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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 understand the reasoning. We also had people who came up after us and because the bus driver was loading a scooter they had extra time to get to the bus stop and then just line jumped and hopped on after we had been waiting. It's not always "scooter people". It's just general manners.
I agree whole heartedly about manners in general. People who have their bag sit on a seat, or people who's teeny butt kid is taking up a seat....have them sit on your lap OR tell them scooch over so another child can share, both of which I do....is also maddening.
I also would like to see something put in place so that even though scooters go on the bus first, there aren't situations where there are 50 people in line, and then I come up but get on the very next bus. I agree that is not fair. It also makes no difference if you say anything to the driver sometimes, because that is just the way it's done.
It's a tough call, because I don't personally like the solution of widening the lines and having scooters go through the line (something I did at Epcot 2 years ago, and will never do again. It's nerve wrecking going through the line with everyone squished up against everyone else. Little kids, and some adults, sitting on the ground in line. Kids jumping around. It's just a nightmare...really.) But unsure of what could be done.
Anyhow, I am going to respect Chuck's wishes and not continue to hyjack this thread. But wanted to share, that I agree it's not fair sometimes, but I think there is a lot of that in many ways with the transportation, and unsure of what a good solution is...myself. So it is what it is.
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Today we donned all red, white and blue as you will see in some of our pictures. We were up at 8 am and got ready because today was AK day! We didn’t rush, had our tea/coffee and showers. Watched Stacey. Then headed out. The bus stop is just across the parking lot from our room, so not a long walk. And we didn’t have a long wait for buses either. We arrived at AK around 10 am and made our way around to Asia, slowly.
We saw Dug and Russell, but when we got in line they had to “go in for milk and cookies”. I snuck in a picture anyway.
If they were back when we were in the area, we would try again. We had an ADR at Y&Y at noon, so we were lollygagging around the area. Chuck did convince me to ride EE. I don’t know how or why but I did it!
And I took a pic of the ride photo with me screaming (at Chuck) for proof.
I like how I'm the only one screaming! Not even phasing the little girl in front of me!
Then in the gift shop, Chuck said I had to get a t-shirt to mark the event! LOL. It was fun, but I was scared! I talked to the CM’s in the gift shop and they assured me that if I did EE, then I could do any ride in Disney. I don’t think so. Still can’t get me on ToT or RnRC! But, my bravery comes in little steps.
Anyhow, we made our way back to Y&Y for lunch (good thing I did EE first - huh?). We checked in and were seated immediately. I got a Yak Attack because I earned it!
I had the pot stickers and Chuck had the ahi tuna appetizers.
Lunch consisted of a Kobe Burger for me - Yum.
And shrimp and steak for Chuck.
Then we shared the cream cheese wontons and the mango pie for dessert. (Sorry, forgot pics of these - it takes me a while to get used to photographing my food and not just digging in!) It was all very good! We paid our bill and had a potty stop before figuring our next step.
We walked over to Africa and saw Devine - who was just heading back in. How come I keep running into these guys but they are all leaving?!? We ended up on the safari.
Cam - I found the waterfall!
Now, I’m not sure if it was because it was hot and midday. Or if it was because they changed the safari. But what?!?!?!!? We thought this one was lame and slow. The driver was either new, inexperienced or nervous but her “banter” was off. Not many animals were out. The lion was out but not active. Just kind of - meh. And that saddened me because I LOVE the safari! After our 2 weeks on safari, we were deciding where to go. We were kind of “in between” times. We were 30 mins before Flight of Wonder, 1 hour before the next FotLK, and 2 hours before the parade. All of which we wanted to do. None of which we wanted to wait for. I offered to do the trails, MJT, etc. But none of it sounded great to Chuck or me. We decided to leave the park for the day and head back to the resort. We would be back. No need to risk meltdowns this early on.
We got back to the resort and hit the pool for a bit. Then the hot tub for a bit. Then Chuck wanted to possibly do something at the parks before our dinner ressie - but didn’t want to get caught in the “bus trap”. You know what that is - spending all your extra time traveling on the buses. (and bus driver shift change) So we just stayed around the resort. Extra pool time, a Mickey Bar and rest!
