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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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If you missed my pre-TR here is the link you can catch up on http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...brate-ptr.html
Just to let you know that our camera was acting up the whole trip. I didn't get any food pictures because it acted like it didn't know what to zoom in on no matter what setting I put it on.
Sit back and enjoy the ride and hope I don't bore you to much. This is my very first time writing a trip report.
December 27th departure day
I had the alarm set for 1:00 a.m. I got up and packed the last minute stuff. Work up my crew and we was off. Left the driveway at 2:15 a.m. Which is 15 minutes later than I wanted to leave. Not to bad.
Stopped for a potty break at Sumter, SC welcome center at 5:15. Than stopped for gas at exit 18 in SC. It was raining pretty good so Michael took over driving. When we got to GA we were hungry so we stopped at MCDonald exit 102. This McDonalds had a nice play area outside. Since it was raining Michelle sisn't get to play in it. I took her new strawberry shortcake coloring book and crayons in with us. I had the sausage burrito combo w/ tea. Michael had the big breakfast w/ pancakes and orange juice. Amber had the sausage gravy /biscuits w orange juice. Michelle wasn't that hungry she just ate daddy's biscuit and chocolate milk. We all went to the potty and then we was off again. At 12:49 Michael had to turn on the AC. He said, "2 days after Christmas and I have to turn the the AC that just isn't right." We started to get hungry so we decided to stop at Taco Bell exit 289 in FL. It was 12:53. When we got to the Bell Michelle has her first melt down. Amber asked Michelle if she needs help unbuckling? Michelle told her no. Well guess what Amber reached over and unbuckled her. Michelle started screamming and crying said I wanted to do it. After 3 minutes of trying to calm Michelle down and having a talk with Amber everything we good to go again.
We all washed our hands and the girls got us a table while me and Michael got the food. I had the crunch wrap meal. Which is what I always order from here. Michael got the pizza combo with crunch taco. Amber also got the pizza combo but with soft taco. Michelle got the crunch taco kids meal. We was back on the road at 1:50. Just going 5 miles Michelle yelled "I HAVE TO GO POTTY!!!" When we got to the gas station she said she didn't have to go anymore. Daddy still took her in to try. Yep she went. At 3:03 we stopped for our last gas fill up. Of course only 50 miles to the FWCG. For this whole trip Michelle only took catnaps. When we pulled onto the ramp to get gas Michelle was out like a light. I tried to wake her up to see the welcome sign but she just squinted her eyes and said woohoo in a sleepy tone. We arrived at FWCG 4:24.
Next up our check in and hotel hopping.
We'll be driving down again {from VA~15+ hrs.} next week. I don't mind the drive though, and it will be a little different for us, since we'll only have a teenager with us. I well remember meltdowns when the boys were smaller though.... Can't wait to read all about your trip and your stay at the campgrounds....so !!
At the FWCG gate the guy asked us if we was the kooky family. I told him no we were the goofy family. He said I will have to see about that. He was so much fun. He had us all laughing including Michelle. She kept giggling and saying "no" I forgot to get his name. I do remember he had bad teeth unless it was the fake kind. If it was fake I sure couldn't tell. Time to get in line for check in. Michelle was wide awake by this time. Fred checked us in and he was a hoot. He gave everyone their birthday pins and gave me a I am celebrating pin. Michelle wanted one of those pins to so he gave her one as well. He also gave Michelle 2 coloring books. He let us know we was going to stay at site 205. We was only 4 sites from the bathhouse and walking distance to the boats and dinner. Michael was able to back the pop up once to get it where he wanted it. The sites are pretty good level that he didn't have to adjust much at all. While he hooked up the water filter I started popping up the camper. Then Michael had to pull the king size beds out for me. I didn't worry to much on unpacking everything. I just made the beds and we unloaded the truck and put everything in the pop-up. We was done with all we wanted to get done by 6:30. We was hoping to be at the site by 3 and set up by 4:30 so we said after seeing 2 of the hotels and eating we will see is we wanted to the others I planned. We headed to the marina to get the baot to the CR. On the way to the launch we stopped to look at the lights that we passed by. Michelle nocticed a list that santa had and her name was on it. When we got to the launch we had to wait about 15 minutes. When we got to CR I took a picture of the bush shaped as Sorcerer Mickey. The girl got on the Mickey Ears and we took pictures of them with that. Then we went into the resort saw the ginger tree. Then we was off to GF to eat at Gasparilla Grill and to see the gingerbread house. Me and Michael had the lobster mac and cheese. Amber had the Cob salad w/loabster. Michelle had the chicken nuggets w/fries. That was so much food that we took it back to the site. The food was good but me and Michael both agree we was a bit disappointed with ours. There wasn't much sauce and it sure didn't taste cheesy. After eating we all headed to the lobby to see the house. I took some family pictures for other people who was around the house. It was after 9 already so we decided to skip the other resorts and go back to the camper to rest up for our first day at the parks. When we got to the launch to wait for the bus Captain Hook and Smitty came to the launch with a group. Michael took pictures. The cast member said after the people launched off Michelle could get a picture with then and have them sing the cards that we brought for autographes. Our boat was docking so we just got on our baot and headed to our camper. Michelle didn't care she didn't get a picture with them. At least we got a picture of Hook and Smitty. As we was sitting on the boat the baot parade was about to start. So when we got to the campground we decided to stay at the beach and watch the parade. I wasn't wearring a jackets and got cold so after the parade I headed to the camper. The rest of my crew stayed to watch the fireworks. When we got to the beach Michelle took her shoes off to put her toes in the sand. What was nice the campground beach had the music plugged into from the parks so we could hear what the people at the parks was hearring. When the fireworks was done my crew came back to the camper and us girls went to have our shower and michael always takes his in the morning. I set the alarm for 6 a.m. for the next day.
