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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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What a great start! I don't know how you managed to leave Andre-- he just keeps getting more and more adorable. That photo of him with Josie at the table is too sweet. I agree that the princess room does look dark with all that heavy drapery. Looks like Josie was a cheerful traveling companion! Can't wait for the magic to start.
Thank you, it was hard to leave him that's sure.
The room was really dark and I never liked opening the blinds ALL the way as anyone could just peer in.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eeyoresmom
Leaving that adorable boy had to be hard . . . wonding how I'm going to be able to leave my little man come October. Sounds like an easy time at PHL - and no delay !
It was hard, but a little easier because I had Josie with me, if I had to leave them both........different story I think.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sc507
Great start! Love little Miss Josie's nails . Gotta have pretty polish!
We stopped getting her nails painted because she would just pick the polish off, but she wanted them done and I have to say she never touched them once this time
Quote:
Originally Posted by OhToodles!
Could Josie be any cuter?!
The room looks really cute!
And I can't wait for the next update!
Thank you, that update is coming right up!!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lexiemom
Yay, you made it! I like the looks of the Royal room, very nice. Can't wait to hear about your magical memory!
The room was great and not too over the top either.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
The room looks great. Great, smooth start to the trip -just what you needed as you started your first solo with a kid trip!
Can't wait to hear about the special surprises!
Yeah getting there on DME I left out a BIG sigh of relief.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JKnott17
Great day so far. Glad that everything went smooth with your flight and DME, the Royal Room looks beautiful too! Looking forward to hearing about the sprinkling of magic that's about to happen
Coming right up........
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
What a great start - I love the room!
They really did do a nice job on the room.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ilovedisney247
Off to a great start! I really like the look of the room--these are the first photos I've seen that weren't "Disney Staged" for a walk through!
I looked at lots of photos of the room before we went and they were pretty dead on to what I saw. Really sweet, but dark. The bathroom was super daek, the side with just the toliet and shower.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great start! Love the room! Can't wait to hear about the magic!
You'll like it!!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
Glad you got there safely! Love the room!
Thank you!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by misty hailey
sounds like fun so far!!
The fun is just starting now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stardust190
Great start! Josie looks so excited. And your little man is just adorable. I can see that it would be a little hard to leave him. Can't wait to hear what the rest of the trip has in store.
He is such a lover too that boy. I missed his little smiles.
Quote:
Originally Posted by honeybee723
Things seem to be going extra smooth for you girls. Ok...don't even get me started on the whole tipping the bus driver issue. We ALWAYS tip them, no matter what we put under that bus, and I'm just shocked at how many people don't do that. The last time we went, we were the only people who tipped the driver, and the only reason I knew this is because I stood there and watched everyone, and we were the last guests to get their stuff taken off the bus. It's just really sad.
POR is my favorite mod resort. It's just a beautiful piece of property, but I haven't been there since they've done all the room changes. Looks like a little girls dream.
POR has really changed my mind greatly on mods, I have lots to say on this too but that will all have to wait
The tipping on this trip was bizarre, the bus driver took my tip, the face painter in Epcot wouldn't, the lady who held my carry on bags at POR wouldn't but then the guy who did my airline check-in did.....oh and then the DME driver on the way back to the airport didn't either. Weird!
Quote:
Originally Posted by mousestruck
Glad you had smooth sailing into Philly and onto your flight. Nice shots of the room... how my DD would have loved that room back in her princess days! (Now that she's 11, she's too cool for princesses!) Looking forward to hearing all about your magic texting!
She may like the room, it wasn't real frilly, just regal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BlueCinderellaEyes
So glad everything has gone so wonderfully for you so far! I would love to do a mommy daughter trip!
This may be a yearly thing..........we'll have to see. Mommy/daughte time is sweet, but then so is mommy/son time too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 3kidsandamom
My daughter might not be excited about it but I would love to stay in one of those rooms!! I can't wait to read more!
I hope you do stay in one at least once.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcc0313
What a great start to the trip, I love finally getting to the DME, so close yet so far...lol, the room looks pretty cute. I love Josie calling her bed, think she made a great choice.
