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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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Remind me, what day was this for it to be crowded?
This was March 26, a Wednesday and it was still about 2 or 4 weeks before Easter!!! I think it was just a big Spring break week as I had some people travel the week or so after and they said the crowds were much more managable.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lindawdw
I've only heard of MK being at full capacity for special holidays! It seems with all the events that Disney has now there is very little times of the year when there is a low crowd level Glad Claire got her popcorn
It was crazy. I guess a lot of schools had spring break that particular week.
and yes...this year has been very busy all year long. I had some people go in Sept during what are usually slow weeks and it was pretty darn crowded for them too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Glad you didn't try to head back via monorail to MK as it would have been frustrating to be turned away. The dish at the UK food booth looks yummy. I think the Canada pavilion is quite lovely.
I would've been so mad. Hopefully if I did try going that route they would've warned us at the station....I would hope at least.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KimmyAnn1147
Yeah, that!
The Grow Walk! Now I know, and I'm glad I do.
I was just reminiscing about our time at Disney, and how even though it was in the middle of summer vacation, the crowds felt ok to me. Even on a Saturday, it was ok. Then I remembered being at DLR and shuffling with the others. That's the one thing about crowds that gets me down, being clogged up on a walkway. Battling the Grow Walk monster!
Your pix of Canada are nice, I didn't get back there this last trip!
I felt the crowds were better in Aug for me too, but I didn't spend much time at MK that trip...just the morning for a few hours and of course the Villains party was pretty busy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mommapants
Trying to catch up....Congratulations Gracie is just beautiful. 10/8 is my son's birthday too. He screamed bloody murder as a baby whenever he was "nakey baby" too. Going back to read all the trip details now.
Thanks! Great birthday!
Gracie has had some tummy issues too and I feel bad for Paige. She is breastfeeding and trying to watch what she eats, but I guess she still is having issues.....and she doesn't poop regularly...and when she does it's a HUGE blow out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mommapants
well all cought up. sounds like you are having a wonderful trip. Love the day at sea world and DC.
I didn't realize they were putting in a 3rd track at TSMM. Should help the crowds. I hadn't heard that LMA was closing either. My son will be bumbed - he loved that show.
I really want to do a day at Discovery Cove. It's so beautiful!
I know they have filed paperwork for the 3rd TSMM so it should be started soon if it hasn't already.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
Glad you were able to explore Canada. It's really pretty back there!
it really is.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JKnott17
I love Claire's description of the "grow walkers", it's so very true! I hate getting stuck behind them on the walkways, very frustrating. I can't believe how crowded it was today, is it a holiday?
She had the perfect discription!
It was still a few weeks before Easter, but I think just a lot of schools has spring break that week.
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I must say it was kind of peaceful back there and it was a happy memory for us. We didn’t do anything, but it was neat to see the area and just chill without 5 zillion other people around us.
We headed up towards the front. We were going to have to ride Spaceship Earth eventually as Claire just loves it.
We spotted Phineas and Ferb topiaries. Our first time seeing those I believe.
As we walked towards the front we saw this very cute topiary display that we had missed on our first day here. And today they had a photopass photographer there to take pictures. I told Claire we were stopping and she said she did not want her picture taken….and I told her if she didn’t then we weren’t riding spaceship earth! We got in line…..
When it was our turn I told the photographer that I had a resistor with me. He was super nice and tried to make Claire smile….she really was fighting it though.
I tried to call out to her encouraging words but it wasn’t working.
After that Claire mentioned that we had not been to Club Cool yet. I have known about this place for years but we never ventured in till our last trip and Claire loved trying all the different drinks. Since we were thirsty and the day had gone from cool to kind of hot, this was a good time to stop in.
Somebody next to use was telling her child to try different ones and I helped with the encouragement….and said “try the Beverly!” I winked at the mom and she laughed and of course the kid found it disgusting. Then the mom tried it just to see and started gagging. It’s not my favorite, but I don’t think it is so bad as you need to gag. LOL! I can tolerate it at least.
Claire found a few she liked and she took several samples of them.
Since we were doing slower things and not in any rush, I decided to take Claire on something she has never been on and something that has been years since I have done….. We headed in that direction next.
But we made a quick stop so Claire could run through the mist.
Let’s move on.
And then we approached Epcot’s most exciting ride EVER!!!
Ok, I might have just lied a little bit there.
Claire has never been on Ellen and it has been many many years for me and it is a good spot to cool off (take a nap) and rest on a crowded day.
We did have to wait a little bit before we were let inside.
Claire is so excited….OK, she was hamming it up a bit.
Finally we were let in and we found a spot.
It wasn’t busy at all. It started and soon most of the story came back to me. We went to the tram and I swear I remembered more parts in the dinosaur section. That part was much shorter than I remembered. All in all it was pretty boring and neither of us was impressed with it at all. But it was something Claire had never done and we were not fighting crowds and we had a good rest off our feet. I have to admit I was fighting sleep the whole time and was half tempted to lay across our bench seat as best I could and snooze.
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That soccer topiary is so cute! My girls play, so I would have loved to have gotten a pic of them there. Sorry Claire was resisting the photos, they still came out cute though!
Love her "excitement" for Ellen! Glad you were able to find some small breaks from the crowds
She was in for a dissappointment showing that kind of excitement for Ellen. LOL
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Shame about the Photopass photos - they would've been great with the same enthusiasm Claire showed for Ellen!
