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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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This is not a pre trip report as we are already 8 days into our vacation to the World! It will be a trip report when we get home. My first attempt. I may post some along the way but am not brave enough to commit to a live report as I am not sure time will allow each evening.
Introductions: myself,DH ,DD Sarah 12, DS John 10 DS Jacob 4. My husband and I both compete a little with the planning of our vacation, though I am happy as long as we have an itinerary and dining reservations sorted, my husband takes it to a new level with phone apps on wait times, ride max etc. We are more excited than the children! They groan when they hear us planning yet again!
This trip we have stayed for 5 nights at the Beach Club resort with free dining for the first 5 nights! and the rest of our three week vacation is being spent at a family members lovely holiday home which is great and has lots of space.
This was our first time staying on property and it was great to be free of a hire car for the first week, to use the Disney magical express and the free dining was amazing. We upgraded to deluxe and tried some great restaurants we never would have tried. Staying on property also meant that we got another view of Disney including the geography. The location of the beach club was just great to be able to stroll to epcot or take the boat to DHS . I have to say though, we really appreciated the space when we reached our holiday home and I'm not sure I would do more than 5 nights in one room.
We are off to explore the other parks for the next two days.(universal studios and islands of adventure so will probably post again in a couple of days.!!!
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A little of our two day trip to Universal/IOA. We got the children up early yesterday to tell them that not only were we going to Universal /IOA but that we were also checking in to The Hard Rock Hotel for the night. Which apart from being very cool in itself would also mean that we would have the universal express passes that come with it for both days!! We booked this some time ago but kept it as a surprise for the children. Needless to say it went down very well. So I had packed the night before and we set off, checked in and hit Universal. We had a great time. On our last trip when my son was not quite tall enough to ride the Rip Ride Rockit coaster I promised to try it with him when he was tall enough. However before the trip I really didn't think I could do it. It's one huge coaster! As soon as we entered the park he reminded me of my promise. (while I'm turning green at the thought of it!) So he doesn't want to do it without me and I say I really don't want to but I will do it for you. He says he's not doing it as he doesn't want me to do it just for him! My own fault and a lesson learned! He soon cheers up and enjoys the park. Later in the day we pass by the Rockit and it's only a 15 minute wait. Well I've been watching this coaster all day and have decided by now that it doesn't look so bad and actually looks quite fun so I ask him if he will come on with me . He jumps at it , so I take him and DD on the Rockit. It was brilliant! We loved it so much we went straight back on for another ride leaving my patient husband and youngest waiting. We had a great day. The hotel lived up to expectations and the children loved the pool. Universal Studios today was also a great day though we were a little jaded and the weather was very hot. DS John rode the Hulk today for the first time and was impressed but he says the Rockit is his favourite , with the Hulk second and his beloved Rock n Roller Coaster now in third place. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was lots of fun. We had a fab time and I will put it all in my trip report. The only thing about these parks is their express pass system which doesn't seem right at all. It was cheaper for us to stay in a hotel and get two days worth of express pass included than pay extra. The express passes seem very expensive and the regular lines seem very long. Not great in the heat. Very unfair when you it with the fast pass system Disney has. on a lighter note though, my daughter left her camera in a rest room in the middle of the day. When she noticed she didn't have it it was late in the day and we thought we probably wouldn't see it again but when we went to lost and found it had been handed in. There are some good people out there! We have scheduled in a down day tomorrow as we knew we would be a little theme parked out! (would you believe it!) So a quiet one with some chilling out around the pool. Epcot on Monday. Thank you guys for reading along.
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Today was our "chill out" day at the pool and scheduled a lie in. Everyone slept in including DS Jacob who is 4 who eventually bounced me out of bed at around 9. At around 11:30 I managed to get everyone to get out of the door to do a little necessary grocery shopping before we hit the pool. What always seems a little like a chore always turns out more interesting than anticipated as the supermarkets over here have lots of different things to the stores at home which always fascinates the children too. They always find some goodies to go in the trolley. With that and a spot of lunch out of the way we spent the afternoon splashing around the pool. Indeed the pool seemed the coolest place today. It was very hot sitting and reading even in the shade. DD decided she didn't feel like swimming today so came to the pool in shorts and tee shirt. After dipping her legs in and splashing her shorts I teased that she may as well get in. She did!!!!!!! I got some pics! It was a very funny moment. She then quickly ran off to change and returned to sit by the pool and read again looking like a cool teenager once more. She's still a kid at heart. This morning we looked at our itinerary and couldn't find a space to slot in Fantasmic. DS Jacob 4 really loved this on our last trip so we decided to squeeze it in tonight after dinner. Dinner tonight was at Outback. We haven't been in a couple of years and we had a lovely meal. DH had the hugest steak I have ever seen in my life and it was cooked perfectly. It was so big he shared it with DS John. I had pasta with Shrimps which was good too the shrimp over here is great. So we then drove over to DHS and rounded off our day with the 8.30 showing of Fantasmic. We got there about an hour early and seating had already begun so we made our way over and got some great seats about 3 rows back in then middle with great view. The time passed quite quickly.DS Jacob 4 made friends with a little girl sat behind him. I took some bubbles to keep him amused and he took great delight in blowing bubbles for the little girl to pop. We also took some of those glow sticks to share. Fantastic was great. I think it was the best one we have seen. I'm not sure but it seems updated from last year. The dragon at the end was different and very impressive. There was no fire on the water but the fireworks were better. We all enjoyed it. We are keeping an eye on hurricane Irene. It's my birthday on Friday and have celebrations planned. I'm very excited to be able to spend it at WDW ! Though this could be the day we get really bad weather from Irene. Ah well we will make the best of it and enjoy being here regardless of the weather. Epcot tomorrow.
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This morning we looked at our itinerary and couldn't find a space to slot in Fantasmic. DS Jacob 4 really loved this on our last trip so we decided to squeeze it in tonight after dinner. Dinner tonight was at Outback. We haven't been in a couple of years and we had a lovely meal. DH had the hugest steak I have ever seen in my life and it was cooked perfectly. It was so big he shared it with DS John. I had pasta with Shrimps which was good too 
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