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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Both of my favorite moments involve my DD (but don't tell DS! ).
1) Our very first trip was when DD was 4 and so in love with The Mouse. We waited in the long line at Mickey's house to meet him. When it was our turn, DD ran right up and gave him a big hug. It was one of those "Aw!" moments that still makes me misty-eyed. DS was only 2 at the time, and less than enamored!
2) DD's graduation gift from college was a trip to WDW. Her friend who was to accompany her had to back out, so DD asked me to come along. Our next to last night there, we were standing in MK watching Wishes. She wrapped her arms around me and said, "I'm so glad you're here with me!"
We have been many times over the years, so we have lots and lots of special memories, that if I thought very hard, I could come up with a few dozen more stories. But those 2 are my favorites.
We had a magical moment at Crystal Palace. We were wearing our shirt with Pooh, Tigger, Eyeore and Piglet on them. When Piglet approached, he saw our shirts and pointed at himself, drew a little heart in the air and then pointed at us. It was so cute!
Then DD got to open the doors at Festival of the Lion King and then we got to sit in the front row because it was her birthday.
I have a few. For me, the most magical moment is walking into MK for the first time on the trip, and being in the center of Main Street where all the sounds and smells converge on me, and it hits me: I'm in Disney! Additionally, I adore watching the faces of whomever I'm with in WDW for the first time as they enter MK and see Cindy's castle and their eyes light up. I love seeing the magic through someone else's eyes, and I've been fortunate enough to be present for many a first visits.
Wishes. I literally get choked up the first time Jiminy Cricket starts the show, and I tend to cry the whole way through. It's just so.. magical, and there's always something new about the show that touches me.
Illuminations is the same as Wishes for me. Epcot is my favorite park, and the end of the day is always bittersweet for me, as I never want to leave, but the show is just phenomenal.
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Ellie
Mommy to Kennedy, Emma, Maddy & Logan, Wife to Jerry
It sounds really silly, but the magic starts for me as soon as I see the big arch with Mickey on it that has Walt Disney World on it over the road. That's when the magic starts for me after the months of planning, the packing and 16 hrs+ driving, just all the stress magically disappears!
I can think of many magic moments but here's one of my favorites. My DD's were always afraid of Santa. On a trip when they were 3 and 6, we brought them to BBB in DTD for princess makeovers. They absolutely loved it. On our way out of DTD we discovered Santa. We waited in line and I was sure my girls wouldn't go anywhere near him or talk to him but I wanted to try. To my surprise they both sat on his lap and talked to him! Santa was so sweet with them and they were full of smiles. It warmed my heart and I thought to myself magic really does happen in Disney.
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For me the magic happens as I am driving on to property!! Seeing the sign and driving to my resort - I get all excited and I smile whether I am with someone or I am alone!
The first day of every vacation at WDW is my absolute favorite! I love knowing that I am in my Disney bubble for a few days!! I feel so fortunate to be there again!
Watching Wishes and Illuminations gives me goosebumps and tears - every time!
I was very fortunate to have experienced a very magical and exciting event a few years ago!!! We were on one of our all girls trips and 3 out of the 5 girls were out and about early one morning at the MK when the Dream Team approached us! They were so nice, asking where we were from and what our favorite thing was so far on the trip. When we explained that there were actually 5 of us - all ladies, having fun at WDW they got very animated and excited. They then introduced themselves as the Dream Team and they wanted to give us a magical experience! They asked us if all of us could be at a certain place in the MK at a certain time that day. Of course we said !!! They told us we would be meeting someone very special! The three of us were giddy with excitement!! We couldn't wait to find out who we would be meeting!
Later that day, we were introduced to Princess Cinderella!! We had a personal invitation and meeting with the Princess! She spent a lot of time with each one of us and we were able to take many pictures.
It was definitely a big time highlight in all of my visits to the most magical place on earth!
For me it has to be spending time with my kids at the Poly pool. They go up and down the slide so much that by the time lunch rolls around they are beat and talking a mile a minute. It's buying them a tinkerbell and toy story cup with the light up figure on the straw. Seeing them playing with these toys a year after our last trip makes me smile. It's holding my husbands hand while watching a movie on the poly beach and them seeing the fireworks....our feet in the sand and our kids on our laps. It's the idea that while it may be crowded and hot we are all here for the same thing. We love the magic. The magic that makes a dad slow down from the busy hustle and bustle of providing for his family and taking in the joy of his kids smiles. The magic that helps a mom realize that her babies are growing up too fast, but for this one week or so they are her babies again, holding her hand and telling her today was the best day ever. The magic that has my 9 year old holding his 6 year olds siblings hands and saying don't be afraid of this ride your big brother is right here. These are the reasons we save here and there and make the magic happen.
We'd say one of the most magical moments is boarding the Magical Express. Followed closely by passing the entrance sign. Which I guess are part of the same thing.
For us its the whole experince, the resort, parks, resturant, bus ride. Its just a nice vacation. This year we are planing on doing a week at OKW with no parks. We will do a couple days at water parks and the rest relaxing at the pool. We will see how that goes. Maybe we will be buying park tickets our second day there???
For me it's the look on my sister's face when we walk into the MK. She has had a lot of bad in her life and I try to give her this one thing each year and its worth it when she looks at the castle and then at me with tears in her eyes and says thank you. That makes it all magical to me
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I have another wonderful magical time....
My niece, Carly and I were touring Animal Kingdom with our very dear friends, Cam, Luke and Stefanie. We were in line to see and chat with Chip and Dale when a very nice CM started talking to Cam and Stefanie. While Carly and I were chatting with those silly chipmunks, the CM asked Cam if we all wanted to be in the parade that afternoon!
Needless to say, we were beyond thrilled! We (the girls - Luke restrained himself! ) started jumping up and down with joy! I am sure to those around us, we might have looked a bit silly....but we didn't care! We were so excited!
Riding on Mickey's float in the parade that afternoon was one of the best days I have ever had at WDW!
The music at the entrance to Epcot...and our first spin on Spaceship Earth! Epcot is our first park each trip and we always ride SE together as a group on arrival day.
For me it's the look on my sister's face when we walk into the MK. She has had a lot of bad in her life and I try to give her this one thing each year and its worth it when she looks at the castle and then at me with tears in her eyes and says thank you. That makes it all magical to me
You're an amazing sister! Everyone should have a sister that cares enough to do something like this.
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!!! They told us we would be meeting someone very special! The three of us were giddy with excitement!! We couldn't wait to find out who we would be meeting! 
) started jumping up and down with joy! I am sure to those around us, we might have looked a bit silly....but we didn't care! We were so excited! 
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