Up next Magic Kingdom/ Amber's 18th birthday.
Here is more pictures. I still don't know how to post the pictures where I can write stuff under them. But I figure doing this way you all get to see some of the pictures we took.
We'll be driving down again {from VA~15+ hrs.} next week. I don't mind the drive though, and it will be a little different for us, since we'll only have a teenager with us. I well remember meltdowns when the boys were smaller though.... Can't wait to read all about your trip and your stay at the campgrounds....so !!
We was lucky that was the only melt down Michelle had the whole trip down. The campground we wonderful. Next time we will plan to spend more days to explore it. I hope you have a safe trip and can't wait to hear all about it.
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
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Alarm went off at 6 am and I got up and so did Michael. While Michael went to get his shower I woke the girls up. Michelle was to hungry to wait for her daddy so I got out the goddoies from last night. Michelle had the lemon muffin. Amber and myself had the twisted thing with chocolate chip (can't remember the name) When Michael got back to the camper her had the blueberry muffin. Which Michelle ended trading with him . When he and Michelle was done we headed for the boat launch. We was lucky the baot was arriving when we got there. We got at MK alittle after 8 a.m. (of course I wanted to be there at 7 for the rope drop. This day was morning EMH) The girls had an appointment with the Barber Shop at 9 a.m.. We had 30 minutes to look around. Michael headed to Tomorrow land to get FP. Michelle spotted Pooh and Tigger so we got in line to wait. (Amber stayed with me and Michelle but didn't care to see Pooh and Tigger) I found a pen before our trip at Dollar Tree that all the characters loved to play with. It was a jumbo pen. When we got up to Tigger he acted like it was a conductor stick and start to conduct with it. Michelle was so tickled of that she was just laughing at him. When we got done with Pooh and Tigger it was time for the girls to get their hairs done. Both of the ladies done a good job but you can tell the one who was doing Michelle's hair just wanted to get the job done. The ladies put Amber's birthday crown in really good and sprayed her hair to where nothing was going to come out. Now Michelle princess crown kept coming out until we was sitting waiting for the 3 p.m. parade.( which I will get to that later in this post.) I just untied it and put it tighter to her head. Plus Michelle hair didn't have much spray in it at all. The only thing that matters is that the girls had fun and enjoyed being pampered. After getting their hair done we headed to Tomorrowland. When we got to the enter sign my brother (Dale) and his family (Ellie and Heath) called to let me know they are at the park in the locker area. So I left my crew to get Dale and his crew. Michael, Amber and Michelle rode Buzz while I met up with my brother. Then we met up with the rest of my crew at the exit of Buzz. Michelle didn't like that ride at all. Then we all decided to do the Stritch ride. Michelle really hated this ride and cried when he spit. After exiting the ride Amber found a t-shirt she really liked. So I went in and bought it for her, that was her birthday present from us. Michael, Amber, and Heath went to the FP rides while the rest of us went to the teacups. Michelle decided not to ride. That is where we spotted the White Rabbit and got in line for him. After getting his picture and autograph we headed for Dumbo. Me, Ellie and Michelle rode together. Michelle was upset at first that she didn't get the pink elephant. After the ride it was time for our ressie at CRT. Dale and his crew didn't have a ressie and there wasn't any room to add them so they went to eat at Diamond Horse.
Up next lunch with Princesses and more
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and hope I don't bore you to much. This is my very first time writing a trip report.
We started to get hungry so we decided to stop at Taco Bell exit 289 in FL. It was 12:53. When we got to the Bell Michelle has her first melt down. Amber asked Michelle if she needs help unbuckling? Michelle told her no. Well guess what Amber reached over and unbuckled her. Michelle started screamming and crying said I wanted to do it. After 3 minutes of trying to calm Michelle down and having a talk with Amber everything we good to go again.
When we got to the gas station she said she didn't have to go anymore.
Daddy still took her in to try. Yep she went.
