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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Well, I am planning with a 2 year old, so I will be taking it easy. I have thought about using touringplans.com as a guide. I probably wouldn't follow it strictly, but to get an idea of what to do. I think it's $7.95 for 1 year, but I have heard of many people that use it.
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I use touringplans.com to, but also use thier cheat sheet guidelines to make up our own touring plan, so that way we beat the rush on certain rides, but also take it a little easier. It worked great last time I did this, it kept us from running all around, and we got on all rides without any waits.
We never follow any touring guides. We just wing it for the most part. I do check park schedules and see what we want to ride and what shows we want to see. But as far as what order to do things we just do it when we get to it.
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When my kids were younger I always started the day following one of the touring plans for the first couple of hours to hit some of the big rides quickly. Then we'd slow down and play it by ear. Now I usually have a general plan in mind and know the first few things I want to do. Since I've been going more often the last few years I don't feel the need to do everything on every visit. I do use fast passes for the more popular rides.
If I have friends who are going for their first time (or who haven't been in a long time) I usually recommend using the plans.
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I get these guides, I read them, I want to follow them, then we get there, any plans we had all goes out the window. We just plan our days around our dining.
We end up just winging it. But if one park is too crowded for our liking we will hop on over to a different one.
First, we make a list of MUST-DO's, and try to hit them in the most logical order, without criss-crossing the park too much. Next we plan around ADR's, and meander around with whatever time we have left, hitting some rides again. Easy and stress-free (almost!).
We use www.touringplans.com's best days/worst days charts to decide which parks we will visit on which days. Once in the park, we hit the popular rides first (or get fastpasses for them). Other than that, we wing it. I suppose if you are going at a very busy time of the year, a touring plan would be helpful, but we prefer to visit at slower times.
Actually this is the first year in a long time we are going in peak season so I subscribe to touringplans.com and will follow it loosely. I am taking the advice of sooo many others and hitting the park early for any rides that are a must do. And I think I have a clear understanding of fast pass which we've never used because we're idiots. If you don't like regimented plans though I would go with what jhoshowski said and just go by the best days cheat sheet and hit the big rides FIRST.
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Not long now....August 22-August 28, 2011. Fort Wilderness Cabins!
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I don't use any of the touring plan web sites . . . I make my own--I start with where I'm going to eat and plan around EMHs and fireworks shows to decide where I'm going to be on any given day. I have found that the touring plans are only really necessary when dealing with the parks on FULL days!
We are going to make a quasi plan for our upcoming trip in Sept. I want to try to get the Goofs together to try to figure out what we want to see in each park, so we won't miss anybody's absolute favs.
I have never followed it to a T, but we do use it for which park has the least crowded days, then end up doing our own thing.
and of course we get FP for as often as we can.
That's what I do, too.
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Saturday, October 9, 2014 - Kaitlyn and I before the Happy Haunted 5K at ESPN Wide World of Sports
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. If you don't like regimented plans though I would go with what jhoshowski said and just go by the best days cheat sheet and hit the big rides FIRST.
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That's what I do, too. 
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