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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Hi everyone! I’m super excited to start my PTR!!! I guess it’s early on, but whatever. I’ve had a tough week and I’m DYING to start this so I can have people to talk about WDW with. Mom’s getting sick of hearing about it, so I guess it’s up to you guys to give me my “fix”.
So let’s get the basic questions out of the way, first:
Who:
Me (35 at the time of the trip)
Mom (71)
Meri (turning 5 on the trip)
What:
Meri’s birthday trip to WDW. We've done two other "birthday" trips for her, at 2 and 3. We skipped her 4th birthday because we had other trips lined up (all of which fell through - go figure).
When:
7 nights in February
Where:
EPCOT, MK, Downtown Disney, Islands of Adventure and various resorts
Why:
To celebrate Meri’s 5th birthday, as stated before. And because we love WDW!
How:
This trip we’re driving down. We seem to alternate between driving and flying on trips. The first and third trips we drove and the second and fourth ones we flew, but driving is always so much cheaper. Flying would cost us roughly $900, whereas driving costs $300 round trip (gas and hotel). It also just works better for us because we end up with more room for things. I hate flying, even though it’s faster. I like packing what I want, lol. Especially for a February trip, when you have to pack for both 30 degrees AND 70 degrees… lol.
We’re taking a new route down… and I’m going to get a device from my cell company that allows me to access the internet from anywhere for $50 / month. I figure that will kill a few birds with one stone. I’ll be able to access it from the car (hello live TR!!!) and I won’t have to pay $10 / day for Disney’s internet. Saves a little money, which is always nice!
So who knows, if all goes well, I’ll be updating while on the road (but only while mom is driving, lol).
This will be Meri’s 5th trip to WDW. Mom and I have been there too many times to count. We’ve been so many times, that we tend to take it easy and focus more on food than rides, lol. Don’t worry, we get LOTS of riding done… but we just love to eat our way through WDW.
Our last trip was in November 09, for mom’s 70th birthday. It was a good time, but it was far too short for what we wanted to do, at only 4 nights. We were there for the F&WF, and MAN that was some good stuff. Because we were there for that, we had only a couple of ADR’s. This time, we’re more than making up for it with our ADR’s that we have.
I do think that we made too many ADR’s on this trip… and I think we may end up canceling a couple because I am starting to wonder if we were over-ambitious, lol. But they all sound SO good… I’m hopeful we don’t have to cancel any. I guess you’ll have to stay tuned to see!
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I hope that you and your family have a magical time at the world
__________________
Heather - "I'm Tinkerbell's biggest fan!"
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
I also had to comment...Meri is my sister's name too! It's Meredith and we call her Meri for short, and we've never met anyone else who shortens it like that or spells it that way! She'll be pleased to hear I've found someone else!
__________________
Amanda =)
Living out a childhood dream during my summer 2015 trip to WDW. Is it time to go back yet?
“All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them." –Walt Disney
I also had to comment...Meri is my sister's name too! It's Meredith and we call her Meri for short, and we've never met anyone else who shortens it like that or spells it that way! She'll be pleased to hear I've found someone else!
Yay! I love that!! I just love the name, and shortening it like that just was natural to us. It also suits her perfectly, it turns out, because her personality is so "merry" (well, when she's not having a fit over something or another).
BTW, decided to make my updates in a larger, blue font. That way they stand out a bit. I noticed other people doing that in some TR's / PTR's, and liked the idea. Anyone have an opinion on this? LOL!
Well, for our first night, we’re staying at a hotel in Georgia. But I’m thinking that’s not the hotel you are wanting to know about, is it? Here’s a picture of it, anyway, lol.
Now, as for the Disney resort... Mom and I have a goal of staying at every moderate and deluxe on property. We’ve stayed at POR (both Riverside and FQ), CSR and Boardwalk. And the CR, but that was so long ago (I was 4), we’re not counting it.
We chose the Caribbean Beach Resort, because it’s the only mod we haven’t stayed at (though mom wasn’t with us at PO-Riverside, so that might warrant a second stay there at some point, after the refurb).
We’ll be in a standard-view Pirate room, which is so cool! I am really excited to stay in one of these rooms, because Meri LOVES pirates. She was even a pirate for Halloween. I do plan on bringing her costume, so she can run around the room in it. I know she’s going to be so excited to sleep in a pirate bed! After showing mom the pictures, she’s completely charmed. And the pool photos sold her. Not that we’ll necessarily get to SWIM in the pool… but… still.
Here's two pix of the room I borrowed from allears.
and
.
Even mom is excited about the rooms. And when I showed her the resort photos, she was in heaven.
I'm still staring hard at the map and trying to decide what building in Trinidad South to request. Do I want to be right near the bus stop? Do I want to be closest to the food court? Do I want to be all the way at the opposite end, where it should be nice and quiet?? Do I want to be in one of the buildings by the water, in case they upgrade me to a water-view?
LOL! Decisions, decisions!
Fortunately I have a while before I need to fax my request. I do know I will be requesting a first floor room. We'll be bringing a stroller (to store our stuff, not because DD needs it, lol) and I don't really want to have to haul it up and down stairs like I had to do when we stayed at POR... that was a BIG old pain.
So here's hoping!!
Also, I know you can see the high IllumiNations fireworks from the resort. Does anyone know WHERE? I can find that out closer to the time in the resorts forum, of course.
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