At 3:03 we stopped for our last gas fill up. Of course only 50 miles to the FWCG. For this whole trip Michelle only took catnaps. When we pulled onto the ramp to get gas Michelle was out like a light. 
I tried to wake her up to see the welcome sign but she just squinted her eyes and said woohoo in a sleepy tone. We arrived at FWCG 4:24.
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
} next week. I don't mind the drive though, and it will be a little different for us, since we'll only have a teenager with us. I well remember meltdowns when the boys were smaller though....
!!
Susan
He had us all laughing including Michelle. She kept giggling and saying "no"
Time to get in line for check in. Michelle was wide awake by this time. Fred checked us in and he was a hoot. He gave everyone their birthday pins and gave me a I am celebrating pin. Michelle wanted one of those pins to so he gave her one as well. He also gave Michelle 2 coloring books. He let us know we was going to stay at site 205. 
We was only 4 sites from the bathhouse and walking distance to the boats and dinner. Michael was able to back the pop up once to get it where he wanted it. The sites are pretty good level that he didn't have to adjust much at all. While he hooked up the water filter I started popping up the camper. Then Michael had to pull the king size beds out for me. I didn't worry to much on unpacking everything. I just made the beds and we unloaded the truck and put everything in the pop-up. We was done with all we wanted to get done by 6:30. We was hoping to be at the site by 3 and set up by 4:30 so we said after seeing 2 of the hotels and eating we will see is we wanted to the others I planned. We headed to the marina to get the baot to the CR. On the way to the launch we stopped to look at the lights that we passed by. Michelle nocticed a list that santa had and her name was on it. 
When we got to the launch we had to wait about 15 minutes. When we got to CR I took a picture of the bush shaped as Sorcerer Mickey. The girl got on the Mickey Ears and we took pictures of them with that. Then we went into the resort saw the ginger tree. Then we was off to GF to eat at Gasparilla Grill and to see the gingerbread house. Me and Michael had the lobster mac and cheese. Amber had the Cob salad w/loabster. Michelle had the chicken nuggets w/fries. That was so much food that we took it back to the site. The food was good but me and Michael both agree we was a bit disappointed with ours. There wasn't much sauce and it sure didn't taste cheesy. After eating we all headed to the lobby to see the house. I took some family pictures for other people who was around the house. It was after 9 already so we decided to skip the other resorts and go back to the camper to rest up for our first day at the parks. When we got to the launch to wait for the bus Captain Hook and Smitty came to the launch with a group. Michael took pictures. 
The cast member said after the people launched off Michelle could get a picture with then and have them sing the cards that we brought for autographes. Our boat was docking so we just got on our baot and headed to our camper. Michelle didn't care she didn't get a picture with them. At least we got a picture of Hook and Smitty. As we was sitting on the boat the baot parade was about to start. So when we got to the campground we decided to stay at the beach and watch the parade. I wasn't wearring a jackets and got cold so after the parade I headed to the camper. The rest of my crew stayed to watch the fireworks. When we got to the beach Michelle took her shoes off to put her toes in the sand. 
I hope you have a safe trip and can't wait to hear all about it.
When Michael got back to the camper her had the blueberry muffin. Which Michelle ended trading with him 
. When he and Michelle was done we headed for the boat launch. We was lucky the baot was arriving when we got there. We got at MK alittle after 8 a.m. (of course I wanted to be there at 7 for the rope drop. This day was morning EMH) The girls had an appointment with the Barber Shop at 9 a.m.. We had 30 minutes to look around. Michael headed to Tomorrow land to get FP. Michelle spotted Pooh and Tigger so we got in line to wait. (Amber stayed with me and Michelle but didn't care to see Pooh and Tigger) I found a pen before our trip at Dollar Tree that all the characters loved to play with. It was a jumbo pen. When we got up to Tigger he acted like it was a conductor stick and start to conduct with it.
After getting their hair done we headed to Tomorrowland. When we got to the enter sign my brother (Dale) and his family (Ellie and Heath) called to let me know they are at the park in the locker area. So I left my crew to get Dale and his crew. Michael, Amber and Michelle rode Buzz while I met up with my brother. Then we met up with the rest of my crew at the exit of Buzz. Michelle didn't like that ride at all. Then we all decided to do the Stritch ride. Michelle really hated this ride and cried when he spit. After exiting the ride Amber found a t-shirt she really liked. So I went in and bought it for her, that was her birthday present from us. Michael, Amber, and Heath went to the FP rides while the rest of us went to the teacups. Michelle decided not to ride. That is where we spotted the White Rabbit and got in line for him. After getting his picture and autograph we headed for Dumbo. Me, Ellie and Michelle rode together. Michelle was upset at first that she didn't get the pink elephant. After the ride it was time for our ressie at CRT. Dale and his crew didn't have a ressie and there wasn't any room to add them so they went to eat at Diamond Horse. 
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