Can't wait to hear about the start of the magic
I'm just so happy when I get on that bus, the 30min drive doesn't bother me at all. Oh and I have some good info about that BB I talked to you about too
Quote:
Originally Posted by mommapants
Great start to the trip. Glad your room was ready and no hassles at the airport.
Can't wait to hear more.
Yeah, my room being ready was a first for us,hat's for sure.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shelley the Pooh
I hate when sleep is like that, waking everytime you feel like you just fell back to sleep. So irritating, especially on a morning like this morning. Glad arrival was pretty easy going.
Josie is so cute, love the pic of her with the army man.
Can't wait to hear about the magic coming up!
I really wanted that last hour of slepp too........dang!
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
Great Start!!! I love the room, I want to stay there someday!!
You should!!!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by clio
Great start. Your room looks really nice. I can't believe the number of people that don't tip the driver. Can't wait to reaad more.
Liz
Yeah, I was shocked. My stroller came out last so I saw everyone ahead of me and NOT ONE person tipped her. And the funny thing is, she didn't even seem to mind.
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OK, so remember I didn’t think I wanted to go to DHS on this trip? Since we only had a few days I thought we could just stick with Epcot and MK. Well my very dear friend who has worked for Disney in Orlando and also Tokyo Disney told me she had a little something up her sleeve. She is still good friends with a performer in Beauty and the Beast and said she called him to see if Josie could be princess of the day for one of the shows. At the time, we didn’t know if he would be working that day, or if they had someone else scheduled to do this, so I said nothing to Josie about it and just figured I’d let it play out.
Well, this awesome guy texted me and asked if we could do the 5:45pm show. I said not a problem. So while we were eating I started looking over the show times. Josie couldn’t stop talking about the Disney Jr show and how she wanted to go see it. They had a 5pm show lasting 25min. This was also the last show of the day. Hmmm…….we can swing both for sure. So I said yup!
We finished with lunch and headed over to the GMR and during this is when all you know what started to hit the fan. Our awesome guy texted me saying I needed to be at the theatre by 5:15 so they could tell Josie and show her what she had to do. Crap, we now have to miss the Disney Jr. show and how do I tell her??
Once out of the GMR, which BTW Josie totally hated the shooting with the mobsters, I thought maybe a few character meets could soften the blow. Off to find Jake and Handy Manny.
This was all going over OK until Josie asked if we could go inside. I pulled the old….” Oh, I’m sorry babe, they are closed” then just scurried on our way.
Once at the entrance to BatB I walked over to a CM and gave her my name, she asked who was the princess I was with, I told her Josie and she said she had been waiting for us. They handed us this card and said once inside someone would tell us what to do and where to go.
So we found a spot to wait until they let everyone in. The sun at this point was BLAZING hot and I could see Josie starting to crank out. She started wining about how she didn’t want to see this and she wanted to go back to Disney Jr. I had a “talk” with her and informed her some people were doing some really nice things for her and to pretty much just zip it
Once we got inside and seated in our very own VIP section, a CM came over to Josie and took her and showed her what she would need to do, somehow her mood started to change. We still had a good 15 min or so to wait before the show, so I gave her the itouch and let her just zone out for a few minutes while I texted amazing guy and thanked him over and over again and wished him a great show.
The show started and we were both all smiles and clapping and having fun. I on the other hand was trying to make eye contact with just about anyone to figure out who just did this amazing thing for us.
The show was great and now comes the end where a CM came over to get Josie and take her to the edge of the stage, at which point the prince and Belle hand her a rose and she waves to the whole audience, and then comes running back to me. I was a blubbering mess. Nope not a little sweet tear running down my check or anything, I’m talking, ugly smile, shoulders shaking, blubbering mess.(Think Julia Roberts in Steal Magnolias) Geez, get a grip girl, this crying trend I am starting needs to stop ( too early for menopause??? I wonder). Josie was in her glory…………just look.
Now with her mood all lollipops and roses, she was up for anything. So we headed over to the Animation Academy and thought about signing up for a class, but decided against it and got in line for Sorcerer Mickey.
From there Josie wanted to buy something for her baby brother and she had already informed me that he needed a Duffy Bear of his own. She picked one out right away, a Goofy Duffy of course, I asked if she was sure about that to which she replied “YUP”.
