Forums Closed
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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
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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.
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06-23-2003, 01:38 PM
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#1
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Community Rank: Traveler 
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Birmingham, AL
Posts: 372
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Behind the Scenes Tours
What tours have you been on? What are the best values in terms of, not only cost, but time. It is hard to imagine taking 7 hours away from our planned park fun for a tour. We do want to experience one of the behind the scenes tours though and need some advice selecting one.
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06-23-2003, 03:29 PM
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#2
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PassPorter Message Board Manager
 PassPorter Guide Author
Community Rank: Legend VIP 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Maidstone, Kent, UK
Concierge Level: 3
Posts: 190,285
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Re: Behind the Scenes Tours
I can't compare, as we've only done one - Undiscovered Future World, but I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone. It was a great way to spend four and a half hours and worth every second and every penny. We learnt so much about not just Epcot, but Disney in general and we will be doing another behind the scenes tour on our next trip.
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06-23-2003, 05:04 PM
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#3
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Community Rank: Adventurer 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Sacramento, CA
Concierge Level: 2
Posts: 917
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Re: Behind the Scenes Tours
We went on the Magic Behind the Steam Trains tour last month. It was really fantastic, and I would do it again in a SECOND! The nice thing about this tour is that it doesn't take much away from your regular park touring time because it starts two hours before the Magic Kingdom opens. What a treat to look down Main Street and have the entire park to yourself! And take a ride on the steam train with no one else on the train but your group. It was really neat to visit the roundhouse, and go through the entire safety check, and here the whole story of Walt's love for trains. Our tour started at 7am, and we were done about 10am. The park opened at 9:00. The fun part was when our train pulled into the station, and all the folks in line to get the first ride of the day must have been wondering who we were and why we were there before them!
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06-23-2003, 05:06 PM
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#4
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Community Rank: Adventurer
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Sacramento, CA
Concierge Level: 2
Posts: 917
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Re: Behind the Scenes Tours
You also might consider the "Behind the Seeds" tour at the land. This is a shorter tour, and it was really fun to have time to explore the greenhouses, see the beneficial bugs, and feed the voracious fish in the aquaculture building (warning: you MAY get WET!)
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06-23-2003, 09:26 PM
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#5
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Magic Happens!
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: E. Stroudsburg, PA
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 29,184
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Re: Behind the Scenes Tours
I did the 7 hour Backstage Magic tour and loved it. I would highly recommend it. You are in three of the four parks, and I didn't feel like it was taking time from our trip.
In December, we are thinking about doing a Christmas tour..the name escapes me now...something like the Yuletide Resort tour? [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img]
Sue
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06-24-2003, 01:41 AM
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#6
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Community Rank: Traveler
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Colorado
Posts: 408
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Re: Behind the Scenes Tours
[img]graemlins/wavin.gif[/img] Hi there, CU Tigger! I am also like Cheryl and don't have multiple tours to compare to. I have also only done one of the tours.
I did the Backstage Safari Tour at Animal Kingdom in January. It was awesome!! [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img] It was about 3.5 hours and included a stop for food (rolls, croissants, donuts, bagels, coffee, juice) and small talk with groupmates halfway thru the tour. This tour made me appreciate even more the intimate detailing that Disney does to make your trip even that much more interesting. I couldn't believe some of the things I learned while on this tour. Very very very interesting. It made me want to do at least one tour everytime I go to WDW!! [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img] Well worth the money and the time.
If you are a WDW "freak" like I am, I think you would appreciate a tour. It really gives you some insight that you wouldn't normally get just visiting the parks on your own. Go for it!!
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06-25-2003, 09:56 AM
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#7
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Community Rank: Jetsetter 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Wisconsin
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 2,743
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Re: Behind the Scenes Tours
I've done the Keys to the Kingdom tour and just loved it. It was a lot of fun and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again. I've also done the Behind the Seeds tour through the greenhouses at Epcot. That one was ok, but I had been hoping for a little more. It seemed like we spent a lot of time just looking at things you can see from the Living with the Land attraction. I would have liked to see some different things.
