First Ever Disneyland Trip Updated 10/13 - Page 31 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Congratulations on getting your dining reservations!!! I'm starting to plan our DL trip for next year so I copied and pasted all your dining plans for my research So happy that this part of the planning is over for you as it seemed very stressful!
I hope some of my planning helps you with yours.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
FINALLY!!! I'm so glad you were finally able to book your dining packages
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What is left to plan? Are you going to have a specific touring strategy going in, or are you just going to wing it? I know you have to wait to book your tour...are you thinking of doing Art of the Craft at GC? I'm not staying there, but am hoping to do that one.
Just read this entire PTR as I have fallen behind on the boards recently. I'm so excited to read about how you like DL and the Halloween party! We will likely go to DL in 2018 in October. I've been to DL a few times, but my children never have. And I've never done MNSSHP or the party at DL though I have always wanted to.
Sorry the dining has been such a pain to sort out. I had no idea that there were even differences in how WDW and DL did those kinds of things. I'm so used to WDW now days and I've been learning about DCL, but I'll admit I likely know nothing about planning a DL vacation.
Hooray for finally getting your dining packages booked!
Glad you got what you wanted!!!! I thought I heard the angels sing!
Thanks! Finally, some certainty.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KimmyAnn1147
What is left to plan? Are you going to have a specific touring strategy going in, or are you just going to wing it? I know you have to wait to book your tour...are you thinking of doing Art of the Craft at GC? I'm not staying there, but am hoping to do that one.
Really not much planning left. I can call in a few days for the tour, but that hopefully will not be the dilemma the dining packages were. We haven't decided on the Art of the Craft tour, but we may be able to work it in.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bee
All caught up and glad to see you have the dining finalized.
glad your dad is doing well.
Just read this entire PTR as I have fallen behind on the boards recently. I'm so excited to read about how you like DL and the Halloween party! We will likely go to DL in 2018 in October. I've been to DL a few times, but my children never have. And I've never done MNSSHP or the party at DL though I have always wanted to.
Sorry the dining has been such a pain to sort out. I had no idea that there were even differences in how WDW and DL did those kinds of things. I'm so used to WDW now days and I've been learning about DCL, but I'll admit I likely know nothing about planning a DL vacation.
Hooray for finally getting your dining packages booked!
I thought I had an idea about the differences in planning, but I still had quite a bit of learning to do.
I took yesterday and Monday off from Disney planning after my success with ADRs on Sunday. I had begun work on park plans. I was having a bit of trouble deciding how detailed I wanted to make our daily plans. Luke and I are fairly casual with our plans at WDW, which is a much bigger resort. So my thinking is that since we will have five park days we should be able to get everything done in both parks that we really want to do plus some without designing an attraction by attraction timeline. I have downloaded a one-day touring plan for both Disneyland and California Adventure that I got from touringplans.com. That is mainly to help us with when and where to get FastPass for the big attractions.
I was reading through e-mails this morning when I opened the one from the Disney Parks Blog. I went to the site to see what else was new and found on To 9 Disney Parks Recipes for Fall. Several excited me, e.g. gingerbread beignets at Café Orleans, Pumpkin Twists at Maurice’s Treats, and Pumpkin Muffins. Are you noticing a theme here? I love pumpkin. In fact, I’m ready to bake some of my pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I need to pick up some pumpkin.
Another blog was Top 10 Favorite Items for Halloween 2015 at Disney Parks. I love men’s lounge pants for, well, lounging. They now have a bright orange pair, my favorite color, with Boo written all over them. Check out the photo in this link: Top Ten Favorite Items for Halloween 2015 at Disney Parks « Disney Parks Blog. You’ll need to scroll down to the next to last photo. I also really like the new Minnie witch antenna topper shown in the photo below the lounge pants.
A third blog mentioned that Matt Damon had recently celebrated a family birthday at DLR, and he was photographed on the Matterhorn. That has me know wondering if we might now sight a celebrity, or even two, while we are there. We’ll just have to see.
Looking at food options is definitely one of my favorite parts of planning a trip. Especially the seasonal specialties. Those options sounds so yummy. I hope you do see a celebrity!
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So happy that this part of the planning is over for you as it seemed very stressful!
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Pixie Dust
Parlor Panther in 'stalking mode'
It's nice to finally have dining all settled. 
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