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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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What a great time stepping in at DL at DCA! The two of you got so much done with so many attractions! It's funny, how much many of you think of RSR and especially, I'm looking in bewilderment from someone who has never experienced this attraction or visited DL! Seems like a ride for me! I know Cam loves this so much as well with her TR!
Perhaps, I need to visit DL for the first time and make it happen as I keep hearing and seeing so many amazing things in your TR, Cam's and Cheryl's about DL and how good it is! I'm sure I'd love it! It's the planning of it that bothers me as DL has its' quirks when making adrs and the lot and not exactly up to WDW standards!
Just a matter of when to do it! Also considering WDW for October, 2016 for my first ever F&W Fest, so need to weigh it all out!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
In all likeliness I think the earliest possibility for DL will be 2017. I have other things in mind for now. Will explain more in my "sort of" ongoing Cruise TR as I don't want to hijack this thread from you Sharon!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
WOW, you both certainly saw a lot this morning! Your pictures were wonderful especially the ones of Cars Land!!! I can't wait to see that on my next trip out there I hope to see you soon
Sorry I've neglected this TR. Life just got in the way. I'm hoping I can get the rest of this TR done in a timely manner.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Oh wow, you certainly accomplished loads that morning and all of it is bringing back so many great memories.
And the memories are getting more distant by the minute! I need to get moving.
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Originally Posted by belle0517
Great job on the new AP!
I love having it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
I too enjoyed some time in the Animation Academy building on my 100 degree day in DCA. It's a nice, cool oasis in there!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Super fun morning at DCA! Cars Land is one of Disney's best theming jobs. it!
Seeing what a great job they did with Cars Land makes me excited for Toy Story Land and even Star Wars Land. Pandora too, I guess.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
Sounds like a great morning at DL!
2000 rides on RSR? Was he retired?
He wasn't retirement age, but perhaps he was a man of independent means.
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Originally Posted by SharonK0527
What a great morning!! Can't wait to hear more!
More coming soon!
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
What a great time stepping in at DL at DCA! The two of you got so much done with so many attractions! It's funny, how much many of you think of RSR and especially, I'm looking in bewilderment from someone who has never experienced this attraction or visited DL! Seems like a ride for me! I know Cam loves this so much as well with her TR!
Perhaps, I need to visit DL for the first time and make it happen as I keep hearing and seeing so many amazing things in your TR, Cam's and Cheryl's about DL and how good it is! I'm sure I'd love it! It's the planning of it that bothers me as DL has its' quirks when making adrs and the lot and not exactly up to WDW standards!
Just a matter of when to do it! Also considering WDW for October, 2016 for my first ever F&W Fest, so need to weigh it all out!
I really think every Disney fan should visit DL! The planning is different, but it's because WDW-level planning isn't really necessary.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lindawdw
WOW, you both certainly saw a lot this morning! Your pictures were wonderful especially the ones of Cars Land!!! I can't wait to see that on my next trip out there I hope to see you soon
Cars Land (really all of DCA now) is amazing! So well done.
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
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We headed up to the lounge where the CM helped me change rooms. He let me know that the room was “very close” to our current room. Then I must’ve looked honest, because he told me the room number! It wasn’t quite ready, so Karen and I grabbed something to eat.
After our snack, I asked the CM if our room was ready and it was. It was, indeed, very close to our old room. Right next door, in fact. And the rooms were connecting, so we were able to move our luggage through the connecting door (locking both doors when we were done). Easiest room move ever.
I got a few photos of the room. One of the reasons the DLH is my favorite is all the little Disney touches in the hotel. The headboard is my favorite thing!
Our view
We could see Disneyland, DTD and DCA, as well as the Grand Californian and Paradise Pier
The fact that it was bigger than the one in the king-bed room we’d just vacated made me even happier!
We relaxed at the hotel for a bit. I unpacked and caught up on my notes (this, unfortunately, won’t continue ). Then it was almost time to head back out to use our FP before it expired.
Then we went and rode TOT. Yay!
The theme for our ride photos this trip seemed to be one of us being blocked
With that taken care of, we made the short walk over to Disneyland park.
Karen’s plans had us watching the afternoon parade. We were also due to meet up with PPer Jeannie (Dlandmom2). The spreadsheet had us watching Mickey and the Magical Map after the parade, so we found a spot in front of it’s a small world. It wasn’t the best spot because we arrived at nearly the last minute, but we were able to stand on a ledge. I got surprisingly good photos in spite of our faraway spot.
