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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Great start! My question is why not SS? Is it really bad? I ask this because we could only get a split stay SS/OKW. While we LOVE OKW - we have never been to SS and aren't too thrilled. It's only 3 days (out of our 12 day stay). I was also wondering how the magicbands work for AP/DVCers Thanks for the report! Enjoy Artist Point - great choice!
Great luck with a BLT studio! Can't wait to hear about Artist Point and how the Magic Bands actually work in practice. So cool that you got to be part of the testing! And since is it 7/24 to you! : to you! Dear Heather! :happybirthday to you! Just pretend I'm singing it to you.
Happy Birthday, glad your birthday trip came together so well for you. Also curious to hear how the magic band works out for you. We will be there in December staying DVC, but do not have our passes yet, just have our vouchers to turn in that we purchased last year to exchange for the annual passes. My parents have tickets that they have purchased from UT prior to the price increase. Hope you have a great birthday celebration.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Yeah for the last minute birthday reservation opening!!! It was meant to be. So excited that you are getting to try the My Magic Bands, actually my sister was there last week and she met someone who was testing them out and she said they were having a great time.
You know funny what you said abouty Citricos, the menu looked so so to me as well this time around, loved out last meal but nothing called out this time, now I wonder if maybe I should take this as a sign and try something we have not tried before....
Can't wait to hear all about your day!!!! AFter I saw your post on FB about the magic band, I went onto my ressie for POP in August - and I was able to link mine and Em's AP's and we got to pick magic bands and FP+ times!!!! We are so excited!!! Scott is bummed that we get to try it before him!!!! lol! Hope that it worked well for you!
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
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
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Great start! My question is why not SS? Is it really bad? I ask this because we could only get a split stay SS/OKW. While we LOVE OKW - we have never been to SS and aren't too thrilled. It's only 3 days (out of our 12 day stay). I was also wondering how the magicbands work for AP/DVCers Thanks for the report! Enjoy Artist Point - great choice!
There is nothing wrong at all with SSR! I'm an owner there. However, I had already planned to spend my birthday at Magic Kingdom and wanted to be close by. No reason to spend the points for a room that is almost the same distance from MK as my house--SSR is at DTD--really close to home for me--I think I can be at SSR in under 7 minutes. I actually prefer SSR to OKW. I think the pools and the food offerings are better!
I managed to get up and out of the house at a fairly reasonable time on Wednesday morning. I believe I arrived at Bay Lake Towers at about 10am. The first little bit of magic was already happening! The guard at the gate had radioed ahead to the front of the building and I was greeted by name at the door. The guest service cast member wished me a happy birthday, let me know that my room was ready and escorted me to the empty online check in line.
I got my room keys, map, and my magic band. The CM at the desk made sure to remind me to carry my regular room key, park pass, and credit card because the bands are still in testing and might not work everywhere. You cannot use your Magic Band at a Table Service restaurant yet! I headed up to my room to put my things down before heading out to Magic Kingdom--I had to get the wine in the fridge!
I was delighted to find out that my room was on the top floor! The top floor at BLT is key card protected because of the lounge so I needed to use my room key in the elevator each time I went upstairs--this is the one thing the Magic Band isn't working for that I ran into!
I had a great lake view from the 16th floor! I could see the Spaceship Earth! I probably would have been able to see some of Illuminations if I had been back in the room by 9pm. I really like the layout of the BLT rooms, with the kitchenette as a separate little room. However, the furniture is really showing some wear and tear.
I put the wine in the fridge and grabbed my park gear--realizing that I had forgotten my toothbrush at home. I texted Santiago and asked him to grab it from my apartment on his way over.
I headed into Magic Kingdom with no particular plan, except to make my Magic Band Fast Pass times. I grabbed FP to meet Mickey and the Princesses. (The Mickey FP machine is NOT tied to the rest of the system--so you can get both of those at once. The Princess FP is linked in.) I used my regular AP to get those FP--at the moment you can still get day of FP with your regular ticket media, I don't know how/if that will change in the future.
Next I headed to Guest Services to get a birthday button! After that, I had a spontaneous thought. One of the things I've never done is had my hair cut at the Harmony Barber Shop. Last week I had my hair absolutely butchered at a local place. I've looked like something out of 1977 for the last week. I figured that it couldn't possibly get worse! There wasn't any wait at all and within seconds I was seated in Diane's chair and she was moaning about the poor cut I was currently sporting. She FIXED it! It looks absolutely fabulous now and is definitely the best cut I've ever had for less than $20. (An adult cut at the Barber Shop is $19--a total bargain and in this case a total success!) Diane works Monday through Thursday and I highly recommend her services! I now have a really cute bob that everyone at work has commented on as being fantastic!
I was planning on having a hot dog for lunch at Casey's Corner, but decided to treat myself to something a little more fabulous. I tried to get a reservation at the Plaza, but none were to be had until 3pm . . . that didn't work with a 7pm dinner reservation. I walked over to New Fantasyland to see what the wait looked like for Be Our Guest. The CM at the gate told me that the wait was only 10 minutes and I hopped in line. Then it started to rain, a lovely CM brought me an umbrella and I managed to stay mostly dry until I got inside.
They have a water station set up outside BOG because it's been so hot lately!
I have to say that I over ordered. I was feeling really hungry so I walked through the line, was issued my RFID rose and proceeded to the ordering station, where I waited forever behind a family who hadn't bothered to look at the menu outside, the menu they were handed waiting in line, or the LCD screen menus in the waiting area. They had two kids with them who couldn't decide what they wanted to eat, or drink or anything else. This was the longest part of my wait.
I finally got to the ordering screen and ordered myself a french onion soup and a croque monsuier and a fountain beverage. I pressed my magic band to the screen and it was all paid for and registered for delivery. Lunch came to about $19. I took my rose, unnecessary with the magic band, and headed to find a table. I checked the West Wing first, but the only table available in that room was a table for six and I didn't feel right taking it. Instead I took a table for two right next to the drink dispensers in the Ball Room. (I wished I had looked for a table in the library room, but I didn't even know it was there until I went hunting for silverware and napkins.)
Up next: my meal and meeting Mickey on my birthday!
What a great start to your birthday! Interesting about still needing to take everything with you as the Magic Bands are still in testing - logical I guess, but something that hadn't occurred to me, so that's good to know.
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Can't wait to hear about Artist Point and how the Magic Bands actually work in practice. So cool that you got to be part of the testing! 
And since is it 7/24 
to you! :
Can't wait to hear about your birthday trip! 
Liz 
PassPorter Guide Author
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