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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Just returned from our January trip to Disney World.
January 9th through January 16th
My Dad and step-mother, 72 and 77 yrs
My husband - 53
My Daughter and Grandaughter - 30 and 4yrs
My Daughter - 25yrs
and our son - 13yrs.
Flew out of chilly Buffalo at 7am and arrived in Foggy Orlando at 9:45am.
Boarded the Magical Express and headed to Saratoga Springs Resort. Our room was not ready yet so we grabbed a bite to eat at the Artist Pallett - (QS). My sister, Brother -in law and nephew greeted us ( they are there with his family too). Spent the afternoon at the pool enjoying some cocktails and swimming till 4:45 pm.
( Didn't plan too well as we had to buy a bathing suit for the kids, and change our 1900 Park Fare rezzies from 4:30pm to 6:30pm. )
And then the rain started. We boarded a bus to the Magic Kingdom, then the monorail to The Grand Floridian. Let me add that my step-mother uses a scooter . It was pouring rain, buckets of water falling as the Magic Kingdom emptied out and the monorail filled up. Nope, we kept smiling and wiggled our way in and made it to dinner in just enough time.
1900 Park Fare is a buffet dinner featuring Cinderella, Prince Charming, Lady Troumaine, Anastasia and Druzella. Each came to our table and were totally in character. The sisters paid so much attention to my son, that at the end of the night he was flexing those 'beefy" muscles as Anastasia called them.
My grandaughter was awe struck to see Cinderella and Prince Charming in person that our pictures were priceless!!!
We ate our dinner ( You are definetly paying for the character interaction her as a Buffet is a buffet and no one can eat $45 worth.
We left dinner and hopped on the monorail and returned to Saratoga Springs the way we arrived. We were tired from getting up at 4am, that everyone was sleeping by 10pm.
Day 2 started early because we are all very excited. 5 showers, hair done and dressed and we made it to Hollywood Studios at 8:30. It was Extra Morning house so we got to walk right in. Well, I had the bag, so I stopped to get that checked and then I had gotten chosen to walk through the metal detector. It happened to be Disney marathon day and yep, that Marathon was running right through Hollywood Studios. We went to Star tours and Muppet 3D and headed to Hollywood and Vine for our 9:45 reservation with Disney JR characters.
Again, you pay for the character interaction here, because it was a $45 breakfast buffet. Dont get me wrong, the food in both places so far was great, but no one can or should eat what you pay!
We managed our way around to see Frozen , without a line, and walked the streets, got caught in a cross walk jam for 30 minutes, and continued with pixar place.
we ate lunch at the Brown Derby, had no idea it was that expensive, it was someplce my huisband wanted to try. we made out ok, and lunch was delicious.
Left there went to the great Movie Ride, then to see the last showing of Beauty and the Beast. My husband and son went on Rockin Rollercoaster and the girls and I roamed the streets. .
Left the park about 6:30pm. Ended up getting a bite to eat at the artist Pallett again.
Bed came early again. This is working out so far. More to come...
That is a good start to a trip. I agree on that arrival days when getting there early (a really early morning flight), it's a good idea to try and get to bed early.
On our trip in June, we didn't stay for fireworks at MK on the first day. It had rained the entire day, and we had been up since 3:30 a.m. So we decided about 8:30 or so to call it a night, and we were in bed around 10 or earlier, haha.
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Day 3 begins in our room with a small breakfast of bagels, english muffins, fruit and COFFEE. Tried with all of my might to see the opening show at MK, but arrived at 8:55am. Just missed it!
Again, my turn with the bag and again I got selected for the metal detector scan... (2 days in a row)
Main street is amazing, so crowded with people, people taking pictures, selfies, organizing themselves. First stop was hot chocolate and we continued to fantasyland. We had fastpasses for 7 Dwarfs Mine Ride. Thank you Fast Pass, the line at that time was already 45 minutes. left Fantasyland and headed over to Tomorrow Land.
My family hemmed and hawed at riding Tomorrowland speedway, but I think this turned out to be everyones most fun!!! onto Space Mountain used Riders Swap and that workedout great. Only hitch was the cast member couldnt speak well enough english to explain how it worked for us, so we proceeded on our own and figured it out.
While the rest of us used the Riders swap, my Husband, Daughter and grandaughter went on the People Mover, happened to get stuck on it but received 3 Fastpasses good till the end of January...bonus!
Monster's Laugh Floor was fun as well, 2 of the 6 of us were part of the show. My grandaughter was Boo and my Daughter (25) helped one of the monsters with his routine. Hilarious interactions!!! Glad I wasn't "that guy" .
Lunch at Starlight was great. I think we were all super hungry, but the food was good!
Met up with a friend from home and went on Carasel of Progress... wasn't tired enough to sleep, so we lost 20 minutes of our life here!
1/2 went on Space mountain the restof us ran around the gift shops looking for a new pair of flip flops , any shoe for my GD. Hers broke. Ended up with a pair of crocks. Only 1 pair her size in the whole kingdom... trust me we looked.
Found seats on the curb for the afternoon parade and it was perfect for us! After the parade we meandered toward Be Our Guest as we had 4pm dinner reservatons. Here's where it gets fun... Our server came out to get us and it turned out to be an old friend of mine from 17 years ago. It was awesome catching up and she gave us a lot of cool info on the castle and her job!!! Thank you Shelly!
the food here ws great, we had steak, seafood, wine, shared everything and our little Ella slept on her moms lap for the entire dinner!
Time for the main street Electrical parade and Wishes. Found a great spot just off of the hub, front row again. Not a bad seat in the house. Both parade and Fireworks were not disappointing.
I am not trying to maneuver a stroller down main street at this point, so my husband, son and friend left and the 4 of us that remained, walked around, went through the shopes, took pictures and finally when the streets were emptied, walked out!!! More enjoyable for all involved.
Made it back to the room at 10:30pm. Out like a light! Thak goodness we got that Final Kiss!!!
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