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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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The entire D23 event looked amazing. Holy cow, what a treat. Thanks for sharing all the photos (as usual). The antics at the car were hilarious!!!!
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The D23 events are GRRRRREATTTT. You are so fortunate to have been a part of that group. Eileen, sorry to hear that you are being picked on so much that you are looking for more friends. Although I do find the antics of your fellow travelers so extremely funny. Really enjoying tagging along with this crowd.
Okay, the car gag was just hilarious! I will be happy to be your new friend Eileen. Although I can not promise to not do the same thing Sharon did, it was just priceless. Keep the posts coming, I am really enjoying this TR!
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I cannot tell you how many times i've had the car pull off from me from my friends as well *LOL* my family loves this prank as well...that is too funny though!
I the details of the D23 event. It looked like a lot of good food and to have the lights all to yourselves WOW! I also love the ride on TSMM without having to wait in lines forever...how cool is that??? sounded like a wonderful day for you guys
The moment you pulled, screeching away from me, I barked out a HUGE laugh -- actually startling the guys getting into their car nearby. I was laughing so hard, I was wheezing right along with Larry, but the guys a few cars over *totally* thought I was crying and said "Are you OKAY?!" (Which Karen knows is a phrase that always busts me up!)
When the car of my so-called "friends" came back for me, I opened the door and an explosion of sound nearly rocked me back on my heels! I couldn't be mad with them, as I thought it was stinkin' hilarious and something I would've done to them -- I joined in with the hilarity and our laughter was B.I.G. and lasted for pretty much the whole ride back to the AKL. We'd calm down and then someone would snicker and it would set us all off again.
I could not stop laughing. And laughing. And laughing.
And I will testify that Eileen was really a good sport about this.
The wine was exceptional and it was nice to sit down for a while and enjoy the conversation and hear what Sharon had been doing. Wonderful things as it turns out. I may have to look into this D23 stuff.
What a wonderful D23 event. hey food looked fabulous. They thing that caught my eye was the big ole hunk of blue cheese!! I want that!!! Poor Eileen!! That was funny though!!
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I got a good laugh out of hearing Sharon describe driving off from Eileen........ but then hearing Eileen say that those guys asked if she was ok, thinking she was crying.......
Thanks for sharing the D23 event with us. Sounds like an awesome time. I'm surprised Mickey was so happy to take a picture with you since your preference for Goofy was plastered on your shirt.
the D23 event looked heavenly! I love hearing all about how things come about at Disney (like the Osbourne lights). I am seriously jealous of your day Sharon!
My Dad did the leave you behind joke on my husband in Sept when we went to the Dover NASCAR raceI laughed so hard I snorted. DH didn't think it was funny AT ALL until I reminded him that he thinks it's HIsterical when he does it to me!!
What a wonderful way end the day ~ good frineds, good times & good wine {sigh}
After our wonderful Viking coffee break , Karen, Eileen, Heather and I headed for France where we had a looming ADR. Earlier in the day, we had asked Bob and Larry to join us for dinner, so they were waiting for us at the entrance to Chefs de France by the time we made it there. Karen checked us in while the rest of us stood around and chatted. The Tiaras were soon coming out in all of their glory after their meal, so we had a chance to gab a bit more with them before the Weiss party was called (and we all listened carefully because we weren't sure what the French were going to do with "Weiss") .
We were lead to a large round table in the sunroom which thrilled me because I love sitting at round tables with a group of people because you get to chat with everyone (and you know how I love to chat ).
First order of business was to order wine. We had a fantastic server (and not terribly unattractive either ) who brought Heather and Bob several tastings of red wine to help in their selection. After they had sampled each, they selected their favorite and also selected white. The server brought out the selected bottles of wine and let Heather taste the red which she did with great style. The table then suggested that I taste the white . . . actually they said “Let Jill taste it” to which the server looked around as if to say “who is this Jill?” Maybe he wasn’t such a great server after all!
Anyhoo . . . he poured a splash of the white wine in my glass and I proceeded to swirl my wine (just like Heather ) but it ended up looking more like a drunk stumbling around with a drink. Thankfully, I didn't slosh any over the side of the glass, but it wasn’t my finest moment . . . although everyone at the table seemed to really (and I mean really ) enjoy it. I must say that the wine tasted superb!
Once our wine glasses were full (at least for the time being ), it was time for the all-important food selections. I was on a soup kick, so I ordered the Bisque de Homard (Lobster bisque) for my appetizer. I thought seriously about the fixed price menu, but the entrée with skewered scallops, shrimp and mahi mahi was calling my name (it’s apparently no longer on the menu).
