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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Just got back from a short Disney trip (mainly for work...) Feb 19-24th but I did get to spend one day at MK, an evening at the Poly/Boardwalk, an evening at the WWoHP (not Disney, I know) and one day at Epcot...here are some of my observations from this trip - if you have any questions, ask away!
1. Stayed offsite at BWLBV (downtown Disney area) and took Mears to hotel. While I had stayed at BWLBV once before (about 3-4 yrs ago) it looked a lot more rough around the edges than my previous stay - but did get upgraded to a nice big King suite (since I was travelling solo). Mears was friendly and ontime as usual. However - so not magical. Sorry folks but I am now officially an on property gal - it had been a few years since I have stayed off property and found that I really missed taking ME to the resort and just the overall Disney experience you get on property....
2. My MK day started at 6 am - YES. 6 am :scared1: Today was slated to be a 10 in the parks according to TP so I was really concerned - I only ever travel in the off season. I took taxi to Poly and took some photos on the beach with the sun rise and had some tonga toast - delicious as always! I made it to MK around 7:25 am (they opened to the public at 8 am) and found that by about 7:35 the line of people behind me at the gates was insane!! I have not seen that many ppl at RD in all my life!! It pays to be early though - I managed to get on Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Big Thunder, and meet Stitch and all 3 princess at the new spot in adventureland all before 9 am. The rest of the morning I hit other headliners such as Mickey's philharmagic and re-rode some of my fav's. I also managed to get some time with Tiana and Naveen (a first for me) as well as see the castle stage show and the shake it celebrate it parade. I left around 1:45 pm (had to go meet my boss and do some work) and felt very happy with everything I achieved. When I left the crowds were quickly becoming too much to handle with rides like BTMR and HM with waits as long as 45-60 min...should also note I did this without the use of any FP's.
3. That evening I took my boss to the Poly for dinner but with even Kona having over an hr wait we decided on a Lapu Lapu from the bar and something from Captain Cooks to tide us over... I know crazy for thinking we could get a walk up during president's week but worth a shot. After our Lapu Lapu's we found a great spot on the beach to watch Wishes...very disapointed the music wasn't piped in this night...After Wishes we headed to the Boardwalk to have a few more drinks and take in the sights. I have to say ive never really given the boardwalk a shot but was pretty fun!
4. The next night we attended a dinner reception for our conference but after found ourselves looking for a place to finish up the night. Just so happened we were near CityWalk...now it's been years since ive been here and we had a blast!! Margaritaville and the dueling piano bar (the name escapes me right now..the irish bar) was so much fun..not Disney but I would go back again.
5. After a few nights of not so great food we made it our goal to find a good, close by sit down restauarant and settled on Wolfgang Puck in DTD. Now THIS was a meal...delicious and the service was amazing!! We shared Calamari (another first for me), I had pasta and the boss got the steak he wanted and man were we both thrilled with our food...again awesome meal, would eat here again in a second...
6. The conference I was attending was offering special tickets for a night in the WWoHP. This was a special event while US and IOA was closed to the general public. They served alcohol and lots of food for attendes and was a great night. The highlight for me was riding the headliner attraction here..I have to say I was blown away. It was an amazing emmersive experience that I will not soon forget..I was so surprised how close you get to all the animatronics and the realistic and smooth simulation of the ride...incredible!!
7. On my last day I decided to head to Epcot since I wasnt due to fly out until 6 pm..again today was forecast a 10 on TP so made sure I was there for RD. I made it to the gate at around 8:30 am and was actually the 3 person in line for Soarin'. Again I tried to see if I could tour on a 10 day with no FP's and again I succeeded. It should be noted that if it weren't for the single rider line for TT im not sure if this would be possible. After riding Soarin' I made it on TT (single rider line - standby was already 30 min at 9:20am :scared1, Mission Space, and Universe of energy all before 10:30. Had breakfast at sunshine seasons - had the breakfast platter..just OK not great..not sure if I would go for it again...After the seas with Nemo and Turtle Talk with crush I headed for a whirlwing tour around the world. Overall was a managable day - I left around 1:30 pm with wait times of all headlines with ridiculous standby times but felt like I got alot accomplished in such a short amount of time...again touring on 10 day is possible...
Sorry I know that turned into a bit of a long report but I will summarize below:
- stay on property/utilize ME
- make ressies before you go(even if your boss books your trip less than a week in advance)
- Don't be afraid of RD (you'll be surprised how much you can accomplish)
- level 10 days at WDW parks are doable (if you have a good plan)
- Even a small amount of time in the parks is better than no parks at all
Sounds like you had a lot of fun. I should check what our days were rated on our last trip...I never really bothered, because it was the off season. The only day that we just got overwhelmed by crowds was a Saturday at AK...and a Friday night at DTD.
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We often face multiple 10 days when we visit in June, but you are right with a plan even these days are doable! You are so right any time in a park is better than no time in a park! for sharing!
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, Mission Space, and Universe of energy all before 10:30. Had breakfast at sunshine seasons - had the breakfast platter..just OK not great..not sure if I would go for it again...After the seas with Nemo and Turtle Talk with crush I headed for a whirlwing tour around the world. Overall was a managable day - I left around 1:30 pm with wait times of all headlines with ridiculous standby times but felt like I got alot accomplished in such a short amount of time...again touring on 10 day is possible...
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