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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Wow! I just read through this entire TR! I can see you are truly crazy! It works! I love it! All your AKL and AK/TOL pics are fabulous. I adore AKL and AK! But your antics in DHS are over the top! Way ! I love it when people like to play. But see - you can't claim the castle if DHS is your fav. Just sayin'
Coop, I can see I'm going to have trouble with you . . . . since MY castle appears in every Disney film, it obviously belongs to DHS just as much as it does to the MK. And just so you know, I was born the same year Walt opened Disneyland (however, my "inner Gloria" is still going on 21 ), and I know Walt felt that he didn't name the DL castle after me, and since everybody knows the one at WDW is CINDY'S CASTLE, I think the connection is obvious.
That's it -- we're gonna have a smack down! I would love to meet you at the MK or DHS (or any of the other parks, including the watery ones). And yes, I am completely bonkers. At my age, it can almost be said I'm going through my second childhood -- although I don't think I ever finished my first one!
And now back to our story!
We stayed mostly in character after leaving the park. It was a fine night and so we walked back to the Beach Club, Sheri (I mean Marilyn) calling “Hello Dahling” to everyone we saw. When we got to the boardwalk, we started chatting with a man who was enjoying a beer. He finally asked me something indelicate, like was I or something, but of course I’m used to crazed fans and I'm sure I replied with some smart answer. .
We finally broke away from him and started heading toward the bridge to the Beach Club when I heard my beloved Lumiere’s voice coming from across the water. OMG, that’s right – Beauty and the Beast is playing tonight! “Encroachers! Invaders!” I picked up my pace even though Sheri said, “There’s no way you’re going to make it in time – the movie will be over.” Well, we went into our building via the back way. I dumped my hat, cigarette holder, stole, and backpack and simply took my room card and camera and dashed back to the beach. Sheri was going to check out the doggie care area to see if her pooches would enjoy it on a future trip with David.
Picture me – running through the sand – as I can hear the Beast transforming into the Prince. OMG, I made it! I got to watch the end of the movie with the sand and the water and the reflections. It was a perfectly ending to my perfect day!
“Tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme – Beauty and the Beast.” Best. Movie. Ever.
As I thought about meeting Brent and Liz (and knowing they will be friends of mine forever ) and spending almost the entire day in character with dear Sheri, I all the way back to our room.
And I thought of a line from Field of Dreams and slightly reworked it. I think you’ll agree, too: “Is this heaven? No – it’s Walt Disney World.”
That’s what I call a Walt and Me Moment. And it sure feels good.
Oh – switching gears now -- I think this was the night that the Mousekeeper (whom we had been tipping generously and leaving notes for each morning) left a Swan Towel on Sheri’s bed. So we took appropriate photos, of course!
photo of us with the birthday boy...i KNEW i had one!
yes, dahlings. it was a fabulous day at my least favorite park (i know...none of you believe it, but it is true.). it was such fun being the star i was born to be....cough cough cough.
When I don't have a photo of something, it tends to slip what's left of my mind.
Sheri and I both tend to point out little princesses in all the parks, and when we approach a family with a princess or two in tow, Sheri will curtsy and say, "Your Highness" to them. We generally make a fuss over any well-behaved children who have Disney shirts on, etc.
Well, when we were in "character" at DHS, the reactions were absolutely priceless. Picture us, waving our cigarette holders and wearing our bright lipstick and hats, bowing and curtsying over little girls in strollers, calling them "Your Highness" and "Your Majesty."
The kids generally looked at us like this and the parents and grandparents would be absolutely
It definitely adds a level of fun to be dressed up and behaving like Hollywood stars.
And of course, heaven help any little girl dressed as Belle -- I go completely
I bet some of those families we passed are wishing they'd whipped out their cameras. Those encounters are so brief that you just don't think about it.
Whew! Glad I remembered to share that! Good times, good times!
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photo of us with the birthday boy...i KNEW i had one!
yes, dahlings. it was a fabulous day at my least favorite park (i know...none of you believe it, but it is true.). it was such fun being the star i was born to be....cough cough cough.
Sheri, I didn't realize you'd brought your camera with you to that table. Well done, understudy!
