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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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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.
Tina
2009 Feb Disneyland - offsite
2007 Aug WDW - offsite
2005 June DCL West Coast/DL & DCA
2002 April Disneyland - offsite
2000 September WDW/DCL - CBR/Wonder
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
I have to say I agree with you 100% about Space Mountain. DH and I have decided that we will never ride it again at WDW. The one at DLR seems much better, so we're going to be West Coast Space Mountain riders from now on!
I love the lasagna at Tutto--it's one of my favorite Disney foods--yum! Great time at the MK. I'm not sure when they did it, but we noticed last week that Space Mountain has new seat backs--much more comfy than the old ones--I bounced around a lot less than I remember. They must have been almost brand new because there was zero wear and tear on any of the ones we saw on several rides.
I woke up a little after 8 a.m., so I had about 5 hours of invigorating sleep. But, you know what? It was enough! Today my first baby was turning double digits and I was super excited!
I got myself ready first and let Mary Devall sleep as long as possible. About 9 a.m., I began the chore of waking her, but she was surprisingly pretty rested. Must have been the birthday thing!
Before she even got out of bed, I let her know that I had been able to snag a later ADR, so she was beyond happy. She had been so torn last night because she really wanted to eat at Tusker House for her birthday. She got ready quickly and then we waited approximately 30 seconds before an AK bus showed up. We got on with one other couple and had the bus to ourselves because no one else got on at GF or at BB.
We even arrived at AK with enough time to pick up FP’s at EE!
They took us back fairly quickly at Tusker House. When we stopped to take a picture with Donald, all of the CM’s were so nice and so chatty (my kind of people! ).
We were shown to a little two top in the corner and immediately went up to fill our plates with breakfast goodies. In between eating, all of the characters stopped by to wish Mary Devall Happy Birthday.
She started the day with a birthday cupcake and couldn’t have been any happier. So much so that it made Mary Devall’s Top Ten Reasons (to Celebrate Turning at Disney): Eating birthday treats.
After our character-filled breakfast, we walked on to the safari and had a great driver named Angie. We loved her so much that we took a picture with her which tickled her since apparently no one had ever asked before.
We then did a little shopping in Africa and remembered right away to have our purchases sent back to the room this time. Our EE FP’s were almost ripe, but we took the long way via Dino Land so that we could pick up Dinosaur FP’s.
After a fun ride on EE, it was time for a rehydration break. Although we were right across the way from Y&Y, I opted for a mango smoothie instead of a Yak Attack because it was hot, hot, hot (I’m sensing that my next invitation to a Yak Attack meet might just get lost in the mail with that little revelation ). Mary Devall was even more boring than me and went with a bottle of water.
We took our pseudo snacks by the river and took a break. In hindsight, that smoothie could have used a splash of rum because it was way too sweet. I could barely even finish half of it (and you can guarantee that I’ve never said that about a Yak Attack ).
Once we had cooled off a bit, we picked up FP’s for KRR before heading to Dinosaur to use our FP’s. We were a little early, but the standby line was only 10 minutes so we rode it standby first and then circled back around to use our FP’s. It actually took us longer to ride using the FP’s.
The second time we rode, a lady in front of us kept using the flash on her camera to take pictures of her riding companions - - to the point that I had to hold my hand in front of my eyes to keep from getting blinded. I didn’t worry too much since I knew once we started rocking and rolling on the ride, the camera would have to go - - and it did.
We wandered back over to EE and discovered that the wait time was only 20 minutes. We decided to go for it and ended up behind a sweet family who were riding EE for the first time. Mary Devall was thrilled that she had some new people to share her EE knowledge.
Afterwards, Mary Devall wanted us to use the SRL, but I had had enough EE for a while. She decided on ice cream instead, so we ended up walking halfway around the park to find her some ice cream (just like exits on an airplane, sometimes the closest ice cream stand is behind you ).
She ordered a single scoop of cookies and cream and the CM asked her if he could put a gummy worm on top since it was her birthday. Of course, she said “yes” but she ended up with about 20 gummy worms instead of one to the point where they were literally falling off (or squirming away . . . yuck )! We sat on a low wall and let her take her time enjoying her ice cream . . . and the worms.
After that I decided that I was finally ready for a snack, so we stopped at the kiosk at the intersection of Africa and Asia and I got a lemonade and . Two college interns were working there from Texas and NC and they were as sweet as could be. We really met some great CM’s on this trip.
As we walked along, I asked Mary Devall if she wanted to ride the SRL by herself at EE. She quickly said yes, so we headed in that direction and asked the CM at the line if she was old enough to ride by herself. He asked her how old she was and then said that if was okay with me, then it was okay with him.
She was so happy and took off without a look back. I sat in the shaded area near there and enjoyed my popcorn and drink while waiting on her. When she returned, she was still excited and told me that she talked and talked and talked to her riding companion until she realized that he didn’t speak English (just in case anyone is keeping score: non-English speaking tourists – 2; Mary Devall – 0).
So when you’ve done everything else that you could possibly want to do at AK, it’s time to ride KRR. If you get drenched, you can just head back to your hotel. The FP wasn’t moving at first because I think someone in line finally figured out that they were in the standby line and moved over to the FP line on the left. The division between the two lines is very confusing on KRR.
We had fun laughing with the family behind us at all of the soaking wet people coming off the ride. We ended up on the same boat with this family and we cracked up the entire ride - - I think that everyone got at least a little wet on this ride, but Mary Devall came off the best since she wore her poncho. Since we were heading right to DHS after this, I took no chances and just wrapped a poncho around my backside which worked like a charm.
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Love the pictures! 
Melanie
,
But, you know what? It was enough! Today my first baby was turning double digits and I was super excited! 
We got on with one other couple and had the bus to ourselves because no one else got on at GF or at BB. 
). 
In between eating, all of the characters stopped by to wish Mary Devall Happy Birthday.
Mary Devall’s Top Ten Reasons (to Celebrate Turning at Disney): Eating birthday treats.
because it was hot, hot, hot (I’m sensing that my next invitation to a Yak Attack meet might just get lost in the mail with that little revelation 
to take pictures of her riding companions - - to the point that I had to hold my hand in front of my eyes to keep from getting blinded. I didn’t worry too much since I knew once we started rocking and rolling on the ride, the camera would have to go - - and it did. 
). 
. Two college interns were working there from Texas and NC and they were as sweet as could be. We really met some great CM’s on this trip. 
The division between the two lines is very confusing on KRR. 
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