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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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After our fantastic breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen we were ready to head over to California Adventure to meet Brian and Whitney. They got there at opening so they could ride Radiator Springs Racers.
Last minute pictures of DH.
A very empty Downtown Disney.
We made it to California Adventure and headed straight back to Cars Land.
We met Brian and Whitney outside RSR after their ride and moved on. I would have loved to ride again but the wait time was already too long for our short day at the parks.
This guy was out for a meet, but Lexi wasn't interested in stopping, so I grabbed a picture as we walked by.
As we passed Mater's Junkyard Jamboree Lexi asked to ride and with a 5 minute wait we jumped in line. This time Lexi rode with Brian and Whitney.
We stopped for a photopass picture at the entrance to Cars Land with this cute little guy, we also got a picture taken with my camera. I didn't even log on to look at our photopass pictures as we had so few taken over the three days we were there.
Whitney requested a ride on Soarin' as they missed it the day before, but as we passed A Bug's Land Lexi commented how she would like to hit up those rides again. So we made a bit of a detour into A Bug's Land. Once again it was very empty and we told Lexi she could ride each ride just once this time around.
She wasn't happy with me though when I suggested we check out It's Tough to be a Bug first. Of course we have seen this before, but Brian and Whitney haven't. We didn't wait even 5 minutes for the next show to begin and the theater was practically empty. My favorite part was watching Brian and Whitney's reactions. Whitney jumped out of her seat as the bugs exited the theater.
Next was Flik's Flyers. This was my favorite ride in A Bug's Land...probably because it was the only one I rode.
I often take pictures of lamps and light fixtures at Disney. I just love how they match to the theme of each area. I was a bit obsessed with these bug lamps.
Flik's Flyers in action.
Justin and Brian.
Lexi then rode Francis' Ladybug Boogie with Brian and Whitney this time around.
We ended our stay in A Bug's Land with Justin and Lexi taking a drive on Tuck and Roll's Drive 'Em Buggies. Lexi just loved that she was in control!
It was now time to ride Soarin' which would be our last ride at DCA as we wanted to head over to Disneyland for the Frozen meet and greet.
It was posted as a 20 minute wait which wasn't bad at all and soon we were gliding over California. Whitney loved this ride.
At this point Brian took off to check out of their hotel and move his car from hotel parking to the theme park parking (they walked each day from their hotel to the parks, it was just a couple blocks walk). Whitney came with us over to Disneyland.
Some close ups of the castle holiday decorations.
We made our way back to Fantasyland where the Frozen meet was taking place and ran into a huge line of people. The meet opened at 11:00am and at this point it was now 10:00am. Silly me thinking an hour ahead of time would be enough...the wait time at this point was already 2 hours. I asked a cast member if the two hour wait started now or was that starting at 11:00. She let me know that it was a 2 hr wait from 11:00, so at this point we would have to wait 3 hours to meet Anna and Elsa. We had to leave the park by 1:00, so it would be cutting it way too close, and that would be the last thing we could do for the day. Lexi had worn her Frozen t-shirt today just for this meet and I was sad she wouldn't be able to meet the sisters. Lexi was okay with not waiting...she hates lines, so we moved on.
A picture of Olaf sleeping on the roof as we walked away.
With no other plans I asked Lexi what she wanted to ride and she chose Snow White's Scary Adventures.
No Evil Queen:
Evil Queen :
I forgot that only Whitney, Lexi and I rode this while Justin ran and got Lexi a snack because the bottomless pit was hungry. He found a banana and a bag of chips. Not surprising she chose the chips.
Justin met up with us at the carrousel and Lexi had a bite to eat before declaring that she wanted to "overcome her fear" and go through the turnstile at the carrousel. Alrighty!
She had to try out the sword first.
Getting ready to go through!
And she made it.
Sometimes getting Justin to smile is impossible.
Brian had met back up with us and I told Lexi she could choose one more ride in Fantasyland before we would have to head out. She chose Casey Jr. Circus Train. It wouldn't have been my choice, but it was a cute ride.
A couple of pictures I took while waiting in line.
The ride goes on a track around the Storybook Land Canal Boats, so we got to see some of the miniatures from that ride.
We were about ready to head of the park at this point and decided to take the monorail to Downtown Disney because I had some last minute shopping to do before leaving Disneyland.
Lexi got distracted by the teacup and wanted her picture with each one of us individually.
Aunt Whitney:
Uncle Brian:
Justin...hamming it up.
And me.
This was as close as we got to the It's a Small World Holiday version. The wait time was always too long.
