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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Let me start off with saying that this is my first time so please bare with me, I will try to make this as painless as possible.
So I guess I should start off with:
The dates: Sept. 19th - Sept 27
Where: Port Orleans Riverside
Who: Me, DH (Aaron), DD (Ash), DD (Shayla) and DMIL (Martha)
Special Occasions: My first time back in 15 years, the girls first ever trip to the Magical World
Sept. 19th
Friday morning. We got up around 5 am (thank goodness we had packed the van up the night before), everyone got ready and we said our goodbyes to my mom and peeked in on the little ones who were still asleep. We all hopped in the van and headed down the road, or so we thought. DH had left something at the house so we had to turn around and go pick it back up. Thank goodness we had only gotten a few feet from our long driveway. So I run in to get what he left (by the way it was his orange juice, he has to have his OJ) and finally we are off this time. We get 30 mins down the road and DH and DMIL decided that they need to stop at Wal-mart (at this point I am beginning to wonder if we are ever going to get to Florida). That takes about 20 mins in there and then we are finally headed off again. It was a good trip all the way down. Right after we got thru downtown Atlanta traffic was a little clogged up because someone lost their camper off their truck and all the stuff they had in the back went all over the 2 left lanes. The kids were good and did not ask once when we were going to get there. We stopped at a rest area somewhere in GA and ate lunch. I had packed bread and PB & J. I think in all we probably stopped about 3 or 4 times because someone always had to go to the potty or we needed to get some gas.
We finally got to Kissimmee FL where we would be staying for our first night at a place called Suites @ Old Town. It doesn't look like much from the outside (which my MIL complained about the whole time) but when you got into the room it was very nice. It had a seperate living area with a pull down bed, a kitchen area & of course a bathroom and it had a huge bedroom with 2 double beds. Very Nice and Affordable.
We ran next door and got some burgers and then one of my online friends came over and I think me, her and the hubby sat up till midnight talking. We had a wonderful time but now it's time to get some sleep.
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Sept. 20th - Saturday Time to get up and go eat some breakfast. We drove around for a little bit before finally deciding to eat at Ponderosa (which was a mistake) it was 4.99 all you can eat breakfast buffett and it was nasty. Ugh so gross. And what they really get you on is the drinks. They did not have a lot on their buffet and well what more can I say that I have not already said about it? We left there and DH wanted to hit a liquior store before checking into the resort. So after he finally got what he wanted we went in search of Port Orleans Riverside. Husband was driving, we didn't have directions and to say the least we made a couple of wrong turns but eventually found our way there. I thought it was just beautiful when we walked in. There was a farily long line, I guess we probably waiting for about 30 mins to check in. We finally got up to this really nice lady (don't remember her name) she handed us some 1st visit buttons for the girls and gave us everything else that we needed and I will have to admit that I teared up a little bit. LOL You don't understand, it's always been my dream to bring the kids to Disney World and for it to actually be happening well lets just say that it wasn't the last time I teared up while here. Anyway the room wasn't ready yet so we decided to head over to one of the parks and we would check on the room later in the day. My friend Ellen (the one from the night before) called and said she was at Hollywood Studios so thats were we headed. We met her inside, she had been there since they first opened visiting her daughter who works in the park, and we headed to ride some rides. First we rode Rockin Roller Coaster. Now this was my 9 yr old DD's first roller coaster ride and she loved it. I didn't know this child was such a dare devil and you wouldn't know it by how quite she is but just wait till I get to the rest of the days and you will know what Im talking about. Anyway MIL rode the Rockin Roller Coaster with us but after that she decided that she was going to sit out so she and Ellen found a shady spot while both DD's, DH and I went to ride the TOT...I loved it and am actually sad that I only got to do that once during the trip. We walked around for a bit, got something to drink, took some pictures and I called to find out that our room was finally ready. So we said our goodbyes to Ellen, planned to meet up again in the middle of the week and headed back to the resort so we could unpack and get a little swimming in before our Dining Resie. We ended up on the bottom floor in room 3716 and I thought the room was great. So very nice. I loved the beds and hubby promised me he would get me a bed like the ones they had in the room (I won't hold my breath on that one). We got the van all unpacked, changed into our suits an headed over to Ole man Island..I think we got to swim for about an hour or so before we had to go back and change. We caught a bus to Fort Wilderness, I didn't think the bus was ever going to get there but finally it did and we were actually a few mins early. We stood in line, waited for the doors to open, got a nice shower then finally were seated. We were on the bottom towards the back, very nice seats I might add and our waiter (Genero) was wonderful. He made us laugh so much the whole time that we were there. Ooopps I forgot to say were we ate at...didn't I? LOL I am terrible at this. We ate at the Hoop Dee Doo..wonderful show, great food. By 7 we were out of there and waiting for another bus to take us back to our resort. By the way why do some people have to be so rude? I mean really do people just not think of others and only think of themselves. While we were on the bus headed back over to the resort their were to ladys standing at the front of the bus with their stollers (folded of course) but noone could get by them to get on or off the bus. There even was empty seats that they could have sit down in. And even when the driver told them that they needed to move out of the way they still didn't. Anyway this wasn't the last time that we ran into some very rude people. We got back to our resort, got in the car and headed over to MK then took the Ferry across.. it was crowded but not really all that bad. We got close to the castle and MIL decided to stay there and rest and save us spots for the fireworks (which was still and hour or so away) while we went on some rides. First we hit Space Mountain then Carassoul of Progress and then headed back to watch to fireworks. We caught the ferry again and while waiting to get on the other side I called my mom to talk to the babies and again I cried because Amarisa my 3 yr old was like "Your at Disney World" it was just so cute and I instantly missed them and wished they were there. Anyway we got back to the room and finally got to sleep around 11:30 -- and let me just say that night I had some really weird dreams about Disney World as I did the rest of the time we were there.
