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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Great update! Love the pictures from CRT and the character ones! Sorry Lenny is still being crabby!
Thanks Marnie
Quote:
Originally Posted by phoebec
I'm glad you enjoyed CRT, we really thought it was great as well. Sorry the grumpies persisted into the rest of the day. Can't wait to read more!
Thanks Phoebe. I won't post more today though - hopefully tomorrow.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Principessa_di_Fata
I'm late to the party (seems to be the usual with me these days, lol) but I am all caught up in one sitting and am cracking up at your TR! I lose my sunglasses on every vacation. Actually just this past Thursday I lost the little suckers yet again. Guess I'll be buying a new pair!
Looking forward to reading more and more and more!
Better late than never and I'm glad you're enjoying it. Good luck holding onto your new pair of glasses. And you'll read more alright - I still have most of my vacation to go.
Quote:
Originally Posted by phoebec
I was just thinking, I am SO glad you found your purse or Lenny really would have had a fit!!!!!! I lose things all the time too and it really irritates my husband too
Why is that - that the husbands get so irritated? I just don't get it, especially if we're not upset. And losing my purse was different because when it wasn't on the scooter, I knew exactly where it should of been. And that ended up being a case of we hoped someone didn't walk off with it - which luckily no one had.
Quote:
Originally Posted by scrappyjae
I haven't done CRT, but maybe will have to try it some time. My DD would like that, not sure about my DS. Might be a little to "girly" for him.
For the boys at CRT, they do hand out swords instead - would that get his interest?
Quote:
Originally Posted by sophierushmom
I swear you should have just dropped Lenny off at our hotel and he could have sat by the pool drinking Makers Mark with my husband. That would have helped with his sour mood.
Sure, NOW you tell me Where was the offer when I could have used it?
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
Sorry about Lenny's grumpy attitude. Great pictures from Ohana and CRT. Glad you were able to find your glasses!
Thanks Kathy
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Great character photos! Sorry things weren't going so great with Lenny.
Thanks Cheryl. Lenny is Lenny - to know him is to love him (and forgive him for being a irritating male )
It really sounds like you guys managed to make the best of a rainy day and your meal at CRT sounds great. I'm happy you are converted. We don't do it every trip, but it seems really special when we do manage to squeeze it in. I think you might need to slip some St John's Wort into Lenny's OJ on the first few days at Disney!
You guys got a lot done - even in the rain!
I love all of the pictures of Abby with the princesses!
Your meal at CRT sounds so yummy! We haven't eaten there in years!
Thanks. That's one thing I refuse to do at Disney - let the rain ruin my fun. Lenny - yeah but not the rain. And this year Abby did GREAT I really thought she was going to get upset and ask to leave the park like she tried last year but nope, not once did she do that. We just got out the ponchos and the umbrella and headed to any indoor ride where we didn't even notice it was raining
Quote:
Originally Posted by WeLuvTheWorld
Just got all caught up. So glad that your flight went so well. I know how nervous you were about doing that. How lucky you were to find your sunglasses in the car, although I'm sorry that misplacing them caused so much turmoil for you. My DH loses his sunglasses everywhere. Fortunately, he buys cheap ones at the store but since he seems to have to buy them at least once every other week or so, his sunglass budget in a year could buy him a very nice pair. In June, he managed to lose two pairs of sunglasses in one day while we were at WDW! Sounds like you all didn't let the rain slow you down too much. Looking forward to reading how the rest of your week goes - Thanks for sharing!
Thanks - I'm glad you're enjoying my TR. Sorry to hear your hubby always loses his glasses. Nope, we didn't let the rain effect us, there's no need to IMO. It was only rain after all and despite what Lenny might think of me at times, even standing out in it, I didn't melt (nor did Lenny or Abby)
Quote:
Originally Posted by taylan1
Thanks for the info. I will have to remember this. I know the prices have gone up for Sea World and it would be great to get his ticket at 1/2 price since he will not do more than half the stuff in the park anyway. So any savings is great! We did not go for the second day either on our last trip so it would not matter as would we more than likely not do the second day on our next trip either. Great information, I appreciate it very much.
Also, I do have to mention that on our last trip then entire time I kept putting my sunglasses on top of my hat that I was wearing and would constantly take off the hat when inside and the glasses would fall off. It was silly but I still kept doing it. LOL I am surprised they are still intact.
Good luck with trying for Sea World - and I'm glad I could help you with the info. And as for your glasses - it's habit, which is very hard to break. That's my problem with my glasses. My habit is to put them in my pocket instead of the eye glass holder (that I bought when I lost them the first time at Disney) which I wear on a lanyard - that I wear all the time - at Disney . I wasn't at Disney so I wasn't wearing the lanyard so habit kicked in and in my pocket the glasses went. Next time I'll just hopefully just wear the lanyard no matter where I go
Quote:
Originally Posted by WeRDisneyFanatics
Glad you had a good dinner at CRT!
Thanks. We enjoyed it. I just wish now I took pictures to show you guys. For some reason I just have this thing about taking pictures of the food - I'd feel really strange doing it and can't bring myself to even try just once.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Huntermom
Sorry about Lenny's crankiness but I'm glad you found your sunglasses. Want to hear my story about my ex leaving his wallet (with all his ID) in the rental car in Guadalajara and the refusing to try to go back to the airport to see if was there? Only to have them call him after we spent a morning at the American consulate doing paperwork so he could get back in the country?
