Halloween, Hawaii and holiday celebrations - return to WDW! COMPLETED - Page 33 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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This was just an amazing trip. From beginning to end, everything in between. You planned the heck out of it, and the end result was spectacular! It pays to plan ahead! I absolutely loved reading about every single day.
Oh, and they are making changes to FP+, if you haven't read about it yet. Off site guests, or "day" guests as they're calling them, now have access to FP+ 30 days prior. Plus, they're adding the ability to park hop as well with FP+. So when you do have your future trip, hopefully it won't be such a pain!
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Tanya
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Fabulous wrap-up to an absolutely amazing TR! I can't wait to visit Hawaii someday, and I've so enjoyed seeing all of your gorgeous pictures! Thanks so much for taking the time to share this TR!
It surely was an epic vacation! Thanks for posting all the details of the planning and living of your journeys. I'm so glad the Hawaii portion more than lived up to your already high expectations! It's still not on my list of places I want to go, but you never know!
I must admit I was worried that I'd set my expectations too high and be disappointed by Hawai'i. I was so relieved that wasn't the case.
Thank you for sharing such an amazing trip with us!!!! This is truly a dream vacation - despite all the traveling you certainly made it a wonderful experience!!! And now I really want to travel to Hawaii more than ever
That's exactly how I feel when I read other people's trip reports - I add more and more places I "must" go to, so I hear you!
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I do have to say that it will be very sad to not see a TR in the Disney section for quite some time, but I am looking forward to all your other adventures!
There will be Disney adventures, just not for a while in Florida.
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This was just an amazing trip. From beginning to end, everything in between. You planned the heck out of it, and the end result was spectacular! It pays to plan ahead! I absolutely loved reading about every single day.
It does pay to plan ahead, but I did learn a lot from planning this trip as well. I learnt that I need to plan more time at Aulani when and if (hopefully when) we return. I also learnt how exhausting the travel between the various destinations are - that was something I definitely didn't plan in.
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Oh, and they are making changes to FP+, if you haven't read about it yet. Off site guests, or "day" guests as they're calling them, now have access to FP+ 30 days prior. Plus, they're adding the ability to park hop as well with FP+. So when you do have your future trip, hopefully it won't be such a pain!
I didn't know about those changes for the update. I have to confess I haven't completely kept up with FP+ knowing it'll be a while before we're going to use it again. I am so pleased that finally you can park hop with FP+, it's about time, as I know a lot of people were starting to ask what the point was in getting a park hopper if you couldn't have FP+ at different parks, which was a good point.
Fabulous wrap-up to an absolutely amazing TR! I can't wait to visit Hawaii someday, and I've so enjoyed seeing all of your gorgeous pictures! Thanks so much for taking the time to share this TR!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Oh, and they are making changes to FP+, if you haven't read about it yet. Off site guests, or "day" guests as they're calling them, now have access to FP+ 30 days prior. Plus, they're adding the ability to park hop as well with FP+. So when you do have your future trip, hopefully it won't be such a pain!
Further update - and how ironic is this? I just went to check my emails and found the latest detail in the All Ears newsletter about the "day" guests, so I guess I wasn't as far behind as I'd feared.
Thanks for sharing your trip with us. I really enjoyed reading about it and seeing all your pictures. You show why planning is so important. Great wrap up, too.
Liz
Thanks for sharing your trip with us. I really enjoyed reading about it and seeing all your pictures. You show why planning is so important. Great wrap up, too.
I was amazed at every up date, but my favorite portion had to be Hawaii. We not been there yet, but it on our vacation list when we have a few more things paid off or down. I truly feel I'll have lots of ideas for planning this one when the time comes because of all the great information and pictures you provided. for taking us on this epic trip!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.