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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Now that's the way to travel with kids. Wow! Sounded like a wonderful day!
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Tanya
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Sounds like a wonderful way to travel . I love the saying on Maddie's t-shirt . And a real glass for drinking wine that never empties ??? That's the way to start vacation.
Good idea to fly First Class with the girls! And we always get nervous driving behind somebody carrying any kind of load - you just imagine stuff coming lose and flying right at you.
Am curious what WDW fans think of DL their first time because it is so jammed into this one space. Can't imagine it gives you a great first impression - but the greatness is in the details, which you've already discovered.
Yikes a flying mattress is no way to start the trip. Glad you were able to avoid that. scary though...
Sounds like a nice relaxing flight and lots of wine to help unwind a bit.... Then meeting up with Karen and Zack. and now you are all arrived and tucked in. Can't wait to hear about all the fun times ahead.
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Aug,1978- LBV;Apr,1987-Disneyland;March,1993-offsite;Jan,1997-offsite;Aug,1999- CBR;Sept,2000- ASMo;Aug,2001- ASSP;Aug,2002- ASMU/AKL;Jan & July 2003-POR;June,December 2004- PC;January 2005- ASMU; Aug 2005-PC;Dec 2005-AKL;Jan 2006-CBR ; July/Aug-Saratoga springs; Dec. PC;April 2007- Disneyland;Aug 2007-Disneyland & So Cal;Dec 2007-POFQ; Aug2008-POFQ & Nov 2008 PC,Y&B May 2009 ASmu, June 2009 PC ; Nov 2009 WL & POFQ;Jan 2010 BW & WL; June 2010 POFQ ; Aug 2010 Poly ;Oct 2010 WL; Jan 2011 PC
So glad to see the start of this TR, sounds like great flights on both legs. Glad the girls did so well on the longer flight. How great that you are all together again, let the good times roll
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About the very moment that I heard the door close (which I correctly assumed was Karen leaving ), two little heads popped up. They may have had a late night, but it was 9:30 a.m. in their EST world and time to get up. I must say that the PST Koenigs are much better travel companions for the CLQ that the EST Koenigs. We were up and at ‘em every single morning.
We all got ready quickly and headed down to breakfast. Zack had opted to stay with us, so he was able to experience the joy of eating breakfast with the Koenigs. I had my normal raisin bran . . . and a doughnut for good measure.
Once we were back in the room, I decided to run an errand since we had time. It hit me at some point yesterday that I had totally forgot to pack my Bonine which is crucial for my true enjoyment of a Disney park. Thom got out his iPad and found a Walgreens and a Target right down the street.
Maddie never lets me go to a store without her , so off we went hand-in-hand. It was a gorgeous morning and just a tad coolish, so it was a nice walk. We did have to cross a very big intersection, but thankfully had crossing signals that actually gave you enough time to make it across 6 lanes of traffic!
The Walgreens was on the corner of the intersection, but it was closed up so I figured it had gone out of business. The Target was right beside it, so we just kept walking. Maddie and I go shopping at Target every single Saturday morning, so we were keeping to our normal routine despite being across the country. The good news was that I was able to find the Bonine easily and for a much cheaper price than I normally buy it. I have enough Bonine now for many Disney trips to come!
As we walked past Walgreen’s again, I saw that the pharmacist was just arriving. It hadn’t occurred to me that it was so early that the store hadn’t even opened yet! It wasn’t even 9 a.m. at this point!
I grabbed another cup of on the way back to the room and then we hung out until Karen and Sharon arrived. They had a quick breakfast at the hotel while Thom and I repacked the SUV and then we were off to DCA!
Traffic picked up as soon as we officially entered the DLR, but Karen soon had us parked in the Mickey garage. Trams were coming pretty quickly so we decided to wait in the short line and ride to the front of the parks instead of walk.
When we were deposited in front of the parks, I simply could not believe that both parks were so close to each other. Why did I not ever know that? You could stand inside the gate of one park and see the other park. This was about the point where Thom started to fall in with the Disneyland Resort!
I had printed off our ticket vouchers and all we had to do was just exchange them for tickets at the gate. Easy breezy! As soon as we were all through the gate, Karen had an agenda. With everyone’s park tickets in hand, Thom took off to grab FP’s for Soarin’ as we passed by with instructions to catch up . . . because we weren’t stopping!
We were looking around and taking everything in as we walked along when suddenly we heard someone say something to Mary Devall and actually use her name. We looked to the right at the entrance to the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail and saw a CM standing there smiling big as anything. He then called Maddie by name.
