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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Disneyland during the week is HEAVEN. Oh my goodness! Why do I normally go on the weekends?!?!?
We left Phoenix right about when I was planning, 4:30am. It was still dark. DD crawled in the car and immediately went back to sleep. I was glad though, because I wanted her to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for our busy day to come!
Us in the car, driving to Disneyland!
I decided to keep track of time this trip, to see how much we could actually get accomplished in one day. We pulled into the Disneyland parking garage at 9:39am, according to my parking ticket.
The weather was absolutely perfect, and I was really looking forward to spending the day with my favorite person in the world , at my favorite place (next to WDW) in the world! Unfortunately, one of the girls at school stepped on Kaity's big toe on Monday, cracking her nail about half-way down. She was limping and favoring her foot, because it was pretty sore. I was worried about her doing so much walking, but she was such a trooper!
We jumped in line at the gate to purchase tickets. I would have just purchased online, except that I needed to upgrade my birthday certificate to a one-day hopper. There were only 3 people in front of us, and I was hoping that this was an indicator for things to come! The CM was very nice, and gave me my birthday button with the tickets. That was nice, because it saved me a stop at Guest Relations!
Waiting in line at the gate to buy tickets - seriously, look at that line!
We decided to tour CA Adventure first. Now, I know a lot of people don't like this park for whatever reason. I don't understand that, because I honestly love it there! It is so much fun!! Maybe it's because it is different from any other park..? I am not sure. Our plan was to do a loop here, hitting all of the big attractions, and then to head over to DLP.
First up was Soarin over California. We were in line by 10:18am! At first, I thought it was closed! The lines were practically non-existent. I have been at a slow time of year before, or so I thought. But holy cow! We actually were able to stop, be "Goofy" and take pictures!
First row… YES!!!
After Soarin, we headed over toward TSM. We were able to spend some time really looking around, because there were so few people. CA Adventure is so pretty. One of my favorite things about all of the Disney parks is the amazing detail that is added to everything you see! We walked past Grizzly River Run, and although we decided not to ride it - despite the fact that it was a walk on! - I couldn't resist getting a picture of Kaity with the Grizzly Bear! J
We beelined toward TSM. Toy Story Mania ROCKS!!!! It was sooooo much more fun that Buzz Lightyear, even though Kaity kicked my butt! We were in line by 10:39am. Even though it seemed like there was a long line, I don't think we waited 10 minutes. I can't wait to do this one again!
yep, I lost
Next up… CA Screamin!
Look at the wait time!
We were in line at 10:58am, and I was happy to see that we were making good time. The crowds were so light, there was only one side of the queue open. Right about the time we got to the loading dock, the CM's put another car onto the tracks. The orange one! Ohmygosh I LOVE this ride, and it really is one of my absolute Disney favorites. This one and Space Mountain just make me laugh like a crazy person. They are just SO. MUCH. FUN!!!!
We wandered over to TOT, and stopped on the way to take some pictures. I had to get a picture of my favorite fountain in all of CA Adventure. I take a picture of this every single time we go. I don't know why I love it so much, but I think it is just so pretty!
It's a good thing Aladdin wasn't on my agenda today, because it wasn't playing. L I absolutely love that show! But we headed to TOT…
A 13 minute wait! Yikes!!!
We made our way into TOT at 11:36am. We were two of the few people in there, so if you count like 12 of those minutes walking through the queue, then maybe it was a 13 minute wait! I wish I was brave like Princess Sharon, but this ride… I am always sooo excited to do it, but once I am on in, I am like "What am I thinking?? Get me off of here!" And as soon as it's over, my legs all shaky, I want to do it again!
As we made our way out of TOT, who should we see but Goofy? There were lots of characters out this trip, and barely anyone in line, which I have never seen. This little one isn't with us, but we stopped to watch because Goofy was so sweet with her! He bent down, tried to take her hand, and was really interacting with her.
We'd gotten everything we wanted to accomplish done, so we headed out toward the exit so we could hop over to DLP. But then… MICKEY!!!! We didn't take any character pictures with us in them, but I HAD to get a picture of my favorite Main Mouse.
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Saturday, October 9, 2014 - Kaitlyn and I before the Happy Haunted 5K at ESPN Wide World of Sports
Amy
Last edited by ilovedisney0_0; 03-11-2009 at 01:04 AM..
Wow, what an AWESOME way to start the day!!! I love the self-photos, those are great. I really hope the low crowds continue at DL!!!!!
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
We had to stop at the front gates to take the obligatory picture. Wasn’t it nice of Mickey to wear a flower birthday hat just for me on my special day??
the 4th hitchhiking ghost
As we rounded the corner onto Main Street, we saw… Mickey Mouse!! And he was wearing a different outfit! DD remarked on how funny it was that he could change clothes so quickly, and still beat us from DCA to DLP.
We headed up Main Street, and I took some pictures of Kaity with the “What Will You Celebrate?” decorations. I really like them, they are so festive and colorful!
