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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Allow me to introduce myself and my son Evan. Some of you may already know us but I have been off the boards for a while and usually hang out more on the DisneyWorld side of things so if you strictly only view DisneyLand stuff then all of this will be new.
I’m Holly. Single Mom. I work for a hospital in the Information Systems department – completely non-medical. I began as a computer programmer but about 2 years ago switched over to handle HIPAA electronic security issues. I am certainly not the end-all-be-all in HIPAA for our Hospital but I am sort of the right hand man of our HIPAA Security officer.
I was born and raised in South Jersey about 15 minutes from Philadelphia and 1 hour from Atlantic City. I am 40-ish and that is all I’m gonna say about that. I have been to The World about 20 times and DL twice. I love to travel but never really have the money to do so. I can only afford a trip about every 2 to 3 years. We always head back to WDW because that is my happy place and if we went somewhere else instead that would mean it could be 5-6 years between Disney visits.
I wouldn’t say I love all things Disney. I love Disney World. I enjoy Disney movies and stuff but I’m not a crazed fan. Favorite ride? Let me think…I really like Haunted Mansion but my skiddish little boy means I haven’t been on it in YEARS. I think Soarin would have to be it so I am looking forward to the new movie.
Mom loved to travel as well and often paid for us to take smaller trips and weekend getaways so I will miss doing those but I have been able to expose my son to other things.
My darling little Man, Evan, 9, he will be 10 by the time we travel so there you go – no more kid rates. Evan loves soccer. He enjoys school too. He likes Disney Channel and Star Wars Rebels and the Force Awakens and the Avengers. His favorite ride is probably the Tomorrowland Raceway or as I still call it the Grand Prix.
This past weekend we went into Philly to the Chinese Lantern Festival. It was so nice and hope they do it again next year.
Love the pictures from the lantern festival! Not really the right time of the year, from Chinese perspective, as lantern festivals are typically part of Chinese New Year, but I guess weather is better now?
Looking forward to more trip details!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
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Love the pictures from the lantern festival! Not really the right time of the year, from Chinese perspective, as lantern festivals are typically part of Chinese New Year, but I guess weather is better now?
Looking forward to more trip details!
The festival was really nice and yes the weather was great.
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Originally Posted by Cam22
Great pictures of the lantern festival! It looks so beautiful! Great intros, too.
Thanks. Evan liked the festival too.
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Originally Posted by cattailmarsh
The Lantern Festival looked like loads of fun. And it seemed like you were both enjoying yourselves from the pics you posted.
We totally were
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Originally Posted by SuperDave
Love a;; of your photos and great work!
Thanks
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Originally Posted by KimmyAnn1147
Nice intro!
Thanks
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Originally Posted by chezp
Oh wow, you really do need this trip. I am so sorry for everything you've been through.
I am so glad you now have this to look forward to and that you have the money through now. That must be a relief.
HUGE relief not just because of the trip but I paid of some debt and feel like I have some breathing room now.
Really cute story about the lantern festival. I didn't tell Evan we were going. I knew he would fight me over it and not want to go but also knew once he got there he would like it. That is his M.O. and I just didn't want the fight. He went to the pool with my sister all day so when he come home he was super tired. When I told him to get his shoes on I got the "where are we going?" "What are we doing?" Yada, Yada, Yada. As predicted, he didn't want to go but I made him and he was a little grumpy on the ride to the train station. Once we got to the train he had cheered up a bit. Later that night as we were walking around I thanked him for coming along and being agreeable and not throwing a hissy fit. I asked him if he was having a good time and he said yes. I told him that Mommy knows her little boy and I knew he would like the festival. He said "Yes Mommy, you always pick good stuff, you have never steered me wrong"...It just made me smile to know that he enjoys the things we do together and he has just as much fun as I do.
When: November 8 – 13, 2016
Where: Fairfield Inn
What: Disneyland and California Adventure (4 Day Hopper Passes)
We are flying out of Philadelphia airport on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. Our flight leaves at 9:45am which is nice so we don’t have to get up super early, just regular time. However I’m a little nervous that because it is a work day, traffic could be an issue. I’m exploring options for getting a ride to the airport, parking at the airport, parking off site or even going over the night before and staying AT the airport (something I’ve never done). This is also Election Day so maybe with schools being closed traffic may be a little lighter than normal. Note to self – have to get an absentee ballot.
We have a nonstop flight into LAX, hopefully getting in as scheduled at 12:30 pm local time. From there we have shuttle service to the Fairfield Inn. This is right across from the DL/DCA entrance. I’m told about a 10 minute walk. I haven’t planned all the details yet but think we will head over to Down Town Disney for lunch/dinner at Rain Forest Café.
I was looking at the DTD map today and they have a Ridemakerz there. The one in WDW closed so I would really like to do this for Evan. In case you don’t remember this is the place where you could build your own remote control car. I know Evan will love it and I was planning on letting him do this when we went to WDW but we had to cancel that trip and since then that location closed.
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be spent in the parks. It seems so weird NOT having all ARD’s already set up. We can’t book meals until 60 days out so we still have some time. There are several places around our hotel so I’m not sure how much we will eat in the park and how much outside.
I think we are gonna do a dining package to get reserved seating for Paint the Night Parade and do the Dessert Party for World of Color seating too.
