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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I have never done online check in... how early do we need to get to the airport? If we get our boarding passes 24 hours ahead but DO have suitcases to check do we need to get there way ahead? Our last trip was just a couple days after they banned all the liquids and we waited in a 3 hour security line I assume things have slowed down? We are flying from a smaller airport (Kansas City) and a big one (LAX)
thanks
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I don't know about the normal wait times for your airport, but I still arrive at the same time I always did before online check-in was available. I'd rather be early and hang around at the airport than cut it too close and miss my flight.
Since the airlines seem to think that "arrival" is when you snake through their check-in lines, I would still arrive at the recommended time for your airport. Most airports have automated kiosks to faccilitate luggage check-in. Online check in doesn't save you time as much as the stress of camping in those long lines while looking at your watch every 2.5 seconds!
We always arrive at the airport at least two hours, just in case if there are long lines, busy time of the day/evening, or if it's during the holidays, etc.
We fly out of relatively small airports (Colorado Springs and Durango, CO), but also were flying out of Denver and Portland, OR; we love it, because it tends to be a little easier. We print up our boarding passes 24 hours ahead of time, and generally arrive about 1-1/2 hour before our flight; we try to check luggage at the curb if possible, otherwise stand in line; we've never been late, or even close to it.
We're told to be at the airport three hours before international flights in the UK and we still stick to that, even when we've already checked in online, as it can take ages to check in your baggage.
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We fly out of a smaller airports (Appleton, WI and Green Bay) and some larger ones like Milwaukee and Chicago. We always arrive 2 hours ahead. Last time I flew alone out of Appleton, I got there 2 hours early just as my flight was being cancelled so they put me on another plane that was leaving in 5 minutes and I made it. If I hadn't been there, I might not have gotten out all day as everyone gets pushed back and back and these are small planes. Other times we got to the bigger airports and found huge security lines so we didn't need to panic about getting thru them on time. I take no chances when it comes to getting where we are going. Coming home, I don't care if they cancel our flight 3 days in a row LOL! Bigred
I, too, do 1.5-2 hrs. Check in, check bags, clear security, eat or stop and get food, since most US airlines don't feed you, browse the shops, use airport 'facilities' instead of sardine can on plane and relax
I always show up about 2.5 hours early. Like another poster said, I'd much rather sit and wait (and greatly anticipate what's to come) at the airport than sweat it out and possibly miss our flight.