After 15 years of Magic, we finally get to leave our kids at home! My trip report. Updated 11/16 - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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, we have it on pretty good authority that sleeping in is for SUCKERS; at least when you're in Disney, so we were up bright and early on Thursday! Epcot opened at 9am and we wanted to be there When we arrived, there were quite a few people already lined up so we hopped in line and before we knew it, we were IN! I always get a good laugh at the people who RACE throught the turnstyles and then RUN....uhhhh, you're just going to have to stop anyway We took our time and still had plenty of time to see the Family of the Day pull up in the Test Track car and give a few characters high fives, then we were off to The Land for a trip to California. Soarin is my favorite ride so i got in line while DH got fastpasses. In my opinion; the only thing that would make Soarin more perfect would be if they added the smell of Main St., USA...wouldn't that be awesome if you could smell the fresh popcorn, cotton candy and cookies as you flew over Disneyland??? After a trip over the Golden State we made our way to Test Track, then made a trip into the Food and Wine Festival Center. It was pretty empty so we poked around a bit, i got a pin and we purchased our gift card.
After that, we made our way to Soarin for another flight and more fastpasses for later (i told you it was my favorite ride...my license plate actually reads "SOARIN"). It was pretty close to 11am so we decided to make our way to World Showcase and start our own little festival of FOOD! We started on the Canadian side of the showcase, eating and enjoying the sights along the way. A nice couple offered to take our picture for us, we were thankful and returned the favor and took their photo too.
We only made it half way through World Showcase before we were too full to eat another bite but we did continue our circle around. By this point i was showing the beginning of a migraine so we decided to just head back to POR for a rest before MNSSHP. I popped a Treximet on the way and it began to take effect pretty fast...the headache was all but gone within an hour, thank goodness! While we were out enjoying the Food and Wine Festival, the "surprise fairy" came to our room again...this time they left a little goodie for DH Halloween is our favorite Holiday so i had the Disney Florist whip up a little something for my sweetie.
I think he liked his goodies...he wore his ghost necklace all night.... we were off to MNSSHP!!!! It was our first time so we were pretty darn excited! We had done the Pirate and Princess Party in 2008 so we figured it would be kind of like that. We changed into our MNSSHP t-shirts and hit the road! WHOO HOOO!
You are off to a great start! I've got my 10th anniversary coming up next year, and I'd love to go to WDW with my DH. It would be so fun! Sounds like you had a great first couple of days. That cake looks so nice too!
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Hey Wendy!
Great report so far!
Sorry you didn't make it out to the PP meet! It was great and lots of people were there...I was worried because I didn't hear from you that you wouldn't be there, but I'm glad everything was ok!
Can't wait for more TR!!
__________________
Lori
“I’m in a Disney state of mind……”
Authorized Disney Vacation Planner w/Fairy Godmother Travel For a Pixie Dust Sprinkled Trip!
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.