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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I'm not sure how I got roped into writing an actual "update" to this trip report. I distinctly remember that the meat of the report would be provided by Sharon and Jill (you know the responsible ones) with me being just the tertiary witty commentator (and thus with zero responsibility but all the credit for the funny bits.) But as there seems to be some expectation for an actual update, my wine doused birthday self will try her bestest.
The run up to my trip to Disney saw me busily trying to keep Zack in good grades (and good graces with his teachers) while battling a particularly nasty bout of Epstein Barr. He never developed full fledged mono, but his body needing 16-18 hours of sleep per day made school and play participation a challenge. By the time Wednesday night had rolled around, I was exhausted from organizing flash cards, corresponding with teachers, and making him a study schedule for the weekend. Plus, since I wanted to make sure his meals did not consist of Fritos and stale pizza, I made the 9PM food run to Trader Joe's followed by a freaky encounter with the mask-laden, swine-flu-obsessed check-out girl at Walgreens for some medicine and vitamins. I got home about 9:30, showered and got ready for my late night ride to the airport by my brother to take the red, red, red eye out of SFO at 12:30AM.
One of the consequences of Zack's illness is that my once perky late-night kid now starts to slowly fade about 8:30. By the time my departure point to the airport arrived, Zack was a hollow shell, curled up in my bed with the puppy and dispiritedly stating, "I'll go to the airport with you if you really want me to." But, the kid was seriously ruining my excitement level, so I chucked my "Mother of the Year" award in the trash, told Zack to stay put, and jumped into my brother's waiting car. The extra time I'd gain by not having to say goodbye at the airport just bought me wine time in the departure lounge.
I made it to the airport in about 15 minutes and had checked luggage and made it through security just a little after 11. I headed to the bar just across the way from my gate and ordered myself a nice glass of red. (And I'm seriously stretching it on the "nice" part.) But, what airport bar was lacking in quality was more than made up for in quantity. We're talking a generous, generous pour. I slowly sipped away while I surfed the Passporter boards with my iPhone. When the bottom of the glass was in sight, my server dropped off the check and told me they'd be closing up in just a few minutes. I went to grab the check when the generous pour caught up to me, and I proceeded to drop and break the glass and spill the remaining wine all over the table, my boarding pass, and the check. The wait staff was awesome and had me moved to a new table with a full new glass of wine in front of me in mere seconds. In order to make their generosity feel appreciated, I gamely drank most of the second glass of wine. To do otherwise would have been rude, after all.
I finished up, left a very generous tip for my friendly wait staff, and humbly approached the gate agents to replace my wine soaked boarding pass. The gate agents were total professionals, saving the mocking and laughing until I'd made it almost all the way out of hearing range of the counter. I made my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth and complete my coma cocktail with one of my little blue sleeping pills. On the way in, I noticed two women who'd witnessed the great wine incident of 2009 and one of them sympathetically showed me her backpack with a big ol' wine stain of its own. Frumpy Sister, I salute you!
I headed into the bathroom with a spring in my step, approached the sink, and then I saw it. It was glorious, stupendous, awe-inspiring. My annual good hair day had arrived. It was silky, shiny, with perfectly constructed curls. And, I was headed for a red-eye flight where it would be ruined into a tangled, frizzy mess of airplane-seat-head. There was the hope that my seat mate would be a romantic, single, devilishly handsome entrepreneur who would fall madly in love with me and my awesome hair at first sight (you know before the flight had transformed me back to my old self.) But, no. Mr. 1B was decidedly married, decidedly disheveled, and decidedly snoring away even before I sat down.
I settled into my first class seat and after a bit saw my friends in the frumpy sisterhood boarding the plane and headed for the back. Outwardly, they greeted me with a friendly wave. But their eyes? Their eyes were screaming with betrayed derision, "First class? How could you? I thought we were frumpy sisters?" I wanted to scream out, "It was just miles! I'm really one of you!" But they passed too quickly, and I settled into my comfy seat, curled up with my first class pillow and blanket, and closed my eyes for a wee nap. I slept well and before I knew it we were landing in Dallas. We'd landed a bit early, which was good news as I was trying to make it on to the earlier flight to Orlando. They were able to get me on that earlier flight (still in first class, hooray!) and I was all on schedule to land in Orlando around 9:30.
Things went as planned, except for the monster turbulence heading into Orlando. I landed on time, but my nerves were a little worse for the wear. But, I had plenty of time to freshen up, purchase a Starbucks, and relax until my friends arrived. I made my way over to the arrivals area for Southwest and AirTran and kept an eagle eye on the boards for information about Eileen, Sharon, and Heather's flights. After what seemed like hours, I got my first of several glorious texts from Eileen stating that "wheels down in Orlando" had been achieved. I grabbed her the requested Pumpkin Spice Latte and greeted her a few minutes later with hugs and tears. We chatted our way down to the DME area, and then just minutes later we were up with hugs and happy greetings for Heather! Just one more arrival to wait for (at the airport that is.)
