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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Sunday May 29th (Travel Day)
The alarm was set for 2:15am. I had sent the kids to bed a little early the night before and they were all sound asleep by 8 or 8:30pm. I went to bed around 10:15pm, but could not get to sleep. The last time I remember looking at the clock it was 11:20pm. Even once asleep I kept waking up and checking the time. I finally went ahead and got up at 2am and got in the shower. I woke Wesley up once out of the shower and he helped me load the luggage into the van. I got the others up, everyone used the restroom and we were pulling out of the drive way by 2:50am.
I picked up my dad around 3:30am and we were headed to the airport. I was planning to park the van in long term economy parking. The first park and ride shuttle lot was full, but quickly spotted another one across the street. The shuttle picks you up right at your vehicle. The driver was super friendly and tackled our luggage quickly. We were in the airport about 4:45am.
Checking bags took a bit because we had to verify each of our passports; but once that was done we breezed through security.
We found our gate and still had well over an hour before our flight.
We picked up breakfast at Burger King; the kids were disappointed as they had no chicken biscuits. Wesley, Dillon, Austin, and Winston got French toast sticks and hash browns. Madilyn got pancakes, I got a croissantwich, and my dad just had coffee.
The two hour flight went smoothly and the kids did well. The only mishap was Winston managed to spill his sprite that he got from the stewardesses, but thankfully it only got on his socks- so I just wiped off his shoes and he went sockless the rest of the ride.
We landed a little ahead of schedule and had right at an hour to switch planes. The Houston airport proved difficult to navigate and we had to walk a long, long, looong way to our gate. Once there we had only 30 minutes till our next flight. I got in line at subway for lunch. They were out of both wheat and white bread! So we got some funky bread that actually turned out good. I got turkey, Dillon and Madilyn got turkey kids meals. I had packed some peanut butter sandwiches and some jelly sandwiches (none of my kids eat the two mixed). Wesley ate the peanut butter and Winston and Austin ate the jelly sandwiches. Thankfully I had packed these since they don’t eat any type of sandwich meat. The peanut butter sandwiches held up well but the jelly sandwiches ended up kind of melty; but they ate them all the same!
At some point during the flight we went over a large mountain range; I am guessing it was the Rocky Mountains.
The kids were SO good on the 4.5 hour flight. Several people gave compliments on their behavior. I paid for them to have television access and this was a good decision as the big kids watched it the entire flight. We don’t have cable or any television channels at home, for that reason they are usually pretty excited at the chance to watch television. It cost $7.99 for TV access; I thought it was high, but in the end a good investment. Dillon and Madilyn shared their television and headphones, so that saved a little bit. I also brought some matchbox cars and army men for Winston and Austin to play with. I also brought a little track that fit perfectly onto the table top and this entertained them for hours.
Winston did have another mishap on this flight when he went to the bathroom. Somehow he didn’t get his underwear down good and got pee on them. It was not very much, and thankfully his shorts were fine. I had him take the underwear off and go commando the rest of the ride. At this point he had lost his socks and now his underwear, so I was hoping he didn’t need to lose anything else…
Winston had barely made a peep the entire flight, but at the end he got really upset complaining about his ears as we descended. Thankfully he was fine once we were off the plane.
Once in Vancouver, we proceeded to Canadian customs; as we entered the area a lady said “welcome to Canada” and my daughter proudly announced: “were Americans!” lol. Customs was very quick. Later while we were waiting for our baggage I noticed the line was a mile long, so apparently we had perfect timing.
Our baggage pick up was immediately after leaving customs; there were some workers there and Madilyn proudly announced again: “hey, were from the United States of America and this is our first time in Canada” – the lady said, well how do you like it so far? And she answered- “good, but we don’t even know who the president is here!”- lol.
Unfortunately the baggage carousels broke down 2 or 3 times while waiting and it took a very long time to find our luggage.