What a fantastic meal this was! The food was delicious, the wine was flowing and the conversation was quite lively. Heather had to leave us before our desserts arrived since she was hosting the Italian margarita meet, but we made sure to box up her dessert and take it to her.
My dessert selection, Crepe a la pomme et cannelle, glace vanille, caramel jus de pommes (Crepes filled with cinnamon, apple, vanilla ice cream and apple caramel sauce), was the only disappointment of the evening. I was expecting warm crepes, but they were cold and gummy. I’m pretty sure that I just hit them on an off evening because I’ve heard other people rave about them.
After a picture to remember this great meal, we paid the bill and headed off for the margarita meet. We did stop for a moment to enjoy a bit of the CP (this is another thing that I have never experienced).
Heather’s margarita meet was in full swing when we got to Italy. The Tiaras (minus Louise) were already there, so I went with Joan and Tonja to buy the mandatory Italian margarita (I am a rule follower you know ). Imagine my surprise when Tonja bought my drink for me! How sweet was that?
With drinks in hand, we returned to the group and had the best time. Before the start of Illuminations, we moved closer to the water to have a better view. Arms were linked, tears were shed, and hugs were shared . . . there is nothing better than sharing such a moment with people who get it.
After Illuminations, everyone said their goodbyes and headed for their separate destinations. Eileen had heard from Sharon that she was finished with her D23 events and would meet us at the front of Epcot. As we made our way around WS, we ran into Louise who had spent most of the evening with some friends, so we let her know that the tiaras were on their way back to BC.
Sharon was waiting on us near the tram pick up and led us to where she had left the car that morning. Karen and I took our normal back seats followed by Bob, Heather and Larry in the middle row. Sharon got in the driver’s seat, but needed to pull up some so that Eileen could get in the passenger seat since the car beside us was so close to our car. That’s about the time that Karen yelled out “Drive away, Sharon!” It was evident that Sharon had already had this on her mind because the words were barely out of Karen’s mouth when the tires squealed and we were off.
I laughed so hard that I was literally slapping my leg like I was watching Country Bear Jamboree or something. I may have even slapped Karen’s leg. Here were six grown adults and we had regressed to third graders. For me, there is always one moment of the trip and this was it.
Once we had regained some sort of composure, Sharon did circle back and pick up Eileen. I have to give it to her . . . she handled our tomfoolery with such class and simply announced upon taking her seat “I need new friends . . . or a rental car.”
I am pretty sure that we laughed the entire way back to AKL (which when Sharon is driving really is only a matter of minutes ). Sharon must have been feeling a bit guilty because she offered to drop us at the door (or maybe she just offered it to Eileen and the rest of us piled out of the car too quickly ). Ever the gentleman, Larry offered to stay with Sharon and the car and walk her back from the parking lot.
By the time that Sharon and Larry met up with us in the lobby, Karen had already suggested that we crack open one of the bottles of wine that she brought with her. The guys agreed, so we took the long walk to our villa. This was a perfect way to end our day - - sitting around a table with good friends drinking good wine and catching up with each other’s day. I bet that Sharon’s new D23 friends didn’t end their day this way . . . she may stray but she’ll always come back to us!
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Although I can not promise to not do the same thing Sharon did, it was just priceless. 
Keep the posts coming, I am really enjoying this TR!
,
the details of the D23 event. It looked like a lot of good food and to have the lights all to yourselves WOW! I also love the ride on TSMM without having to wait in lines forever...how cool is that??? sounded like a wonderful day for you guys
Katie's graduation
Deb
the D23 event looked heavenly! I love hearing all about how things come about at Disney (like the Osbourne lights). I am seriously jealous of your day Sharon!
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) who brought Heather and Bob several tastings of red wine to help in their selection. After they had sampled each, they selected their favorite and also selected white. The server brought out the selected bottles of wine and let Heather taste the red which she did with great style. The table then suggested that I taste the white . . . actually they said “Let Jill taste it” to which the server looked around as if to say “who is this Jill?” 
Maybe he wasn’t such a great server after all! 
Thankfully, I didn't slosh any over the side of the glass, but it wasn’t my finest moment . . . although everyone at the table seemed to really (and I mean really 
The food was delicious, the wine was flowing and the conversation was quite lively. Heather had to leave us before our desserts arrived since she was hosting the Italian margarita meet, but we made sure to box up her dessert and take it to her.
I was expecting warm crepes, but they were cold and gummy. I’m pretty sure that I just hit them on an off evening because I’ve heard other people rave about them.
It was evident that Sharon had already had this on her mind because the words were barely out of Karen’s mouth when the tires squealed and we were off. 
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