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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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: Physically stuck in Michigan while my heart and soul reside in Disney.....
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Be Our Guest, Be Our Guest and MVMCP!
Hello all my wonderful PP friends!
I, the self professed queen of trip report procrastination, am starting a TR for my trip this November! I know in the past I have been less than acceptable at keeping up with my TR updates but I have made a personal promise to myself to start, continue, and complete this TR in reasonable time. So have faith in me, pull up a chair, and come along for some fun times!
Characters:
Myself: Liz. Tink’s most adoring fan. She is my inspiration, she is my inner personality, she is my strength when I am weak. I even have a “Believe” tattoo on my right foot that is sprinkled generously with pixie dust. It means I believe in me. I believe in my strengths, I believe in my weaknesses, I believe in my failures and my accomplishments. They are all who I am today and make me a better person for tomorrow. Through some personal struggles lately I have learned that some of life's greatest lessons and some of the things that make you the strongest in your life are the mistakes you make, not the things you succeed at. The key is overcoming them, fixing them, forgiving them and as someone very special and dear to me has said “you can’t run from yourself”. So, that Tink/Believe tattoo has a whole lot more meaning to me than I ever thought it would. Wow, what a ramble. Whew!
Cheyenne: She is my 13 year old wonder blonde. LOL. She loves Disney. I feel very fortunate that she does, as my other three have seemed to outgrow some of the passion of Disney. She still holds a lot of that excitement. She is a major Lion King fan! Has been since she was a baby. She loves test track, which sadly will be closed while we are there. L Her fave park is Animal Kingdom so I am sure we will be spending a lot of time there. I see multiple Safaris in our week of fun and sun! She has also said she wants to have dinner at Akershus to see all the Princesses soooooo, I love that she still wants to do that.
When: We leave November 14th after work and school, a late flight out of Detroit. We return on Thanksgiving day. (Not the best come home day but it is what worked)
Where: We are staying at POP. That is by far my fave resort. And it is also close to AOA so she can see Lion King décor.
Why: Mother/Daughter time. As some of you remember Disdadnmi and I were married a few years ago and we both brought kids into the union. The family time is wonderful, our trips alone have been nothing short of amazing and spectacular but we felt like it was time to relive some of the magic with our respective kids. All too soon they will be off on their own and we won’t have these opportunities. So cease the day!!!
Two things we are SUPER EXCITED about this trip are:
A) We have an ADR at "Be Our Guest" on opening day at 4pm which is when they open, for the first time!!!! I am so excited to be going for the opening meal!!! I am a lucky girl for sure!
B) We have tickets Nov 15th to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party (MVMCP)!!!!!! I am super exctied about this too! We have never been to that party and I hear it is amazing. I can't wait to see it snow on Main Street. See Cindy, Tink and all their friends dressed in Holiday attire. And I hear the parade is wonderful!! Yay us!!!!
We are going to try to pack carry on only with Delta. Sigh …….that may be our biggest hurdle.....but we are going to try!!!
We are finishing up the finalizing of ADR's and such this weekend. We have some extras to weed out and fine tune. I will post a tentative schedule soon! Hopefully still this weekend.
Questions for those of you who have traveled in mid November......the historical average temps are mid 50's per accuweather. Seems kinda cool. Can anyone who has traveled at that time tell me what they expercienced and how they dressed? I was really hoping to swim too. Seems like we did when we went in November many years ago. Also, should I expect huge crowds at the MVMCP?
Thanks for reading and stay tuned!!!!! I appreciate any help with above questions also.
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Liz, when we went in mid-Nov last year it was in the 70's during the day and maybe 40's to 50's at night. We did swim and wore shorts. People from the area thought we were crazy because they were breaking out gloves! One Security officer asked us if we were "polar bears" because we were in shorts. We laughed and said we were from MI! He nodded knowingly. So I think you should be fine. Maybe they average the highs and lows together? Anyhow, great start and I will gladly read along!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Coop
Liz, when we went in mid-Nov last year it was in the 70's during the day and maybe 40's to 50's at night. We did swim and wore shorts. People from the area thought we were crazy because they were breaking out gloves! One Security officer asked us if we were "polar bears" because we were in shorts. We laughed and said we were from MI! He nodded knowingly. So I think you should be fine. Maybe they average the highs and lows together? Anyhow, great start and I will gladly read along!
Thanks so much Coop! I am soooo hoping for some sunshine!! Also trying to do carry on only I want to pack as minimal as possible.
for a mother/daughter trip!!!! So excited for you!!!
How exciting that you got in on the opening meal!!! Can't wait to hear all about that!!! Take LOTS of photos!!!!
also - looking forward to how the weather is for you - as I am returning soon myself.....12/28!!! gonna be there for my bday & new years!!! And we are hoping to just do carry ons as well!
Is Brent making you two some tees for your adventures???
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
Sounds fun!! Is okay if I have Be Our Guest envy ? We were unable to get anything there at all for the whole week we are there. So opening day ... So Lucky. Please take lots of photos.
I was there last year for the same week and it was awesome. The longest line we waited on was for Kali River Rapids! I wore capris all week (could've worn shorts but didn't pack any.) My kids were swimming just about every night around 10 pm and loved being able to do so.
The MVMCP was fun. My kids were more interested in hopping on and off rides without any wait rather than meeting characters. We did snap a few pictures of Eeyore and Pooh as we ran by. I booked us the dessert party for the fireworks and found it to be a great break. We had a late lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern and made the desert party our dinner. We had no problems getting curbside seating on Main St. for the second parade. I am so glad I booked the party. Loved the lights, snow on Main St and the parade!
Congrats on your reservation for the grand opening meal. I was trying to book at Caribbean Beach again this year and couldn't understand why it was sold out that week. Instead, I booked for January, but cancelled when I learned Splash Mountain would be closed for refurbishment. I now have reservations for next November for a mother-daughter trip. Can't wait! Have a blast with your daughter.
Great start, Liz! I can't wait to hear about the very first meal at BOG! We were at WDW in 2010 and the temps were in the upper 70s during the day and cooler at night. We had jackets with us in the evenings, but even then Luke and Stefanie wore shorts.
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Originally Posted by lfredsbo
How exciting that you got in on the opening meal!!! Can't wait to hear all about that!!! Take LOTS of photos!!!!
gonna be there for my bday & new years!!!
Is Brent making you two some tees for your adventures???
LOTS OF PICS!!
When is your bday? We must be close. Mine is 12/29.
I am very much hoping he will make us some shirts!
Quote:
Originally Posted by rlb38
Sounds fun!! Is okay if I have Be Our Guest envy ? We were unable to get anything there at all for the whole week we are there. So opening day ... So Lucky. Please take lots of photos.
I can't wait to share my review with you all!!! It will be just like you are there with me. I will post pics as soon as I get them on opening day. Prob to FB first as its easier to post from my phone, PP post when we get back to room. (Add me on FB if you want to see pics as they are taken)
Quote:
Originally Posted by tcmary
I wore capris all week (could've worn shorts but didn't pack any.) My kids were swimming just about every night around 10 pm and loved being able to do so.
The MVMCP was fun. I am so glad I booked the party. Loved the lights, snow on Main St and the parade!
Note to self......pack shorts!! And thanks for all the party info. Was unsure about buying tickets. Glad I did now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Great start, Liz! I can't wait to hear about the very first meal at BOG! We were at WDW in 2010 and the temps were in the upper 70s during the day and cooler at night. We had jackets with us in the evenings, but even then Luke and Stefanie wore shorts.
WATCH FB for up to the minute posts! Thanks for the weather info. Hope we are just as lucky to have that kind of weather.