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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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His class all wants to go to WDW. His teacher played the DVD on their smart board and he got to talk about the trip....mind you, it's a trip he doesn't really even know we're taking
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I know - I'm going to try really hard to keep it a surprise until we pull up at check in
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The Fun, Old-Fashioned Family Vacation, 3.0 http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...ml#post4472933
Ch-Ch-Changes July 2015
[URL="http://www.passporterboards.com/forums/sharing-adventure-disney-world-trip-reports/288847-ch-ch-changes-ptr-july-16-24-a.html"]
So, as we left things with the Visa discount score for July 20-24 in a Cars Suite at AoA, with July 16-20 in a standard room at the Boardwalk. The BW was "rack rate" as the discounts were all gone for all deluxe and moderate rooms that slept 5 I was really starting to get worried that when the general discount was released the following Monday, nothing would be available.
Coach and I had the "what if we can't get a discount" rate discussion...and decided that we would book the first part at the Caribbean. It was a toss up between the Caribbean and POR and came down to the feature pools (what better for my pirate loving trio than a pool that resembled the pirate coves of the Caribbean)?
We had a few reservations - I was worried about the size of the resort and transportation. We will have a car, but we like to leave the bulk of the driving to Disney...makes it feel like a real vacation if you know what I mean. I also worried because we "might" be trying the trip sans strollers. Brian was really worried because the moderates rooms open to the great wide open. My youngest still bolts at times, and man is he fast! It's easier to catch up to him in an enclosed hallway than it is in the great wide open.
I also had reservations about the Boardwalk. I think it's a pretty resort, but the food options within the resort are limited, and even more so when I consider the needs of my younger two. They can't process any cow protein, so the limited menu options become even more limited. We do carry food for them, and we were able to get a microwave when we stayed at the Beach Club, but that isn't always a guarantee. At this point, Brian thought I was "over thinking" things.
Anyway....the general discount was announced and I started dialing. We'd decided to see what was available...and go from there. Nothing at the Boardwalk? Nothing at Beach Club? Okay, at this point...the deluxes were out of our price range, so I requested the Caribbean Resort. Nothing available for our dates for a party of 5 at either the Caribbean OR Port Orleans?
What's a girl to do? A helpful CM suggested we book connecting rooms at a value using the summer discount, but that didn't solve the "Cullen escaping to the great wide open" dilema, and the two rooms were more expensive than a Deluxe standard room. I called Brian back and suggested we start thinking off-site because it was going to be too expensive to stay on site.
He suggested I wait a bit, and dial the now familiar number back. I'm really glad that I did (in the meantime, we'd cancelled the Boardwalk and package). I called that afternoon after I got home from work and spoke with a lovely CM, Shelly.
Shelly asked why we'd cancelled our Boardwalk reservation, and after I told her, she confirmed that at that time, there weren't any standard rooms available on that discount, but there were "rack rate" rooms and more "probably" would become available in the next day or so. So, I then asked about the moderate level resorts, figuring we could order a door alarm from One Step Ahead. Shelly noted that there weren't any rooms for 5 available at the Moderates. The summer discount was aimed (at that point) to fill the 4 occupancy rooms). We had a lovely discussion about why I was relieved there weren't moderate resorts available and she seemed to understand Cullen's bolting issue. She started running numbers and proposed four nights July 16-20....at the POLYNESIAN VILLAGE RESORT!!!! For the price of a moderateroom?!??!?!?!
Well, I quickly snapped her offer up, and we now have firm....not changing them again....travel dates.....with firm....not changing them again....resort reservations. I can officially update my trip countdown now that I've let everyone in on the big secret.
So...the "official" plans are to arrive at the Polynesian on July 16th - 20th, and then move to the Art of Animation from July 20th-24th. We have five base day tickets, with the plan to add a 6th day as well as something else.
Now that the resort reservations were set.....I started tweaking and re-tweaking our ADR's. I'll save you all of that turmoil and will post our finalized plans....once they're finalized
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The Fun, Old-Fashioned Family Vacation, 3.0 http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...ml#post4472933
Ch-Ch-Changes July 2015
[URL="http://www.passporterboards.com/forums/sharing-adventure-disney-world-trip-reports/288847-ch-ch-changes-ptr-july-16-24-a.html"]
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Finally the secret is out!! I was so excited for you when you told me you got the Poly at that fantastic rate!!
I am right there with you on the bolting child, I have chased Jonathon down a hallway. They are little Houdini's, I swear! Just when you think they can't open something....Ha! They will show you!!
I am so glad everything is finally settled. I can't wait to read all about your ADR's, although I know one of them already.
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Awesome deal on the Poly! We'll be there just a bit before you on our May trip. Staying here has me so excited.
I can't wait to read your report of the resort - I'm so excited as it has been a really, really long time since I've stayed here though we've eaten at the resort on each of our trips.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tara O'Hara
Melissa!! Are we sisters?!?!?!?!?! We seriously have to meet up! I will buy you an adult beverage!
Tara
I think we are sisters Once I have an idea of our park plans, I'll let you know - It would be great to meet and I bet my boys would adore Logan
Quote:
Originally Posted by dutchdisneyfamily
I am so excited you got to this part! Yay! Now the ADR fun. That is my favorite part.
