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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 love your TRs. Mostly because they begin like mine..."we weren't going to go this year, but then". I can sooo understand that.
And we're doing the same thing. We're going this year and then not again until 2013 so I commend you on your brillant planning (note me not being self serving, lol).
15 total family trips with stays at the Poly, AKL, Wilderness Lodge, Beach Club, Swan, Dolphin, POFQ, Pop Century, All Star Music, Movies & Sports, and Coronado Springs.
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I hope thatyou and your family have a magical time at the world
__________________
Heather - "I'm Tinkerbell's biggest fan!"
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
Yay, I've been so excited to read your PTR!!! It's amazing how things have a way of working themselves out and here you are less than a month away from WDW!
Mel
Thanks. I hope you enjoy my PTR. And you're right, it is amazing sometimes how things work out. I still can't believe my mother is doing this for us.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
I'm so excited for you! What a nice thing for your mom to do.
Thanks - I'm excited for me too My mom actually does a lot of nice things but I have to say this is the biggest one for me
Quote:
Originally Posted by omd
Yay Darlene your TR has begun! I have been waiting for you to get started on it.
I am so glad that you, Lenny and Abby have this trip to look forward to. Way to go mom!!!
Your waiting has come to an end Olive. I hope you enjoy it. And thanks so much. Like I said, I still can't believe it but I'm glad we have it too. I know you've been following what's been going on the past few months so at this point in time so you know we really need it as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by B.M.
Great start!
Thanks
Quote:
Originally Posted by kangelop
What a great mom you have!!
I do. Maybe I don't always realize it or stop to think about it but I suppose I'm not alone in that
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex'sMummy
Great start! I think a trip to Disney has to be one of the presents ever!!! How kind of your mum to surprise you with this trip. Your DD must be so excited
Yeah, there's nothing I can think of offhand that tops a gift trip to Disney. Abby's excited about it but she'll be really excited in 3 weeks from now. I'll be lucky if I can get her to go to sleep that night.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ilovedisney0_0
Lucky!
You have me on the edge of my seat...what happened next???
I can understand your envy - BTDT but you'll get to go along with me when I do my TR. I know it's not exactly the same but it has to help a little bit. What happened next?? You'll just have to wait and see
Great start - what a generous mom you have! Can't wait to find out what happens next!
Thanks. I don't give anything away so you'll have to stay tuned.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcc0313
What a nice surprise from your mom, and with a trip this year 2013 won't seem that far away...
It was and still it. And I have to disagree, 2013 does seem really far away - and will be more so when we come home. It really is hard to wait but at least with my savings ticker in my posts reminding me we don't have the money to go, it will be somewhat easier to wait. I love Disney, but I'm not going to go into debt to get there so if we don't have the money to cover it, we don't go. This year is an exception though, not the rule
Quote:
Originally Posted by disneydreamn
Yea Darlene another TR from you! How exciting for Abby to get to fly for the first time. This will be a different trip for you as you usually take the auto train and have your own vehicle while there. It will be great though! Can't wait to read more!
Yes, Abby is excited about her first plane ride. And everyone keeps telling me it won't be the last. That remains to be seen but yes, it's going to be quite different. Getting up earlier than we're used to, taking a plane, using someone else's vehicle. Right now I'm hoping for the best in the differences
Quote:
Originally Posted by ariel14
You started your TR!!! YAY!
Thanks - glad you enjoy my TR's
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
What a wonderful start!
Thanks Cheryl
Quote:
Originally Posted by nalexander
Great start.
Thanks
Quote:
Originally Posted by mojjo
I love your TRs. Mostly because they begin like mine..."we weren't going to go this year, but then". I can sooo understand that.
And we're doing the same thing. We're going this year and then not again until 2013 so I commend you on your brillant planning (note me not being self serving, lol).
Can't wait to hear the rest.
Yeah, my last couple of reports have started out like that, haven't they - but what better place to be than with other people who understand. And don't commend me on my brilliant planning - I'm not sure there was any brilliance in it (I mean really - deciding NOT to go to Disney and stay away for a few years? That's not too bright IMO )
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Great start it was so nice of your mom to pay for your disney trip.
can't wait to read more about your plans.
Liz
Thanks Liz, yes it is really nice of my mother - and extremely unexpected. You'll have to stay tuned for more though
Quote:
Originally Posted by stubekis
Great start - can't wait to read more!
Thanks
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jakesmom1118
I can't wait to hear more!!!! Glad your aunt has something to look forward to as well as you! Your mom sounds awesome to gift you the trip to Disney!
Thanks - I was happy she had something to look forward to as well. She really needed something else to think about and mom is awesome. Maybe I don't always think so but I don't think I'm alone in not always seeing eye to eye with her
Quote:
Originally Posted by truenancy
Hurray! Can't wait to hear more!
Glad you're happy I started. I'll be posting more soon
Quote:
Originally Posted by bsblady01
I hope thatyou and your family have a magical time at the world
Thanks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ilovedisney247
What a nice present from your mom!
It is a nice present - one that will be thoroughly enjoyed and remembered for years to come.
