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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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The pirates look great, although the location doesn't sound that wonderful.
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Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great pics of the Pirate rooms!
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Originally Posted by lazanya
Great updates & pictures!
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Originally Posted by Cam22
More great pictures!
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Originally Posted by ilovedisney247
I love the carpeting in the pirate rooms!
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Originally Posted by DisneyKYFan
We stayed here for 2 nights on the trip we just returned from. The resort was beautiful and I really liked the theme, but I did NOT like that walk to Old Port Royale. There is a bus that will take you but it's just as long waiting on it as it is to walk.
Love the
The pirate rooms were really neat, but that walk looked really long. I have heard the bus taking you there wouldn't save you time either. If you have a car with you, that might be ideal though.
Once again, while traveling on the bus, Rita talked to us. We were told we would be arriving in Epcot by going backstage and being dropped off behind China. We were told no pictures were allowed. Bummer…but we knew that would be the case. We all were looking around, and trying to take it all in as we drove. Honestly, it’s not that fascinating. A bunch of junk was piled up back there. A lot of old props and such and not very magical looking at all. I can see why they don’t want you to take pictures to spoil it for others.
We stopped behind China and were led in. I think Brook took a picture of the door to remember where we came in at. Once we passed through the door, it was truly like being in another world….World Showcase…that is.
I pulled the camera out and shot this.
We made our short walk over to Norway and I tried to document where we went in at. We were having a welcome dinner and meeting in the Norway Loft.
I had tried to research the Norway Loft prior to the trip, but there was very little info out there. A few Dis friends did find some links and sent them to me, which was interesting. It sounds like this place is not used much. Sometimes it is used when an outdoor wedding reception is rained out, and a few small conventions, but not much else and very little info floating out there on the net.
This is where we went in and up.
When we reached the top of the stairs, there was a bar area and restrooms. I didn’t take pictures. So much was going on that I just forgot.
We had a selection of drinks, and I grabbed a Bud Light. It was very refreshing on a hot day like this!
We walked into another room and a buffet was set up and several round tables. I took this quick and REALLY bad shot of the buffet table.
First thing on the agenda…DINNER!!! We were all pretty hungry at this point. I believe the food was Norwegian dishes, and most of it was pretty darn good.
After I got my plate, I went back up and took a few pictures of the food.
Tommy sat at our table and we talked a bit about marketing and our expectations, etc. The bud light I had was so good and went down very fast. I don’t drink too often, so even though another one sounded really good, I switched over to diet coke. We all made a couple of trips up to the buffet. It was really tasty.
At some point in time I realized I didn’t have my photopass card anymore. I was kind of panicky and mad at myself for not taking a picture of it early on. I hoped and prayed it was in the room. I didn’t remember taking it out of my lanyard, but I could’ve. I know I mentioned it a few times to my fellow TA’s…they were probably about to strangle me. I tried not to think about it, but I was still mad at myself for not keep better track of it. After we finished up eating we had a bit of class. I can’t remember what all we covered then, but we learned a little bit about marketing and Disney in General. We also went over our homework that we had to do prior to coming. For anyone who is going in the future, this is not strict. We just kind of talked about our answers and thoughts. There really were no wrong answers, but some did “fit” better. We also were given a bit more homework to do over the week. All very easy and no grades, more for your personal gain. As we were wrapping up, and were all kind of standing right near our table, a cell phone goes off. Who the heck was so rude to leave their cell on!.....…..that would be me. OOPS! I quickly turned it off…but everyone got to hear a good portion of “She thinks my tractors sexy” before I could get to it. I felt so embarrassed. But Tommy quickly told us the story of one time when everything was silent at some important event and Rita’s phone starts playing some Kenny Chesney song. I didn’t feel so bad then….but I did try to remember to silence it in the future. It was time to head out and make our way over to France for our Dessert party.
As we walked, I grabbed a few pictures on the way, but they aren’t very good.
We had a little laugh on our way to France. We had a CM walking ahead of us carrying a light up in the air. I think I would be embarrassed to have that job. LOL!
I got to walking alongside Patty and we talked a bit. Patty and I ended up doing a lot together over the course of the trip. We had a lot in common. We both had no family along with us….or coming (Brook’s family was there and Mindy’s was arriving on Thurs.) Both of us had our children starting school while we were gone, her boys starting on Tuesday and Claire on Wed….and many other common bonds we found out throughout the week.
Soon we had arrived in France were directed to a roped off area down by the water. And yes we all smirked at the VIP treatment we were getting.
We found a table of 4 and Brook, Patty, Mindy and I sat down right alongside the water. We were allowed to go get desserts right away. I am sad to say I never took a picture of the dessert tables. It was dark and hard to see what we were getting, and crowded. I don’t think they actually had enough room for the entire group. They had a few small stand around type tables, and I think several were gathered around those. I took a picture of three of our plates. Mine is the last one…the one with the MOST sweets on it. LOL
Before long it was time for Illuminations…and we had a front row, exclusive seat! I did try to take pictures…but I still haven’t mastered fireworks, as you know…and I did not have the tripod with me either to at least help a bit.
