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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Thursday 9 April – part seven: an evening out at Cirque du Soleil
We asked the guys if they wanted to come up and see our room and the answer was an instant “yes”. Stopping for some photos in the lobby on the way…
… we then headed for the room and I think it’s fair to say that Frank and Donna were sold on it. It certainly is an amazing hotel and I wouldn’t hesitate to stay here again.
We said our goodbyes to Donna, Frank, Luke and Liam and here I must say how great it was to meet them and tour the parks with them, especially Tokyo DisneySea, as we were all seeing that park for the first time. Being with them meant that we got to see Triton’s Kingdom in Mermaid Lagoon, which we would probably have never done, had we been on our own. Thanks guys for two wonderful days and I hope we get to see you in the future again.
We quickly got changed and headed out to the monorail station and luck was on our side again, as one arrived just after we got there.
We got off one stop up at the Resort Gateway station, where we had arrived a couple of nights earlier. It’s quite a walk over to the theatre and that takes you through some of the Ikispiari shopping complex and then the Disney Ambassador Hotel, the last of the three on-site hotels and the only one that’s not actually at the entrance to a park. It wasn’t one that did it for me and I’m glad I didn’t for this one. I had thought about it, mainly because it was cheaper, but it would’ve been a false economy.
We headed straight to the box office, where we ere handed our tickets immediately and in we went.
We had a quick browse of the shop, but we couldn’t find anything we wanted in there. They didn’t have any fridge magnets in there sadly.
We headed to get some food next, as we were getting a bit hungry. I opted for a seasonal éclair, which turned out to have strawberries and blueberries in it. Very nice, but very different. Mark had a curry pastry, which looked like a hot dog, but was filled with curry paste. Again, very different. We also got some salted popcorn, which wasn’t as salty as you get in the States. I also got a glass of wine and Mark got a beer.
We went in and settled down in our seats, which were dead centre, third row. The girl who had got these for me had said they were good seats and my goodness, she was right! Mind you, she should be, as when I got the e-mail out that she sent me, I realised that she was the Assistant Company Manager!
As always with Cirque du Soleil shows, this was breathtaking. We’ve been to a lot of Cirque shows now (this was our 12th show, we later worked out) and I have never seen a tightrope act like this before and the jugglers were also something pretty special, but the one that got the biggest applause of the night and rightly so was the human balancing act. Now we’ve seen some of these before, where one supports the other, but I’ve never seen one where it’s a woman and a woman. Usually it’s two men. Even more amazing, at one point, she was the one supporting his weight. Unbelievable.
What also came across in this was that the performers were genuinely enjoying it. That was clear at the end, when they took their final bows. They were all thanking the audience for the reception they got. I guess maybe that’s the bonus of seeing a Cirque show that’s so new, it’s clear that they are still loving it. I’m not saying that doesn’t happen in the other shows, it was just a lot more obvious here.
We came out and there was no sign of all the TV cameras that we saw as we went in. I don’t what was going on, but they were everywhere as we entered, so no doubt we’re now stars either on Japanese TV or on Disney’s own promotional film.
It was a bit chilly as we left, but we still stopped along the way for a few photos.
We took a different way back through Ikispiari, which meant we saw more of that complex and I got to go into the Disney Store, but it was a bit of a disappointment. It was just the one we went into in Shibuya, with no Tokyo Disneyland merchandise, so my visit in there was really quick.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Yay - I'm off work (cos it's my birthday) so get to read your latest update in the morning instead of having to wait till I get home! What a lovely present!
Yesterday I received a postcard from my new penpal in Tokyo...posted from within Tokyo DL itself. To say I was excited was an understatement and a half! It has a special ink stamp of Mike and Sulley on it to commemorate the opening of their new ride back in April. It's now my life's mission to save up enough to go there and really do the whole Japan thing in style...be prepared for lots of research questions in a couple of years time..!
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Tinkerboo (or in the real world, Toyah) Reading Challenge 2015: 0/84
Follow my journey from sweaty panting mess to running goddess (I hope!) Out walking with The Boy...
