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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 don't know how you had energy to do EMH at MK, but I'm glad you did. Your photos are always wonderful, but you're really in the groove on this trip! The parade photos are fabuloso!
How cool you got to enter MK through the backstage!
AJ & I would totally be up to enjoy MK till' wee hours. It would only be the two of us though, as the other three aren't night owls. As a matter of fact, they aren't morning people either. I think I have a problem.
We have noticed that they seem to do that during the holidays - the last 2 years that we have gone during 4th of July and the time we went for New Years - they had that area open on the 3rd & 4th to allow easier passage.
Quote:
Originally Posted by xwewhisper
Great few hours at MK! Love the photo of Elliot in the parade, he's my favorite and why I like that one so much, although I don't think many kids have seen Pete's Dragon these days
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I know - we actually have to get Pete's Dragon so Emily can see it!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
You did better than we would've done - making it to 1am! I'm impressed!
It helps to rest and relax!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
I don't know how you had energy to do EMH at MK, but I'm glad you did. Your photos are always wonderful, but you're really in the groove on this trip! The parade photos are fabuloso!
it helps to rest - we are go go go people - obviously . Thanks!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
Boo, only one picture of Tink is showing up for me.....
Boo!!! Hopefully you should be able to see them now??? I had to fix photobucket - apparently I had exceeded my broadband something or another!!
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Boo!!! Hopefully you should be able to see them now??? I had to fix photobucket - apparently I had exceeded my broadband something or another!!
Yep, they're there again! Fun night, and you lasted longer than I would've. We used to regularly spend from 8 am to midnight at Disneyland when we lived out there. Can't imagine doing that now!
Even with a nap, I don't think I can make it to 3 AM anymore, not sure about 2:00 or even 1:00 either. But you all got so much done in the hours you were there.
Another sleep in morning, especially after our late night!! We had breakfast in the room again, more than likely on the balcony ~ but apparently I forgot to write it down and also failed to take any photos~ but it must have been something small according to what happens in a bit!!! Then we threw around some choices of what to do this morning (we have been to WDW enough during the 4th of July to know not to bother trying to head to MK in the early part of the day), and decided we were in the mood to shop and got dressed and ready to head to Downtown Disney!
We arrived in Downtown around 11am, and found a parking spot up nice and close! It didn’t seem busy at all. We are used to going to DTD in the evening when it is mobbed wall to wall people! And apparently, we were hungry (that’s why I am thinking we had a small breakfast?) and headed to Earl of Sandwich where Scott had an Italian and Emily & I shared a Hawaii BBQ. Emily also had a strawberry shortcake (she loves them here!).
Then we began our shopping adventure…………and let me tell you – it was the BEST decision EVER to go to DTD today ~ being that it was the 4th of July – everyone else MUST have been in the parks! We were able to actually really stroll through the shops, and really look at things, and just enjoy NO crowds!!! We had never experienced DTD like this ~ and it was a beautiful thing!!!
We did some MAJOR damage at World of Disney! Good thing we were parked close, so Scott ran that huge bag out to the car so we didn’t have to lug it around!
We continued wandering in and out of various stores ~ taking a break to just sit and relax at a quiet table in the shade while Emily enjoyed some shaved ice and pecans! This girl loves her roasted nuts in Disney!
some day we will make it inside there.....
We had heard about the custom painted Toms (shoes) in the Curl by Sammy Duvall store, so we headed there and Emily chatted with the designer there and got the low down on what they could and couldn’t do (copyright laws) ~ so she chose a design that would be allowed (basically if you want something with characters, they can do a silhouette and quotes, but cannot do an actual full descriptive painting of a specific character) and Emily chose to have a silhouette type “mermaid”. The designer was very helpful with Emily and together they found a design on line (the girl had an ipad with her) that was exactly what Emily had in mind – so together they came up with a plan and design. Well, this looked quite interesting to me, and I figured, why not? So I found a pair for myself (you do pick out your own Toms to purchase in the store and that is what they paint on for a fee, depending on size of design), and was excited that I fit into a kids size (less $$$) and I chose to have a silhouette type reflecting Tinkerbell!
While we were working out our designs and talking to the designer (can’t remember her name), Scott had run across to Bongo’s to grab himself a Dos Equis and me a Mojito! We would have to wait 24 hours to come back to pick up our shoes!
And who can walk past the Candy Caldron without being drawn in with the aroma of goodness?? I picked a caramel apple with nuts and Emily chose a special Mike apple ~ we had them cut in slices (I love that they do this in Disney – otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy them with my TMJ) and had them packaged to bring back to the resort!
We also stopped in the big vinylmation store (can’t remember the name???) and Scott did some pin trading ~ and I purchased a solid white 9” vinylmation for some Character magic! (you’ll have to wait to see! ).
It was a bit after 2 by now and we wanted some pool time as it was getting very hot! So we headed back to AKL, and got into our bathing suits to head to the pool!
We had a nice relaxing time at the pool and even managed to enjoy the hot tub some (Scott really enjoys this for his back).
While we were down there, we were able to watch them feed the spoonbill birds – they are noisy when they are hungry!
We did grab some food from the Mara again to share, another chicken flatbread, along with the kids chicken breast meal with grapes and carrots, and of course some zebra domes! (this sharing thing was working very well for us!).
And of course, I had a Skinny Girl Coconut Mojito while relaxing at the pool! (by the end of this TR, you all are going to think I am a lush!)
Around 4:30ish, we figured we better head up to get showers and such so that we can try to get into a park for some 4th of July celebrations!
But of course, we relaxed on our balcony for quite a while for our view, enjoying our treats from earlier! Sorry for so many photos.....but we had some serious major activity outside today!
Oh yeah - and here is my plain 9" white vinylamation;
And I won't make you all wait for the pics of the finished Toms!
Mine:
Emily's:
Up next: Happy Birthday America & A PP meet!
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I love that you can see EE from your balcony! And all the wildlife too! Hey, it's vacation - it's the time to be a little lushy. We put our livers to the test too - you will see.
Catching up after a few days away (busy at work). Sounds like your trip is going great! Sorry to hear your husband needs surgery again.
Love all your photos! The AK photos (including Festival of the Lion King) and the ones off your balcony are my favorites. Thanks for all the fun food (and beverage) photos and reviews.
Oh, you've got me panting for a DTD shopping day! I am definitely going to check out those Toms. I wear kid size also. I'll have to start thinking now about a design. I love getting there early and beating the crowds. Such great animal activity from your room! I love the shot of the giraffe and tommies.
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Love the pictures! 
We would have to wait 24 hours to come back to pick up our shoes! 
I picked a caramel apple with nuts and Emily chose a special Mike apple ~ we had them cut in slices (I love that they do this in Disney – otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy them with my TMJ) and had them packaged to bring back to the resort!
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