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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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We went to the Japanese garden in San Francisco and loved that. Do not miss? Cable car, the waterfront, Alcatraz. We did the night-time tour and that was a lot of fun. We also went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and did a whale watching ride, which was very rough the day we did it.
In Yosemite, we took a tour for the day from San Francisco, which ensured we hit all the major attractions, so I'm not sure I can help you much with that side of things.
Love all those spots! Look for a spot called Pacific Grove - there are some great coastal outcroppings to climb out to for great sunset pictures. It's on the coast, I can't recall if it was north or south of Monterey.
At Yosemite, hike any of the trails that head up to a spot also accessible by bs. We couldn't believe how many people we kept seeing up top when the trails were all empty! Make sure to check out the lodge at Yosemite. We had lunch there for our third wedding anniversary while camping there. So beautiful!
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San Francisco---walk across the Golden Gate bridge if you can.....very different perspective than driving across. Monterery Bay Aquarium is a MUST see! We spent 5 nights @ Yosemite last year....the Mist Trail is gorgeous. Go down to the Wawona Hotel for lunch at their restaurant. It's like stepping back in time. Hike everywhere you can! You are going to love it!
How many days for all these places? Oy! This is Ansel Adams/Edward Weston territory, so I can't imagine doing a quick tour encompassing all of them in the time allotted. I would (and have) haul out the tripod, set up the camera, and wait for the right lighting and weather conditions... As tempting as it would be to hit all those places, I'd encourage you to drop one of them off the list.
I'm more of a mountains than sea coast person, so I'd want to spend more time in Yosemite and spend no more than a day in the Monterey/Big Sur area. I feel it's easier to do the Monterey area as a drive-through, single day thing - a long detour between SF and Yosemite - than to do Yosemite as a one-day drive-through, but your mileage may vary.
In Monterey, along with the other sights already mentioned, I'd add Point Lobos.
A single-day trip from SF to Yosemite and back? I guess, if you just need to see the classic views from the valley floor (El Capitan, Half Dome, Yosemite Falls..). Something like 90% of all park visitors never leave the valley, yet the valley is less than 10% of the park's area. With more time, I'd either camp (I'd recommend one of the campgrounds above the valley, maybe near Tenaya Lake) or stay at Yosemite Lodge and allow time to explore the areas beyond the valley floor on a second day.
San Fran? My last time there (a long weekend), I spent one long, satisfying morning and afternoon by the Embarcadero/Fisherman's Wharf, the National Maritime Park at the base of Hyde St., the farmer's market in the Ferry Building - a good 4-6 hours. You'd be close to the Presidio, so you could add the Walt Disney Family Museum and some other sights there.. altogether, a full day, easily. Take a few hours to do a meal in Chinatown and walk down Grant to the North Beach area for gelato... And there are plenty more possibilities.
And nobody's mentioned wine country as a possibility.
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Something like 90% of all park visitors never leave the valley, yet the valley is less than 10% of the park's area. With more time, I'd either camp (I'd recommend one of the campgrounds above the valley, maybe near Tenaya Lake) or stay at Yosemite Lodge and allow time to explore the areas beyond the valley floor on a second
ooo, Tenaya Lake - how could I have forgotten the name of such a beautiful place?!?! Yes, GO THERE!
We spent three days in Monterey, which did not seem like enough (we were there mid-October). We spent a good amount of time at the aquarium and could have spent more-they had a second day free or something similar. My kids loved just walking by the wharf, looking at wildlife. We did a glass bottom boat ride, which should have been canceled. There had been a storm and the ocean was too unsettled for us to see anything.
I liked the 17 mile drive, but we only planned a morning which meant more driving then stopping and looking. I wish we had planned a picnic lunch and a longer time.
The kids enjoyed the action of the wharf in San Francisco and I have two clam chowder lovers so they were getting bread bowls of chowder whenever possible.
My favorite at San Fran was the view of the city from the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge. We went to a viewpoint a little further down and it was beautiful.
Also, if you have the time, the Muir Woods NP was beautiful. It's a short drive north from San Fran but it feels a million miles away.
I've been trying to come up with suggestions since you posted, but everyone else has already given you great ideas. How about a suggestion for food? On Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, try Scoma's Restaurant for really great seafood. It's a little more than casual but not fancy. They also have a location across the bay in Sausalito.
For a touch of the wacky, if you're anywhere near San Jose (about halfway between Monterey and San Francisco), visit the Winchester Mystery House.
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Depending on which way you enter Yosemite, here's something to check out. We have eaten here a few times. It's inside the Mobil station in Lee Vining at the east gate entrance to Yosemite.
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.
Dave is my man for Yosemite. Besides the beautiful waterfalls and other scenery "on the floor" of the valley a MUST is Glacier Point high above the valley and Half Dome. This is the place to see the whole valley in its splendor of beauty from hundreds of feet.
A good hike but there is a paved road for confort by automobile.
Dave, did you ever hike down from Glacier Point to the natural rock water slide?
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As tempting as it would be to hit all those places, I'd encourage you to drop one of them off the list. 
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