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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Welcome to my very first trip to Disneyland Pre-Trip Report. My countdown says 30 days, so I decided it was time to start. I'm still working on my WDW October TR so I'll be bouncing back and forth between the two!
Most of you know me as the food obsessed bartender who spends every possible moment at WDW., where I'm an AP holder, DVC member and frequent traveler. It will probably not surprise you to find out that I'm also a huge fan of Disney History and an avid reader of anything that concerns Walt and the Company. You might not know that I have a degree in History from Tulane University and am a bit obsessive about the subject. My bookshelves are full of Disney books, some are wonderful, some are fact filled and some of them are boring even for me.
At some point last year I started looking at the Adventures by Disney Backstage Magic tour, however the cost had me rethinking my options. When Princess Sharon told me that she was planning on being at Disneyland the same week I was considering taking the tour, I decided just to plan a trip to DL, rather than go on the ABD tour. Instead of paying buckets of money for the ABD tour I would get a regulars tour from Sharon and Karen!
I've spent countless hours looking at airfare and hotels and other nonsense. It's amazing to me how much info there is about WDW and how little there is about DL. I have the PP Disneyland, but the info is a little outdated. I bought the Unnofficial Guide to DL, but it is also sadly lacking. So I've been taking bits a pieces from lots of places and working out an itinerary for myself.
I had originally planned for my trip to be Sunday through Friday, but it turned out that flying on Saturday was about $150 cheaper than Sunday. This changed my whole game plan. Saturday would give me a whole day--my flight arrives at 10am or so. I decided to make Saturday all about Walt. This entire trip is about visiting Walt's park, so putting in some other sites that are important to the history of both the company and the man was really exciting for me!
I've spent countless hours sitting at the computer putting this together so hopefully all will go as planned!
I arrive at LAX at about 10am. I am flying Delta direct into California. I managed to get that flight for just under $150. I usually fly SWA, but the same flights on SWA were about $250 and didn't have the early morning arrival. I was thinking about using shuttles and taxis for the first part of my trip, but I managed to book a rental car through Alamo for $92 for the week. (BTW that's less than the cost of a taxi from Hollywood to DL.)
My plan for the first day is to pick up the rental car and head straight to Glendale, where I'll visit Forest Lawn. I know it is a little bit weird, but I love cemeteries. I particularly like very old ones that have historical value. On this trip, however, I'll be headed straight to the Freedom Mausoleum because Walt is buried just to the left of it in a small plot that is surrounded by a little fence and gate. Here's the link if you are interested: Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks and Mortuaries - Glendale
Next I'll be headed to Griffith Park, to see the Carousel that inspired Walt to build Disneyland. I'm going to spend some time sitting on a bench and taking in the atmosphere. I'm not sure if grownups are allowed to ride the carousel, but if they are you can be sure that I will! If I can navigate the park I'll be sure to stop by Walt's Barn and take photos of the outside. The barn itself won't be open for touring on the day.
Finally, I'll be checking in to the Renassiance Hollywood for a night's stay. I was planning on touring Hollywood in the afternoon, but my plans later in the trip changed my choices. I haven't decided what I'm going to do in the evening, but I might go see the Muppets Movie at El Capitan. I have to look some more at the website and times offered!
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Yay! I'm so glad you're doing a PTR so I can hear about all the plans! Sounds great so far. I'm doing the Backstage Magic next summer and I bet you're going to get many of the same experiences and information without the cost. I'll be at the Renaissance also so will be interested on your experience there.
Awesome start! You've got some great plans for your first day! I really hope I'll be able to swing by DLR to say hi while you're here!
I hope you can swing by too!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
Yay! I'm so glad you're doing a PTR so I can hear about all the plans! Sounds great so far. I'm doing the Backstage Magic next summer and I bet you're going to get many of the same experiences and information without the cost. I'll be at the Renaissance also so will be interested on your experience there.
I'm so excited your going to do the BSM tour! I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have lots of info to share with you!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Great start Heather! I've still yet to make it to Griffith Park and that's on my must-do list one day when we go back to Disneyland.
I'm a little intimidated by Griffith Park--there isn't a good map available anywhere that I've found so far and it is huge.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great start Heather! You've got some great plans there!
I've spent a lot of time working on it--so I hope it all works out!
This sounds like a wonderful start. I love the history angle!
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Revisiting DL is on the to do list - esp since hubs has never been (HOW can you live in San Diego for a YEAR and not go up to DL????? I will never understand that...)
I'm not sure what time I'll finally make it to my hotel, so my plans for the first evening are a little bit loose. I know I'm going to need a good night's sleep--so it won't be a late night.
I went ahead and made a reservation for 7:45 that night. I can't see going all that way and not making the trip to the restaurant that Walt spent so much time at. I know the ABD tour has lunch there--and I'm trying to fit as many things into this trip that are included in the ABD.
OH and the big news and the Disney mail I got this week. ABD is offering a 1 day tour of Hollywood and the Walt Disney Studios for a measly $199 starting on December 20th. Well I went ahead and booked the tour for Thursday December 22nd. (The tour is offered Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.) I'll be in the second group that gets to experience this special offering. The 1 day excursion, which can be booked as an add on to any DL resort hotel stay, picks up first thing in the morning at the Grand Californian. The itinerary I got in the mail yesterday lists: a tour of the Studios and Archives, Shopping at the Studio Store, Lunch at the Studio Commissary, a walking tour of Hollywood and a tour of either the Kodak or Grauman's Chinese Theatre (depends on day of availabilty), time to shop on Rodeo Drive, and a reception with drinks and appetizers at Gladstone's in Malibu. The tour lasts from 8am until 7pm. I am stoooopid excited for this tour. The fact that it was released just as I was planning the final details for this trip must have been fate. Plus it includes the major highlights of the ABD tour without the $3000 price tag, or at least all the reasons I was going to book that tour in the first place.
Hee I'm excited just writing about it! And now . . . I'm going back to reread Sharon's Trip Report from her Backstage Magic trip to see if there is anything else I can squeeze in!
So for those of you wondering--I have day one-mostly in Glendale, days 2-4 at DLR, day 5 on the ABD tour and day 6 back at DL. I have a 5 day park hopper ticket for DLR in the mail. I was thinking about a visit to Knott's Berry Farm, but the ABD tour won out in the end.
Ooooo, definitely go see a movie at the El Capitan! It's a great theater!!
Great about getting to do a 1 day ABD tour! You aren't missing much not going to KBF, IMHO.
Wow, the new tour really does have a lot that the 5-day BSM tour has! And most of the other things you'll be able to add on yourself. I'm tempted to cancel BSM and do the new one myself, but think I'll keep it. I don't drive, so it would be difficult to duplicate the tour on my own. Can't wait to hear how it all goes.
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I've still yet to make it to Griffith Park and that's on my must-do list one day when we go back to Disneyland.
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