You've been so good about not hinting at the end "resort" plans. The ADR's and park days are currently driving me nuts I might have to turn that planning over to you
Quote:
Originally Posted by OhToodles!
What an awesome end!! The Poly was my first WDW resort - because it slept 5. I hope you love it!
The Poly is the first on-site resort I really remember, and we stayed there because we were a group of 5. I remember the staff giving us a roll away after hearing me complain that I was sharing a bed with my Grandma while my brother got the couch. When we returned from the park that evening, we found a rollaway with a postcard signed by Mickey
Quote:
Originally Posted by taylan1
Finally the secret is out!! I was so excited for you when you told me you got the Poly at that fantastic rate!!
I am right there with you on the bolting child, I have chased Jonathon down a hallway. They are little Houdini's, I swear! Just when you think they can't open something....Ha! They will show you!!
I am so glad everything is finally settled. I can't wait to read all about your ADR's, although I know one of them already.
You've been great about keeping the secret too
Yesterday, I had to chase my youngest through Kroger - he took off running when he saw a school friend. Brian just simply smiled and said, "see, inside hallways are a must".
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The Fun, Old-Fashioned Family Vacation, 3.0 http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...ml#post4472933
Ch-Ch-Changes July 2015
[URL="http://www.passporterboards.com/forums/sharing-adventure-disney-world-trip-reports/288847-ch-ch-changes-ptr-july-16-24-a.html"]
I was shocked that her price was lower than the summer deal
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pris
Awesome!!! Love that Disney magic!
It's what keeps us returning, right?
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The Fun, Old-Fashioned Family Vacation, 3.0 http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...ml#post4472933
Ch-Ch-Changes July 2015
[URL="http://www.passporterboards.com/forums/sharing-adventure-disney-world-trip-reports/288847-ch-ch-changes-ptr-july-16-24-a.html"]
I still haven't figured out our park plans - I'm not sure WHY this part is so hard...perhaps because we aren't getting the park hopper option this time? Either way, every time I "think" I get it tweaked, I end up second guessing things. Not surprising given how many changes I've made to the trip just between dates and resorts. First World Problems of an OCD planner though, right? I do know deep down that no matter what I plan, they boys and husband will enjoy everything because we'll be at Disney.
Anyway, here's the extremely tentative plans For the Travel and Arrival day:
July 14th:
We'll leave Ohio at the crack of "it's so early no human should be awake" 1:30 am. We'll put the kids to bed that night in their comfy travel clothes so we'll just need to have them visit the bathroom before transferring to their car seats. Either way, they "should" go back to sleep. We like traveling this way because we can get a significant amount of driving done before they are awake and raring to go.
By the time we need to stop off for fuel, they should be ready for an early breakfast snack. We bring breakfast, snack and lunch foods with us. At this point, it will probably be GF/DF doughnuts for the younger two, and some type of doughnut/coffee cake for Nolan, Brian and I....along with some type of fresh fruit and milk (Rice milk for the youngers).
I pack their school backpacks with "car" fun stuff....2 frozen juice boxes inside 31 insulated bags, a container of fresh fruit, favorite "crunchy" snack bags - pretzles, crackers, etc, a Disney Pez dispenser with pez candys, a small bag of some type of fruit gummy, books, coloring stuff, magnetic car games, and movies. We also have a "family bag" that contains their DVD players, a Leap Pad, a Leapster, headphones, and Kindle Fire. Lots to occupy their "awake" time in the car.
We usually hit the Georgia border around lunch time and we stop at the Georgia Welcome center for a picnic lunch. Again, this is the easiest because it's hard to find fast food places that can safely feed the younger boys. We usually make this a longer stop and let the kids run around/ play frisbee or catch or kick a soccer ball around.
The goal is to be at the Florida-Georgia line by dinner time. At this point, we'll begin the "do we stop for the night yet" discussion. We'll have overnight points "planned" for either Valdosta, Georgia (Love the Hampton Inn there) or Lake City, Florida - putting us at a 3-4 hour drive the next morning. This is doable without any stops as the boys are used to traveling that stretch of time to visit my parents.
On our check-in day at the Polynesian - we have NOTHING planned. We're going to swim...relax, explore the resort. If we're up to it, we might head to DtD for dinner, or ride the monorail to GF or CR, but we'll make that decision, that night.
We plan to finish the night by watching the Electric Water Pageant and Fireworks from the beach of the Poly
Up Next: Day #2
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The Fun, Old-Fashioned Family Vacation, 3.0 http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...ml#post4472933
Ch-Ch-Changes July 2015
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I was really starting to get worried that when the general discount was released the following Monday, nothing would be available. 
Nothing at the Boardwalk? Nothing at Beach Club? Okay, at this point...the deluxes were out of our price range, so I requested the Caribbean Resort. Nothing available for our dates for a party of 5 at either the Caribbean OR Port Orleans?
We'll be there just a bit before you on our May trip. Staying here has me so excited. 
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
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discussion. We'll have overnight points "planned" for either Valdosta, Georgia (Love the Hampton Inn there) or Lake City, Florida - putting us at a 3-4 hour drive the next morning. This is doable without any stops as the boys are used to traveling that stretch of time to visit my parents.
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