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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Great ending to your day. I love Wishes, but hardly ever stay late at MK because of the crowds leaving. The only solution is to do what you did and stay in the park until the crowds thin out a bit. Can't believe the suitcases are already going out to the car!
Great ending to your day. I love Wishes, but hardly ever stay late at MK because of the crowds leaving. The only solution is to do what you did and stay in the park until the crowds thin out a bit. Can't believe the suitcases are already going out to the car!
Thanks Laurie. Wishes is okay - I much prefer the old fireworks shows like Fantasy in the Sky so I don't care really whether we see them or not. Abby would prefer not but it's not too bad watching them from across the lagoon at the Poly (you don't get the crowds either. As for the suitcases, they were packed and locked so it was just easier to get them out of the room completely so we knew what we had left to deal with.
What a great last night!!!! I'm so glad you got to stay late! One of these years I want to stay that late at the parks, but right now my kids are NOT night owls, so it might be a while. (We had to carry our 6 year old out of an Epcot restaurant sound asleep at 9:00). How does Abby do with the fireworks? My son had to see them from a distance. I hope when he's older we can see them in the parks. I'm glad your last night turned out so well.
What a great last night!!!! I'm so glad you got to stay late! One of these years I want to stay that late at the parks, but right now my kids are NOT night owls, so it might be a while. (We had to carry our 6 year old out of an Epcot restaurant sound asleep at 9:00). How does Abby do with the fireworks? My son had to see them from a distance. I hope when he's older we can see them in the parks. I'm glad your last night turned out so well.
Thanks Phoebe. I'm glad we got to stay that late on our last night. Growing up we were rope drop to park closing people and I have yet to do that with Lenny and Abby. I don't think I'll ever be able to do it with them but it was nice to be there that late just the one time. As for Abby and the fireworks, she doesn't care for them but I think it's because of all the people in the park. She does fine at the 4th of July fireworks we go to see but there's obviously barely any people compared to Disney. She did fine watching them from the Poly last year and this year when we were still in the parks, I'm pretty sure she had her headphones on for the noise. Having said that though, I truthfully think they look much better from the distance than up close - and going to the Poly, they play the music too so you don't miss out on anything except the crowds.
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So glad that the rain did not stay long, what a wonderful day at the MK, a perfect way to finish off the trip. Glad the troops were in for staying a bit later...I think it was the perfect ending, SWA and then Abby's favorite ride. So glad the resort monorail spared you a long wait for the express monorail and that you made it back to the resort with enough time to get most of the packing completed.
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It's been interesting reading your report, since we got there just after you left. The weather sounded very similar as do the crowds.
The Angler Fish wasn't working at Nemo when we went either.
I had made a point not to find out what happened with the hitchhikers....so it was a fun surprise to have our 'heads' messed with when we rode it. Cute!
I think it's interesting that you have a hard time with Star Tours but can ride EE. EE makes me sick (the backward part is the worst)..... Star Tours isn't a problem.
Thanks for sharing your trip with us. I'm glad the plane ride wasn't any problem for you guys (of course you haven't talked about the ride home yet) when you were so worried about it. And other than a those few really bad moments, I think your trip sounded like a success.
YAY for a great night. We learned on our last visit that going to the park at night is a great thing! We would go in the morning and then take a break mid day, head back for dinner and then stay until closing and it was so much nicer (and cooler). I'll have to remember visiting the princesses during the parade so hopefully we can scoot right in (well, maybe not right in, but quicker than our usual 1 hour wait). Thanks for the heads up on being able to get the FP's for both the princess and Mickey M&G at the same time. Since we are not doing CM's this year, we will definitely need to stand in line to see Mickey...we can't go to Disney and not see him! I love the Buzz ride, but stink at playing the game. I can never hit those targets for some reason...way to go Abby for getting the high score! Oh, and I loved your acronym for CRT...too cute. We love Cosmic Rays b/c it has something for everyone, but it is always crowded when we go and it does not make it easy to have to stand in one long line, then go to another long line to stand yet again to get everyones food. Glad you caught it at a down time and was able to get your food quickly! So glad that Abby was able to get to ride IASW so many times especially since she did not get to on your last trip. I love that you were able to get back to tradition and have that as your final ride! I always hate packing up, but unfortunately it always has to be done! Hope that all goes well and that you are able to board quickly even though you called later than you had intended. OH....I am always amazed that we have never ridden on COP with our girls. I was a little girl when I last went on that show. Since you go to sleep most of the time on it...I'm guessing it is boring??? I just can't remember, and I don't know why we have always managed to not do that show. I think it is one of the few, if not the only ride my dd's have not done. Should we keep skipping it? LOL
Sounds like a fun night and IASW is a nice last ride to go on!
It was fun and with Abby, there's no other ride to end the night on
Quote:
Originally Posted by scrappyjae
Sounds like you guys got a lot done that day!
We actually did but we had a lot of hours in the park as well
Quote:
Originally Posted by buzzspal2
Sounds like fun. I sorry it is almost over. Thanks for letting us tag a long.
It was fun. I wish I had more to post but I'm bummed it's winding down too. Just a couple more installments (flight home, summary, etx) and it will be all done
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcc0313
So glad that the rain did not stay long, what a wonderful day at the MK, a perfect way to finish off the trip. Glad the troops were in for staying a bit later...I think it was the perfect ending, SWA and then Abby's favorite ride. So glad the resort monorail spared you a long wait for the express monorail and that you made it back to the resort with enough time to get most of the packing completed.
Thanks Meg (BTW - congrats on the Ipad) - we really did have the perfect ending. Mickey & Minnie, Princesses, a couple of rides and a short line and ride back to the TTC. And with getting things done that morning before we even started made it all that much easier to accomplish some things that night.
It's been interesting reading your report, since we got there just after you left. The weather sounded very similar as do the crowds.
The Angler Fish wasn't working at Nemo when we went either.
I had made a point not to find out what happened with the hitchhikers....so it was a fun surprise to have our 'heads' messed with when we rode it. Cute!
I think it's interesting that you have a hard time with Star Tours but can ride EE. EE makes me sick (the backward part is the worst)..... Star Tours isn't a problem.
Thanks for sharing your trip with us. I'm glad the plane ride wasn't any problem for you guys (of course you haven't talked about the ride home yet) when you were so worried about it. And other than a those few really bad moments, I think your trip sounded like a success.
I'm glad you read along and enjoyed my TR. And for the most part, yes we did have a good trip. I can admit that now although there were times I swore I wouldn't go back because of whatever had happened. I did well with the plane but you'll have to stay tuned to see if I did as well coming home.
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). How does Abby do with the fireworks? My son had to see them from a distance. I hope when he's older we can see them in the parks. I'm glad your last night turned out so well. 
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