As we left the store we noticed some cast members out with hula hoops so she of course joined in on the fun.
Now at this point I knew we weren’t sticking around for Fantasmic. I like the show, but it’s not one I need to see every time, so with that I asked Josie what she felt like doing, and she said she wanted to go back to the hotel. I was more than fine with this decision too.
On our way out I noticed these Coke machines and I thought they were soooo cute!
We didn’t wait long for a bus and soon we were back at POR. We headed back to the room and finally our bags had gotten there, but we were both a little hungry so we decided to check out the food court. On our way out I had forgotten all about the movies they would be playing and I was surprise to see they were setting that up right in front of our building!! Score!! I had looked a few days before too see what movie might be playing this night, but double checked with the crew setting up and what a surprise this would be………………..they were showing DUMBO!!!!!!! I knew we would miss the start of it but hopefully could make it back in time to see our favorite part, and we did too.
We had a quick bite at the food court and then settled down on some towels to watch a bit of the movie.
We stayed long enough to hear “Baby Mine” and then headed back to the room. Showered up and ready for bed Josie still asked if I would sing to her and of course she wanted to snuggle with Duffy AND her rose from the show.
I unpacked our things and settled in for bed too. It had been a long day, but a really, really good one.
I love that josie loved being Princess for the day at BatB! But my favorite part of that story: 1-when you told her Disney Junior was closed and quickly went the other way and 2-when you told her to zip it. Because that totally would've been me!
What a perfect ending to your first day - Dumbo & Baby Mine.
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I think you made the right choice starting at DHS, I am glad your magical moment worked out! I just love the smile on Josie's face as the CM is leading her away from the stage with her rose.
First of all, I have always been and will most likely always be a blubber-er! For ALL things kid related. When Tyler had a hand chime concert in first grade, I sobbed...SOBBED...from the moment he picked up the chime til we got in the car to go home. Craig shook his head and my mother just handed me tissues
So...the first time we left Jason and went to Disney without him when he was two, I sat in the car and cried while Craig dropped him off at daycare where Nana would pick him up from later. So...I got a little choked up reading about you leaving Andre and looking at that adorable face in your pictures...and then again seeing Josie's face all lit up with the rose from the prince. And then you had to see Dumbo and listen to Baby Mine (which makes me cry every time I see it)!! So...you can stop now with all the tear jerking updates!!
Love the room...can't believe you were tidying up at 5am. Blah!! Can't believe people weren't tipping!! We tend to be over-tippers. We are big pizza planet fans...and I 'think' from Josie's face she was Great face!! Okay...got tissues, bring on the next update.
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I hear you on the crying thing! When Tyler did skated infround of 20, 000 people for the Scotiabank Skaters durring the Buffalo / Sens game I did the same thing! Josie is a little doll!
What a special moment! Nice of your friend and very nice of the complete stranger who set it up for you! (I remember from Cam's report a couple of years ago that Stefanie was Princess of the Day also)
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Aww. What a special moment for Josie. How nice that your friend was able to help you with that. Did you ever figure out what performer it was? It sure looks like you're having a lovely time!
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Love the room! Can't wait to hear about the magic! 
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. At the time, we didn’t know if he would be working that day, or if they had someone else scheduled to do this, so I said nothing to Josie about it and just figured I’d let it play out.
, we now have to miss the Disney Jr. show and how do I tell her
??
. 
, a CM came over to Josie and took her and showed her what she would need to do, somehow her mood started to change. We still had a good 15 min or so to wait before the show, so I gave her the itouch and let her just zone out for a few minutes while I texted amazing guy and thanked him over and over again and wished him a great show.
Geez, get a grip girl, this crying trend I am starting needs to stop ( too early for menopause??? I wonder
). Josie was in her glory…………just look.
!!!!!!! I knew we would miss the start of it but hopefully could make it back in time to see our favorite part, and we did too.
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
For ALL things kid related. When Tyler had a hand chime concert in first grade, I sobbed...SOBBED...from the moment he picked up the chime til we got in the car to go home. Craig shook his head and my mother just handed me tissues 
Great face!! Okay...got tissues, bring on the next update. 
Sammi
PassPorter Guide Author
She looks like she had a great time! 
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