NorthWest rescheduled it a few weeks ago ) Fly home - possibly work on trip report.
Mon. 5/28 REST - maybe work on photos & trip report.
Sounds like a fun filled itinerary! Have a blast. Is the Electrical Parade scheduled to be running when you are there?!? You are allowed 1 early entry. Have fun!!
__________________
*~*Tina
Picking up our Brasilian exchange student at the a/p
Looks like a good plan, but I don't think the Electrical Parade is running any of the days you are there.
Have a great time!
Hmrph - you're right! The Electrical Parade was listed on Sunday last time I checked.... I'm still more bummed that Fantasmic! won't be up yet, after all the rehabs.
Yay - sent a note to Liz at Dream Come True vacations yesterday to pay off the rest of the Disneyland package & she confirmed we were PIF! Plane tix are bought & paid for, car rental ressies made, hotel resv the night before the flight & 2 dining reservations made: Blue Bayou and Lilo & Stitch Breakfast at Paradise Pier. :grin:
DH and I chat a bit about the trip just about every day - what attractions we want to make sure we do, where we want to eat & possible souvenirs.
We do still need to talk with DH's aunt & uncle to make sure it's OK for us to stay with them the first 3 days of our trip ... if not, we may head to San Diego to visit the zoo & maybe catch a ball game. (which will put a dent in the budget, but that's OK...) Any other suggestions?
We checked with family - they're looking forward to our visit - Scott talked to his aunt, who thought his uncle had already emailed us back.... oh well! Not sure what we might do with them - probably some general sight seeing. Last time they took us to Balboa Island, then one of Scott's cousins took us on a whirlwind tour of the Hollywood area (Graumans, the Walk of Fame) then up (and down and left and right!) Muholland Drive & thru Griffith Park.
So, earlier today, DH was looking around the Star Wars boards & found that some folk were planning on seeing PotC3: At World's End at the El Capitan Theater during the Star Wars Celebration convention. Quite a few were planning on the midnight showing on Friday, but that would make an awfully late night for us. He got to thinking.... could we push our flight forward to Monday so we could spend more time at the convention and see the movie Sun night? Our budget is in good enough shape to add an extra day, so we decided to see what we could do...
Turns out since NorthWest changed our original flight's departure time by more than an hour - we could reschedule our flight with no additional charge! So we're now flying out of LAX on Monday, 5/28 at 9:45am. We added an extra day to our hotel ressie & car rental & DH is going to try to score VIP tickets from the El Capitan website later today. Our hotel is right near a Red Line Metro station, which we can take almost to the theater door - so that will save some driving stress & parking $$.
It's not an extra day at Disney, but I still think we'll enjoy our extra vacation time!
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Moving Forward by going backwards..
Need to decide if a 1-stop is acceptable/worth the price differential. (I get nervous about lost luggage)
and check into Kawada Hotel. 
Tenya
So we're now flying out of LAX on Monday, 5/28 at 9:45am. We added an extra day to our hotel ressie & car rental & DH is going to try to score VIP tickets from the El Capitan website later today. Our hotel is right near a Red Line Metro station, which we can take almost to the theater door - so that will save some driving stress & parking $$. 
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