We decided to try Indy first, but on the way there we just HAD to stop for Dole Whips.
Indy is where we encountered the first real wait times of the day. I think it was like 30 minutes, so we just grabbed a FP and decided to see how things were over at POTC. POTC had a 5 minute wait, practically a walk on! We were in line at 12:20pm, and just basically walked through the queue, wolfing down our Dole Whips as we went.
Davy in the mist!
Ever since Disney did the rehab on this ride, I think the fight scene is so realistic! I actually got wet from a ‘flying bullet’!
We were getting hungry for real, so while DD stepped inside the little shop outside of POTC to ‘browse’ (yeah right ), I went to check in so we could have lunch at Blue Bayou. Because I didn’t know where we would be in the parks, I didn’t make Priority Seating this trip. I was a little worried… and right to be so! There were some people inquiring in front of me, and they were told that the restaurant was fully booked for the day!!! I was shocked because there seemed to be such low crowds. I stepped up, and told the CM that I probably knew the answer already , but asked if there was any way we could squeeze in. She started to give me the same answer she had given the family before me, but then she saw my birthday button. She told me if I didn’t mind waiting for about 40 minutes, they would be able to seat us. I was very grateful, and told the CM I knew I was pressing my luck… but could we have waterside seating? She told me it would be an additional wait, but to go ahead and have a seat. I ran over to tell DD where I would be, and that I would text her when our table was ready. About 5 minutes later, Kaity came and found me waiting inside of BB, and she had a present for me!! She found an adorable little Mickey phone charm, and I absolutely love it!
the menu outside
my birthday mousse
Not 5 minutes later, the CM called us to be seated!! I couldn’t believe our luck!! DD ordered the pirates punch ($6.50), which comes with a light-up character – hers was Tink, and I ordered diet coke ($2.99). For lunch, we each ordered the Tesora Chicken ($55.98 for both), and it came with a choice of soup or salad. Kaity got the chicken gumbo, which was delicious and I chose the salad. We share. So the gumbo comes in this teeny weeny little cup (you can see it in the pic above), but it was so thick and yummy… by the time that our food arrived, she was too full to eat. I MADE her eat a couple bites of her potatoes, but we should have just shared. Oh well.
We have dined here a couple of times before, but one thing I noticed this time - that both Kaity and I though was pretty funny - was that boatloads of the people going by on the POTC ride were just waving like crazy at us! Not just us, of course, , but at all of the diners. We had a lot of fun waving back and being big dorks.
Our CM, Kirsten, brought a birthday chocolate mousse out to our table, and although we were really looking forward to the chocolate ship, by this point that was more than enough. It was really yummy! Before tip, lunch was $70.54. It’s pricey to eat at BB, but Kaity is getting so spoiled by Disney dining, she doesn’t want to eat anywhere else anymore!
After lunch, we backtracked to Indy. Unlike a lot of places, FP only gets you so far in this queue. Then you have to wait with everyone else. We were in line at 1:44pm, and we took a few pictures while we waited.
she is SUCH a drama kid!
Kaity and I have some funny memories when we remember riding Indy with my DNiece, Morgan. She really, really, REALLY hates this ride, poor thing. But we enjoyed our adventure and were soon on our way to HM. The crowds seemed heavier on this side of the park, but the HM was still posting a wait time of 5 minutes.
We were in line at 2:23pm, and soon in the stretching room. I was worried about Kaitlyn’s toe being stepped on, so we kind of huddled together, and then stayed toward the back. Kaitlyn does NOT like Bride 2.0 , so while I enjoyed our ride with the Happy Haunts, I enjoyed Kaity’s expressions and opinions of the Bride more!
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Saturday, October 9, 2014 - Kaitlyn and I before the Happy Haunted 5K at ESPN Wide World of Sports
Amy
Last edited by ilovedisney0_0; 03-11-2009 at 09:21 PM..
HM of course leads directly to Splash Mountain. We got right in line, but then found out it was a 20 minute wait. And it seemed like it was really going to be a 20 minute wait, if not more.
It was starting to get a little late in the day, and I cannot deprive my baby girl of a stop in Five & Dime, her favorite store! We got out of line and headed toward ToonTown, bypassing BTMRR. I was hoping the wait time here would be shorter, but it wasn’t. Oh well. We settled on taking pictures by the attraction instead.
ToonTown in sight, Kaity got a little pep in her step and booked it toward Five & Dime.
Kaity recently has started scrapbooking, and I swear to you that I think she could become professional! We found the scrapbooking section, and loaded up on supplies. She found some things to take home for her BFF’s, and I purchased souvenirs for my coworkers.
I knew for sure that Space Mountain HAD to be the last ride of the day, but Kaity was sort of interested in riding iasw after the rehab. We were interested in seeing the new additions, and there was such a short line that I thought it was a good idea. At 3:25pm we were in line, and I think by 3:27pm we were in our boat!
