Introducing Friends to the Mouse TR - UPDATED 10/9 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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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Introducing Friends to the Mouse TR - UPDATED 10/9
My family is heading back down at the end of September and a friend of mine from college and his family is going for the first time. They made sure that their vacation overlapped ours since "we know what we're doing" when it comes to Disney.
When: September 25 to October 1
Where: Our home at Bay Lake Tower (1-BR standard view) - we've already checked in and requested a room on a higher floor near the sky bridge
Why: It's our annual trip to Disney
Who: Me - Timothy Mouse
My wife - Abby Mallard
DD - 8 (her 5th trip to Disney)
Our ADRs:
September 25: Dinner at Chef Mickey's at 6:55 pm - we ate here as our first dining experience on our last trip. Since we ate there last time, it would normally be out of the running for this trip. However, our friends will be joining us for this trip and since it's their first time and, at the time the reservation was made, they were staying off property. We decided it worth eating there again so their child can enjoy the meal with the Big 5.
September 26: Dinner at Via Napoli at 6:20 pm - Loved eating here the first time and wanted to go back.
September 27: Dinner at Flying Fish at 5:30 pm - Another meal with our friends.
September 28: Dinner at 1900 Park Fare at 6:45 pm
September 29: No ADR - the plan is to snack around the Food and Wine in the late morning/early afternoon and then eat a counter service during the Halloween Party at MK that night
September 30: Dinner at Be Our Guest at 4:55 pm - Ate lunch there on our last trip and loved it. Can't wait to have dinner there!
My friends are checking on the 24th and leaving on the 29th and driving down from Atlanta. Originally, they were staying off-site but the wife finally listened to us and switched their reservation to a one-bedroom villa at Boardwalk. The wife went to Disneyland with her son over the winter and thought that WDW would be the same. She was amazed at how much more "advanced planning" you needed to do. ADRs, Photopass+ , etc. They are really looking forward to the trip and I'm glad that we get to help them have the best trip possible but at the same time not interfere with their plans and let them have their trip while we have ours.
I hope that you and your family have a magical time at the world
__________________
Heather - "I'm Tinkerbell's biggest fan!"
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
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9/25: Arrive, check-in at BLT, and have lunch at Contemporary. Go to Magic Kingdom until it's time for Chef Mickey's. After dinner (if the timing works), go to the Top of the World Lounge to watch Wishes
9/26: Hollywood Studios in the AM. Go back to hotel in the afternoon for some pool time. Head to EPCOT in the late afternoon. We have a dinner reservation at Via Napoli in Italy that night.
9/27: Magic Kingdom for Rope Drop. Pool time in the afternoon. EPCOT Future World before dinner reservation at Flying Fish in the evening.
9/28: Animal Kingdom in the morning/early afternoon. Have lunch at Flame Tree BBQ. Pool in the afternoon. We have a dinner reservation at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridan that night.
9/29: Either sleep in at go to EPCOT World Showcase for Food and Wine Festival. If we are up early, go to Hollywood Studios for a little bit and then go to EPCOT for Food and Wine Festival. Go to Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom that night.
9/30: Water Park in the morning and early afternoon. Magic Kingdom that late afternoon and night. Dinner at Be Our Guest.
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
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
There really isn't "more" yet. My wife and I haven't tweaked our day-to-day plans much, our ADRs are still the same, we haven't added anything new to our visit, and our DME packet hasn't arrived. Our trip is still five weeks out so we haven't starting packing yet. We're in that calm before the storm stage of the pre-trip.