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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I was so behind! I'm all caught up now, but I can't remember anything that I wanted to comment on Even though it seems a bit crowded at times, you are getting a lot done and having a ton of fun!
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Glad you enjoyed your dinner at CG! Everything looked delicious.
Ohhh it was so good!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lfredsbo
Your meal at CG looks yum! And of course you and your mom look adorable!
Sorry that neither one of you were feeling 100%, that's a bummer on vacation
Aw thank you! And yeah, sicky is no fun, but at least it meant we really got to enjoy the Club offerings! Lots of PJ time this trip...
Quote:
Originally Posted by JKnott17
I was so behind! I'm all caught up now, but I can't remember anything that I wanted to comment on Even though it seems a bit crowded at times, you are getting a lot done and having a ton of fun!
Sorry, I'm trying to write it all before I forget anything LOL! We were able to get a lot done, it wasn't nearly as bad as I had imagined
I had a few updates to catch up on - you're speedy .
We enjoyed BOG, but I'm not sure it's a must do from now on. I can see where your meal would be disappointing. Fortunately, your CG experience made up for it. Looked like a nice time with your Uncle at Epcot.
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Mmmmm, that meal looks so good! This is a must-do every trip for me. It never disappoints.
I've been trying not to repeat a restaurant two trips in a row, but I think it will definitely be back on the list soon!
Quote:
Originally Posted by shazza
I had a few updates to catch up on - you're speedy .
We enjoyed BOG, but I'm not sure it's a must do from now on. I can see where your meal would be disappointing. Fortunately, your CG experience made up for it. Looked like a nice time with your Uncle at Epcot.
I'm trying not to forget about this one, the faster I get through it the more likely you are to hear the end! All the restaurants have their ups and downs, I think the heavy crowds just took their toll on a few of them so it was a little worse than usual. Thankfully Cali Grill was peaceful and calm amidst it all!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
What a great dinner - so glad you enjoyed it. Oh boy, those macaroons look so I know what I'll be getting in France the next time we're back in Epcot!
They were tasty, but I prefer the bigger single one you can get with raspberries inside! (I got these cause I knew I wanted one later, travels better!)
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
Dinner looked amazing!! Glad you enjoyed the new California Grille!
While I'm on a roll with the updates, here's one more short one today
January 5, 2014: Day 8, Part 1 - A Royal Breakfast
Our last full-fledged Disney day but I wanted to make sure we started it off right, and I was actually quite excited about our morning plans Throughout the week they kept extending hours so that MK was opening at 8am, so I was a bit nervous that it would be a madhouse for our ADR but somehow we got lucky and the opening time stayed at 9am for this Sunday!
We got up and got ready pretty quickly, knowing we’d want picture time on the way to the castle. I was a little disappointed with my outfit choice when all was said and done, I typically like to look a little nicer for royalty, and then it got super hot outside so jeans were just a bad idea all around But what’s done is done, you can just tell I’m a little uncomfortable in my outfit at times.
Poly Bridge on the way out
Anyway, getting through the entrance was a breeze and soon we were off to Main Street for photo city! There were Photopass photographers everywhere and they were quite cheery and happy to take all the fun pics this morning I’m working my way through those slowly but surely so once I get the disk I will share all the fun
Deserted tree
empty Main Street
Seriously, no one!
The empty main street is one of the best parts about an early morning breakfast ADR, but I also just love eating in the Castle. It’s so magical! We were quickly checked in once we finally worked our way all the way back and sent in for a photo with the host of the morning, Cinderella. Remember all those friendly and fun Photopass photographers? Well they didn’t find there way in here. This lady was downright MISERABLE this morning. Remember her, she’s going to make an impact on this morning. We didn’t have any downtime and headed right up to be sat… at the perfect table! It was right by the window and ohh just so pretty!
Candid Cindy (and the meanie photographer!)
Menu & Wishing Star
Natural morning light, we were about to get some good character pics!
Our View
Our breakfast breads were brought out almost immediately and mom and I were pretty quick on deciding what to order. I’m not sure exactly when they updated the menu here, but it’s quite lovely now. The only downside is the food is obviously not made to order. I had asked for cheese on my eggs, because I don’t like them plain but I really wanted all the other stuff the “healthy breakfast” came with. It’s very apparent that they took a prepared dish and just tossed some cheese on top, it didn’t even melt (and those eggs didn’t get eaten)
Breakfast Breads
Steak and Eggs - grilled filet mignon on a mild Chipotle-caramelized onion frittata served with our signature rosemary-lemon roasted potatoes
Healthy Choice - scrambled egg whites, hot ten-grain cereal, greek yogurt topped with Castle-made granola, no sugar added walnut-sunflower bread and fresh fruit
My Favorite!
Seriously though, how tiny is Jasmine?
Despite that the food was great and the princesses were all just so lovely! We were done super quick, but we didn’t make it out into the park by opening. Why? Because our picture with Cinderella was honestly TERRIBLE. We both look awful, like in-between smiles and the shadow from the flash was so brutally ugly. This is really where I get peeved at Disney. They have all these character meet and greets set up, intended for pictures. But they don’t light the area at all for a good picture. Now that I’ve gone through some of my Photopass pics, I can tell you the quality is not as good as in the past. There are some nighttime pics where there was no balance and we are almost ghosts, and a lot more of the insanely horrendous flash shadows.
Anyway, we explained to the very nice PP salesperson who brought us our picture that we just really dislike it so much we don’t even want it. He offered to let us retake the photos, which was so nice! He said just go downstairs after you’re finished and don’t wait in line, just head right over, I’ll tell them you’re coming. So we go down and thankfully the OTHER Photopass photographer takes these pictures. The Christmas Tree is still up in here so we move over that way a little so the tree can diffuse the shadows a bit. Score! The very miserable photographer from earlier was still there, and very loudly making some very rude comments about us while we waited. So anyway, we sat off to the side and waited for our new pictures and (I wish I remembered his name) he finally came back out and had us look at them and OH MY GOSH SO MUCH BETTER! Although it took quite some time to reprint so it was about 9:20 now. No big deal, but still a little lame. The photopass photographers were weird about putting the pics on our PP+ card, but I quickly filed a “lost photos” claim and they were found and added
We headed out into the world armed with FP+ and some cameras, ready to tackle our last full Disney day!
What a shame about the miserable Photopass photographer - I can't believe she had the nerve to make comments about you when you came down to retake the shot.
What a shame about the bad-tempered photographer. I'm in agreement with you about the lighting at the character photo spots. Such a strange failure on their part-- very easy fix in most cases.
Boo to the grumpy photographer
I have also noticed some of the photo pass photographers are not so "talented"
Although the food and menu did look quite good.....might have to consider that again
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Lots of PJ time this trip...
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Oh boy, those macaroons look so 
I know what I'll be getting in France the next time we're back in Epcot! 
But what’s done is done, you can just tell I’m a little uncomfortable in my outfit at times.
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