I took many more, but they were just pure crud. We were wowed and very excited after the show. But now it was time to head back to the resort. Many of us had hoped to just walk back to the Yacht Club, but Rita said no, they had to talk to us again on the bus about the next days activities, so we all had to ride the bus back. The bus was now pulled up behind Morocco, so we headed that way.
As we headed out the door, one guy stopped and asked who we were and where we were going…..Um, yes, we are celebrities, using this exclusive backdoor exit….Actually he was probably hoping to find a short cut out. LOL I did get one quick picture of the door we went out of…I don’t know if I would ever find it again though.
We boarded the bus once again and were reminded not to take any pictures. Brook started tweeting (or something) and told me she had picked up free wifi back there. I then told her that a few times during the day, my phone was picking up free wifi….from Starbucks? LOL! We were given the agenda for the next day, told what time to meet at Cape May, where we would be having breakfast, and questions (if anyone had any) were answered. We were each given a Mickey rain poncho to keep along with us if needed for rain during the week. As we exited the bus, we also each received a pin for our lanyard. I think this one was Tinker bell. Throughout the week we received fastpasses for each park, I can’t remember if they gave us some more that night, or waited till the next day. We were now on our own for the evening. Would we go to bed, walk around and explore, swim, or hit some parks?
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I was just in Epcot for a wedding reception and we had the same thing. A guy lead us with the red light all the way to the area by the water. While we were eating dinner other guests were taking pictures of us. I love all of the pictures and information on the resorts.
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I was just in Epcot for a wedding reception and we had the same thing. A guy lead us with the red light all the way to the area by the water. While we were eating dinner other guests were taking pictures of us. I love all of the pictures and information on the resorts.
Welcome to Passporters!!!
Thats funny, I felt kind of silly, but the leader was a fast walker and we actually kind of lost her after a bit. We did feel special
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Originally Posted by Cam22
Disney knows how to party right! Dinner and desserts both look delicious!
They sure do. They treated us really good too.
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Originally Posted by chezp
Wow, what a great evening - Disney sure know how to look after you!
They really made it a special trip.
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Originally Posted by disneydreamer33
Great pics of the resorts.
CS is a beautiful resort.
CBR is too, but my DSis has stayed there and her one complaint was it was too big.
I thought both seemed big, but I guess the only way I would know for sure if it would bother me would be to stay at both....I should do another trip and try that. LOL!
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We headed into the lobby of YC. Brook was hitting the sack. She said she was dead tired. I can’t remember what Patty and Mindy said they we going to do. And I was still wired. We stopped for some lobby pictures, and then headed back to our rooms. We were going to exchange gifts, and I was also going to hand out the Mouse World T’s I had made prior to coming.
I took the outside route back to the room. I like a little alone time here and there, and this was a peaceful walk, and I got to take some night shots outside.
Once I got back to the room, the first thing I did was look for my photopass card…and sure enough, it was sitting right on the desk. I swear I don’t remember taking it out, but there it was…and I quickly snapped a picture of it.
Brook and I gathered our stuff to take up to Patty and Mindy’s room. I gave the girls the T-shirts that I had made with our travel agency on it. Mindy had also had me order a notebook. I then also gave them the “Dream” shirts I had made for all of us. We decided we would all wear them the next day. Brook handed her gifts out, Mindy gave us each a 911 remembrance pin and Patty gave us an AWESOME gift….Not to say the other gifts weren’t good, they all were, but Patty made us Mickey shape caramel apples. I took a picture at some point in time, and once I come across it, I’ll post it. I didn’t eat it till I got home, but WOW, it was soooo good and HUGE!. I kept hiding it, as I would cut a slice or 2 off here and there over a couple of day’s time, and Skip kept finding it and doing the same. This thing is the stuff dreams are made of. Mmmmmmmm! So, I guess while we were in the room I decided to take a few pictures. Well it looks like 2. I’m not sure why I didn’t take more, because their room was slightly different than ours…they had a couch in theirs, which it looks like I didn’t take a picture of.
You can kind of see part of the couch in the reflection of the mirror here.
We all decided to find where we could fill our mugs, for those that had them, and I think Patty ended up buying one. We found that Beaches and Creams did fill mugs, but they had a limited selection. I think they were out of diet coke, so I probably got lemonade. I have to note, I found it very odd that the Yacht Club has no where to fill up mugs. There is very small bar/lounge right off the main lobby, I can’t remember the name, but if they are not busy or depending on the CM working, they will sometime refill it for you. Other than that you had to walk to Beaches and Creams or over to the food court at the Beach Club. If I ever stayed at the Yacht Club again, I wouldn’t buy a mug unless it came with my dining package. It was a pain to have to walk such a far distance to get a drink.
We walked into the carryout side of Beach and Creams. This was the first time I had ever been in there, so I took a few shots…..It looked pretty busy.
Back to the Yacht Club lobby.
My fellow agents were all heading back to their rooms. It was around 11. I wasn’t ready yet. So I kept taking pictures.
There’s some of that cross selling.
I moved down one of the hallways for more pictures.
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Dinner and desserts both look delicious! 
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Liz 
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