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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Sorry for the long delay but summer has been crazy busy.
For those of you joining me for the first time, I'm Mayra and I am a Disney addict. As a family this was our 5th trip to WDW and our second trip staying onsite. We're now hooked on Disney resorts and we won't vacation any other way. This trip was also our first time staying Deluxe. If you want to read about all the planning you can go back to my PTR: http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...style-ptr.html
And now I leave you with my trip report...
Getting Wild Disney Style
June 1 & June 2
The day before our departure day was kind of busy. We went to church early in the morning. Then we got back home and did a couple of things. I like arriving to a clean house.
My parents were cooking for us today, per Arben's request, so that's where we headed next. My sister was also going to be there, she had arrived from a cruise the day before. We had a nice meal and said our goodbyes. My dad did his usual routine, you know he had "the talk" with me and told me he wouldn't relax until we got back. My dad is very anxious and nervous all the time and he's crazy about those kids of mine. So the thought of them being away for so long was driving him bananas.
Our next stop was my inlaws' house. We spent some time there and then it was back to our house.
I finished the last minute packing and weighed the suitcases. All three were almost at the 40 lb limit. Stupid Spirit and their stupidly low weight limit. We absolutely knew we'd buy another suitcase while in Orlando as there was no way anything we bought would fit in the ones we had.
We all took showers and I pleaded with everyone to get naps. Arben and the two youngest were successful with that. AJ and I, not so much.
Soon it was time to start packing up the car. My bil was taking us to the airport, which is a short drive from our house. We left our house at 12:00 am.
A quick selfie before leaving.
I had done online check-in and printed out our boarding passes, so we just headed directly to bag drop off. And thank goodness for that because the lines were insane. We headed towards security check and Arben's bag was taken for extra screening. He had Adriel's nebulizer machine in it. They had to run tests on the machine and Arben had his hands tested. Ooops
After that we settled down to wait for our flight. There were some friends who were on our same flight and we spent some time talking to them. Of course, my kids got hungry immediately. There was a small cafeteria there, so Arben got 2 sandwiches (very small, btw) and 4 drinks. Total = $21. You know, preparing us for Disney prices.
After that I made everyone take bathroom breaks. Soon it was 2:30 am and time to start boarding. We found our seats and settled down, with Adriel, Arben & me on one side and AJ and Abniel on the other side.
Then the first funny situation of the trip happened. Arben took his cellphone out and connected his headphones to it. He started playing a video, only that the headphones weren't properly inserted so the music started playing loudly. Of course he didn't know how to react and instead of just lowering the volume he started trying to pause the video, unsuccessfully. I took the cellphone away and stopped the video. Then I looked at AJ and we burst out with laughter. It took us a couple of minutes to calm down.
We took off and thankfully had an uneventful flight. Soon were landing in Fort Lauderdale. We said goodbye to our friends, who were staying there. My kids were hungry again so off they went to find something. I requested some coffee and a danish. They came back with a couple of Nathan's hot dogs and soda for them. It was like 6:30 am and they were eating hot dogs. For me, coffee and a giant chocolate chip cookie . Not exactly what I wanted but there was nothing else. My coffee tasted kind of funny. AJ confessed that it was decaf. Since you prepare it yourself, Arben mistakenly chose decaf and then told them not to tell me. He thought maybe I wouldn't notice.
Boarding was right on time and before we knew it we were landing in Orlando. It seems we were in the air for just half an hour. I find this connecting flight very unnecessary but then again, when does Spirit do anything logical. Apparently our time flying wasn't enough so the pilot decided to drive around for 10 more minutes.
We were finally able to get off and our first stop was... you guessed it - the bathroom. From there it was off to the shuttle and then to Magical Express.
That's what an overnight flight looks like.
We went directly to our bus and at 9:20 we were on our way. We made stops at Pop Century and Art of Animation. BTW, AoA looks really cool. I'd like to stay there some day.
Then we were off to AKL, we were the only ones on the bus. The driver got confused and stopped at Jambo House and I told him we were actually going to Kidani. No biggie, we got to see this one too.
We got to our home for the next 12 days and there was a CM waiting for us at the entrance. How cool! She checked us in, gave us our packet and told us our room was ready. It was 10:30. Awesome!
Our room was on the 4th floor very close to the elevators, so no walking 5 miles to get to our room. We didn't get the Savannah view I requested but I wasn't really counting on it. If we had gotten it, it would've been pure luck.
Before everyone started wrecking the room, I took some pictures.
Kitchen Area
Kitchen Area looking towards Living Room (Can somebody please close those curtains )
Living Room / Kid's Room (with Arben in it)
Breakfast Area (Hey, who's shoes are those? Actually they're mine )
Master Bedroom
Master Bathroom
2nd Bathroom
Laundry
Carpet
Hey buddy! That's my bed!
That's one tired boy.
Yeah, why don't you all jump in bed.
Our view:
We relaxed for a little while but we were soon hungry so we headed out. I took some pictures around the resort first.
Wait, this isn't an animal. It's just Adriel.
We decided to walk over to Jambo House. The lobby there is impressive. Very beautiful resort. Not that Kidani isn't beautiful, it is, but Jambo is breathtaking
You are making me "homesick"! AKLV is our DVC home resort, but have decided to stay at BWV this summer. Looking forward to reading about your 12 day stay! What a cute family. Question - Did you notice the noise from the busses from your room? At WL one year, our woods view included a view of the busstop. The evening busses were quite noticable.
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WooHoo, you started!!! Glad the flights to Orlando were uneventful. I have to say I was a little grossed out that the boys at hot dogs at 6am The resort and your room are beautiful!! Can't wait to hear how long you were able to stay awake!!
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Great start, Mayra! So glad that your flights went smoothly, how awesome that your room was ready for you so early. You all must have been exhausted, I don't even know how you were able to head out of there. I would have just collapsed on the bed! AKL looks awesome, great pics. Looking forward to more!
I think you all look really good for having flown overnight! I love all your pictures of the room and the lobbies at AKL Kidani and Jambo. That takes me right back home.
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My dad is very anxious and nervous all the time and he's crazy about those kids of mine. So the thought of them being away for so long was driving him bananas.
We absolutely knew we'd buy another suitcase while in Orlando as there was no way anything we bought would fit in the ones we had. 
We headed towards security check and Arben's bag was taken for extra screening. He had Adriel's nebulizer machine in it. They had to run tests on the machine and Arben had his hands tested. Ooops 
Of course he didn't know how to react and instead of just lowering the volume he started trying to pause the video, unsuccessfully. I took the cellphone away and stopped the video. Then I looked at AJ and we burst out with laughter. 
It took us a couple of minutes to calm down.
. Not exactly what I wanted but there was nothing else. My coffee tasted kind of funny. 
AJ confessed that it was decaf. Since you prepare it yourself, Arben mistakenly chose decaf and then told them not to tell me. 
He thought maybe I wouldn't notice. 
Apparently our time flying wasn't enough so the pilot decided to drive around for 10 more minutes. 
We didn't get the Savannah view I requested but I wasn't really counting on it. If we had gotten it, it would've been pure luck.
)
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The resort and your room are beautiful!! Can't wait to hear how long you were able to stay awake!!
*Melissa
Aimee
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