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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 anxious to see the new 60th Anniversary version of World of Color. It was terrific, but to be honest, I like the original a smidge better. This one was great, though!
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Once it ended, we made our way out of the park with everyone else. Karen and I walked Chez and Mark back to the Grand Californian and then we continued on to the DLH.
Both parks were closed fairly early, so Karen and I hung out in the lounge for a while. We could see fireworks going off at Disneyland. That park had closed at 7:00 for what we found out was a Cast Member party. If I remember, you’re invited after every 5th anniversary. Anyway, even though it would’ve been nice to hang out at DL that evening, we thought it was cool that the CMs got such an awesome celebratory party. And the fireworks were great, from what we could see.
I think Karen spent a little time packing up, since she’d be heading home very early the next day. I had plans to visit DL park to hopefully get on Space Mountain and Haunted Mansion, both of which were going to reopen with their holiday themes the next day. Hopefully. Why yes, that is foreshadowing.
Up Next: Both rides are down?!?
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
How neat you were able to watch those fireworks! I'm sure we must've watched rehearsals on the Tuesday night from Club 33 for that... sadly no fireworks, but we saw other entertainment being rehearsed.
Just wanted you to know I'm wnjoying your new updates and photos!!! I'm so sad to see BTM Ranch go.... It was already closed, except the BBQ plsce, on our trip last December.
But, nothing we nostalgist a can do to stop progress. To infinity and beyond!!!
Sounds like such a fun night with Cheryl and Mark! Your dinner looked so delicious and the WOC pictures were beautiful! Looking forward to seeing that show. Did you get the WOC dinner package so you'd have a guaranteed viewing area? Was it so crowded that you needed to do that?
Some very big updates on this TR! Great photos and you and Karen certainly covered a lot of territory with so many attractions in the various areas of DL! Looked like a great dinner with Cheryl and Mark at Cathay Circle! You certainly covered the WOC show very well with some amazing photos! Looks like an incredible show and a great way to end the evening!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
What an awesome finish to this day! You all packed in a lot of my favorites: Carthay Circle for dinner (I'm already planning the WoC dinner package for here on our next trip.), DCA at night which is so impressive, and World of Color. I've no idea about the original version, but the 60th Anniversary version total blew me away. The night we saw it I knew that one trip to DLR would never ever be enough.
How neat you were able to watch those fireworks! I'm sure we must've watched rehearsals on the Tuesday night from Club 33 for that... sadly no fireworks, but we saw other entertainment being rehearsed.
It was a fun surprise to get to watch the fireworks. It made the 5th night in a row where we were able to see fireworks from wherever we were.
Quote:
Originally Posted by benchley
Fabulous photos. It looked like a great show
It was!
Quote:
Originally Posted by KimmyAnn1147
Just wanted you to know I'm wnjoying your new updates and photos!!! I'm so sad to see BTM Ranch go.... It was already closed, except the BBQ plsce, on our trip last December.
But, nothing we nostalgist a can do to stop progress. To infinity and beyond!!!
I'm not one of those who thinks nothing should change, but I also reserve the right to miss things that are gone.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
Love the pictures of the parade, from the balcony.
Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lindawdw
Sounds like such a fun night with Cheryl and Mark! Your dinner looked so delicious and the WOC pictures were beautiful! Looking forward to seeing that show. Did you get the WOC dinner package so you'd have a guaranteed viewing area? Was it so crowded that you needed to do that?
Yes, we got the WOC package, which I would recommend. You have to eat anyway, and even during slow seasons, WOC draws a crowd.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
You got a great view of the parade from that balcony!
Great pictures of WoC!
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
Some very big updates on this TR! Great photos and you and Karen certainly covered a lot of territory with so many attractions in the various areas of DL! Looked like a great dinner with Cheryl and Mark at Cathay Circle! You certainly covered the WOC show very well with some amazing photos! Looks like an incredible show and a great way to end the evening!
It was a fabulous day!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
What an awesome finish to this day! You all packed in a lot of my favorites: Carthay Circle for dinner (I'm already planning the WoC dinner package for here on our next trip.), DCA at night which is so impressive, and World of Color. I've no idea about the original version, but the 60th Anniversary version total blew me away. The night we saw it I knew that one trip to DLR would never ever be enough.
One visit is definitely not enough! Now you have to go during Christmas time!
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
Day Ten – Friday, September 11 Both rides are down?!?
Karen was up with the chickens, so I got up a little early to see her off. I don’t think I was already awake. Anyway, we said our goodbyes for the moment, happy to know we’d be seeing one another again in 2 months.
I had a quick breakfast in the lounge and then headed down to Disneyland to make rope drop. I wasn’t surprised to see a lot of people already there – I actually think some locals had come to DL before work to check out the holiday overlays.
I decided to head to Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy first because I figured that Haunted Mansion Holiday was a faster-moving line. Sadly, when I got to Space Mountain, I learned it was down.
So then I walked double-time back across the park to HMH. I was slightly horrified to discover the queue was all the way out into the walkway. Yikes!
I figured out that the queue wasn’t as long as it seemed – the ride was down and they weren’t letting people into the queue. So I was seeing the queue to get into the queue. Once they opened up, it got much more manageable, and I patted myself on the back for figuring it out and not bailing.
I sent a text to Cheryl to find out where she and Mark were. She responded that they were in the queue for HMH. Me too! After we both described where we were, we figured out that we were on opposite sides of the same wall. How funny!
I was constantly checking my app for both Space Mountain (still down) and HMH. HMH showed it was opening soon, and shortly thereafter, we began to move again. This is such a wonderful overlay, and it’s only at Disneyland, so I was thrilled to get to see it before I left. I was also hoping to get to see the new Hatbox Ghost. Did I ever! But more on that in a second.
I was pleased to get some decent photos of the ride!
Each year, there’s a different gingerbread house in the ballroom. I thought this year’s version was pretty cool!
They were still ironing out some of the kinks, because our doombuggies stopped completely. I was very excited because I was directly in front of the new Hatbox Ghost.
We were stopped there so long, that I was even able to get a fantastic video of it!
Click picture to see video
After I’d taken the video, the ride restarted.
After that, Cheryl & Mark went off to get breakfast while I walked back over to get SM FPs The ride was still down, but I was hoping it’d be up before too long. My plan was to hit the road about 11:00, but I could possibly push that back a bit if I needed to.
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I think I'm posting at the same rate you are... 
Anyway, even though it would’ve been nice to hang out at DL that evening, we thought it was cool that the CMs got such an awesome celebratory party. 
I had plans to visit DL park to hopefully get on Space Mountain and Haunted Mansion, both of which were going to reopen with their holiday themes the next day. Hopefully. 
Why yes, that is foreshadowing. 
Great photos and you and Karen certainly covered a lot of territory with so many attractions in the various areas of DL! 
After we both described where we were, we figured out that we were on opposite sides of the same wall. How funny! 
This is such a wonderful overlay, and it’s only at Disneyland, so I was thrilled to get to see it before I left. I was also hoping to get to see the new Hatbox Ghost. Did I ever! But more on that in a second.
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