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06-25-2003, 11:07 AM
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#8
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Community Rank: Traveler
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Colorado
Posts: 408
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Re: Behind the Scenes Tours
CU Tigger, quick correction to my above post......
[img]graemlins/blush.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/blush.gif[/img] The tour I took at AK was actually the WILD BY DESIGN tour, not BACKSTAGE SAFARI [img]graemlins/blush.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/blush.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/blush.gif[/img]
All of my comments are accurate, I just got the names confused. I think I do this because up until the time we left for WDW, we were going back and forth several times about which of the two tour at AK we wanted to take......Sorry for the confusion...... [img]graemlins/blush.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/blush.gif[/img]
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06-25-2003, 11:38 AM
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#9
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Community Rank: Day-Tripper
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Ireland
Posts: 12
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Re: Behind the Scenes Tours
To anyone thats done the Keys to the Kingdom Tour...
Whats it like? And was it worth the 50+ dollars to go on it?
Thanks - Jeffery
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06-28-2003, 11:46 AM
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#10
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Community Rank: Traveler
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Birmingham, AL
Posts: 372
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Re: Behind the Scenes Tours
Thank for your input! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] DF and I were discussing it last night and we had tentatively decided on the "Gardens of the World" tour in Epcot since the PassPorter indicates that it offers ideas for home gardens. Has anyone done this tour? Ironically, it is a dollar more than the "Keys" tour and 1.5 hr. shorter. We are very much torn between it and the Keys tour. I have a feeling unless someone can give some insight on the Gardens tour, we will go with the Keys to the Kingdom. I'm almost too curious about the "utilidors" to pass it up. [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
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06-28-2003, 03:36 PM
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#11
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Community Rank: Explorer 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 7,386
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Re: Behind the Scenes Tours
I'm not certain about this but I believe that I read somewhere that the "utilidors" are no longer part of the Keys to the Kingdom tour. You might want to check with the Disney folks before booking that tour if that is your main reason for doing so.
This August, we're doing both the Keys to the Kingdom tour and the Family Magic tour. But I think what I'm looking forward to the most is Dolphins in Depth. I guess that is not really a tour per se, but it is definitely a one of a kind once in a lifetime opportunity. Every time I think about the chance to actually interact and play with the dolphins in the water, I get goosebumps.
Joy
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06-28-2003, 05:34 PM
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#12
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Community Rank: Trekker 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Oklahoma City, OK
Posts: 1,060
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Re: Behind the Scenes Tours
What is Dolphins in Depth? I have not heard of this one. Thanks!
Geri
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06-28-2003, 05:52 PM
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#13
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 7,386
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Re: Behind the Scenes Tours
Dolphins in Depth is a three and a half hour experience that is held Monday to Friday starting at 9:45 a.m. First you learn about dolphins and are taught some of the hand signals that are being used in Disney's dolphin research program. Then you don a wet suit and get into the tank with the dolphins. You're in about waist deep water. The cost is $140 per person but this includes a videotape of your experience, a t-shirt and refreshments. Although they do add the proviso that "dolphin interaction is not guaranteed," apparently it is an extremely rare occurrence for the dolphins to refuse to "come out and play". For more information about Dolphins in Depth, go to: http://www.wdwig.com/tours.htm#dol Also on that page you will find links to reviews of the experience by people who have taken this tour. It sounds absolutely mind-boggling which is why we're going to be doing it this August. I'll be able to tell you a lot more about it after that. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Joy |
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06-28-2003, 05:59 PM
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#14
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Community Rank: Legend 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Newtown Square, PA
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 23,859
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Re: Behind the Scenes Tours
Oh my gosh!! You guys are making me want to spend more money!! [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]
Signed,
I neeed to stop spending money [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
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06-28-2003, 07:37 PM
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#15
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Bennington, NE
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 10,556
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Re: Behind the Scenes Tours
I've done the Keys tour twice. The last time was in March. We did go into the Utilidors, but didn't see as much of them as I had on my previous tour. I did the Hidden Treasures of Future World earlier this month and thoroughly enjoyed it. I also did the Behind the Seeds tour which was cool and very personal as there were only 2 of us on the tour. It, itself, is a hidden treasure at only $8! I would gladly do either of them again!
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