My first thought was that they were wearing something with their names on it . . . but they weren’t. My second thought was that Karen was in cahoots with this CM to make the girls feel like VIPs. After all, she is known for going out of her way to make people feel special plus she had the perfect opportunity since she and Sharon had already been at DCA this morning. The only problem was that Karen looked as confused as I was. When the CM then spoke Sharon’s name, we knew something was up.
Terry finally decided to help us out and relieve our confusion by uttering the magic word “Passporter.” In this ever shrinking world that we live in, we discovered that his wife was a devoted PP and had been reading all of our trip reports for years (or at least long enough to know our names .) How is that?
Of course, we had to get a picture and it was made even more special by Terry suggesting that we make the “Wilderness Explorer” symbol. We even stumped Eileen on this one when we posted the picture on Facebook.
After we said to Terry with a promise to be back, we continued on to the Paradise Pier area. Thom met up with us shortly afterwards and we rode our first ride of the trip, The Little Mermaid. It was so cute and, after Maddie’s reaction, I knew we would be back one or two times before the trip ended.
From there, we walked in the direction of Cars Land. When we reached it, I simply could not believe it. Karen, being Karen, had made sure that we approached it from the most dramatic entrance. I honestly felt as if someone had dropped me in the middle of the Grand Canyon. Simply amazing.
Karen and Sharon had been unable to ride the Racers that morning due to technical difficulties, but they had two FP’s and Karen sweetly gave hers to Maddie.
The rest of us settled at the Cozy Cone. While Karen ran for California Screamin’ FP’s, Thom grabbed a pomegranate limeade drink and Zack an apple drink. We enjoyed just sitting there chatting and taking in the incredible feeling of being in Cars Land (can I just say “wow” again! ).
I managed to steal about half of Thom’s drink because it was (and Karen made it all the better last month when she returned to DL and had the spiked version of his drink - - she told me that it was simply research for our next trip, so I let her slide on that one ).
Karen was back in a flash and then surprised us with two sets of FP’s: Screamin’ and Goofy’s Sky School. Apparently, the Screamin’ FP’s were disconnected from the rest of the system, so she was able to hook us up big time.
It wasn’t long before Sharon and Maddie returned all aglow from their first Racers ride. They had both loved it. We had plans to come back first thing in the morning to Cars Land, so we mosied over to the Pacific Wharf area where both Sharon and Maddie were ready for a snack. Apparently they were parched from their ride through the desert.
I bought chocolate milk for Maddie while Sharon went with fresh mango - - she is way too healthy for me! Meanwhile, the clock was about to strike noon, meaning that the margarita stand was about to open. Now who do you think was first in line? Karen sent Mary Devall over to me where I was standing in line for Maddie’s drink and asked if I preferred lime or strawberry. Hmmm . . . I’m in a strawberry mood today.
By the time, we had Maddie’s chocolate milk and Sharon’s mango, Karen was holding two margaritas. We found a table across from the bakery and Zack took the girls to check out the tour while we enjoyed our drinks. I was really starting to like DCA!
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), two little heads popped up. They may have had a late night, but it was 9:30 a.m. in their EST world and time to get up. 
I must say that the PST Koenigs are much better travel companions for the CLQ that the EST Koenigs. 
I had my normal raisin bran . . . and a doughnut for good measure. 
, so off we went hand-in-hand. It was a gorgeous morning and just a tad coolish, so it was a nice walk. We did have to cross a very big intersection, but thankfully had crossing signals that actually gave you enough time to make it across 6 lanes of traffic! 
It wasn’t even 9 a.m. at this point! 
on the way back to the room and then we hung out until Karen and Sharon arrived. They had a quick breakfast at the hotel while Thom and I repacked the SUV and then we were off to DCA! 
Why did I not ever know that? 
You could stand inside the gate of one park and see the other park. This was about the point where Thom started to fall in 
with the Disneyland Resort!
We looked to the right at the entrance to the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail and saw a CM standing there smiling big as anything. He then called Maddie by name. 
is that? 
to Terry with a promise to be back, we continued on to the Paradise Pier area. Thom met up with us shortly afterwards and we rode our first ride of the trip, The Little Mermaid. It was so cute and, after Maddie’s reaction, I knew we would be back one or two times before the trip ended. 
(and Karen made it all the better last month when she returned to DL and had the spiked version of his drink 
- - she told me that it was simply research for our next trip, so I let her slide on that one 
).
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