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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Has anyone booked any of the scheduled tours to Paris from DLP? Can you tell me anything about them?
DLP Sequoia Lodge will be our home base while in Paris this summer so we will be touring and branching out from there.
Thanks!!!
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Laura in Austin
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The tours that Disney offers are all operated by outside tour companies, not Disney itself. Knowing that, they're all pretty good. I took the Paris day excursion quite a while back (in 1996) and loved it.
I can't help you with Paris tours, as whenever we want to go into Paris from DLP, we just grab the RER train and make our own way around the city. We've been to Paris a fair few times, so we're comfortable with doing our own thing. If you did want to do that, Paris is very easy to navigate around.
I think yes, 3 hours is fine for the Louvre. Then again, I'm sure Cheryl would argue that no way she'd be able to leave that museum after only 3 hours! It's huge, yes, but if you're like me, you'll be all "museum'ed-out" after 3 hours, no matter how much of the Louvre you haven't seen at that point. So my advice is to research beforehand what you want to see and where you'll find it.
I think yes, 3 hours is fine for the Louvre. Then again, I'm sure Cheryl would argue that no way she'd be able to leave that museum after only 3 hours! It's huge, yes, but if you're like me, you'll be all "museum'ed-out" after 3 hours, no matter how much of the Louvre you haven't seen at that point. So my advice is to research beforehand what you want to see and where you'll find it.
We've never been in it. We're not big on art and the lines to get into the place have always put me off - that would be my only thought about three hours for the Louvre, I don't know how long it would take you to get in? Every time we've been, the lines have snaked around to get in and it seems to be phonomenally popular. I think it's a bit like the big attractions at the Disney parks - if you want to see it without a huge line, hit it first thing in the morning...
Maybe if we can buy advance tickets, it will cut down on our waiting time. That seems to be a recurring theme in my planning books!!! Which since I'll have things hopefully planned down to the day we're doing things, I could purchase tix ahead online.
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Laura in Austin
Catch my (COMPLETED ) WL trip report here: http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...es-nov-wl.html
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you may have already been and gone, but I will post this answer in case anyone else is interested.
I went to DLP in Oct/Nov of 2010 and on 11/1 did the paris day tour. Part of the tour was 2 hours at the Louvre and it was no where near enough time. The place is HUGE. I spent some time looking at the art (not the Mona Lisa though) and spent some time looking at the building itself. You can get lost in that place and I almost did! We had to be back to the bus by 2pm to head off to the Tour d' Effiel and the boat cruise.
I highly recomend this tour if you don't feel comfortable on your own. Our tour guide spoke 3 languages. Run by City Tours.
We did this tour right before Christmas in 2010 right in the middle of a huge snowstorm. If you can, imagine Main st USA under a foot of snow, that was our Disneyland Paris experience. We had two small children with us 3 and 1 and did not feel up to wandering around on our own in the snow our first time in Paris. Most of the tour is spent driving by the major attractions but it gives you a nice overview. We really enjoyed the boat tour. We did not attempt to go in the Louvre since we ended up only having an hour and a half and a long line to enter. (the snow delayed the start of the tour). We instead had lunch and shopped. We also skipped going up in the Eiffel tower since our children were having issues with the cold after the sun went down. We were able to get on the warm bus across the street and watch the tower light show. All in all we enjoyed the tour but we were limited on time and only had one day to do Paris (not enough time I know but we worked with what we had). You can definitely do a more in depth tour if you have the time and want to do the planning.