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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Location: A little over 1000 miles from my happy place!
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??? about x-mas week park attendance
Getting kinda worried about the crowd level at the parks over the x-mas holiday. Does anyone know the answer to this? If you start out at one park for morning EMH, and then head to another park (or back to the hotel) for the afternoon, and then want to go back to the 1st park later that evening, can you still get in even if the park has been "closed" due to high crowd level? (We'll be staying onsite.)Thanks!
From everything I've heard and read...you need to plan to stay at whatever park you are at the entire day that week. There are several stages of "closed" At the final stage...no one gets in...even if you just left to go get something from the car you aren't getting back in. I've gathered that the only park you shouldn't have problems with is AK.
From what others have explained here in the past, they do a "stepped closure." It starts first with the parking lots to stop off-site guests from being able to get in and eventually works up to resort guests not being able to get in.
I'd say that you should plan to stay in a single park the entire day, without leaving. At least for Christmas Eve, Christmas day, and New Years Eve.
Eileen
Here's a question I've been wondering about....
Is there a number you can call to find out if a park isn't letting people in or what "step" of not letting people in is?
Just seems like it'd be nice to know if it's possible to park hop.
Number Question is a good one. Curious here too. Been there once before during the holidays. For this we plan on going to a park in the morning and if we decide to to leave we plan on not going back. The last time we were not allowed back in.
I'm not sure about a number to call, but when we were there over 4th of July, the water parks closed to capacity a few days that we were there (during the time we were staying at All Star Sports) and they had a CM standing with a walkie-talkie near the bus stops for the water parks telling folks that the water parks were closed and expected to reopen at, for instance, 2pm.
We got there 3 days before christmas and it was horriffic. Got worse each day. The MK filled to capacity each day. AK was the overflow park and was jammed. Epcot wasn't too bad. MGM was bad during late afternoon getting close to Osbourne light time. The Ave of America was so packed you could barely move. Not to burst your bubble or worry you, it was the worst trip ever for us. We had enough by day 3 (Christ,mas). Huge mistake. We liked the first 2 weeks instead. Those are our favorite weeks of the whole year.
I would imagine that there is a # you can call to find out what level of closure they are at. If your in the park and want to park hop, but want to make sure you can get in the next park- I would imagine guest services can give you the info or find out for you. I would also imagine that if you stay on property, and you took a break, the hotel staff desk should be able to find out if the park you want to enter is allowing people in. I don't know this for fact, but I can't imagine that Disney would with hold this information; it only makes sence that they would allow you know this before you make the trip over.... Good luck and have a great trip!
Every one says Christmas is the most crowded time of year, and don't doubt if for a minute; but it must be a great time to go all the same because many people spend Christmas there year after year!
At peak times, they will generally have a CM at the bus depots at many of the resorts -- they will know if a park is closed to resort guests and will be letting everyone know.
Eileen
We've been there for Christmas week a couple of times and my plan has always been to head to a park early and stay there. We always plan to be in by midday. One year, New Year's Eve, I think, we went to Animal Kingdom for breakfast, then headed out and got to Epcot at around midday and just stayed there.
I was at WDW for the Millennium Celebration and I really can't imagine it getting any worse than that. Epcot's parking lot was full by 9:30am and they closed the gates by 10:30am to all. MK was just as bad New Year's Day. The economy was really good then. Maybe that and gosh, who wouldn't want to bring in the new millennium at the happiest place?
Crowds don't bother me. We are going to just take it slow and enjoy ourselves. The #1 reason we're going is to see our Family.
There was only 1 day we wanted to Park Hop from Epcot over to DHS so we could see Lightening McQueen and the Osbourne Lights. I'm going to try and track down a number, if there is one, to check for park closings. I'm sure they would have a way to find out without leaving the park 1st.
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Thanks! Will plan our itinerary around just staying in one park then. I must say after reading some of these responses I started to get real worried about our decision to go for christmas! ! But will try and remember to just take it slow and enjoy the ambience!
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