I know. I wish she would be more energetci for the PP photos.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JKnott17
That soccer topiary is so cute! My girls play, so I would have loved to have gotten a pic of them there. Sorry Claire was resisting the photos, they still came out cute though!
I thought it was cute too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Great pictures, especially all the ones of the topiaries!
Claire had it all planned out. Remember on our first ride a few days ago I wore my sunglasses and it gave me the look of no eyes in the picture? Claire was convinced she needed to have no eyes as well so we both put our sunglasses on for the picture this time.
We sat back and relaxed and I basically didn’t take many pictures this time around since I have so many of Spaceship Earth already.
A side note…I saw on facebook that someone had dressed up as this girl for Halloween. LOL!!!!
Time for our Future!
Once again I had no eyes….but it didn’t work for Claire and she was so disappointed.
The 2 of us up on the big screen.
Once we were done we decided it was time to find something to eat and maybe then leave and head back to the hotel.
We found another photopass photographer and decided to stop.
The sun was starting to go down and the temps were dropping so our jackets were back on.
I always love how the park looks during flower and garden.
I think we went this way to make a potty stop. I also think once we got around Norway we stopped and called Skip. He was flying down the next day and I had to make sure he knew what he was doing. And of course he asks? How do I get to the airport? Um ask your mom or one of your brothers? He was flying from Toledo airport, which is literally 10 minutes from our home. It wasn’t like someone was going out of their way to take him. And I had told him before to make arrangements, but he said I never told him that.
Soon it was getting dark.
It was now crazy busy in the park and we stopped at a couple of restaurants that typically are not as busy and asked if they had any openings and none did. I was shocked and kind of kicking myself for not making an ADR this day…but then again I never expected to be in Epcot today either. We decided to keep moving and just get something to eat at the Beach Club.
Well Claire had an idea….let’s do pick a pearl….Ok, but this is out of your money….which was fine with her.
It was busy in there but we paid and got our number and watched and waited.
Someone else’s pearl.
We got to talking to a Mom and her daughter and the daughter had done it something like 8 plus times this trip. She just loved doing it and was spending all of her spending money right here. I thought that was funny.
Finally we were called and Claire picked her oyster.
They always do this with so much fanfare and I usually can’t understand a word they say. LOL.
We were hoping for a blue one, but no such luck. A girl a few people ahead of us got a gorgeous blue one and Claire was praying hers would be too. But in the end she was still happy.
I no longer remember the size, but I think it was 7 something.
Claire’s pearl is still in the bag. We have yet to get a necklace cage to put it in. Maybe I should buy one for Xmas for her?
After all that fun we headed out and spotted another photopass photographer.
We were now getting hungry so we headed out of Epcot over the BC to the Marketplace there to find some dinner.
While we browsed the selections I took a picture of the new mugs.
We ordered the flatbread pizza to share. Yes, it was our 2nd pizza of the day.
And I believe we shared the clam chowder as well.
After we finished our food we headed back to the car and made our way back to the Marriott once again. We got ourselves ready for bed once again. I don’t remember, but there might have been a quick swim for Claire before calling it a night. We only had 1 more day at Disney World and that was kind of sad, but our vacation wasn’t over yet….we still had much more fun in store.
I kinda think Claire should force you to do a bunch of Photopass photos too. She needs to get on the other side of that coin! "No Ellen till you pose with Goofy, Mom."
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Bummer that Claire didn't get a blue pearl - but hers is still beautiful! I got a "cinderella coach" cage for my pearls in Downtown Disney on our last visit. I love it - it is gorgeous - maybe you could find that for Christmas?
And nothing wrong with 2nd pizza in the same day...............
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I kinda think Claire should force you to do a bunch of Photopass photos too. She needs to get on the other side of that coin! "No Ellen till you pose with Goofy, Mom."
LOL! I am terrible at pictures, but I guess I should suck it up and get some taken.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Very nice finish to your day!
Thanks
Quote:
Originally Posted by xwewhisper
Sorry about the dinnertime crowds - it can be tough without an ADR, but with so many restaurants there I'm surprised you couldn't find something!
it was so crazy busy there that day. We had a nice decent dinner, but had I thought about it earlier I could've even looked on the app.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
Love the photo op with soccer Goofy! My DD is a goalie, so she would have thought that was cute!
I thought that was such a cute set up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
I love the Photopass pic of you two in front of Spaceship Earth! Claire did well with the pearl, although what a shame she didn't get a blue one.
I wish we got the blue one too but she was happy with hers. It is kind of fun to do.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lfredsbo
Bummer that Claire didn't get a blue pearl - but hers is still beautiful! I got a "cinderella coach" cage for my pearls in Downtown Disney on our last visit. I love it - it is gorgeous - maybe you could find that for Christmas?
And nothing wrong with 2nd pizza in the same day...............
We actually bought the coaches a few years ago and both still have those. I am thinking of finding something different. I have seen a Mickey head, but it isn't as cute. I should just break down and get something for it before we end up losing it.
I do like pizza, but so many other options there I should've tried. But at least they were different kinds of pizza
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Claire did well with the pearl, although what a shame she didn't get a blue one. 
I am terrible at pictures, but I guess I should suck it up and get some taken.
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