So a breakdown of rides/shows for the day:
Rockin Roller Coaster - 1 time
TOT - 1 time
Space Mountain - 1 time
Carrassoul of Progress - 1 time
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Last edited by alittleswife; 09-30-2008 at 11:18 PM..
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
So hubby decides to wake us up @ 6 am. I am already starting to wonder if I am going to get actually sleep while I am here. I mean this is supposed to be vacation right? We eat BF (cereal) in the room and then decide to hit a water park. So we hop in the van and head to Typhoon Lagoon. Got there, rented towels and a locker then found some chairs to put our things on. DMIL headed over to Castaway Creek and the rest of us went in search of some water slides. We hit: Storm Slides Humanga Kowabunga Gang Plank Falls Mayday Falls Keelhaul Falls Crush N Gusher Got in Castaway Creek for a little bit then headed over to the Surf Pool. We were there for about 3 hours when everyone decided that they were getting hungry so we headed back to the room to change and then over to the Riverside Food Court. DD (12) & I got pizza and cheesecake, DH & DMIL got some kind of shrimp pasta and DD (9) got cheeseburger, fries, applesauce and cheesecake (by the way she says the applesauce is nasty) I was going to take pics of the food but hubby was rushing me so we could go do more things. Anyway we get done and catch a boat to DTD. The ride over was great and DH talked the whole time to the operator (Jason). When finally there we do a little shopping then DH stopped to talk to the people at the DVC booth. We ended up taking a little tour and after talking about it we have decided that its something we are going to invest in. It will just be a year or 2 before we do it. From there they had a driver take us over to the Contemporary because we had early dining resies at Chef Mickeys, but once there everyone decides that they are not hungry. So we catch the monorail over to MK. On the monorail the girls, I and the hubby got to sit up front with the driver. The girls really liked that. So finally at MK. Lets just says that I am very bad at taking notes and my mind doesn't always remember the things I want it to. So I will just list what we rode. Splash Mountain Big Thunder Railroad Haunted Mansion - Twice It's a Small World Mickey's PhilharMagic Snow Whites Haunted Ride Cinderella's Golden Carrousel Carousel of Progress
Then we met up and got pics with: Goofy Pluto Chip & Dale Donald Duck We stayed for the Extra Evening Magic Hours and the kids all got really thirsty but alot of the places were starting to shut down. There were these really nice 2 young ladys working at this one station and they were fixing to shut the place up when the hubby walked up but instead of telling us were another place was to get drinks they gave us all drinks for free. I thought that was great and it meant using our snack credit another day. Anyway the rest of the time we walked thru stores and took pics then we moved with the crowd (my husband was MOOing the whole time saying it always gets a crowd moving) to the buses (the one time I wish we would have brought the van) I can't remember how long we waited for a bus but we got on the 3rd one that came and was able to get a seat but there was still a lot of people behind us and they were trying to get as many as they could on there. And heres where the rudeness starts again. There was a lady, her husband and they had 1 child. The child was in the stroller asleep and the driver told them they would have to take the child out and fold up the stroller. Which I understand. I mean they are trying to get everyone back to their resort and strollers take up a lot of room. The woman just starting B*t*hing about how stupid it was to have to take the child out of the stroller while she was sleeping and just rude and hateful while her husband just did what the driver asked and never said a word. Then this other lady tells her as she walks by that she doesnt' have to be rude that the driver is just doing his job and this lady starts getting hateful with her. UGH why ever come to Disney is you can't enjoy yourself and your going to be hateful, rude, whatever. Oh well...we got back to the resort..made our way to the room and passed out for the night
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Last edited by alittleswife; 10-06-2008 at 02:08 PM..
Reason: Spelling
How exciting to take your family on their first trip to WDW! Sorry about the rude people. Sadly, they are everywhere, aren't they? It makes me wonder what is so bad in their life that they have to pass it on to others. Anyway, great updates! I'm looking forward to more.
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Sorry about the rude people. Sadly, they are everywhere, aren't they? It makes me wonder what is so bad in their life that they have to pass it on to others. Anyway, great updates! I'm looking forward to more.
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