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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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We pulled in to our resort, Port Orleans French Quarter, at about 10:45am and I was about to burst!
Richard was quite excited himself. He just loves vacation, period. And he was excited to see what all the fuss was about coming from me all this time, haha . We put on our MBs and headed inside to check in! Pretty easy process, you know the drill. But we did get to pick up a few buttons!
Oh, and our CMs name was Richard! I’d requested a room close to bus transportation. There was one ready in building 1 or 7 (can’t remember which at this point), but they weren’t close to the buses, so opted to wait for what we really wanted, a room in building 4. So, we parked the car close to that building and made our way to the boat ramp to DTD.
Richard LOVES boats and being on the water, so I was excited about this being one of his first WDW experiences. There was a boat just leaving, but we didn’t mind waiting. Richard snapped this picture while we were in line. We're just two dorks in love, what can I say
It was a BEAUTIFUL day. Warm, sun shining, ahhhhhhh. But then this loud, boisterous family (mostly adults, one small child) came to get in line behind us. At first, it was no big deal. But as we were getting onto the boat, one of the ladies was getting a phone call from what I assume was a (grown) daughter, and she started LOUDLY yelling at her and using some very foul language, it was some sort of argument. It was just ruining what was supposed to be a very magical beginning of our trip And it continued for the first good bit of the boat ride. There were definitely some others with small children giving her looks throughout the boat ride. I just really have a problem with people speaking with a foul mouth around children, especially in such an intense manor. And granted, I don't know what the situation was, but she hung up and was laughing... so it couldn't have been anything serious or worth the outburst in that way... But oh well, I was determined to not let that ruin our ride! We just tried to ignore and resume our state of bliss.
I love pulling into DTD from the boat. It’s such a fun view. I also couldn’t wait to get off (and get away from the loud, rude lady) and head to one of my favorite DTD places, Earl of Sandwich!!
We do not have an Earl of Sandwich anywhere near us in TN, so I always look forward to enjoying it while in Disney. The line was of course crazy long, but it moves pretty quickly.
I sent Richard to scope out a seat for us. My favorite sandwich is definitely the Original (which Richard has had before and likes), but we decided to get 2 different sandwiches and split them. He wanted to try the Holiday Turkey sandwich. I tend to be slightly picky, just in the sense that I almost never stray from what I know I like when ordering, but I am very open to trying a bite of something new (maybe picky isn’t the right descriptive word). So, I was a little nervous that I would not be happy with only half of the sandwich I love. But I ended up liking the Holiday Turkey pretty well! Richard LOVED it, so I was happy we’d gotten it for him (he still talks about wanting to get another one...). I still prefer the Original and will eat a whole one all to myself next time, but I’m glad I got to try something new. Oh, I also REALLY wanted to try one of the brownie cream sandwiches, but they didn’t have any. Sad day.
Next, we headed over to the Basin store because my mom had asked me to pick her up some lip balm and I needed some myself. I love that stuff. The strawberry is definitely my favorite. Richard and I washed our hands with some of the sugar scrub soap they have out. He was a little tentative at first, having never used such “girly” products, but he loved it! We didn’t pick any up, but it was fun to try.
Somewhere among all this, I’d gotten the text saying our room was ready. So after Basin, we headed back to the boat dock to make our way back to POFQ for some rest before heading to dinner. The line for the boat was a little long. We ended up waiting a good 20 minutes probably for a boat. There were definitely people complaining loudly about it, but I just don’t like loud complaining anywhere (I suppose the threat of confrontation makes me uncomfortable ). ESPECIALLY when I’m at the happiest place on earth! My tolerance for complaining when in WDW is even lower than normal. I just am so happy to be there that I find it hard to complain much, but I know bad things still happen in WDW…
Up next: Dinner at Kona and Richard's first view of the castle!
What a nice relaxing start......except for rude foul mouth woman . It amazes me how some people just really feel that it is okay to behave in that manner - no matter where they are or who is in their presence! Oy vie!
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
EoS is a great start to a trip. Sorry you had to deal with some loud complaining and arguing on the way there and back. I'm with you on not enjoying complaining and the confrontation it creates.
Sorry you had to deal with the loud foul mouth woman for some of your ride. I just don't get people and the conversations they have on cell phones at times.
Glad the rest of your evening was great and for trying the new sandwich. We will be trying EOS when we go back in May for the first time. Love the pictures of your rings
Sounds like a great day so far! The boat ride to and from DTD is such a relaxing ride! (Except when there is a rude foul mouthed cell phone talking lady aboard!) I especially like the ride at night.
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What a nice relaxing start......except for rude foul mouth woman . It amazes me how some people just really feel that it is okay to behave in that manner - no matter where they are or who is in their presence! Oy vie!
It just blows my mind!!
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Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Glad you made it! Sorry for the rude woman on the boat! Lunch sounded delish!!
EoS is always delish in my book!
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Originally Posted by Cam22
EoS is a great start to a trip. Sorry you had to deal with some loud complaining and arguing on the way there and back. I'm with you on not enjoying complaining and the confrontation it creates.
Anytime I'm out in public and someone wants to start complaining about a long line or something, I try my best to avoid eye contact. It probably comes from the fact that I HATE to be the center of attention, and that sort of stuff certainly draws attention.
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Originally Posted by iwonathomas
Sorry you had to deal with the loud foul mouth woman for some of your ride. I just don't get people and the conversations they have on cell phones at times.
Glad the rest of your evening was great and for trying the new sandwich. We will be trying EOS when we go back in May for the first time. Love the pictures of your rings
It was fun trying the new sandwich! It'll be hard to break away from my Original again, though! Hope you love whatever you try! And thank you (about the rings)
Quote:
Originally Posted by DMA
Sounds like a great day so far! The boat ride to and from DTD is such a relaxing ride! (Except when there is a rude foul mouthed cell phone talking lady aboard!) I especially like the ride at night.
We did get some nighttime rides in as well, so I'm with ya on that!
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Originally Posted by chezp
Great start to your vacation, apart from the foul mouthed woman! What on earth was that all about, especially as she was laughing afterwards?
Who knows?! It was so bizarre, really...
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Originally Posted by Russi01
Glad you made it! Sorry about the not so good experience on the boat ride.
Thanks!!
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Originally Posted by Ciavobella
Can't wait to read about Richard's first castle sighting.
I can't wait to share Hopefully I will get to in the next day or two!
One question --- what is the trick to getting inages in your post. I have tried and never seem to be able to get them to load. Do you use the pic file on your computer or a lik to something like flicker? Just wondering. Hope to include pics in my TR when we return in June.
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One question --- what is the trick to getting inages in your post. I have tried and never seem to be able to get them to load. Do you use the pic file on your computer or a lik to something like flicker? Just wondering. Hope to include pics in my TR when we return in June.