Coop, I can see I'm going to have trouble with you . . . . since MY castle appears in every Disney film, it obviously belongs to DHS just as much as it does to the MK. And just so you know, I was born the same year Walt opened Disneyland (however, my "inner Gloria" is still going on 21 ), and I know Walt felt that he didn't name the DL castle after me, and since everybody knows the one at WDW is CINDY'S CASTLE, I think the connection is obvious.
That's it -- we're gonna have a smack down! I would love to meet you at the MK or DHS (or any of the other parks, including the watery ones). And yes, I am completely bonkers. At my age, it can almost be said I'm going through my second childhood -- although I don't think I ever finished my first one!
I'd meet ya! LOL! You may have the name but the logo castle at the beginning of the movies is actually that of Sleeping Beauty Castle.
It's good that you haven't finished your first childhood. Disney is a great place for kids! We are just big kids too!. People probably thought you were part of the "streetmosphere" in DHS!
Oh. I am laughing so hard that my tummy hurts. Just caught up and truely enjoyed all your fun. Thanks for the info about Jiko....thinking we should do a date night for that. I look forward to reading more.
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I'm thinking you two ought to be up for Oscars for best actresses during a day at DHS! You were both fabulous! Thanks for making me smile while reading!
Thursday, Feb 9 was checkout day but since my entire trip had been so satisfying, I actually didn't mind (much ). I crammed as much into my check-on bag as possible and took it to the DME desk where they weighed it -- 47 pounds, whew! glad I was under the limit ), Sheri kindly carried my water bottle & sunglasses in her backpack so I could leave my heavily-laden one with Bell Services, and we went back to Kouzzina for breakfast.
This time, we both had the oatmeal and felt quite virtuous. We were back to being Sheri and Cindy and since we looked fairly presentable, we allowed a Cast Member at Kouzzina to take this photo. (We are not camera-shy, as you may have noticed. )
It was another fine day. I promptly dragged Sheri over to Sum of All Thrills (yes, she had created a monster on Monday ) and we decided we should probably ride separately. So while she made herself a gentle toboggan ride, I created the loopiest, fastest, steepest, most upside-down Star Jet ride of them all! A man who was in line with us said later, “I think you were upside-down more than you were upright.”
So here is how Cindy versus Sheri feel about Sum of All Thrills:
Sheri insisted on going into the Journey to Imagination store so we could pose for – you guessed it – a photo!
I present this as further evidence that it truly is MY castle (although I don't expect Coop to accept it anytime soon ). They don’t let just anyone fly over it, you know!
It was still too early for lunch at Chefs, so we tracked down a Disney PhotoPass person – oh, what am I saying? SHE tracked US down, of course! She was a lot of fun, coming up with different places & ways to pose.
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It works! I love it! All your AKL and AK/TOL pics are fabulous. I adore AKL and AK! But your antics in DHS are over the top! Way 
. . . . since MY castle appears in every Disney film, it obviously belongs to DHS just as much as it does to the MK. And just so you know, I was born the same year Walt opened Disneyland (however, my "inner Gloria" is still going on 21 
), and I know Walt felt 
that he didn't name the DL castle after me, and since everybody knows the one at WDW is CINDY'S CASTLE, I think the connection is obvious. 
-- we're gonna have a smack down! 
I would love to meet you at the MK or DHS (or any of the other parks, including the watery ones). And yes, I am completely bonkers. At my age, it can almost be said I'm going through my second childhood -- although I don't think I ever finished my first one! 
I picked up my pace even though Sheri said, “There’s no way you’re going to make it in time – the movie will be over.” Well, we went into our building via the back way. I dumped my hat, cigarette holder, stole, and backpack and simply took my room card and camera and dashed back to the beach. Sheri was going to check out the doggie care area to see if her pooches would enjoy it on a future trip with David. 
ending to my perfect day!
all the way back to our room. 
Katie's graduation
You were both fabulous! 
PassPorter Guide Author
but since my entire trip had been so satisfying, I actually didn't mind (much 
), Sheri kindly carried my water bottle & sunglasses in her backpack so I could leave my heavily-laden one with Bell Services, and we went back to Kouzzina for breakfast. 
She was a lot of fun, coming up with different places & ways to pose.
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