Then we got ready and went to 1900 PF. Bus to MK and then the boat to GF. We were a bit early and did a bit of gift shop browsing and checked out Basin too. We had some good character experiences.
I liked Lady Tremaine. Told her that I understand her plight as I am a step mother too. LOL! Both Anastasia and Druzilla were asking if Chuck had sons and if they were rich! LOL. The prince was charming, naturally. And Cinderella was beautiful. The food was just ok and again, no pics, sorry. Chuck didn't care for the strawberry soup. Probably because it was the color of Pepto Bismol. I thought it was good but reminded me of a strawberry smoothie. Glad we did it but probably won’t do it again. Chuck pointed out that we only had 1 regular TS meal so far in 3 days. Everything else has been buffet or character meals. (Don’t worry - we more than make up for it! And I get better at remembering to take pictures - be forewarned!) It’s just strange because before this trip, we had NEVER done a character meal before! After dinner, we went back to DTD. We walked and window shopped the whole DTD (East, PI, and West) but didn’t buy anything (at least not that I recall). Then we took the bus back to OKW. Once back in the room, I had a glass of wine (they had Conundrum in the gift shop at OKW!) and then went over notes for the day.
Sounds like you had a great day, despite the lame safari. I don't like the strawberry soup either, but then again I am not a strawberry fan really, and it was too sweet for my liking. I thought I was the only one!Yay for hot tub time, and wine! You deserve it after your EE ride! WHOO HOO!
Interesting about the safari. I guess there'll be a breaking-in period where the drivers get used to different pacing and not having the story line. You got some nice photos, though. Congrats for riding EE. I've not tried it yet.
Hooray for wine and Everest! Good times since I last checked in... Except for the bus mess. Here's my 2 cents: would it be ignorant to want a big long double bus just for scooters? Then other folks could be loading up already onto another bus? Or vice versa? No one is ever going to be completely happy with all the brainiacs working for Disney, you'd think this could be solved. Come on, let's see some REAL imagineering!
EE was too cool! I don't like to go on rides solo,feels kind of empty knowing Coop is missing out on some exciting rides. Yak,and Yeti is a great place to eat. Out waiter was a little too over zealous for me,but sometimes that happens when your the first guests of the day.
( Who's that fat guy with all those pretty princesses???)
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Just caught up with your TR I haven't stayed at OKW since 1996 but I remember how we loved being able to pull our car right up to our front door. It was so nice not having to walk a mile down some long hallways in a resort to get outside! Would you stay there again? Love your first day routine of going to MK and viewing Main Street from the Train Station. I must try those zebra domes next time we're at AKL! Sorry about your bus problems. My DH and I decided about three years ago that we'd had it with the buses and we rent a car now so we don't deal with all the situations that you mentioned. We actually walk to our cars in the parking lots so we don't have to wait for the trams because that can also be a long wait. You just have to remember to write down your parking lot number or you could find yourselves walking around all night looking for your car!!! LOL. Looking forward to hearing more about your trip!
Tracy -
you will have to check out my PTR to see Duffy all set with his suitcase and sleeping bag ready to go!!! I thought of you when Em got him ready!!!
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Still can’t get me on ToT or RnRC! But, my bravery comes in little steps. 
and a Yak Attack is the perfect reward. Smart idea to just relax--it's vacation.
with all the brainiacs working for Disney, you'd think this could be solved. Come on, let's see some REAL imagineering!
PassPorter Guide Author
on EE!!! 
And some great eats today as well! 
Sorry the safari was lacking! 
I haven't stayed at OKW since 1996 but I remember how we loved being able to pull our car right up to our front door. It was so nice not having to walk a mile down some long hallways in a resort to get outside! Would you stay there again? Love your first day routine of going to MK and viewing Main Street from the Train Station. I must try those zebra domes next time we're at AKL! Sorry about your bus problems. My DH and I decided about three years ago that we'd had it with the buses and we rent a car now so we don't deal with all the situations that you mentioned. We actually walk to our cars in the parking lots so we don't have to wait for the trams because that can also be a long wait. You just have to remember to write down your parking lot number or you could find yourselves walking around all night looking for your car!!!
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