Eight is Enough - A July 2014 TR with cousins, club level and more Updated 3/29 DHS and Frozen Fun - Page 9 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
Glad whatever hit your niece passed quickly. That was scary!
Glad you were able to get your Magicbands activated quickly, don't need to waste that precious park time!
Thanks Holly. Is that Diggerland in your sig pic? We've been wanting to take the boys there, but don't really know enough about it to know if they'd enjoy it or not. It looks cool.
Yes that is Diggerland. Evan LOVED it. I'm going to do a TR about it. Basically if your kids are over 48 inches they can do everything. Adults can do stuff too if you are interested in that sort of stuff. The day we were there alot of boys. Duh! I would bet the average age is about 6, 7, 8 for the kids. If they are really little than the parents need to go with them. We spent most of the day there and Evan did everything he wanted, more than once and several things multiple times. Food is expensive so we went to the local Wendys. It is next to Sahara Sam's but they don't have any combo tickets just yet. I spoke to someone who said they are trying to get an "earth and water" package. If you do go they offer a lower admission for afternoon. It is also very hot. Everything is outside, there is very little shade and no AC. We went on a cloudy day - thank God, Lines were very small, maybe 2 or 3 kids in front of Evan - at the most, many were a walk-on.
Glad your niece was ok! We actually agree with you about Boma. It is one of our favorite breakfasts, but we do not enjoy their dinner food. We have had good meals at Sanaa.
Oh no... so sorry to hear about your niece not feeling well. I'm sure that was frightening. Glad she recovered quickly and you all went on to enjoy a magical day. The new Fantasyland is the perfect place to start!!! Can't wait to hear more!
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
What a scare with your niece. Glad she starting feeling better after a little while. I have an idea on which ride is your 1st fastapass but I'll reserve it for now. We'll see if I was wrong.
If you guessed our first fastpass was Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, then you are correct. We slowly made our way to the ride, stopping to get some pictures by Gaston’s first.
I'm so glad we were able to get a fastpass for this since the wait was always unbelievably long. Later in the trip, we even saw CM's handing out cups of water to people in line so they wouldn't pass out. I'm not sure that I would've waited that long in an outdoor queue.
The ride was really cute. I liked it the first time, but we liked it more and more every time we rode it. We especially enjoyed riding at night. I will say that the seats are kind of small and it’s pretty tight if two (not very small) adults are riding next to each other.
Spoiler alert: I only have a few pictures of the ride to post. If you don’t want to see them, then please skip my next post.
Spoiler Alert - Skip this post if you don't want to see pictures of the Seven Dwarf Mine Train
Sorry about the pictures. They are not that great. The projected faces don't photograph very well and I guess I was too busy taking it all in to get good pictures.
We still had some time before our next fastpass, so we headed over to Haunted Mansion. For some reason, we end up riding this multiple times every trip.
After the ride, a bathroom break was in order. I’d heard good things about the Rapunzel bathrooms and decided to see for myself. It really was as nice and clean as I’d heard. My family would not stop teasing me about taking pictures of a bathroom. I guess I it is pretty weird
I love the little details.
Next on the agenda was It’s a Small World. This ride will never be the same after reading Kingdom Keepers. We noticed a lot of the dolls were missing and couldn’t help but wonder if they were being refurbished or if they were in the water waiting to chomp on us.
We were getting hungry, but couldn’t take time out for lunch yet, so we decided to get a snack. We shared a bucket of popcorn, two orders of glazed almonds (this is one snack Jared refuses to share, lol), and a couple bottles of water.
We finished our snacks and watched a clown perform for a few minutes, while we waited for our next fastpass.
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.