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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
So excited that you started your TR Darlene. I always enjoy them so much. Take out for dinner definitely sounded like the way to go. We usually do the same thing, I usually work the day before we leave so coming home and cooking is not going to happen so take out it is. We ended up with pizza I think this year the night before our trip.
Thanks. I'm glad you enjoy my TR's. Not to toot my own but this year was such a fantastic trip I'm sure you'll really enjoy this one as well, if not more. Pizza is a good choice too and we've had that in the past. For some reason, I felt like fried scallops
Quote:
Originally Posted by saibot0001
Yay!!! I've been waiting to read your TR! Can't wait for more! Love your new pic too!
Thanks. New trip means a new photo and I'll try not to make you wait too long for each installment. I have almost all of them written but not all proofread yet but I hope to have everything done in the next few days.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Yeah, you've started! By the way, I really like your new sig pic!
Thanks Cam - I'm glad you've joined me on our trip. And thanks again for changing the title.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wheezie
WooHoo!!!!!! You've started!! (I'm very excited about that if you can't tell. )
Sorry about Lenny' s hip- I hope it stops hurting so he can enjoy the trip! Even with a scooter, pain is pain, you know?
Looking forward to the next installment!
Believe it or not, I was excited to share too. If I didn't have to go to work a week early this year, I would have started before now but I did and I couldn't. Pain is pain, that's for sure but you'll have to wait and see how it goes. I'm not saying anything now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
Yay! Here we go! Hope Lenny's hip doesn't bother him too much on the trip. You all look so happy in your new sig pic.
Thanks Laurie. I'm glad you're joining me as well. Looking happy in that picture is actually surprising. I don't think I'm spoiling anything by saying that picture was actually taken on our last night in the parks - as we were on our way out to go back to the hotel and start packing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by B.M.
Great start! And a great picture of the three of you...
Thanks. Hopefully you like the rest of it too (I know I do and can't wait to share it all).
Either you guys are really excited for my TR or you're hard up for better reading . If you thought that was great, you'll have to keep reading.
Quote:
Originally Posted by oddboysmum
Glad to be reading along. Hope Lenny's hip didn't cause him too much pain for the trip
I'm glad to have you reading along. I'm not saying anything about Lenny's hip though. I gotta hold you in suspense over something.
Quote:
Originally Posted by manticorjenn
Glad you had a good day before your trip started. Sorry to hear that Lenny's hip was bothering him. Can't wait to read more of your adventures.
Thanks. I'm going to post more today so you won't have to wait too long to read more.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lissybri
So excited to read your TR! Can't wait.
Thanks - I'll be posting more soon so you won't have to wait long.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DawnK
So happy to see you have started. I hope that Lenny had a good time despite his hip bothering him! looking forward to read all about it!
Thanks Dawn. Again, I'm giving nothing away - you'll just have to keep coming back for more
Quote:
Originally Posted by taylan1
So happy you started! I can't wait to read all about it!! Glad everything seems to be working out well so far! More please!
I'm happy I started too . I've been wanting to share but wasn't able to do it before now. Hopefully I can just keep going now until I'm done so I can share everything and so you guys don't have to wait forever to read it all. More? Coming up very soon.
Friday morning, I was up at 1:30 - only about four hours after I went to bed. I wasn't too tired and I managed to get everything together and everyone up. We even left ahead of schedule at 2:45 am. We didn't need to though. We got to the airport about 3:45 and no one was there. We opted to stay outside so Lenny could smoke and mom stayed for a few minutes before we said our goodbyes. At 4:30, the inside counter opened but there were enough people in line to discourage us from moving. At 4:35, curbside finally opened and since we were first in line, we were done in no time. We got to security and that didn't take long either. Nothing got searched this year and that really surprised me. One carry on was nothing but meds, cords and money (and not neatly packed either). My other carry on, I forgot to take my 3-1-1 bag out of.
Anyway, nothing was searched and we were through security and at Dunkin Donuts at 5:10. The line wasn't too bad so I got in line for some waters and decided to get some donut holes too. Neither Abby or I were overly hungry so we didn't need much. Lenny on the other hand seemed like he was starving. Luckily this year we thought ahead. I didn't want to spend a ton of money so instead of getting him sandwiches there, I made them at home ahead of time on Thursday. I made him six egg mcmuffins and from the time he woke up until the time we landed, Lenny actually ate all of them by himself.
We reached our gate in plenty of time but we didn't have to wait long as we started boarding at 6. We left on time at 6:30 and arrived 15 minutes early at 9:00. It was a relatively smooth flight. Lenny slept during most of it. Abby and I played our iPads and napped. Once we arrived at Orlando, we made our way to DME. Lenny wanted to stop at the Disney store first though. We bought a photo album, a t-shirt and a few other things, spending enough that we were able to get the backpack deal. We then went to DME and got on the bus. A few minutes later, it was full and we were on our way. I did call mom at some point in time to let her know we were on the bus.