And finding budget rental car proved even more difficult. To say the rental companies are “in the terminal” is a stretch. You have to completely leave the terminal, cross the street, and then enter a garage of car rental agencies- where budget was dead last at the end. Talk about a long walk carrying all the luggage! Then there was a long line to rent the van. I had asked for a minivan but actually got an SUV; when I first seen it, it looked a lot bigger than my minivan and I was excited; but quickly proved wrong as it was impossible to fit all the luggage in with the 7 of us also. We had luggage pretty much piled on top of us; thankfully it was only a 30 minute drive to the hotel.
Once at the hotel, only one room was ready. It was 3pm and I was told the other room would be ready in an hour. We dropped off our luggage in the one room and headed to dinner at a Church’s Chicken we had spotted on the way to the hotel. My dad and I had the two piece meal with slaw. Dillon had a chicken sandwich, and the rest had chicken strips with fries.
Once back at the hotel, I was able to check us into the other room. The rooms were right beside each other, but not connecting.
The rooms very both nice and very large. They had a desk and chair; two large comfortable beds, a nice big comfy chair to sit in, and a balcony. The only downfall was the hotel was in a somewhat slummy area and the balconies overlooked people’s houses.
We were all in bed asleep between 7 and 8pm Canada time. It had been a long day and it was after 10pm our time/GA time. Up Next: A day in Vancouver…
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Great start! Thanks for the info on the car rental locations at YVR! We're renting a car there even though we're not flying out of there, so good to know! More please!
Monday May 30th (Vancouver)
Austin woke up at 2am; everyone else was awake around 4am. We had a hard time adjusting to the time change.
At 6:30am we went down for the free breakfast; delish. They had bacon, pancakes, biscuits, omelets, cinnamon rolls, fresh fruit, several juices and milks, croissants and muffins. It was probably the best (free) hotel breakfast I’ve ever had.
After breakfast we got ready and headed for Lynn Canyon Park. I had printed directions off map quest before we left. The directions were wrong. They sent us to a residential area. We circled around for a few minutes to see if we had passed it before we decided there was no way we could have missed a large national park; as a national park could likely not fit in this residential area. We headed back to the hotel so that we could pull up new directions.
It had started raining a little; so even after we got the directions we hung out in the hotel a bit waiting for the rain to pass. Before long we were headed back out to the park. We did get turned around a few times as we had trouble finding the signage for the highway. We finally found the park and we got a parking place and headed in.
We immediately saw signs for the suspension bridge. It was a short walk down a few steps to the suspension bridge. The bridge offered nice views, it was not too crowded and the kids enjoyed crossing it.
We had not been at the park very long and the kids were energized so we decided to follow one of the trails. The trail was downward and I did think to myself this was not going to be near as fun going back up as it is coming down; but it was not too steep so I knew we would be ok.
At the end of the trail, my dad said a man said the stairs head right back to the suspension bridge. The stairs were very steep and there were a lot of them. I was hesitant to go that way; but we decided we would be up them in no time and off we went.
Big mistake! We were worn slap out when we came to the top only to find out you take a few more steps and come to another set of steep steps that seem endless in number. We had clearly made a poor choice, but we were now committed. We went up the stairs only to find more stairs. This was horrible. My legs felt like jello. We took about a 15 minute break before heading up the next set of steps. I have no idea how many steps we went up in total, but it was a lot; a hundred maybe? When we finally got to the bridge we realized we had went up twice as high as needed had we simply back tracked out of the trail. That was a miserable experience.
Once to the top we sat on the bench for a while before making our way to the van. I was worried my legs would end up sore the next day for our first day cruising; but miraculously they were fineJ.
We stopped by Dairy Queen on our way to the hotel after the park. Their ice cream was good/the same as home, but their hot food tasted very different and I did not care for it.
We just relaxed at the hotel until dinner time. There was a local family restaurant we had noticed across the street and decided to give that a go. It turned out to be a great choice as they had good food and great service. I had barbeque ribs and I honestly can’t remember what anyone else had, but I do remember we all enjoyed it very much.
