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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 afternoon: onto DCA for awesome rest of day!
So with the crazy lines at RS, it was awesome to be able to get right on again. Then we savoured a lot of time in cars Land exploring the shops and details. Got a Route 66 sign for the man cave and a Mater Christmas ornament.
We enjoyed the food and setting s much at Flo's that we ate there again for dinner. We've also learned to saunter through ghiradelli for the free chocolates : ).
We found Mickey in his Newsies outfit. My favourite character photo-op so far!
Also faced my fears again for second time in 15 years and did Tower of Terror. Oh my heart rate, but what a thrill!
We later made a point to be there for when the lights come on in Cars Land. Pure magic!! The girls tried a churro too from the cone food. Bland until you dip on the warm caramel sauce if you ask me!
Then it was off to the pier, as we were determined to pull off world of colour. It is so beautiful down there when it's all lit up! Hubby and Abby enjoyed the swings at night. Kayla lost her nerve, so I had to sit it out.
Since it had rained and sprinkled on and off, we were still able to get yellow FPs for WOC. We sat on the concrete ground for the hour wait. It was manageable. I usually don't let the girls play games on my phone, so they were amused doing that.
The show? Out of this world!!! May try to see once more. Extra magic factor: the two adults in front of us insisted on letting our girls stand in front of them. They had a great view, as we opted to be in the spray-free zone behind a fence. Then I insisted that two short ladies behind us stand in front of me. After the show, their family members emphatically thanked us.
Even the walk back to DLH with thousands of other people was magical. Everyone walked in a happy orderly fashion. As we walked, the fireworks at DL began and we got to see almost all of it! We were proud of our girls for lasting through a 15 hour day and staying up to what was 2am on their bodies! Four days in, we starte to actually adjust to the time difference.
Sadly, the weather hasn't been cooperating and our beach tour was prepaid and had to go ahead in the on again off again rain. Feeling disappointed that we didn't get a nice beach day. We were really looking forward to it.
We spent the morning freezing at Newport Beach. Took lots of pics in the fog and mist. Against my advice, my hubby and girls played in the waves and got wet and frozen. I was the party pooper, refusing to go near the water. Not my idea of fun! Felt far too much like home in Atlantic Canada / New England on a cold overcast day.
We spent the afternoon at Huntngton beach. Even colder with the wind off the water. The girls still played in the water and enjoyed themselves. It was kind of an icky area with homeless people all around and the public bathroom at the beach was worse than something in a prison!
Thankfully we found Starbucks nearby, so we could at least warm up. We ran into the other family on our tour and they were more than happy to cut our excursion an hour short, since our tour guide gave us the option to text for earlier pickup.
At least we did see some sights and can say we did it. Made me realize that our beaches I. Atlantic Canada are just as beautiful!
Friday evening didn't go so well, as my poor hubby succumbed to our daughters rotten cold that she started with just days before the trip. Then at 3 am Abby woke up sick to her stomach and didn't quite make it to the bathroom before getting sick all over the carpet : (. Lovely!
We have all the luck, don't we?! Thankfully, it must have been something she ate because she's been fine since.
Saturday: planned rest day. More light rain showers
Seriously, what happened to that drought?! Just light sprinkles here and there though.
As planned,we kept it a light day. Hubby has been sick in bed most of the afternoon and evening. Praying he is feeling up to our San Diego zoo tour tomorrow!!
We did pull of a late am showing of Zootopia at AMC for the super cheap $6.49 tickets.
We've been enjoying trying the different food venues downtown. The girls had Jamba Juice smoothies and we tried veggie burritos from the Tacqueria. We agreed once and for all that we don't like Mexican!
As promised for Abbs birthday present, the girls made Build a Bears. Kayla got the cutest diamond anniversary white teddy with the t-shirt and matching outfit. Abby got a cuddly bunny holding a birthday cupcake.
After some rest time, I took the girls to the pool in the high 60 s temps. They were game for more monorail slide time. I was good with an hour in the hot tub! A also thankful for the housecoat from our room that I was able to wear as soon as I got out of the water.
It was a picnic supper back in our room. Then the girls and I walked to both PP and DGC for pressed pennies. Of course, Haagen Daas was necessary to round out the night.
Yay that DH's cold is just a cold, and hopefully he's feeling better after a down day.
A sick kid is my nightmare on a disney trip where every day counts. So glad that it was a "one and done" kind of sick! She must feel fine, as she was back at the pool in the blink of any eye. It's great that they are taking advantage of those cool slides!
Hope you all have a nice day at the zoo. Thanks for the live updates, I'm really enjoying them.
Sorry the beach day wasn't all you hoped for, and that your DH is now sick. Having lived in LA, I can say I think Central Coast and Northern CA beaches are much lovelier than Southern CA beaches. And we never usually went in the water because regardless of season, it is COLD!
Bummer that it rained on your beach day! Really, I thought it never rained in Southern California. But for it to choose the one day you were at the beach is wrong. for your DH to feel better soon!
Thanks for the moral support, everyone! Hubby was not well today, but he pushed through and managed to enjoy our day at the zoo. He had to take it slow and sit often, but we managed to see all of the highlights of the zoo.
The weather was pretty ideal at about 70 degrees and sunny all day. Yet they were calling for rain again and we dragged around our raincoats all day.
We were very impressed with the zoo. A few enclosures seemed to be on the small side, but otherwise it seems to be a very dedicated zoo. They have over 140 conservation projects around the world.
When we saw the giant pandas, I cried! It was such a thrill to see them! The polar bears and gorillas were awesome too. A guy obsessed with gorillas was there doing what he called enrichment. The gorillas obviously know him because they came right over to watch his iPad sled show of gorilla pics, as well as a board book of gorilla pics. Then he gave us magnets with the gorillas' names on them. Didn't appear to be staff, but said he is there all the time.
Overall, this is the most impressive zoo we've ever visited. I also highly recommend taking tours through Gray Line. It's an add-on option with Disney packages. We were on a cozy double decker coach bus and got the front seats both directions. The driver was fabulous, pointing out the landmarks and history all the way to San Diego. Being a Sunday, there was very little traffic and we got there in 1.5 hours. The scenery along highway 5 was breathtaking at points. And hey, we got some much better views of the ocean! The drive there and back was thoroughly enjoyable. I wish we could spend more time in San Diego!
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