Jeannie arrived in time to watch the end of the parade with us. We had some time, so we decided to get FPs for BTMRR. On the way, I spotted one of the special Photopass spots, so we stopped for pictures.
Then we went over to get seats for the show. We still had a bit of time, so I walked over and got a frozen apple juice. I finished it just before the show started. I’d heard good things about the show, so I was eager to see it. It didn’t disappoint! It was a great show.
As we walked through the park, I saw a Mariachi band about to perform. I love Mariachi bands, so I requested we stop and watch. They put on a fun show!
After that, the BAS said it was time to do the Castle Walkthrough. The castle at DL may be small, but it’s pretty and there’s stuff to do inside, so there!
Karen and I had dinner reservations at River Belle Terrace as part of the Fantasmic! Dinner Package, so Jeannie headed out (we’d see her again later in the week). I hadn’t eaten at RBT before, but I found the food to be tasty. The dinner package is a three-course meal. The first course is a choice of soup or salad. I believe I had salad because it was probably too hot to consider soup. For entrée, the options were New York strip and shrimp skewer, rosemary chicken breast or pasta primavera. I chose the chicken.
I had the chocolate cake with raspberry sauce for dessert, but forgot to take a picture of that. The other dessert option was caramel apple pie, which sounds really good to me right now.
There was a young family at the table next to ours and the parents had a hard time getting the kids to eat. Side note – that’s never been an issue in my family. Sometimes, when DN Isaiah was little, I’d go hide to eat something yummy that I didn’t want to share with him. But don’t tell on me! Anyway, the little guy had the same bite of food in his mouth almost the entire meal. He was too busy flirting with me and Karen to do any eating. He was a little cutie for sure.
After dinner, we had time to ride POTC. This is one of my favorite DL attractions! Then we got seats for Fantasmic! We had a section roped off for us because we’d reserved the dinner package. The area wasn’t very crowded, so we ended up with a terrific view.
Fantasmic! was as great as I remember. My photos… well, I got a few good ones.
I like this one
I think black-and-white Steamboat Willie Mickey is my favorite thing ever
When F! ended, we were able to stay seated for the fireworks, which we decided to do. Even though we weren’t in front of the castle, Karen and I were both awed by how great they were! We both couldn’t wait to see it from Main Street and I told Karen now I wanted to see it from all over the park because it’s a little different experience from each spot. I took photos another night.
We were both ready to head back to the DLH, so we slowly made our way out. This was our first time seeing the castle lit up (you can’t see it from outside the park because it’s all puny). It was gorgeous! Wow!!
Beautiful!
We didn’t do much of interest back at the DLH. Well, Karen may have. I went right to sleep!
Up Next: A good reason to ride the Matterhorn
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
Now you're making me feel bad for all the things we missed at Disneyland, like the afternoon parade, Fantasmic!... oh well, I guess there's a good reason to go back anyway. By the way, what was the show you went to just after the parade? I don't think I missed the name of it...
I love the view from your room, and the headboard is so interesting! This update has verified what I already knew, we need to go back. We missed the afternoon parade and Magical Map. When I was editing my Fantasmic! photos and came to the black and white Steamboat Willie, I at first wondered if I'd messed with some setting on my camera until I remembered he was in B&W. Cool touch!
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Was he retired?
The two of you got so much done with so many attractions! 
It's funny, how much many of you think of RSR and especially, I'm looking in bewilderment from someone who has never experienced this attraction or visited DL! 
I know Cam loves this so much as well with her TR! 
I'm sure I'd love it! 
Also considering WDW for October, 2016 for my first ever F&W Fest, so need to weigh it all out! 
I'm hoping I can get the rest of this TR done in a timely manner. 
I need to get moving.
We had some time, so we decided to get FPs for BTMRR. On the way, I spotted one of the special Photopass spots, so we stopped for pictures.
Anyway, the little guy had the same bite of food in his mouth almost the entire meal. He was too busy flirting with me and Karen to do any eating. 
PassPorter Guide Author
By the way, what was the show you went to just after the parade? I don't think I missed the name of it...
When I was editing my Fantasmic! photos and came to the black and white Steamboat Willie, I at first wondered if I'd messed with some setting on my camera until I remembered he was in B&W. Cool touch! 
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