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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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What is the best restaurant for 2 boys, 6 and 7?? Food choices, and requires least amount of "sit and wait" time.
How much of the show will be missed if we are sitting in the designated section of the Fantasmic theatre??
We are going in May. Is there anyway to know how long the line would be (get there 30min vs 60 min ahead), if we decided to skip the dinner package altogether??
Thanks
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Planning for summer of 2017. 3rd week in August. We will get blown away by the rides, or a hurricane. Either way it should be alot of fun
It depends on the crowd level and how much your heart is set on certain seats.
If they are still at only 2 shows per week, it might be harder to get seats so you would need to wait longer.
The dinner package seats are not the best at the show but they aren't bad seats. There have been some posts by people saying that they were not seated even though they had the dinner package. Hopefully by May Disney will have this worked out.
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1st Familiy Trip To WDW - 1/31/04; ASM
2nd Family Trip to WDW - 2/2-10/2007; ASM
3rd Family Trip to WDW - 1/21-31/2009; PQFQ
4th Family Trip to WDW - 1/22-30/2010; PQFQ
Yes, I agree it might be too soon to figure this all out since they're down to two shows a week. They may pick up a few more shows by May.
I've used the dinner package and wasn't overly impressed. The food was good and the seats were fine but I still had to get there early.
I've also gone to the show two other times without doing the dinner package. One time was towards the end of May. We chose to go to the second show. I didn't like that because they have you que up in a 'holding area' while waiting for the first show to get out. Awful! Everybody was squished together for 30 minutes. Never again!
The second time without dining package was this past October. We got there 40 minutes before hand and found good seats pretty quick. I don't think that there's bad seats per se unless you are trying to get photos. Those hard to get because they're moving objects and it's dark.
Don't sit too close because of the mist and fire. Also, being farther back for little kids might help with the scare factor. It does get scary. Might show it to them on youtube first and talk them thru it.
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We like eating at Hollywood & Vine. It is a buffet so there are plenty of really good choices for the adults, plus several items on the child's buffet section for picky eaters. Plus, the kids will love the ice cream topping bar for dessert!
The reserved seating section for Fantasmic is off to one side. You won't miss any of the show, you just won't be "front and center". One thing WDW does very well is ensuring that almost every seat in any of their theaters has a great view. Once you get into the theater you can always move to another section if you're not happy. Really the only question is how close to the front you want to be. We like to sit about 1/4 of the way down from the top of the theater (where you come in).
Sitting down for 30-45 minutes before the show starts is still better, in my opinion of course, than standing like sardines for up to an hour in the entrance passageway. We've done that before and have vowed not to do it again, as long as they offer the dining package.
I'd recommend Hollywood and Vine Fantasmic! package dinner. If I remember, when we did that the fantasmic part was free. 1st you eat dinner at H&V, which is a buffet.. so I'm guessing your boys like to eat, and they'll give you a ticket for reserved seating at fantasmic. so then u wait less time for fantasmic and have basically promised seats.
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"Go and chase your dreams; you won't regret it! Anything can happen if you let it!" -Mary Poppins
Lindsay --<--<--@
If you aren't going to do the Fantasmic package, I would consider taking them to either Sci Fi (I know the food isn't the best ever but the atmosphere is great) or Prime Time where the food is good AND the atmosphere and waitstaff are terrific.
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1st Familiy Trip To WDW - 1/31/04; ASM
2nd Family Trip to WDW - 2/2-10/2007; ASM
3rd Family Trip to WDW - 1/21-31/2009; PQFQ
4th Family Trip to WDW - 1/22-30/2010; PQFQ
We've not done the FDP, but a friend did in October and she was not happy with where they had to stand in line before the show AND they were told to be there closer to an hour early rather than 30 minutes.
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