When checking crowd levels, it said that Wednesday and Thursday will be ghost town with Friday and Saturday being busy. There is a marathon that weekend too so with a little bit of luck it won’t be crazy. I think I’ll plan the meals for the busier nights and take my chances with just using fastpass for World of Color on the slower nights.
Sunday we are doing a character breakfast and then heading to the airport for our 1:40pm flight home. That gets us back about 10pm.
I’m sure we will be tired but hopefully tired from all the fun we had.
I specifically choice this time because it is “Jersey week” but since everyone heads to WDW so I just thought we would be different.
For those of you who don’t know, all public New Jersey schools (Elementary all the way through High School) close for 2 days in November. It is always a Thursday and Friday and usually the first/second week. Educators are supposed to go to a big convention in Atlantic City but I seriously doubt they go. They are not required to go but that is the reason the schools are closed. My dad was a teacher/administrator and back in the day they were required to go.
Now Evan’s school combines conference this week, throw in Election Day and well, we can have a vacation with very little time missed from school. Monday is ½ day because of conferences. Tuesday school is closed because of Election Day, Wednesday another ½ day for conferences and then closed for the convention on Thursday and Friday. Evan will miss Wednesday, one half-day, that is it. So you can see why so many Jersey people get the heck out of Dodge for “Jersey week”. My sister’s school district combines conference with the week of Thanksgiving. Still same number of days off but yuck, Disney is too crowed the week of Thanksgiving.
I have aching to take Evan to DL over Teachers Convention and it has just never worked out before, money wise so I’m super excited.
So as of right NOW this is going to be a surprise for Evan. I hope I can pull it off. I’m really thinking I’d love to be all packed and in the car and just say “you feel like going somewhere today?” or maybe even just pretend like I’m gonna take him to camp for the day and instead just drive to the airport. I’m open to suggestions. My biggest fear would be I tell him that day and he gets upset because he was thinking something else – like going to the shore or the movies or that he will miss his favorite TV or something trivial like that.
Well anyway for now it is a surprise for him and I hope to keep it that way.
Your plans are looking good! When we were planning our trip last October, I did get a bit antsy about waiting until 60 days our to make dining reservations. I did have to wait a bit longer too for the packages to open up. We did one for Fantasmic and another for World of Color. Both dining experiences were wonderful and the special areas for viewing were so worth it.
Having done the surprise trip thing three times, it's worth it! One time we actually told the kids we were going to dinner, and then ended up in long term parking at the airport. The other two times we told them at home, because we had a car coming to get us to take us to the airport. Those two times I think they had about an hour or two notice.
So I know you all thought I abandoned you- Not True. Life has just been busy.
Evan was tested this summer for a learning disability and turns out he has Dyslexia. It was rather shocking to me but we are moving forward with plans for the new school year. I am hoping for a really big year for him.
We spent several weekends at mom's house cleaning it out moving furniture all around. Her Home sold in one-week. We now have spent a few more weekends completely empting it. Tonight we are moving a bunch of stuff to have picked up for donations tomorrow.
It has been a little crazy. I have kept my sanity by thinking about my DL trip.
I bought a whole bunch of gift cards at target on my target card so got the 5% discount. I am about half way paid off. I'm exploring transfer options and reading up on what is at Disneyland and Not at Disney World. Besides Carsland I know Evan is going to want to meet Captain America. (Too bad for mommy it isn't Chris Evans). I have scoped out the days I want to do special meals.
I just found out that Paint the Night is stopping in September so most likely it will not be playing one of it's "special" performances while there. MSEP is also headed there but not sure if that will be running in November so at this point looks like fireworks and World of Color will be our night time activities.
Not too much else to report. I have deiced I am definitely surprising Evan. I am just gonna get him up and into the car that morning and say I'm taking him to camp that day (election day so school is closed) but instead go to the airport. I had thought about going to the airport the night before but the room was $300.00, didn't think too long about that. I just sent away for my absentee ballot and got a sweet coupon for airport parking. Actually we use an off site service and it was $6.00 per day.
I need to measure my suitcase because by big one may be too big. It is a spinner and the wheels stick out. Does anyone know if you need to measure the wheels as well or just the frame of the suitcase? If I have to include the wheels it will be too big. I was hoping to just take the one but may have to go with 2 smaller ones.
That is it for now. My house is a mess with all the stuff from my mom's but I'm determined to enjoy some down time before school starts back up again. Evan has a soccer tournament this weekend and then he is off of practice for the last 2 weeks in August. [the calm before the storm]
Good to see you back! Wow, you have had a busy time of it! It sounds like your plans are coming together. I'm sorry that it doesn't look as if Paint the Night will be on one of the nights you're there.
I was SO sad to hear Paint the Night was ending.
Good luck with all the final work on your mom's house. I'm sure that's emotionally, as well as physically, draining.
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Holly: 
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Pixie Dust
Great intros, too. 
PassPorter Guide Author
I am so sorry for everything you've been through. 
When we were planning our trip last October, I did get a bit antsy about waiting until 60 days our to make dining reservations. I did have to wait a bit longer too for the packages to open up. We did one for Fantasmic and another for World of Color. Both dining experiences were wonderful and the special areas for viewing were so worth it. 
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