The Matterhorn, which we never got to ride.
We took a bit of a detour in Innoventions because Justin wanted to check out the Iron man exhibit.
And then we headed on the monorail. We were one of the first ones waiting, but when the doors opened it was a free-for-all. We almost didn't end up with seats. Lexi ended up on my lap and Justin almost had to wait for the next one until someone volunteered to scoot over so he could sit down. Sheesh!
A few pictures I took while waiting on the monorail.
We headed over to World of Disney to do some last minute shopping. I needed to pick up some Christmas ornaments as I get one on every Disney trip. I chose a Chip and Dale ornament and a Mickey Mouse Santa hat that attaches to a light on the Christmas tree and lights up. Lexi chose an Alice ornament to remember her breakfast with Alice and the Mad Hatter. We also picked up some candy to take home and Justin got a Grumpy coffee mug and I found my final purchase, a Stitch tumbler cup. Before heading out of Downtown Disney I stopped at the Pin Traders to turn in our voucher for a free pin and lanyard. The CM gave me three lanyards and pins, since there were three of us on our reservation. I kept one, Lexi kept one and Justin gave his to Whitney. It was now the last possible moment and we needed to head to our car. We said a tearful goodbye to Brian and Whitney.
Brian and Whitney were going to stay at Disneyland for the rest of the day, so we headed in the opposite directions.
One last photo.
We made it to the car and rearranged a few things to fit our new purchases in our suitcase. It was 2:00 by this point and there was no traffic as we headed to the airport, so we made it there in no time. We stopped to fill up the rental car with gas and found the drop off for Budget. Drop off was very easy and we were soon on a shuttle back to the airport. Our flight was delayed 30 minutes, which was probably a good thing because the luggage check-in line was very long. It took us 45 minutes to get our luggage checked. We headed over to security and were directed to the family check in line. It was completely empty, which turned out to be a good thing because as I was putting one of our bags on the belt it busted wide open. Ack! It was a reusable Disney bag I had purchased for $4.95 and it held a few of our souvenirs I didn't want to pack in our checked bags. We collected everything off the floor and threw it all in a bin and went through security. Luckily we had enough room in our other carry on bags that we just re-situated things a bit and everything was fine.
Our gate area was packed and it turned out the flight before us was delayed over an hour, so finding seats was near impossible. As we were looking around two people got up from their seats and Lexi and I sat down. I sent Justin off to find us something to eat for dinner since we would be here awhile and when he got back with our food the lady that was sitting next to me got up and walked away. Score! There were so many flights delayed that people were camped out everywhere and we were very lucky to find seats. I can see why some people do not like LAX!
There was news of a snow storm back home and I was afraid that would effect our flight, but we left right when they said we would and our pilots did an amazing job landing our plane right in the middle of the storm. Everyone gave the pilots a hand clap as we landed and we were soon in the freezing cold tempatures, slowly making our way home again. That was a slap of reality!
Final Thoughts:
We had a very rocky start to our DL vacation, but in the end it was full of wonderful memories. I recommend 100% that any Disney fan visit the original park. There are a couple of things I would have done different, the main thing is to visit during a slower season. The second I would change is to stay longer! Even with only two parks there is so much to see and do that I think we needed at least 2 more days of park time.
My sister asked me to compare DL to WDW when we got home and I had a hard time comparing the two. While they both have many of the same attractions, they each have a uniqueness that can't be compared and I told her she would just have to visit DL and experience it for herself.
I cannot say enough good things about the Disneyland Hotel. We had a great experience here. The theming was wonderful and the rooms are my favorite of any Disney resort. We ate a lot of good food this trip, but hands down our best meal was Goofy's Kitchen, not because of the food but because of the character interaction.
I will end my final thoughts with some of our favorites at each park.
Disneyland:
While we had a rough start at Disneyland, I really enjoyed spending time in the park that Walt built! I am kicking myself that I forgot to get pictures of the Fire House with Walt's apartment above. I am blaming the crowds because it was so hard to get pictures that at times I wasn't in the mood to even get the camera out. Just another reason to go back, not that I need any. And just a fun fact about Disneyland and a connection with Lexi, Disneyland opened on July 17, 1955. Just 52 years later a little girl named Alexandra (Lexi for short) would be born on July 17, 2007. Lexi really gets a kick out of sharing a “birthday” with Disneyland. And from what I have read, Disneyland's first day was a rough start, kind of like Lexi's first day at Disneyland. Okay, on to our favorite memories...
