I am sooooooooo spoiled with Passporter and Allears!! - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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I am sooooooooo spoiled with Passporter and Allears!!
We are planning a trip to Virginia Beach and Busch Gardens. I've been trying to find info on the park, but it is really limited. I am so spoiled with Passporter and All ears, being able to find every piece of info I want and need. I feel like I'm going on this trip blind!! Anyone have any good resources for BG?? I've been on their site and see the map and such, but I can't find much info from people who have been there before.
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Stephanie- Mom to Jaden and Emerson, Wife to Keith, Novelist
I'm an independent agent with Fairytale Journeys, specializing in Disney vacations!
Visit my Facebook page!
We went to Virginia Beach, Colonial Williamsburg, & Busch Gardens a couple of years ago. We loved it but there wasn't that much information available. BG is the Europe theme. It is a beautiful park. If you like roller coasters, it's great. They have some huge ones. They also have a nice water park that we tried, Water Country USA. We spent one day at BG & pretty much covered it.
That's exactly the problem I have with other places!! There is such a wealth of information for Disney and other places have virtually none. Makes it hard for us planners!!
That's exactly the problem I have with other places!! There is such a wealth of information for Disney and other places have virtually none. Makes it hard for us planners!!
So so true!!!
I'm just looking for some tips for the park...not to miss stuff....plans for touring..food recommendations...you know...all the great info we share here for Disney!! LOL!!
There are no prices for food on the website, only the buffet places. Was wondering how much cash we'll need to feed 2 adults and 2 kids for the day. Though our hotel has free breakfast and we'll probably do that before BG...might not even need a big lunch...just some afternoon snacks.
We are planning two days at BG and maybe one at the water park. I know we won't get much done in one day since DS is too small to go on many of the big rides...one of us will have to stay with him while the other takes DD on and then trade off. Lucky dd, she gets to go on everything twice!!
What are crowds like end of August??? Weather??
Thanks in advance!
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Stephanie- Mom to Jaden and Emerson, Wife to Keith, Novelist
I'm an independent agent with Fairytale Journeys, specializing in Disney vacations!
Visit my Facebook page!
We were there in July & it was pretty hot. The crowd level was high but it didn't seem like we had to wait too long on most things with the exception of the big roller coasters.
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I agree, the BG websites leave a LOT to be desired as far as finding info goes!!!
I could be a lot more help if you were going to BG Tampa, since I worked there and have been a million times, but I've only been to BG VA once two years ago. One thing I will tell you - if you like baked potatoes, do NOT miss the CS restaurant in the Ireland area. It is delicious!!!! Also, if you like roller coasters and plan to go on Gryphon - wait for the 1st row the first time you go on it. It is SO worth it!!!! One of my favorite coasters ever.
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MNSSHP 2015: DH (Bane), Me (Batgirl), Genie, and our friends
I hear ya! I've been reading travel books for some other destinations and found them mostly useless. Can someone please tell Fodor's that we don't really want to read with a magnifying glass? Other travel books don't seem to have an edit--just tons of info, unsorted and mostly unreviewed. I don't need a list of hotels in Chicago. I need a list of the BEST places to stay on xyz budgets!
I haven't been to Busch Gardens in years, but I can tell you that August is going to be hot and you may see some afternoon storms. I did a quick web search and didn't find a whole lot of information on BGW. There seems to be a lot more out there about Tampa. Here's the wikilink: Busch Gardens Williamsburg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I have a huge list of sites for you on Busch Gardens Tampa. I am only going to post a couple for this early morning to give you a sample of what is out there and in some cases possibly one you haven't seen yet.
As this list is too large to print, and for the Guides to check, if you PM me I will PM the list to you.
Remember that when you check sites to pay attention to the links down and left and right margins for more info.
On the first site, Bing, click on each small picture and it will open up with more small pictures which you can click on, and it contains other information.
For more fun go back to the first site Bing Images and in the search box on the same line as Busch Gardens Tampa add the word Animals and enter it. Now try adding rides. Add characters. Now you choose a subject.
Going elsewhere? Remove the wording Busch Gardens Tampa and enter your destination. Maybe Disneyland Orlando or Disney Cruise. Try the single word Eeyore. Girls try Princesses.
If you thought there wasn't very much on Busch Gardens send a PM.
We are planning a trip to Virginia Beach and Busch Gardens. I've been trying to find info on the park, but it is really limited. I am so spoiled with Passporter and All ears, being able to find every piece of info I want and need. I feel like I'm going on this trip blind!! Anyone have any good resources for BG?? I've been on their site and see the map and such, but I can't find much info from people who have been there before.
Trying googling Trip Advisor and put in BG. I use them a lot for other trips we make besides Disney and the information and recommendations are usually pretty good.
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