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Glad you enjoyed Zed - it sounded wonderful. Sorry you could not find more at the Disney Store. The other stores look pretty interesting so it does seem they have an impressive "Downtown Disney". I saw a few pictures of the Ambassador Hotel on the website (yes your TR already got me looking at the website ) and it did not seem impressive to me at all - not after seeing the MiraCosta.
Can't wait to see DisneySea at night...I am sure it must look amazing.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Oct '99: CSR ~ May '02: CR ~ Nov '04: SOG ~ May '06: SOG ~ Dec '07: Solo @ Pop ~ May '08: Pop w/friends ~ Oct '08: SOG ~ Dec '09: Pop w/LeAnn ~ Sept '10: Solo @ Pop ~ Spring '11: AKL ~ Jan '12: Pop for 1/2 Marathon ~ Sept '12: 1st trip for DL 1/2 Marathon? ~ Feb '13: Pop w/pals? ~ Mar '13: Tokyo Disney w/PP's?
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Yay - I'm off work (cos it's my birthday) so get to read your latest update in the morning instead of having to wait till I get home! What a lovely present!
Yesterday I received a postcard from my new penpal in Tokyo...posted from within Tokyo DL itself. To say I was excited was an understatement and a half! It has a special ink stamp of Mike and Sulley on it to commemorate the opening of their new ride back in April. It's now my life's mission to save up enough to go there and really do the whole Japan thing in style...be prepared for lots of research questions in a couple of years time..!
What a lovely surprise to get that postcard - I can't wait to enjoy Monsters Inc. when we go back.
Glad you enjoyed Zed - it sounded wonderful. Sorry you could not find more at the Disney Store. The other stores look pretty interesting so it does seem they have an impressive "Downtown Disney". I saw a few pictures of the Ambassador Hotel on the website (yes your TR already got me looking at the website ) and it did not seem impressive to me at all - not after seeing the MiraCosta.
Can't wait to see DisneySea at night...I am sure it must look amazing.
Thursday 9 April – part eight: Tokyo DisneySea after dark!
We decided on the way back that we were still a little peckish, so we decided we would go back into Tokyo DisneySea to get something to eat. It was a close call, as the restaurants closed at 9.45 and it was 9.25 when we boarded the monorail, but Japanese efficiency did us proud and we were there in just 10 minutes and straight in and over to get some food at the Italian place we had admired earlier on.
We went for the seafood salad and a panna cotta with coffee sauce, which was lovely. Mark went for the chicken and beef, which he tells me was good. We weren’t the only ones in there at that time of the night, which did surprise me. There must’ve been about 10 or 15 other tables just before closing and they were making no effort to rush any of us.
As we came out of there, they announced that the park was closing, which didn’t bother us, as we were just planning on getting some photos before the short walk back to our room. We got some lovely shots.
Then we just ambled back. I was going to look in some of the shops on the way back, but they were already closed. Again, a park that doesn’t desperately try to make money out of people, as they leave. It seems that only in Florida do they leave the shops open after the park closes and I think it’s a shame that the other parks don’t do this.
We headed back to the room, having had the most amazing day at the most amazing theme park Disney has ever created. It’s as simple as that. I didn’t think I’d ever say this, but I think I even prefer it to my beloved Epcot…
Today we walked 5.63 miles The weather today was hot and sunny with temperatures in the 70s. The best thing today was Tokyo DisneySea. The worst thing today was the lack of Tokyo Disney merchandise in the Disney Store. The funniest thing today was Donna’s face on Scuttle’s Scooters. Today we tried seeing the Cirque du Soleil show Zed And the result was it’s one of the best Cirque shows around. The most magical moment today was walking into Mysterious Island for the first, the theming there is just so amazing.
It's great that you loved DisneySea so much. And it makes sense, really, because you said Epcot is your favorite park otherwise, and DisneySea is themed in a similar way - just more realistic (at least it seems that way from the pictures)
Stunning photos of Disney Sea at night. And that picture of your coffee-dessert-thingy-ma-bob (Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that's the technical term for it?) is making me hungry!
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What a lovely surprise to get that postcard - I can't wait to enjoy Monsters Inc. when we go back. 
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