The hotel had a small laundry room; and we accumulate laundry quickly, so I went ahead and washed the dirty clothes we had accumulated. We put all our luggage tags on our bags and went to bed at a reasonable time. Up Next: All aboard
Great start! Thanks for the info on the car rental locations at YVR! We're renting a car there even though we're not flying out of there, so good to know! More please!
Since your not flying out from there, it should be easier as you can just get dropped off at the car rental place rather than the terminal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ariel14
Great start!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Great start! Good to know about the car rentals. Now I'm glad we're planning on taking a taxi from there.
Walking your luggage out to a taxi will certainly be easier than what we experienced!
Quote:
Originally Posted by smcnaught
OMG!! That mountain range picture is amazing!!
I had not expected to start seeing beautiful scenery so early in the trip; on the plane ride out! It went on for a long time; the picture certainly does not do it justice...
Wow, that climb sounded exhausting! And I so hear you about the time changes... I'm hoping that by having had a couple of days in the States first, before we head up to Vancouver, that will help us...
THe stairs yeah my mom did them cause she hates bridges like that. My dad and brother did the bridge and mom did the stairs. She didn't like the fack that they were so steep and so many of them.
Great start! Your kids have gotten so big- gorgeous family! The bridge looks so !! Sorry about the steps...reminds of when I decided to climb the lighthouse in OBX....I am so out of shape! Can't wait to read more!!!
About This Page: 
I had sent the kids to bed a little early the night before and they were all sound asleep by 8 or 8:30pm. I went to bed around 10:15pm, but could not get to sleep. The last time I remember looking at the clock it was 11:20pm. Even once asleep I kept waking up and checking the time. I finally went ahead and got up at 2am and got in the shower. I woke Wesley up once out of the shower and he helped me load the luggage into the van. I got the others up, everyone used the restroom and we were pulling out of the drive way by 2:50am. 
The Houston airport proved difficult to navigate and we had to walk a long, long, looong way to our gate. Once there we had only 30 minutes till our next flight. I got in line at subway for lunch. They were out of both wheat and white bread! So we got some funky bread that actually turned out good. I got turkey, Dillon and Madilyn got turkey kids meals. I had packed some peanut butter sandwiches and some jelly sandwiches (none of my kids eat the two mixed
). Wesley ate the peanut butter and Winston and Austin ate the jelly sandwiches. Thankfully I had packed these since they don’t eat any type of sandwich meat. The peanut butter sandwiches held up well but the jelly sandwiches ended up kind of melty
; but they ate them all the same!
Thankfully he was fine once we were off the plane.
!” lol. Customs was very quick. Later while we were waiting for our baggage I noticed the line was a mile long, so apparently we had perfect timing.
- lol.
Talk about a long walk carrying all the luggage! Then there was a long line to rent the van. I had asked for a minivan but actually got an SUV; when I first seen it, it looked a lot bigger than my minivan and I was excited; but quickly proved wrong as it was impossible to fit all the luggage in with the 7 of us also. We had luggage pretty much piled on top of us; thankfully it was only a 30 minute drive to the hotel.
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Pixie Dust
More please! 
PassPorter Guide Author
They had bacon, pancakes, biscuits, omelets, cinnamon rolls, fresh fruit, several juices and milks, croissants and muffins. It was probably the best (free) hotel breakfast I’ve ever had.
We headed back to the hotel so that we could pull up new directions.
so even after we got the directions we hung out in the hotel a bit waiting for the rain to pass. Before long we were headed back out to the park. We did get turned around a few times as we had trouble finding the signage for the highway. We finally found the park and we got a parking place and headed in.
.
And I so hear you about the time changes... I'm hoping that by having had a couple of days in the States first, before we head up to Vancouver, that will help us... 
!! Sorry about the steps...reminds of when I decided to climb the lighthouse in OBX....I am so out of shape! Can't wait to read more!!!
Susan
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