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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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the seats are on the right side of the ampitheater. they're great seats for not having to wait in line. if you're extremely picky, and must sit dead center, they aren't the seats for you, but I think they're a great location anyways! some complain, but i like them. I always get there early, so i sit right next to the rope and get as close to center as i can, but anywhere is a great seat for fantasmic.
i've only eaten at hollywood and vine. it's actually the only table service place i've eaten in disney. it's a buffet. pretty decent food. i liked it. we had a really great server the last time we were there. i REALLY love the potato salad, and there's this thing that kind of looks like cheese, but isn't. i can't remember what it's called, but it's really good too. i think it's cheaper than MM, but it's probably because it's a buffet.
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we just did that exact package last week. The seats for Fantasmic are pretty good, I guess you don't do it as much for the quality of the seats but the gaurenteed admission and no 45 minute to one hour waits to get in. You have a seperate admission from the general public who are not on the package. We ate at Hollywood and Vine and the meal was FANTASTIC! Buffet style, lots of selection. The cheesecake mini bites are out of this world!! I mean amazing stuff! (thus the strict diet for the next few weeks..... ) I would do it again in a heartbeat! Fantasmic itself is awesome! Much better than I had anticipated, and where you sit isn't that much of an issue since it kind of circles the island in parade style. Hope this helps!
I have seen Fantasmic before (my trip just me and my mom)...and we were the 3rd section from the end on the left though and that wasn't too bad. On our last trip, we walked into the ampitheater for Fantasmic and it was horrendous...and this was like an 45 min- an hour before..........I don't know if we would have even gotten a seat. We turned around, and luckily our 4 y/o dd did not put up a fight!! We walked around the pretty deserted park and took some cool nighttime photos instead!! But anyway, for this next trip, I figured if we did the Fantasmic package we'd be better off.
We ate at H&V a long long time ago....we liked it then.
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We did the package last Christmas and it was great! Much less of a line wait! We could show up for the line a little while before (I forget the exact timing) while the line for w/o th package began hours before! I don't know that we would have seen the show w/o the package because the line was so long and the theater was FULL and I wouldn't have wanted to wait that long only to not be able to get into the show because it was full. We were all the way to the right of the theater but the seats were great! We were actually right in the front row and, although it was a little wet, it was wonderful!
We ate at Hollywood & Vine and really enjoyed it! The food was good and the waitress was so friendly!
We would definitely do this again!
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Dec 2005 (POR) - our first WDW trip and our first WDW holiday / Dec 2006 (CSR) - our second WDW holiday / Aug 2007 (POLY!!!!) - Happy Early 40th Birthday to Me and our first DELUXE stay / Dec 2008 - Christmas at "Home" (POP) / Aug 2009 - Summer in the South (POFQ) / Aug 2010 - POP! and Caitie starts her internship at WDW/ Oct 2010 - Laura & I "POP" in to visit Caitie/ Feb 2011 - Feb Fam Vacation to visit Caitie / May 2011 - Going to the Boardwalk to pick up Caitie (BW)
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.
We have done the Fantasmic package 3 times, and have always been happy with our seats. I think it is definitely worth it not to have to get there so early! We have eaten at all three restaurants. HBD was the best, but if I didn't want to use 2TS credits, I would eat at MM again. We aren't big buffet fans and we thought the food at MM was quite good.
Here's another vote for the dinner package. The first time I saw it, we did the waiting in line thing. 2 hours was excrutiating and there were not kids with us. Can't imagine that wait with children. The last time we had the package and ate at HBD. I thought it was well worth it--best meal we had our entire stay, no lines and the seats were just as good as the ones we waited for before. They are to the side, but still great seats.
We ate at H&V a few weeks ago. We found it to be an excellent buffet! They had pork with apples that I loved (and I am not a pork fan). My DS9 liked the creamed corn cornbread so much that he has asked to return to H&V on our next trip just so that he can get some more. Service was great, as well.
The seats are okay - we did the package for the first time this past trip and found it much easier of course to be seated but have gotten better seats on our own and we've never had to wait very long.
And I personally will be trying Mama Melrose next time because H&V was the worst meal experience of our last trip. Just one opinion of course though!
We do Mama Melrose for this package all the time and it is great. You have a great three course meal and then the show. We have even taken a box away from the package. That was a day when it was hot and we filled up on Mickey Bars before our reservation. I just can't turn down a Mickey Bar on a warm afternoon.
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.
We just did this package last Thursday. The seats are WAAAYYYY off to the right. Even though we had our pass, we ended up walking into general seating about 30 minutes before the show. Because there were only 2 of us, we were able to find seats front and center - about 10 rows up. I was much happier here than if I had been sitting in the reserved seating!
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Saturday, October 9, 2014 - Kaitlyn and I before the Happy Haunted 5K at ESPN Wide World of Sports
Amy is right. If you have later plans then you will be at the right. I make my plans early and then the rest of my party rides HTH and Coaster. I will grab our seats and save them in the center.
Or you can just get in line for general seating and fight for the center. I hate that mob rush you feel when everyone is fighting for the center seats.
I read the FAQ's on Allears and just wanted to get the PP expert opinion!!
Is the section designated for the package good seats?? I read it is to the right. Which restaurant would you choose- Hollywood & Vine or Mama Melrose?
Any other comments are greatly appreciated!!!
We have used the dinner package every time that see Fantasmic and love the convenience.
Yes, it is the right side of the amphitheatre. And if you wait till the last minute, you could end up way to the right. We usually go in at the time we are told and sit in the section next to the rope (the divider between the reserved section and the rest of the amphitheatre) sometimes right next to the rope. These are really good seats.
We have tried H&V and MM. H&V is ok but not really special. We really enjoy MM - the food is really good and plentiful and the service is great. Never a disappointment. This trip we are going to try Hollywood Brown Derby at dh's request - a first for us. We are also using this dinner to celebrate my ddad's 70th birthday (which is two days after we leave - us to KC and them to Atlanta). Really looking forward to this new experience - we've heard some wonderful things.
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) I would do it again in a heartbeat! Fantasmic itself is awesome! Much better than I had anticipated, and where you sit isn't that much of an issue since it kind of circles the island in parade style. Hope this helps!
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