We really loved the new additions. The way the Imagineers added the Pixar characters, as well as the classics like Alice and Pinocchio, was seamless! It looks like they definitely should have been included in iasw all along.
We bypassed the Matterhorn, and I was hoping against hope that it would be open, but no such luck.
The excitement built as we walked toward SM. SPACE MOUNTAIN!!!! I was amazed that the wait time here was listed as 10 minutes. It was now 4:02pm, so not very late in the day for those that were staying. I kept walking and waiting to hit a line, but we didn’t find people until we were in the loading room!!
me, laughing like a loon
OK. Space Mountain… I just LOVE it!!!! The job I want to have when I retire is to be the person in the control room that pushes the button and waves to people when they are blasting off. There was the cutest CM up there behind the glass, and Kaity and I were waving before we shot into space. He blew kisses at us!! How awesome is that, to get kisses from a CM, on Space Mountain, on your 29th (again) birthday?!?!?! It was definitely the perfect ending to a magical day! And as soon as we blast off, I am just laughing my head off because it is such fun! Then Kaity just laughs at me, because I am sure I sound ridiculous, but who cares?!?
I knew we had a looonnnnggggg drive back home, so with heavy hearts we made our way out to the parking garage. While there were 2 things on our list we didn't do - BTMRR and Splash - we did get to try the new and improved iasw. All in all, a pretty successful trip!
This is how ALL of our trips end - usually within 30 minutes of being back in the car. 6 or 16 years old, some things never change.
Many hours later, tired but happy, we drove into our driveway and headed off to bed.
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Saturday, October 9, 2014 - Kaitlyn and I before the Happy Haunted 5K at ESPN Wide World of Sports
What an amazing time you had - you were so lucky on the crowds! I agree about going on weekdays, we couldn't believe how quiet the parks were on our most recent trip, whereas on our previous one, we were there over a weekend. It does make a huge difference.
Happy Belated Birthday Amy! Sounds like the perfect day, and you have me seriously contemplating something similar for my own birthday. I think I'd have to bookend it with a couple of nights in a motel though. What play is Kaitlyn doing? Z's just finishing up rehearsals for Macbeth, and then doing Les Mis this summer. We've got to get those two together!
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Karen, aka Zack's Mom - Lover of all Things Disney and the San Francisco Giants!
Happy Belated Birthday Amy! Sounds like the perfect day, and you have me seriously contemplating something similar for my own birthday. I think I'd have to bookend it with a couple of nights in a motel though. What play is Kaitlyn doing? Z's just finishing up rehearsals for Macbeth, and then doing Les Mis this summer. We've got to get those two together!
Thanks Karen! I definitely think you should do the DLR thing for your birthday . Now I just have to be patient and hold out of WDW in December!
Kaity's class did Curse of the Cobra's Kiss, and the week before that was the big school musical of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. Les Mis? Ooh, that's a hard one. I know he will be awesome, though! We have to get Kait and Zach together one of these trips. It sounds like they have so much in common... including 2 Disney-obsessed mom's!
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Saturday, October 9, 2014 - Kaitlyn and I before the Happy Haunted 5K at ESPN Wide World of Sports
That was a grand finish! Sounds like it was a perfect way to spend your 29th birthday. I sure hope we luck out with low crowds like that next March -- we'll be there during the week too. Thanks so much for sharing!!!
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
What a fun trip - you are soooo funny! Love the pics, Blue Bayou, and Toy Story is our new favorite ride. Now we must get back to WDW and try it there, too.
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Oh my goodness! Why do I normally go on the weekends?!?!? 
DD crawled in the car and immediately went back to sleep. 
I was glad though, because I wanted her to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for our busy day to come! 
, at my favorite place (next to WDW) in the world! 
The CM was very nice, and gave me my birthday button with the tickets. That was nice, because it saved me a stop at Guest Relations! 
I am not sure. Our plan was to do a loop here, hitting all of the big attractions, and then to head over to DLP.
The lines were practically non-existent. I have been at a slow time of year before, or so I thought. But holy cow! 
and take pictures! 
We were in line by 10:39am. Even though it seemed like there was a long line, I don't think we waited 10 minutes. I can't wait to do this one again! 
yep, I lost 
Davy in the mist!
I was shocked because there seemed to be such low crowds. I stepped up, and told the CM that I probably knew the answer already 
the menu outside
my birthday mousse
Not just us, of course, 
It was really yummy! Before tip, lunch was $70.54. It’s pricey to eat at BB, but Kaity is getting so spoiled by Disney dining, she doesn’t want to eat anywhere else anymore! 
she is SUCH a drama kid!
me, laughing like a loon 
While there were 2 things on our list we didn't do - BTMRR and Splash - we did get to try the new and improved iasw. All in all, a pretty successful trip! 
PassPorter Guide Author
)!! Thanks for sharing it with us!! It looks like it was a BLAST!!
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