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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Cruise: Western Itinerary on the Fantasy, June 9-16.
This was our second cruise, 1st for DN. Initially we booked for just the 3 of us but DH decided it might be a good idea to bring DN along for DD to have some company. She joined us last year when we visited WDW and a great time was had by all.
Well in adding her to our reservation, it took us to a different level, from a 5D, deck 6 to a 5A, deck 10. After thought, not good for the wallet.
Anywho, we initially were going to drive from Texas but then decided to fly on JetBlue for a really good price, even though the nearest airport with JetBlue is 4 hours away.
Decided to fly in 2 days early so we decide to stay at a Value, ASMu. This was our first time to be staying at the values but it did allow us to take advantage of DME to the resort. We opted to not use Disney transport to the port but get a rental car from a DTD hotel. Got a really good price for 2 one way rentals which really worked well for us.
Departure, Thursday June 7th.
Dropped of our golden retriever at the kennel for boarding . Hate to leave him for so long but don't have any other options. Head to the airport in Austin, uneventful which is good. Grabbed a quick bite before heading to the airport and decided to use a parking facility close to the airport, FastPark. Pretty nice operation, they picked us up right at our car, covered parking, then shuttled us over to catch our flight. Checking in was a breeze but was curious as to the weight of our luggage since DH and DN decided to overpack. OMG DH bag made it with 5 lbs. to spare! Since this was our first time to fly JetBlue was curious as to how their service would be and I can honestly say, it was pretty good. We will definitely fly with them again. Arrive at MCO (7 p.m.) and head straight to level 1 to catch DME. Once again a 1st for us. Pretty nice not having to claim your bags and leave the driving to someone else. Bus wasn't too full so I figured we wouldn't have to make too many stops and I was right, only 2. First was Coronado Springs and the second was All Star Sports. We arrived at ASMu approx. 8:00, checked in and grabbed a quick bite before locating our room. We were given a room in the Broadway section. We really liked this Value resort. Our room wasn't too far from the main building and we were near the piano pool, very nice! Of course the room was small but for the 4 of us it was fine, especially since we were only there for 2 nights.
Friday, June 8th.
DH heads out early to play golf at the Magnolia course. Since we were staying on Disney property they offer complimentary clubs for golfers which was nice since DH didn't want to lug his clubs on the cruise. The girls and I take our time getting ready and grab a bite for breakfast before heading to DTD. Decided we would just take it easy today after picking up our rental from the Doubletree. Once we arrived in DTD via Disney bus we walk to the Doubletree. We are about 2blocks from the hotel when DH calls and says his game was called due to rain which at that time I see dark clouds forming as we are talking. It was cloudly all morning but they were getting darker. We pick up our pace to a light jog but it was too late, the rain came. Luckily it wasn't a down pour but just a light shower (usual for Florida, I know). Finally make it to the Budget rental and get our car and make our way back to DTD for a little shopping. DH finally makes his way there and we meet up. Shopped a little more then decided to look for a Walmart or Target, needed some supplies and sunshades as DN borrowed mine and misplaced them.
We decided to head to Bubba Gumps for dinner at Universal City Walk. We enjoyed a nice dinner there and wanted to walk around longer but it was raining. We took shelter at Margaritaville's little bar, had a couple of drinks before heading back. Once we made it back to ASMu the girls went for a swim. DH and I got our carryon bag ready for the morning then headed out to the pool to watch the girls and enjoy the evening.
Next, we head to the Fantasy.
Sounds like a nice day, in spite of the rain. I made my family walk from DTD to the Doubletree once on an extremely hot, humid day. We still joke about the Doubletree death march!
Embarkation Day, June 9th.
Grabbed a quick breakfast at Intermission, loaded up the car and headed to Cape Canaveral. Found Budget rental car easily and arrived just in time for the shuttle to the ship. We had a couple of people on the shuttle for Carnival and as we dropped them off and made our way to the Fantasy I noticed a line of people at the Carnival port waiting to get into the building. This line was HUGE , it looked like 100 people were in line and this was at noon. DD asked if we were going to need to wait in a long line too and I simply responded, “no, Disney knows how to do things right”.
We arrived at the port, made our way through security then check in was a breeze. We didn’t even have to wait to board the ship we were able to walk right on. Cool! As we made our way along the gangway there was a family in front of us with a little girl who was crying. She was afraid to walk across the gangway.
We made our way across and they announced our names it was so magical! Even as I type I get teary eyed. I’m amazed by the beauty of our new home for the next 7 days. We took our time looking around the lobby before heading to Cabana’s for lunch. It was very busy up there. The girls had to sit at a table away from us but that’s was quite alright. After lunch we headed to deck 10 to locate our cabin. Once located, we were in awe as to the space that’s available in the cabin. There is plenty of closet space, drawer space and enough shelving for all of our stuff including under the bed. We were very happy to have received our Castaway Silver member gifts, backpack with keychain and snacks. The girls ran upstairs to the Aquaduck shortly after that so DH & I just “chilled”. DH was concerned about the safety drill but I was sure that the crew would make sure no one was roaming around when they weren’t supposed to be. Sure enough they found their way back to the cabin in time for the drill. Our area was the Buena Vista Theatre. The drill was quick and painless and once again the girls took off with instruction to be back in time for dinner, 5:45. Our dining rotation was ERAERRA, table 59.
Our cabin was a verandah and DH was concerned about the overhang and not being able to get any sun but before we even left port it started to rain so he was rather happy to have it. With the rain the sailaway party was relocated so we didn't even attempt to attend. Not quite the same not being able to watch as you leave port and wave to the people as you sail by them.
Our luggage was in our cabin after the safety drill so we unpacked and then got ready for dinner. We waited and waited for the girls but no sight of them. I decided to go ahead and head down while DH wanted to wait. Just as the doors open to allow diners in, I went to the phone to call our cabin when DH shows up with the girls. They didn’t even have time to change so they went to dinner as is. I informed them that I didn’t care what they did throughout the day but dinner as a family was mandatory! Not being mean, just wanted us to look good for photo ops.
So how was the rest of your trip? I can't wait to hear all about it.
__________________
Planning a trip to WDW is like planning a wedding... If you expect things to be flawless, you will be sadly disappointed. If you know that there will be less than perfect times & decide to just laugh them off, then you will be excited when you find the magic all around you.
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. Hate to leave him for so long but don't have any other options. Head to the airport in Austin, uneventful which is good. Grabbed a quick bite before heading to the airport and decided to use a parking facility close to the airport, FastPark. Pretty nice operation, they picked us up right at our car, covered parking, then shuttled us over to catch our flight. Checking in was a breeze but was curious as to the weight of our luggage since DH and DN decided to overpack. OMG DH bag made it with 5 lbs. to spare! Since this was our first time to fly JetBlue was curious as to how their service would be and I can honestly say, it was pretty good. We will definitely fly with them again. Arrive at MCO (7 p.m.) and head straight to level 1 to catch DME. Once again a 1st for us. Pretty nice not having to claim your bags and leave the driving to someone else. Bus wasn't too full so I figured we wouldn't have to make too many stops and I was right, only 2. First was Coronado Springs and the second was All Star Sports. We arrived at ASMu approx. 8:00, checked in and grabbed a quick bite before locating our room. We were given a room in the Broadway section. We really liked this Value resort. Our room wasn't too far from the main building and we were near the piano pool, very nice! Of course the room was small but for the 4 of us it was fine, especially since we were only there for 2 nights.
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