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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Sorry about the rough start but glad to hear things got better. Looking forward to hearing about the fun coming up!
As much as we enjoy Disney, we almost never stay on property anymore because of the prices. We always drive to WDW so we always have a car with us. We would rather spend less money and stay offsite. Every few years we will tack on a few nights at the end of our trip and stay onsite at one of the Moderate resorts so we can get some Disney resort time.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Sorry for the rough start at AoA! thanks for the review!!
I hope the review would help someone else thinking about staying there.
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Originally Posted by OhToodles!
I think Marnie said it well!
Looking forward to the fun part!
Fun part is coming up.
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Originally Posted by Cam22
I genuinely appreciate your review of AoA as it helps me when some of my younger friends ask for resort advice.
Your Welcome. I can see some issue with the size of the rooms if you have a family staying there.
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Originally Posted by lfredsbo
Such a bummer to have such a rough start to your vacation.
I guess a little rain must fall on everyone at some point.
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Originally Posted by wheezie
Wow, what a rough start. I can't wait to read how it got better!
Coming right up.
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Originally Posted by rosanna
We have stayed at AoA a couple of times. I totally feel you about the distance to the bus stop. We usually have a car, so we quickly figured out that if we were taking the bus, we would drive to the bus stop. Walking there in the morning when you are rested and excited is fine, but walking back after closing down MK with EMH? No way Jose. We werenever so happy to drive half a mile
I love having a car at Disney and if stayed at AOA again would want to have one again.
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Originally Posted by SharonK0527
Sorry about the rough start but glad to hear things got better. Looking forward to hearing about the fun coming up!
As much as we enjoy Disney, we almost never stay on property anymore because of the prices. We always drive to WDW so we always have a car with us. We would rather spend less money and stay offsite. Every few years we will tack on a few nights at the end of our trip and stay onsite at one of the Moderate resorts so we can get some Disney resort time.
On a trip a few years back we rented a home off site and got a 10% off our next visit. I'm really going to think about the condo/townhouse thing for next trip.
My original plans for arrival into the bubble were to head straight to the Walt Disney World Raceway so Evan could do the Richard Petty Jr Ride Along. I was debating on this when they announced the program was closing so I thought it was now or never. Then after the accident I again wasn’t sure. About a week before the trip I went online to check everything as you could now make a reservation so I was planning that. What I found out is that the race track was closed on Thursdays. This was the only day we had available so I suppose the decision was made for me. Fortunately I hadn’t said anything to Evan about it so there was no disappointment.
What I’m thinking about now is going to Daytona as a day trip on our next visit as the speedway there still offers the program. I’ll just have to see how things play out when I begin to plan that trip.
So at this point we really had the afternoon free. We decided to check out the pools and did some pool hopping. All were pretty crowded but it was the middle of the afternoon so that was to be expected. It felt nice to just have some down time. I love to stretch out my muscles in the pool and after the 2 days of driving it felt nice to float around for a little. Evan and I had a catch with the ball we brought. He spent some time jumping in and out of the pool. All-told I think we spent about 2-3 hours just swimming, pool hopping and walking the resort. We also filled up our mugs. About 6pm we headed back to the room to change and head off to dinner. I had an ADR at the Rain Forest Café in AK.
I knew I would be driving over to AK so I wasn’t concerned about catching a bus. When we arrived at AK there was no one in the parking toll booth as I expected since the park closed at 7pm. I went to park and somehow ended in the back section. I was hoping to arrive at the front so we wouldn’t need a tram car but that didn’t work. We parked up and there was a tram car sitting there so we hopped right on board. We were the only ones heading to the park. Big surprise since it was now 6:45. The tram CM told me I should have NOT followed the parking signs but the passenger pickup/drop off signs and that would have gotten me the parking area right up next to the entrance. Live and learn. Good thing to know for next time.
I had an ADR but we really didn’t need one. There was a small surge of guests as the park was closing and I felt like a lemming swimming upstream to get to the restaurant but we gave them our name and we were seated immediately, passing many empty tables along the way. What was really nice is we got a 4 top table for just the 2 of us so we were able to spread out a little.
We have been to the RFC over in DTD a few times and the one in Atlantic City NJ several times too but this was our first time at AK. If you have been to one you know they are all the same but Evan likes them and it was fun. He used to be terrified by the thunderstorms when he was a toddler and I would have to cover his ears. It just goes to show how much he has grown up.
Evan got chicken fingers and fries – what a shocker - and I got a burger. We split mozzarella sticks and got our included desserts to go, which we never ended up eating anyway. Everything was yummy and we had a nice time. Evan actually did the word search rather than play on his Kindle and we talked about our day so far and what we wanted to do tomorrow.
Soon enough the bill was settled and I could feel myself getting sleepy. We headed outside and a storm was happening close by. Evan, using the counting lightning/thunder technique and determined the storm was 7 miles away. You could just feel it in the air. The breeze was picking up and the dark clouds were moving in but we didn’t get any rain out of it, not where we were, somewhere else (7 miles away) was definitely getting a storm.
Back at the room I did a little unpacking and I organized some of the stuff we had brought in from the car, threw out trash from the car and re-organized the toys and snacks. It is just amazing how quickly all the nicely packed items can become so disheveled.
It had been an emotional day, a long day, but now that we are settled into my happy place, a good day. As my sister said “you are going to your favorite place with your favorite person.” And so it was true.
Glad things have calmed down a bit and you had an enjoyable afternoon and evening. I don't understand how you were to have known about where to park after hours-- couldn't they put up a sign at closing? Seems so silly to be parked way in the back with the rest of the lot empty!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Sounds like the pool time was the best option & it recharged both of you. I love RFC and I've eaten at several over the years. But the AK one is special to me bc it was the 1st one I ate at.
Glad to hear that things will get better, Holly!!. I your straightforward take on things and did not take any of it for complaining or whining! Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip!!
Ok, I need to know the thunder technique... I've never heard of it before so Evan will need to explain it to me!
Sounds like you both had a great time in the pool & at RFC! Can't wait to read more!
Very simple. When you see lightning, count the number of seconds until you hear the thunder and that is how many miles away the storm is. 5 seconds=5 miles. I don't know how accurate that is but for an 8 year old he was perfectly happy.
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Holly: 
thanks for the review!!
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
your straightforward take on things and did not take any of it for complaining or whining! Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip!!
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