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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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Well, after a whirlwind 11 days from home, we're back, settling in and ready to start a Trip Report. Overall, there were many highs, a few lows and a LOT of weather related changes for the planned trip
I'll begin with July 10th...the day I departed. It was also Coach and I's 9th wedding anniversary...not my choice really to be away for our anniversary...
I had an interview with a local college at 10 that morning and after I met with the Department Chair and toured the facilities, he had me meet with the Dean of the college. I talked with her for about 30 minutes before she took me to meet with the HR department and fill out pre-employment paper work. I had a pretty good feeling about the job because I left the college with TEXTBOOKS for courses I'm able to teach. Because I'm new to the school, I am assigned the developmental courses, which I happen to really enjoy so I think this might just be a good fit
I arrived back home after the interview and it was a h-o-t day. It was already 93 degrees, and only noon. I quickly set about packing my suitcase and making a list of things I needed Coach to bring when he met up with me after the NY portion of my trip. I also left him another reminder list - things he needed to do before he left for his mom's (like ask the neighbor to check on the house/cat/mail, etc). We decided to "super chlorinate" the pool so we didn't need to worry about having our neighbor climb around to plug the filter in each day.
We fed the boys a quick lunch, loaded the van and set of for Columbus at 1:30. We were going to meet my Dad at Polaris at 3:30.
The drive to Columbus passed uneventfully. Patrick played with the Leapster, Nolan read us lots of facts about the Statue of Liberty from an old history textbook I picked up for him at a garage sale and Cullen took a nap. We met up with Dad easily, but as we were transferring my luggage to his car, and goodies for the boys to the van from my mom, clouds started building and thunder could be heard. We used Dad's GPS to help Coach find a better route to I-70 than going back through I-71 south which was at a stand still because of an accident. After quick goodbyes (the boys refused to say goodbye to me), we were off. Coach called me after fifteen minutes to tell me he'd heard on the radio that bad storms were going to be affect the I-71 corridor. He'd already made it to I-70 West and there was a lot of wind and lightening, but not rain.
About ten minutes later, the storm started for us in a furry - trees were bending almost to the ground and the windshield wipers couldn't keep up with the rain...the lightening was wicked. I tried to get a few pictures, but nothing came out clear. Instead of a 2 hour ride, it took us almost 3 hours exactly to get to mom's from Columbus. The rain really flooded things and several entrance/exits to the highway had to be closed off. Mom and Dad's backyard looked like a lake and mom reported hearing tornado sirens Luckily all were okay - though the high winds did derail a train in Northwest Ohio near where my in-laws live.
After getting to mom's, I unpacked Dad's car and set about repacking my suitcase, knowing I didn't need everything I'd brought with me. After a quick dinner of pork chops, rice and fruit, I settled in to work on my portfolio for graduate school. It was going to be an early start the next morning, but would the weather prevent that?
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The Fun, Old-Fashioned Family Vacation, 3.0 http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...ml#post4472933
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The Fun, Old-Fashioned Family Vacation, 3.0 http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...ml#post4472933
Ch-Ch-Changes July 2015
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Nice start! To the TR, I mean.... the start to the trip, with thunder and lightening is not-so-good!
Thanks! I almost titled it "feeling soggy" but there's another report with that title.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
How horrible about the storm - glad you made it through Ok.
The storm was not fun - luckily my Dad was in charge of driving. I would have been a nervous wreck. Thankfully, Brian and the boys never really had bad weather (some lightening and a lot of wind, but no rain) on their way back home.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dutchdisneyfamily
I'm glad you've started! I can't wait to hear about your adventures!
Thanks! We had to be really, really flexible this trip because of the heat...there were three days in the middle where it was cooler in WDW than where we were.
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The Fun, Old-Fashioned Family Vacation, 3.0 http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...ml#post4472933
Ch-Ch-Changes July 2015
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So glad everyone made it safely through the bad weather! Great start!
Thanks Cam! This has definitely been the oddest summer weather wise in a long, long time. The news yesterday reported that we've had the hottest and wettest July, and coolest and wettest June on record.
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The Fun, Old-Fashioned Family Vacation, 3.0 http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...ml#post4472933
Ch-Ch-Changes July 2015
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Before turning in on the 10th, I talked to Coach...boy it felt weird NOT being home to tuck the boys in. He said he'd heated up the leftovers (chicken tacos) and added some chips and salsa from our favorite Mexican place in town (La Fiesta ). He managed to get the trio bathed, and settled down with Monster's Inc for a bit before packing them off to bed. They were pretty tired because we'd all been up late for Bible Camp, though Patrick was still upset that he had missed it that night. Coach went over the menu ideas for the following day, and after a quick goodnight, I went to bed. The alarm was set for 5:30.
Around 5, Dad tapped on my door. I guess a combination of wind, heavy rain and heavy air conditioning demand had caused a generator to blow. He wanted me to help him take their freezer food to my Grandma's house because he wasn't sure how long their house would be without power. We loaded up the coolers and made the short drive to Grandma's, and stored their frozen stuff. On the way back home, we picked up a round of Starbuck's for fortification. We also needed to pull up the carpeting on their screened in porch because the porch was flooded.
