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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Ok friends, we are driving from Atlanta in Oct. and would like to stop over night somewhere on 75. Last time we went to some exit nearish the turnpike (Ocala maybe?). But DH said that was a bit too far. Can someone recommend a town that we could stop at and still get up in the morning early and drive to the AofA and check in (we wouldn't got to the room) and get to the MK by rope drop? I'd like to book a room soon.
HI! We usually stop in Marietta at my Grandmother's overnight and get up around three to make the remaining 7 hours. However, I just looked at the map, and was wondering, what about stopping somewhere around Gainesville? I know it is off of I75, but surely there are accommodations at that exit. There are some large major roads. If that is too far, how about Lake City? Not as big as the Gainesville exits, but still looks good sized.
Thanks Alicia. When I started to read your post, I started to giggle a bit, because Marietta is about 1 hour from us in the opposite direction from Disney. As it stands now, DH can up with the brilliant idea that we should do an official college visit to Georgia Tech with our son on the morning that we leave (it is actually his top choice for college). It would be an excused absence from school (we get like 2 a year). That puts us half way through downtown and the tour is over at noon. So we figure that we could actually drive all the way now and stay in somewhere cheap on Friday night and not have to get up quite as early on Sat. to go over and check in.
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Excellent! (I am from Marietta, BTW, Born at Kennestone! ) That sounds like a great plan, if he is amenable, I would look at Gainesville, as there is probably a few to choose from, ergo, cheaper rates! Lol!
Excuse me for hopping in but just had to smile at your question as Atlanta is our overnight stop otw to WDW.
To us with a 16-hour drive, the 6-7 hrs from your lovely city to Orlando seems like a short jaunt.
Me too...We stop just on the south side of Atlanta. But to be honest we don't go to Disney first we go to my brothers that is 1 1/2 hours north of Disney.
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Funny y'all. The reason we were considering stopping is that originally we were going to wait for our DS to get home from school. So that meant we would be leaving from the east side of Atlanta at around 3. It takes a while to get over to I75 and get south of the city. That means it would be late if we drove most of the way and DH had requested that we stop. Now being able to leave at noonish, we can drive all the way to Orlando and not have to get up quite as early the next morning to check in at AoA.
We stopped at Gainesville once, and it was an easy two hour drive into WDW the next morning. We were there at 7:00 am, checked in, and on the bus to a park by 7:30. I'd definitely recommend Gainesville.
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We are just about 45 minutes north-west of Atlanta, and we too just drive right through from our home to WDW with no overnight stays anywhere Its a nearly 8 hour drive.
My brother in law just graduated from Tech last year with honors. He also just started his online graduate program & he and my son just attended this past weekends GA Tech football game My son hopes to attend Tech one day, too. He's 10, so we still have a few years to go
I must say, those 6-7 hours from Orlando back to Atlanta otw home are about the most depressing ever. As a result, we usually spend that time talking about what was great and what we'll do differently next time.
One big advantage to driving is that I can dig around in all the loot we're hauling home and grab snacks easily or pull out a souvie to look at. Sure can't do that on a plane which is one reason why we like driving.
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I must say, those 6-7 hours from Orlando back to Atlanta otw home are about the most depressing ever. As a result, we usually spend that time talking about what was great and what we'll do differently next time.
I;m with you, so depressing. We usually head back to EPCOT that last day and try to run around as much as possible before we have to leave around noon. It's so hard to leave, we just keep saying one more thing.... We know, however, that we have to get back to grandma's before 8 or 9 pm!
My brother in law just graduated from Tech last year with honors. He also just started his online graduate program & he and my son just attended this past weekends GA Tech football game My son hopes to attend Tech one day, too. He's 10, so we still have a few years to go
Cool. Ga Tech is a great school. My DD is there right now studying Biomedical Engineering and my DS hopes to get accepted this year so he can start next fall.. Make sure you son gets ahead in Math. With the new common core curriculum math, if you stay right on the track you never get to calculus which you MUST have to get in. So if he can accelerate at some point and move up, he should be ok. And the more AP courses the better. But all that happens in high school, so you've got some time. We were at that game as well and boy was it HOT!! Hotter than usual. We go scorched. Looks like this weekend we'll get some rain.
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Mad for the Mouse
Last edited by GATechGal; 09-09-2014 at 09:41 AM..
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Its a nearly 8 hour drive. 
. Make sure you son gets ahead in Math. With the new common core curriculum math, if you stay right on the track you never get to calculus which you MUST have to get in. So if he can accelerate at some point and move up, he should be ok. And the more AP courses the better. But all that happens in high school, so you've got some time. We were at that game as well and boy was it HOT!! Hotter than usual. We go scorched. Looks like this weekend we'll get some rain.
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