Mom then looked at me and asked if I’d looked into places like Hershey Park - which I had. I told her I did but the problem with places like that is it’s what I’ll call a two section park - a big kid section and a little kid section. The big kids section contains all the coasters and "big kid" rides that Abby just doesn’t like. The "little kids" section has all the rides Abby does like but because of her size, she won’t be able to ride them. IMO, it wouldn’t be worth the time or money to go there to do next to nothing. The only place that’s worth it for us is Disney. Then mom asked me how we could do Disney anyway if Lenny didn’t have any vacation time.
I told mom he does actually have vacation time - 5 days of it and 3 "special holidays" for a total of 8 days. "But that’s not enough time to go. You like to drive and that would be 4 days gone. With the time he has you would have to fly down and you don’t want to fly." "I know but if it meant going to Disney again this year, I would be willing to do it. Do I want to? Not particularly but Abby would have a lot of fun doing it."
And then I went on "we can’t afford to go this year anyway so it doesn’t matter if I would fly or not or if Lenny has the time or not." Mom just looked at me again and said "your aunt and I are going on a cruise. I think you should go away too. You plan what you want to do and I’ll give you the money for it." "Even if it’s to Disney?" "Even if it’s to Disney." I of course was in shock but mom went on to ask me when we’d go. I didn’t know and said as much. She told me to start looking into it and let her know.
Being the obedient child that I am (or is it the Disney obsessed adult I am), I went to my computer and started looking into a trip. I first went to Southwest airlines and checked into airfare. Not knowing what the cost would be at all, I figured that was a good place to start. And knowing Disney with closing things in the middle of August, I kind of wanted to avoid that time this year. Lenny would have loved spending another birthday there , but I’ve always enjoyed going in July when pretty much every single attraction is open and the parks are open later. So I started with July. The prices weren’t overly bad - the cheapest was $94 and with mom footing the bill, I did want to as go as cheap as I could. Just for the heck of it, I did check August but the fares were almost double so I went back to July.
Narrowing our travel time down to July, I then went to Allears to check out the rates for different hotels. Trying to cut down on the cost of such things as a rental car, I looked into the deluxes first. There were only two of them that were doable - WL and AKL. Then I looked at AS Sports - where we typically stay - and was surprised that by staying in 2 rooms, it was slightly more money than the deluxes. With this info, I then went to the Disney website to get actual quotes. Everything was fairly close in price for all the date combos I put so I went back to Southwest to narrow down specific dates. It was then that I noticed mid week flights were cheaper than weekend ones so I picked a Wednesday to look at. The cheapest flight at $94 was a 6 am flight. I knew there was no way I’d get my late sleeping family members out of the house and to the airport on time so I looked at the next earliest time for a nonstop flight. It was at 8:10 am and while it was still a little early for some people (I’m not mentioning names but he needed a nap last year on our first day ), it was the only other morning flight. If I was going to fly to Disney, I wanted to get there early enough to hit a park that day.
Having decided on that date and flight, I then used my trusty paper and pencil to figure out how we could do this trip to fit in with Lenny’s vacation time. I wanted the dates to fit into his vacation and regularly scheduled days off so we didn’t lose any days pay and once I figured that out, our return date ended up being the following Wednesday. I checked into that day and the cheapest flight then was 7:55 pm. I wanted to go for it despite it getting us home a little later than I really wanted for Abby - about 10:40 pm at the airport.
Now with 2 specific dates, I went back to the Disney website and put in all my info for those two dates and somehow, I learned that at that time, there was a 30% discount offer on the deluxe resorts. With that discount, it actually brought the cost of a deluxe (AKL or WL) down to about $800 cheaper than our normal 2 rooms at AS Sports. I was happy with that info so I did what any obsessive Disney planner would do next - I made dining reservations.
Can't wait to see which resort you chose... We always get two value rooms also (we have to as there are 6 of us)- How exciting to find a deal making the deluxes cheaper! **Are you getting 1 or 2 rooms at the deluxes? I just realized that is probably the determining factor in making it cheaper.... (and we would never have that option)
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My mom actually does a lot of nice things but I have to say this is the biggest one for me
How exciting for Abby to get to fly for the first time. This will be a different trip for you as you usually take the auto train and have your own vehicle while there. It will be great though! Can't wait to read more!
)
- 5 days of it and 3 "special holidays" for a total of 8 days. "But that’s not enough time to go. You like to drive and that would be 4 days gone. With the time he has you would have to fly down and you don’t want to fly." "I know but if it meant going to Disney again this year, I would be willing to do it. Do I want to? 
Not particularly but Abby would have a lot of fun doing it."
but mom went on to ask me when we’d go. I didn’t know and said as much. She told me to start looking into it and let her know.
, but I’ve always enjoyed going in July when pretty much every single attraction is open and the parks are open later. So I started with July. The prices weren’t overly bad - the cheapest was $94 and with mom footing the bill, I did want to as go as cheap as I could. Just for the heck of it, I did check August but the fares were almost double so I went back to July. 
out of the house and to the airport on time so I looked at the next earliest time for a nonstop flight. It was at 8:10 am and while it was still a little early for some people (I’m not mentioning names but he needed a nap last year on our first day 
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