Unfortunately, the turbulence was starting to catch up with some of the flights and Sharon was a bit delayed. I think she ended up landing about 25 minutes late, but it seemed like HOURS in that DME waiting area. But, Eileen, Heather, and I had plenty of chatting to do and we enjoyed happy conversation. Until... Until... I'm not sure I can re-tell this. Too painful... Until, our conversation was interrupted by an ear-piercing screech of pure joy as Eileen had spotted Sharon approaching. She hopped up, knocked over luggage and small children that might have been in her way, and engulfed Sha in a big hug. Now, Eileen may CLAIM that her greeting for me was just as warm and joy-filled. But the volume differences between the two? They were substantial, my friends. Eileen also claims that there were tears during my greeting. But, I'm pretty sure those were tears of joy over the Pumpkin Spice Latte.
In any case, the four of us made our way over to DME check-in and quickly onto a waiting bus for the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Some of you might remember that there was a little bit of joking about Eileen's challenge for the trip being that she couldn't offer any unsolicited advice to hapless souls cluelessly wandering about their Disneyworld vacation without plans, knowledge, or information. Can I just tell you that she didn't even make it off of airport property before she had failed? There was a family sitting in front of us, and the kids were excitedly thinking about what rides they wanted to do and what they wanted to see at the hotel. So, Eileen leans forward and starts giving some very timely, very informative, but totally unsolicited advice. And the bus was still sitting in the stall! I think the kids didn't realize she was talking to them because they didn't even turn around. Eileen may claim that unheard advice doesn't count (kind of a if a tree falls in the forest does it make a sound type of thing.) But, it totally counts!
On top of that, Eileen could have done us all a favor and waited for the advice dispensation until after the grandparents had whipped out the big ol' bag of cheese puffs. Because it was well past noon, and we were all craving the cheese puffs. But no, the family stayed ignorant and we stayed cheese puff-less. After four stops (and no comment necessary about the lameness of the drop-off schedule on DME,) we finally arrived at AKL. I checked in in a blur, and quickly stored my carry-on luggage with bell services. We parted company for now with Sharon, and headed over to the bus stop. A bus was waiting there for us, and before I could really process what was happening we were on our way to Animal Kingdom. The vacation I'd been dreaming, planning, and waiting for for almost a year had finally begun!
__________________
Karen, aka Zack's Mom - Lover of all Things Disney and the San Francisco Giants!
Don't worry, my dear. From here on out, I think we can sit back and let Sha and Jilly do the heavy lifting. We can just snark our 2 cents in every once in a while. (Which, if I'm being totally honest with myself, will be a few interjections on my part each update--- as I just can't seem to keep my big trap shut!)
There were tears of joy at seeing you, and there was hugging, and there were jealous glances at your Awesome Hair, and there was great joy radiating off of me at seeing you. In fact, I'd like to remind you that I didn't take a sip of that latte until we were heading down the escalator -- at least 50 feet from where you had given it to me and where I had given you TWO big hugs!
So... write on, Sha and Jill. The Snark Sisters are "on the job" now.
Eileen
I’d promised the girls I was bringing bagels, so I left a little extra time for that.
Those bagels were lifesavers! I'm pretty sure that I had one for dinner one night about midnight!
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I spotted Eileen and waved, and she let out a happy squeal and rushed over to give me a huge hug. Then Karen and Heather joined in. Best. Welcome. Evah!
From Karen's point-of-view, it sounds like you did have the best.welcome.evah! Not that she's jealous or anything!
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We walked over and boarded a bus and not long after were underway. There was some speculation about how many stops we’d make, but since I was on board, we stopped at Pop Century, Caribbean Beach Resort, Coronado Springs and then finally AKL.
I guess you not being on my bus was the reason why we only stopped at CSR and then AKL.
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A bit later, a DME bus pulled up, so I took my paparazzi spot and waited for a certain passenger to step off.
Not sure why Jill looks so pink. She didn't look like that in person
Now I do believe that I had the best.welcome.evah!!! I can't tell you how it made me feel to see you standing there all smiley!
And I'm not sure why I'm that pink either - - I only had one glass of wine on the plane!
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Jill told me she felt like a celebrity with that welcome and I joked that I wanted to make up a sign with her name on it, but didn’t have any paper.
That would have been hee-larious!
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I’d reserved a midsize car, but I received an upgrade to a Saturn Outlook, an 8-passenger SUV. Sweet! It was awesome having room for everyone to climb in and saved us from the frustration of waiting on buses.
That upgrade was definitely a blessing for all of us! Just think . . . without it, we wouldn't have experienced THE moment of the trip.
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Happy Birthday, Buddy! 
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to you Karen. Can't wait to hear your version of Sousefest.
Then Karen and Heather joined in. Best. Welcome. Evah! 
It was awesome having room for everyone to climb in and saved us from the frustration of waiting on buses.
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