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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Just booked out flight on AirTran Airlines from St. Louis to Orlando, with one stop in Atlanta. Same route back home. There are 4 Adults, one child in seat and 1 infant on lap. Price was right, under $1200 for all tickets.
I booked on Cheap'O Air. Anyone with similar experience? Have couple questions.
(1) Sounds like airline will select or seats for us, what are chances we will be close together?
(2) I have heard the the airport in Atlanta can be confusing. We are 1st time flyers and a bit nurvous. Only about a 1-hour layover. Should we be nervous?
(3) Will we have any problems finding the Disney Shuttle in Orlando?
(4) In light of the news about buying two seats, a couple of our people are 250+. Will they have problems? We did not buy them extra seat. We are used to crowding in and fingured as long as we are all seated together, it would not matter.
(5) General inpressions of AirTran flights. To late to change, but is there anything I should know.
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Click Here or on the picture above to read by personal travel blog.
From my experience, they do try to seat you together. When you do online checkin (24 hrs in advance, I believe), you can choose your seats if you didn't pay to choose them when you booked. The kiddos will be put with an adult, I am sure. It is possible, if it's a full flight, that you could be sitting seperate from the rest of your group. It all depends. Our flights for June are quite full, especially the ATL/MCO and MCO/ATL legs, so I'm thinking we may be seperated. Which is fine. As long as one of us (he would prefer me) is sitting with my youngest, it's no big deal if dh and ds15 sit on their own. For me, I just think of it as an opportunity to meet someone new! I've met some wonderful people on flights! But, if you do, by chance, find that you can't get seats together for you and your little one, get with the person at the counter and they are generally wonderful about helping out. But, again, they may not be able to get the whole group together. As for your layover, NO WORRIES!! ATL is set up really nicely! Very easy to navigate and the AirTran gates are generally pretty close together. If there was an issue with your arrival being late, they will call ahead for you. Enjoy your first flights! I LOVE flying!!
If you have the passporter book on page 18 it shows the airport set up and the levels the baggage is and the level the disney magical express is which is level 1 B side. While you are waiting for your flight you may find someone else who is going to Disney and ask them when you arrive can you follow them since it is your first time doing it. I know I would be happy to help anyone out in that situation. When we first started to fly Daughter was very good at navigating the airports. so after being with her many trips I can handle it now. And you can certainly ask the airport staff as well. Have a great trip.
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Love the Magic of Disney Thanks Dad for our first 5 trips.
Last few times I flew, Airtran and JetBlue, my family was separated and no airline employee made any attempt to help us sit next to our children. I had to go beg people to switch with us. I would pay extra to book seats together if that's important to you.
I'm sure there is a map of Atlanta airport online so that you can familiarize yourselves with the different gates. An hour layover is about the minimum I would feel comfortable at a major airport. I don't think Atlanta is confusing, just big. But don't hesitate to ask someone if you get lost or confused. Either in Atlanta or Orlando. Anyone will help you get where you are going!
We just flew through Altanta on our trip at the beginning of the month and we only had 1/2 hour layover each way. Our gates were right across from each other so it worked out great. I always ask as soon as we get off the plane about our flight and the Airtran employees were great about making sure we knew where we were going. I hope you have great luck with your flights and enjoy your trip.
Watch your email carefully. AirTran is notorious for changing flight times.
Our departure time was changed over a half dozen times in small increments until the last straw about a month before our trip...SIX HOURS later than we'd originally booked. We were irate since this would have gotten us in close to midnight instead of mid-afternoon.
We cancelled and booked Southwest instead and had only one very small change before our trip.
Your outgoing flight's gate in Atlanta likely will be pretty close to your arrival gate.
Ordinarily, flight attendants will announce gate numbers for popular outgoing flights. If not, just ask before you get off the plane or simply check the Departure boards which are all over the airport.
It's simple to find the DME check-in area. Don't worry about it.
I suggest that you request wheelchairs for the larger people in your party if they have any difficulty walking. Orlando's airport is huge, and you will have quite a hike from your gate to the DME check-in especially, I'd guess. It was definitely a hike from our Southwest gate to the DME area even though my DH needs a wheelchair in airports and thus we were able to take the elevator down to first floor to DME.
Since you say you're first-time flyers, I strongly recommend arranging for parking your vehicle in one of the private parking lots near Lambert. Getting to the correct terminal is confusing and depending upon when you arrive at the airport, there can be a LOT of traffic. A private facility will have a shuttle to get you right to your airline's check-in area.
If you'd like, send me a private message with what your plans are for getting to Lambert. (Click on my username to the left for the pulldown menu for sending PM's.) I'll advise you as I can what will be a good way to get to the airport. There's been significant construction on various major routes, and you definitely want to avoid any of that, especially during rush hour. Getting to Lambert is enough hassle without adding that complication.
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“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” —Winnie-the-Pooh
Last edited by Her Dotness; 02-27-2010 at 04:41 PM..
Reason: added thought
My dd & I have flown AirTran a few times and loved it. We always pay extra to pick our seats so we are always next to one another. I had a layover in Atlanta once in the 80's and I found my next gate with no problems. I hope it all goes well for you.
We have flown AirTran several times to both WDW and DL. We have not had any problems. We were able to pick our seats without paying an extra fee when we checked in 24 hours in advance. AirTran does sometimes change time for flights but each time the change was only a few minutes off each time.
We were in Atlanta last time and it is a very big airport. So make sure you ask when you land and you will be fine. We had to ride the shuttle across the airport to where our next flight took off.
Disney Magical Express is very easy to find in Orlando there are lots of signs when you get to side B.
Enjoy your trip!
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