That's a male for you - stubborn as a mule. I'm glad to see Lenny's not the only one who can be like that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by saibot0001
I may have spoken to soon about the grumpier ending! I can't believe you walked to the hotdog place and Lenny was at the gift shop the whole time! I chuckled a bit when you said you stood out in the rain and got soaked b/c you were upset...sounded like something I would have done and then I would have been mad that I was the one getting wet! LOL. I too was glad you found your purse! I thought, man Lenny is going to be really upset if she doesn't find it! So glad when I read the CM brought it to you! Glad you enjoyed your dinner at CRT. Our experience a few years back was not so great and very rushed, but I'm thinking maybe we should give it another try. Loving your TR! Will patiently wait for more.
I can't believe I walked to Casey's and he was in the gift shop the whole time either . And yeah, I was none too happy about getting soaked. I blamed it all on Lenny - only in my head though. I wasn't about to go there . It's funny how Lenny was less mad about my misplaced purse - with cash, credit cards, our room keys, etc inside - than he was about my glasses. Go figure the more valuable item didn't make him so mad . We've had 2 good meals (breakfast and dinner) at CRT and I swore I'd never go there in the first place so I'll be the first one to say give it another try. It might make a difference.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kangelop
I hope Lenny just woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and all will be well tomorrow, and the rest of the trip.
Kim, I can't even tell you what Lenny's problem was - I don't think he can even tell what it was. He tries to fall back on the excuse "I was tired" but for the most part, this vacation started off no differently than any other vacation so I don't buy the tired excuse. Talk about tired, I was up at 1:15 am on Wednesday, 7 am on Thursday and 6 am on Friday - at least an half an hour or more before him every morning- and I was the last one to lay down every night so IMO he got to sleep in every morning and go to bed early and had no right to say "I'm tired." At one point in time on vacation, I don't remember when it was I outright told him to his face "Tough - suck it up, we're at Disney. You can either get out of bed and have fun or spend the day at the hotel by yourself because I don't come to Disney to hang around a bleeping hotel."
It really sounds like you guys managed to make the best of a rainy day and your meal at CRT sounds great. I'm happy you are converted. We don't do it every trip, but it seems really special when we do manage to squeeze it in. I think you might need to slip some St John's Wort into Lenny's OJ on the first few days at Disney!
Thanks Heather - we did because I refuse to let the rain slow me down at Disney. And this year Abby didn't either (way to go Abby). The meal was really good and therefore I won't ever say "never" about it again. It might be like you and "not this trip" but with 2 good meals there, I'm definitely willing to go back again. As for Lenny, I need to slip something into his drink, I just don't know what .
Glad you enjoyed CRT! We have always liked it as well, though it's been a few years since we ate there. My boys are old enough now that it's hard to convince them to go.
Love all the photos of Abby with the princesses and with Mickey & Minnie. Sounds like you got quite a bit done. The rain does help chase away some folks, which makes it easier for us die hard Disney people!
I love the pictures of Abby with the princesses! She looks like she really enjoyed herself. Kudos to you and Abby for dealing with the rain. When it rains at Disney you just need to make the best of it. Hope things went better after a good night's sleep.
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Kim, I can't even tell you what Lenny's problem was - I don't think he can even tell what it was. He tries to fall back on the excuse "I was tired" but for the most part, this vacation started off no differently than any other vacation so I don't buy the tired excuse. Talk about tired, I was up at 1:15 am on Wednesday, 7 am on Thursday and 6 am on Friday - at least an half an hour or more before him every morning- and I was the last one to lay down every night so IMO he got to sleep in every morning and go to bed early and had no right to say "I'm tired." At one point in time on vacation, I don't remember when it was I outright told him to his face "Tough - suck it up, we're at Disney. You can either get out of bed and have fun or spend the day at the hotel by yourself because I don't come to Disney to hang around a bleeping hotel."
I am the same way with my Dh....lol I have told my Dh the same exact thing! I am up before everyone too....and have to play drill sargent getting them all up and moving, saying we are at Disney and they are getting up and having fun if it kills them....lol Not really but you know what I mean....lol
Great TR thus far, I can't wait to continue reading about it.....
Loving the TR. I hope the rest of your trip is better than the first 2 days although you sound like it didnt get you down. As for CRT, we went in 09 and Im going with DD in Dec and then DH and I are going in May. I love CRT.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
CRT sounded like a lot of fun and I am glad that Abby enjoyed it. SHe looked so cute getting her picture taken with the Princesses and that some were more favorites than others. Your food sounded good,even with no pictures. Funny how some people just try to hide out from the rain. I duck into a place long enough to put on the Poncho. Lenny is right though, i will give him this one I too notice when we get a Jungle cruise pilot with good timing and have a sense of humor to go with their speil. Theymake it much more funny than the ones that just give out the lines.
an early night sounds like it was in order
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Sorry for the rain, we are the same way, unless it is a typhoon going on it is just rain. We hit it a few times on our trip, grabbed the umbrella and moved on while everyone else stayed huddled in doorways.
So glad that you had such a wonderful meal at CRT, love all the photos of Abby with the chracters. Love her choices of baby plushes as well, Angel likes them and has the Simba and just got the Dumbo for her birthday.
I had a couple of great experiences in the rain at Disney! Cleared the parks right out! Once at Epcot I was alone because my family wanted to sleep in so I just skipped merrily along - no umbrella, splashing in the puddles and getting soaked! People thought I was nuts, but hey, I was having fun! And another time at MK there was literally NO ONE except me, my sister and little Evan in Fantasyland! After about 20 minutes a mom, 2 little princesses and their grandma showed up! It was great!
Never let the rain slow you down! Hopefully we'll hear about the sun shining for the rest of your trip though!