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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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hi all, we will be visiting WDW for the first time in Dec! Can't wait to see all of the beautiful decorations. Have you been at this specific time of the year and if so, how is the crowd level.
We went during Mardi Gras and we thought it was very crowded. I'm hoping Dec will be less.
Thanks in advance!
The crowds will probably be starting to build by then, but it will still be relatively quiet. The parks don't get really busy until a day or so before Christmas, so I think you'll be OK with those dates.
I guess it boils down to what different people consider to be heavy crowds. We usually time our December trips for the first two weeks of that month but on two occasions, we were there later - once until December 19 and once until December 23. On both those occasions, we found that once we got to December 17, the crowds began to get out of hand, increasing greatly in size day by day and by December 23, the place was an absolute zoo. But keep in mind we're used to much lighter crowd levels so this wall to wall people thing came as quite a shock to us.
Joy
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Well, I really don't mind the crowds as long as the weather is mild. We usually go for the 4th of July week also, so I guess you could say we are used to the crowds.
thanks, cyndi
We went in Dec 05- 16-22nd. The first 2 days were good, but then it got progressively worse. My last trip before that was June 00 and I thought the Dec trip was busier. And we made the huge mistake of going to MVMCP on the 21st...it was SOOO crowded! I think as long as you're prepared and know what you're doing and use FP, you'll be okay. That was our first major WDW trip, so we weren't quite as prepared as I would be if we went that same week now.
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Just an FYI, the schools around here are closing December 19 for the Christmas holidays, and are reopening on January 5.
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We will be there from Dec.18-22 and I am not anticpating terrible crowds. We decided to book our trip at about 150 days out and were able to get all our first choice adrs including CRT,LTT & CP. We just added HDDR at 120 days too. So although its Disney and there will be crowds I don't expect it to be awful.
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We went last year from the 20th-28th. For us the crowds were light untill the 24th. We usually go in June or August and so this is what we have to compare the crowd levels to. Hope that helps.
Don't worry about the weather, it will be comfortable. Average in florida in December is in the 70's. As for crowd levels, we have not been yet ourselves at this time. We are going there for the first time this year - Dec 20 through 27. According to Touringplans.com the crowd levels are the worst the week after christmas thru new years. If you register at touringplans you can pull up crowd levels, which parks are best on which days, plans for touring in 1 or 2 days, with or without kids, etc. I found this handy in planning which parks we are going to on each day. Enjoy your tip!
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Crowd level for Dec 19 - Dec 23
Can't wait to see all of the beautiful decorations. Have you been at this specific time of the year and if so, how is the crowd level. 
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