Justin's favorite memory is getting to ride Space Mountain with me by his side. He likes SM at WDW, but he said Disneyland's version is so much better and I have to agree.
Lexi's favorite memory is riding Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. She got to sit in the drivers seat and she really thought she was driving that car. When I asked her what her favorite thing at DL was, she said she couldn't believe they let her drive a car on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride! I am not going to spoil the magic for her and I will let her think she was driving that day.
My favorite memory at Disneyland is getting to ride Holiday Haunted Mansion. Haunted Mansion is one of my favorites and the holiday overlay was very well done and made a favorite ride even more special.
California Adventure:
I did not expect to like DCA as much as I did. Cars Land alone is worth the visit to this park.
Justin's favorite memory is riding Radiator Springs Racers. He loved the theming of Cars Land just as much as I did and also enjoyed our relaxing breakfast at Flo's V8 Cafe. He also said he had the best time watching Lexi in A Bug's Land. Anything that makes his girls happy, makes Justin happy. Just one of the many reasons I love him.
Lexi's favorite memory is the time we spent in A Bug's Land. I asked her if she had something more specific, but she said she just loved it all. The rides in this area are perfect for her age group and I think she felt a bit of independence hopping from one ride to the next.
My favorite memory is our breakfast at Flo's V8 Cafe. I got to sit down and relax with a gorgeous view and I had my two favorite people in the whole world with me. Sometimes it is the moments when we slow down that end up as my favorite. I also enjoyed riding Soarin' in California.
Well, there you have it. Thank you everyone for following along with me, I enjoyed reliving the good and the bad of this trip with all of you. And really, once I wrote my TR I realized that the good memories outweighed the not-so-good memories and this was another fantastic trip to Disney!
Great last day! I have an interesting connection with Mr. Toad's Wild Ride too. My son thought he had steered the car and saved our lives at the end. He loved it. I am glad Snow White's Scary Adventures is still there. We have fun memories associated with that ride. I haven't told my husband it is there and he will love it! Our trip is almost exactly 8 months away and you have helped me with some of my planning. Thank you! I am so excited!
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I am so sorry to see this come to an end, as I've loved reading all about your trip.
What a great last day you had, although that wait to see Anna and Elsa was just insane! I can fully understand you not waiting that long.
I am so with you about your comments on going during a slower season. We did Disneyland a couple of Christmases ago and, because it's such a small park, it doesn't handle the crowds that great.
You did very well making the most of your last partial day at the parks! I love your wrap-up of the parks and agree with you that a quick comparison of WDW and DLR just won't work. Even though some individual rides may not be very different, the way you experience the parks is. I'm glad you ended up seeing just how wonderful the trip was by writing up the report! I always enjoy following your family around!
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What a great last day! I can't believe the wait for Anna & Elsa! Glad Lexi wasn't too upset by it. I love everyone's favorites from the trip. I think the time together is so special, especially so at Disney.
I can't believe your trip is over already. I loved following along on your family's vacation. Glad that Lexi had a great time and was not bothered by not waiting to meet the ladies from Frozen. Can't wait to follow only on your next adventure.
I just got a chance to read this TR. Loved it! I haven't been to DL since 1991, so a LOT has changed. I'm hoping to plan a trip there next year. Thanks for sharing your TR!
I just got a chance to read this TR. Loved it! I haven't been to DL since 1991, so a LOT has changed. I'm hoping to plan a trip there next year. Thanks for sharing your TR!
Thank you! I am glad you enjoyed it. I hope you make it back next year!
About This Page: 
This time Lexi rode with Brian and Whitney.
Lexi had worn her Frozen t-shirt today just for this meet and I was sad she wouldn't be able to meet the sisters. Lexi was okay with not waiting...she hates lines, so we moved on.
:
Lexi ended up on my lap and Justin almost had to wait for the next one until someone volunteered to scoot over so he could sit down. Sheesh!
We also picked up some candy to take home and Justin got a Grumpy coffee mug and I found my final purchase, a Stitch tumbler cup. Before heading out of Downtown Disney I stopped at the Pin Traders to turn in our voucher for a free pin and lanyard. The CM gave me three lanyards and pins, since there were three of us on our reservation. I kept one, Lexi kept one and Justin gave his to Whitney. It was now the last possible moment and we needed to head to our car. We said a tearful goodbye to Brian and Whitney. 
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Pixie Dust
I am blaming the crowds because it was so hard to get pictures that at times I wasn't in the mood to even get the camera out. 
PassPorter Guide Author
I can fully understand you not waiting that long. 
Holly: 
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
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