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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Myself: Tammy,(I would say I resemble Belle) 35 and this will be my 6th trip to WDW
DH: Don(I think we have decided he resembles Donald Duck), 34 and this will be his 4th trip to WDW
DS: Dillon(my DH says he resembles Stitch), 3 and this will be his 3rd trip to WDW.
When: September 20-30th. I am so excited that we will be there for 10 days. This will be the longest time we have ever stayed at WDW so we can take our time and have some leisure time.
Where: AKL
This trip has been a whole year in the making. We were at WDW partaking in the free dining last Sept. At that point my DH told me that our next family vacation would be closer to home. That lasted until he saw the bounce back offer that they so kindly left in our room. He so enjoys the word FREE and with food being involved he was sold. I did explain to him that the Dining Plan was changing a little in 2008 which did disappoint him a little but he was still game.
So I quickly made a phone call to reserve us another vacation at WDW before he changed his mind. I reserved us September 20th-27th staying at POR. We have always enjoyed our stays here the past few visits and didn't want to mess with success. My DS loves to see the lizards, rabbits and ducks each day as we walk to the food court or main bus stop.
Being that I had to wait almost 180 days for my 180 day mark for ADR's I had plenty time to read trip reports and the food forum to see what would work best for us. My DH didn't have to many requests other than he wanted to eat at The Biergarten and Beaches and Cream again. Not a problem we can work those in. I waited patiently for the September calendar to be released so I could do some scheduling around EMH's.
Well as I waited they released the dates for the Food and Wine Festival. I saw that it started on the 26th of September. That was the day before we were supposed to leave. Now I know my DH would enjoy this because we had talked about doing this for 5th anniversary. Plus not only is he a food connoisseur but a beer connoisseur as well. I knew that one day would not be enough time. So what is a girl to do but call up her TA and ask for a few more day and oh while you are at will you price how much it is to stay at AKL and BC. She came up with a quote I could live with for AKL so I changed it(after DH gave me his blessing, of course). I am so excited to be sampling a deluxe hotel not only for 7 days but for 10 days.
A week before our 180 mark I again went over the ADR's I thought would work for us and the EMH's and showed it to DH. He thought they looked good but why don't we try doing the CRT since we were on the Dining Plan and he would like to say he at least ate there once. I explained it would take 2 credits and he said SO? So, I don't have an extra credit to spare. His answer was so we pay for something out of pocket. Okay back to the drawing board I go to schedule CRT when he pipes in and says he would like for us to do it our first evening there. Now he wants to help me plan! OI!!
So at our 180 day mark this is what our ADR's looked like:
20th: CRT at 6:50pm
21st: Ohana's at 6:30
22nd: Mama Melrose Fantasmic Package at 4:30
23rd: Biergarten at 12:30
24th: open I figure this will be the day we fit in Beaches and Cream OOP
25th: Ohana's at 10am
26th Rose and Crown 7:30pm
27th: Hollywood and Vine 10:05am
28th: 1900 Park Fare 9:10 am
29th: Boma at 6:05pm
30th: Boma at 8:30 am
Now, I know you see 11 TS credits but I knew somewhere there would be changes so I kept it liked this to stew on for awhile.
Up next: Additional things to do while we are at WDW for 10 days!
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They caught us all smiling and looking at the camera!!!
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Great pre-trip report. I love these pre-trip reports as they often give us ideas to consider adding to our trip in 21 days (I have a pre-trip report too).
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Headed "Home" for a Mini Trip -- 9/18 - 9/22 at CSR
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I hope that you and your family have a magical time at the world
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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
Great start Tammy, how exciting 10 days in WDW at AKL, one day I hope to stay in WDW 10 days. Great choices for meals too, Beaches and Cream is on our list to try for our trip in December, at least your DH puts in some suggestions, mine could care less just tell him when and where to be and that is fine with him.
By the way I love your shirt in your sig picture. I know where you go shopping!
Sometimes when I am scrolling through the posts and your picture goes by my 3 year old says look Mommy thats you.
Your going to love AKL! I used to say that AKL was the hotel I wouldn't want to stay at, or would like at all but we got the chance to stay there for a pretty decent price in May and I LOVE IT!!!! It was one of our best stays at a Disney Hotel!
Great dining plans for sure!
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Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust! Studying Hard to Make a Difference!
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yay tammy!!!! you started!!! Im so glad to see that you got it going and looks great so far...now i get to read all about your plans too! cant wait for more (i cant wait to learn how the 5k came about*LOL*)
Ten days is perfect as far as I can say. At least that is our favorite amount to stay. We might try longer later . Looking forward to more. I am starting to think I might need to write a PTR as I so enjoy reading everyone Else's.
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Dreams, Wishes, Hopes... these are the parts of childhood we should never lose.
Great start Tammy, how exciting 10 days in WDW at AKL, one day I hope to stay in WDW 10 days. Great choices for meals too, Beaches and Cream is on our list to try for our trip in December, at least your DH puts in some suggestions, mine could care less just tell him when and where to be and that is fine with him.
By the way I love your shirt in your sig picture. I know where you go shopping!
Sometimes when I am scrolling through the posts and your picture goes by my 3 year old says look Mommy thats you.
Can't wait to read more.
How funny that your son thinks we are twinkies by our shirt. I agree that we have good taste in clothes. Is your 3 year old a young or older 3 year old. Mine will be four in Jan.
I am jealous of the fact not only do you get to stay at the Poly in December but that you get to travel in December. I work in the recovery room and December is our busiest month. So there is a policy out there no vacations from Thanksgiving to after New Years.
I was kinda of surprised that he had any input this trip. Usually he doesn't other than he wants to eat at the Biergarten. He loves that place. I personally am there just for the entertainment and maybe to partake of a beer if so inclined.
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They caught us all smiling and looking at the camera!!!
Your going to love AKL! I used to say that AKL was the hotel I wouldn't want to stay at, or would like at all but we got the chance to stay there for a pretty decent price in May and I LOVE IT!!!! It was one of our best stays at a Disney Hotel!
Great dining plans for sure!
I was so excited when I saw your pre trip report saying you were going to be at AKL. Because I knew you would share great details and photos of your experience. You didn't disappoint me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DawnDenise
Great start Tammy! Hoping we can meet up at some point!
I am counting on it!
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They caught us all smiling and looking at the camera!!!
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