By 11 am, not only were we checked into AS Music, we also had the scooter from Walker. Lenny wasn't hungry for lunch but Abby and I were so we headed to the arcade. Abby chose the kids power pack lunch but I didn't find anything I wanted. There wasn't much variety but what was supplied, I'd say at least half of it was already gone. I knew the food court would be closed and the selections limited in the arcade but they could have stocked more of what was offered IMO. With Abby's lunch and our refillable mugs in hand, we went outside to wait for Alamo. Only I would be going so the plan was for Abby and Lenny to stay in the lobby area since the rooms weren't done yet. Lenny asked when they would be ready and I told him that I was suppose to receive a text when they were but he could ask while I was gone if he wanted. He said he would.
Alamo arrived and I got on the shuttle which was pretty full already. By the time we left the AS resorts, there were only two or three empty seats left. Instead of going right to the CCC though, we went to AKL to pick up one last family. Once at the CCC, since I was bagless unlike everyone else, I was able to get off the shuttle and in line fairly quickly. In no time, I had our keys in my hand and I was looking over the car to make sure I knew where everything was and how it operated. I learned there was a button for the gas tank cover but no gas cap and that there was no CD player. I also learned that cars nowadays are just too complicated for me. I only want to get in and drive. I don't want a car that talks to me or needs me to "sync" a media device to listen to music other than the radio. As long as I didn't touch anything other than the start button, I was good to go.
I called Lenny to let him know I had the car and I was on my way back to the resort. When I got there, I parked by check in to find Lenny and Abby but they weren't there - they were up in one of our rooms. I had to call Lenny back to find out where they were. Turns out, when Abby talked to me on the phone, she was suppose to tell me about the room but either she forgot or moved the phone away from her mouth because I never got the message. At 1:00, I was in the room that was ready (the other one would be done shortly after that) we were doing really great with time. We even got our luggage too. Lenny didn't want to nap, he wanted to get some postcards to send out so we went to the gift shop. Once we had the cards and stamps, we went to play mini golf. Abby decided she really didn't want to rent a surrey bike - she said it was too hot - and I was quite happy with that decision. While Abby and I played the summer course, Lenny stayed with the car to play with it and take it for a test drive.
After golf, we had to go back to the resort. I needed my iPad for the directions to Walmart and my list of things to buy. With those in hand, we went to the CCC for Lenny to show his license. I had taken it with me when I picked up the car but without Lenny there, they wouldn't even look at it. That only took a few minutes and then we went to Walmart. We didn't find any Disney stuff we liked so we just got sodas, waters, snacks, etc. We took our stuff back to the room since some of it needed to be put in the fridge then we went to dinner at the AS Sports food court. Abby got a burger and fries while Lenny and I got the beef and potatoes. I thought it was just okay. I wasn't thrilled with it and it wasn't something I'd rush to get again. Lenny and Abby liked what they got though. The food court itself was also just okay. It was much brighter before and I didn't mind the lack of Disney characters. It was sports themed so all the athletes they portrayed fit the theme. Now they've used dark wood making the food court darker and they've put in the Disney characters but IMO they're weirdly drawn. They don't look like what I'm use to. I didn't get any photos but there are plenty online if anyone wants to look for them.
Abby wanted to go swimming after dinner but she was good - she helped me unpack first. I know Lenny was doing something with the scooter so he didn't help. The two of them finally made it to the pool but they didn't stay long. Abby had seen lightning and she won't stay in a pool once she spots it. I found it odd though the pool never got closed down (it was indeed lightning out - I did see it myself when I looked out the window). Anyway they were back in the room and we got Abby in bed. As Lenny and I were trying to get into bed, we heard a noise from outside. At first neither one of us recognized it but Lenny finally did - it was fireworks . We've never heard fireworks at the All Stars before so I was wondering where it was coming from. It was Lenny who mentioned it had to be the Frozen fireworks. I looked at the time and he was right - those would be the only fireworks going off on Disney property at 9:50 at night. We watched them from our window and I tried to take a few photos but with the glass, the light and the big tree in the way, only a few came out decent.
After seeing what we could, I was excited to see them from the Studios on Sunday and we decided to see them as often as we could from the resort too. I'm not spoiling anything but I will mention we didn't see them from the resort as often as I was hoping to over the week. By 10 Lenny and I finally made it to bed. It had been a long day but it was a better start to vacation than we've had in the past.
About This Page: 
By the way, I really like your new sig pic! 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
)
Waiting for our next adventure after enjoying our Alaska cruise. 
Jenn
![[SIGPIC]](signaturepics/sigpic27594_7.gif)
Katie's graduation
,
Linear Mode
