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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Okay, I’m going to try this again. I haven’t had much luck actually writing a PTR, but I’m going to try!
CAST OF CHARACTERS…..
ME: Jennifer – Turning 46 this trip (OMG – having my birthday at WDW!!!!)
DH: Chet – just a big kid and LOVES Grumpy.
DS: Jacob – Teenage son….17 years old and making me nuts!
Now we have traveled to WDW with others in the past. As much fun as we had, we really do like going just the three of us. Other than waking the DS up in the mornings, we travel really good together. Our last trip was October of 2012, and that was after a really sucky year. Starting in December of 2011, DS was diagnosed as Type I diabetic, I fell and jacked up my shoulder, my mom was diagnosed with cancer, I had to have surgery to repair my shoulder (rotator cuff, labrum and bicep muscle), Granny ended up in the hospital for two weeks and then passed away in September and another friend was also diagnosed with cancer (and long story short --- it was ugly, we’re just grateful we didn’t lose him!). We REALLY needed the last trip, but we were all still a bit distracted, so while we had a good time, it wasn’t as good as it could have been.
So….the beginning of this year, we were really wanting to go, but figured that we really couldn’t swing it and were going to have to wait until 2015. However, DH went to Vegas with a buddy of his (who had a pretty sucky (he was the one with cancer mentioned above). DH’s buddy really needed a vacation from everything he had dealt with so I found them a smokin’ deal and sent them off in June. While they were gone, I got the Free Dining PIN code and agonized over it until DH got home. When he did, we talked about it and even though he hadn’t won big in Vegas, he also hadn’t lost the house, so we looked at the budget and what it would cost and decided that we could swing it and it would be better to book something and put down a deposit and then cancel if absolutely necessary, than to miss out on the free dining….with a teenager, that will save us a fortune!!!!!!!!!!!! We also have a couple of friends who just moved down to Florida to be closer to their folks (both sets live in the Tampa area). When I was mentioning this to her, she offered us one of their cars so we wouldn’t have to get a rental at all! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay…free food…free car…that’s a pretty good chunk of change to not have to pay. AND-----I think I can manage to swing a couple of one-way air miles tickets so that means we can get away with only having to buy two round-trip tickets!!!!!!!!!!!! Plus we still have a batch of pins for trading when we get down there so I don’t have to order those!
On June 13th, I called Disney and a very nice CM helped me find a resort that was available. We would have preferred the November time frame, but there wasn’t anything available so she checked October for us and managed to find availability for the 19th thru the 29th!!!! HURRAY!!!!!!!!!!!!
Once that was booked, I just kind of sat back and relaxed. UNTIL…I realized that we were already in the 180 day time frame for ADRs…then I panicked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Got online and started figuring out what the park hours were for the days we are there and what restaurants we want to go to (as well as what is available). So far I have managed to get Le Cellier for a late lunch/early dinner, Mama Melrose for dinner, Jiko’s for dinner and Shutters, also for dinner. Since we have free dining we figured it was a good time to try out some 2 TS meals – especially ones we had never been to. I am desperately trying to get an ADR for Be Our Guest, but I’m not holding my breath.
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Jennifer / Eeyore is my favorite!! OMG - He's sooooo grown up!!!! And an EAGLE SCOUT!! I can still remember my cute little Tiger Cub! 2016 Reading Goal - 75 books
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Sorry about the tough times but wow about going to WDW. And congrats on free dinning and free car..win/win. And I just love October..been there 4 times. Can't wait to hear what ADR you made.
You've got all kinds of good deals there! And a birthday at WDW, too! I look forward to reading more of your plans.
How long does it usually take you to fly down to Orlando?
Yep...get to have my b-day at Disney!! Very excited!!
It takes about 11 hours to get from here to there. We normally have to take the red-eye out of here, but it puts us into Orlando around 5:30 or so in the evening. We then like to go check in and then head for DTD to walk around and find decent food since we have been stuck on cramped planes with crappy food for all day
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Jennifer / Eeyore is my favorite!! OMG - He's sooooo grown up!!!! And an EAGLE SCOUT!! I can still remember my cute little Tiger Cub! 2016 Reading Goal - 75 books
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
Great start Jennifer! Looking forward to hearing about your resort pick and other ADR's that you make Sorry you've had such a rough year but hopefully things are looking up now!
Great start, Jennifer! Congrats on the pin code! You all are saving so much! We'll be down there at the same time as our trip is October 20 - 28.
If we can swing it would love to meet up for a picture and a cool FAB if you all are up to it!
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Jennifer / Eeyore is my favorite!! OMG - He's sooooo grown up!!!! And an EAGLE SCOUT!! I can still remember my cute little Tiger Cub! 2016 Reading Goal - 75 books
HOLY COW!!!!!!!!!!! It just hit me I should have started the double digit dance yesterday! 98 and counting!!!!!!!!!!!
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Jennifer / Eeyore is my favorite!! OMG - He's sooooo grown up!!!! And an EAGLE SCOUT!! I can still remember my cute little Tiger Cub! 2016 Reading Goal - 75 books
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You all are saving so much! We'll be down there at the same time as our trip is October 20 - 28. 
Sorry you've had such a rough year but hopefully things are looking up now!
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