After getting the porch picked up, I took a quick (cold) shower and finished packing. Dad was a bit happy that we had been delayed because the highways heading east were still a bit chaotic from various flooded ramps and general rush hour traffic. We were scheduled to head out by 6:00, but didn't leave until closer to 8. I guess that's the good part about driving.
Getting out of Ohio was easy peasy - other than a small, slow moving traffic crawl across the I-480 bridge on the East side....but then again, that bridge is always crowded. I must have dozed a bit, because I woke to hear my Dad discussing why the road was suddenly 55. Mom was quick to point out we had crossed into Pennsylvania. At the next rest area, we stopped and I took over the driving. Between picking me up yesterday, having to head out in the middle of the night for storm duty and return home to run food to grandma's house, I think my Dad was a bit over-tired.
I drove for about 3 hours. I do need to say that I felt driving across PA was a bit like driving South through Georgia - they both seemed to be never-ending states, with way too few rest areas.
Just before crossing into New Jersey, we stopped to top off the tank and grab a few snacks to tied us over.
I had to text this picture to Coach - Kit Kats are his favorite candy, and we'd been hunting for the bags of mini's every since we discovered them on our way back from Florida last summer. He was quite jealous.
While Dad took over the driving duties (no way was I going to try to navigate Jersey/Manhattan traffic in someone else's car) I called to check on my crew. Coach had decided to use our Zoo pass to get a discount at the Boonshoft Children's Musuem. The pass used to get us all in for free, but now only offers a 50% discount...still, without the pass the few hours of fun would have cost $38.00 so I told him to be happy he only had to pay $19 for the four of them to get in. Keep in mind that it was the first time he'd ever taken all three to a museum...on his own. You'll hear more about their "adventures" in the next update.
Thankfully, Jersey traffic wasn't too bad, though Dad's Garmin did have us get off the highway, get onto a road, then loop back onto the highway. I pointed out to Dad that it was asking us to do this every two exits, so I fired up my google maps app, thankfully because the Garmin was trying to send us through mid-town Manhattan then over the Brooklyn Bridge, when we needed to go through the Holland Tunnel and to the Manhattan bridge.
URL=http://s1164.photobucket.com/user/bnmfirst/media/20130711_143335_zps95af7850.jpg.html][/URL]
A view of the Jersey skyline heading toward Manhattan.
The traffic wasn't actually too bad heading into the Holland tunnel:
Of course, once we exited the tunnel, traffic was a different story. Here we are finally going over the Manhattan Bridge
As we were getting off the Manhattan Bridge, my brother called to see if we could meet them at a cafe on Dean Street....the only problem? Dean street was huge. I typed in the cafe, but it was too new to be found on the Google Maps. Would we be able to find it?
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The Fun, Old-Fashioned Family Vacation, 3.0 http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...ml#post4472933
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Glad you survived the weather the first day. The second day sounds a bit crazy too, but glad you're almost there! Happy to hear Coach is doing a great job as well!
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Oh don't stop there! Glad you made it in the end, although my goodness the weather caused you a fair few problems...
The weather would be a common theme for our vacation week Update coming up...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Sounds like a decent travel day so far! Can't wait for more!
I was really surprised at how easy it was to get through NJ, into Manhattan then on into Brooklyn...on our last trip that same stretch took us nearly 3 hours
Quote:
Originally Posted by OhToodles!
Glad you survived the weather the first day. The second day sounds a bit crazy too, but glad you're almost there! Happy to hear Coach is doing a great job as well!
It was a bit crazy that morning, but well worth it. Hang on to find out about Coach's "skills" at home
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
A challenging day for a road trip! Glad to hear Coach is holding down the fort.
It was a bit challenging, but well worth it...update coming up!
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About This Page: 
Well, after a whirlwind 11 days from home, we're back, settling in and ready to start a Trip Report. Overall, there were many highs, a few lows and a LOT of weather related changes for the planned trip
. I quickly set about packing my suitcase and making a list of things I needed Coach to bring when he met up with me after the NY portion of my trip. I also left him another reminder list - things he needed to do before he left for his mom's (like ask the neighbor to check on the house/cat/mail, etc). We decided to "super chlorinate" the pool so we didn't need to worry about having our neighbor climb around to plug the filter in each day.
Luckily all were okay - though the high winds did derail a train in Northwest Ohio near where my in-laws live.
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Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
Great start!
). He managed to get the trio bathed, and settled down with Monster's Inc for a bit before packing them off to bed. They were pretty tired because we'd all been up late for Bible Camp, though Patrick was still upset that he had missed it that night. Coach went over the menu ideas for the following day, and after a quick goodnight, I went to bed. The alarm was set for 5:30.
) I called to check on my crew. Coach had decided to use our Zoo pass to get a discount at the Boonshoft Children's Musuem. The pass used to get us all in for free, but now only offers a 50% discount...still, without the pass the few hours of fun would have cost $38.00 so I told him to be happy he only had to pay $19 for the four of them to get in. Keep in mind that it was the first time he'd ever taken all three to a museum...on his own. You'll hear more about their "adventures" in the next update.
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Glad you made it in the end, although my goodness the weather caused you a fair few problems... 
Can't wait for more! 
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
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