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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Use fastpasses as efficiently as possible. We typically grab an Indy pass first thing in the morning. After the return time has passed you can grab a pass for Space Mountain. And remember that fastpasses don't expire until the park closes for the day, just use it after the first time printed on the ticket.
If you have an early entry ticket or if you are staying at one of the resort hotels take advantage of the early entry days. You can typically get all the Fantasyland rides done and maybe a spin on the Matterhorn before the park opens to the public.
If you want a waterside table at Blue Bayou, request the earliest priority seating time for the day, show up 15 minutes early and request to wait for a waterside table. You can arrange for priorty seating up to 30 days in advance. Although I've known people who were able to make reservations at 60 days out. You can also choose to eat a late lunch or early dinner, in other words, eat at unpopular times to reduce the wait time.
When going into DCA get a fastpass for Soarin' first thing. If the line is short when you enter go on it right away because you will want to go on it again later and the line will only get longer and longer throughout the day.
I'll probably think of more later but it's getting late now.
- DCA typically opens the sushine plaza/condor flats area half an hour before official park opening, so you can ride/FP soarin and still make rope drop anywhere else
- mission tortilla factory (and to piggyback on that, birthday buttons sometimes get you a stack)
- asking for a map of the jungle cruise river
- riding in the pilot house of the mark twain
- riding the fire engine on main street and clanging the bell
- a ton of the nuances: the windows not on main street (including walt disney's second window), the petrified tree that was an anniversary gift to lillian, the foundation of the original house of the future, the evil/wicked queen above snow white's scary adventure (and the golden apple which may or may not be there anymore), the only door that says employees as opposed to 'cast members'
etc.
and dining is 60 days out. not as competitive as WDW though. you can often get blue bayou that same day (in the morning).
--Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin and the Speedway (I'm not 100% on the Speedway) are not connected to the Fastpass system so you can get Fastpasses for these attractions even if you're not eligible to get new ones
--the Fastpass systems for DCA and Disneyland are not connected, so we often "collect" Fastpasses early Saturday morning in Disneyland and then go across the esplanade and get some more in DCA. In the evening, we return to Disneyland and use the Fastpasses from that morning.
And, then a few more "other" tips...
--We love to have lunch "outside" the park at Whitewater Snacks in the Grand Californian. The entrance to the Grand is just across from Grizzly River Run, and then the restaurant is just to your left. They have open air windows on the patio that look out onto California Adventure, and it's a great vantage point to listen to the Miner 49ers who play in the area. Plus, they have the most sinfully delicious grilled cheese sandwich you could possibly imagine.
--If you want to watch the fireworks and the late Fantasmic on the same night with good viewing spots, there are two locations that work for me. You can sit on the benches just past the tip board near the entrance to Frontierland, when the fireworks are over, you'll be first in line to head over to Fantasmic. We also like the view from the train station, as you can really see all of the fireworks that are shot off from Main Street. With the second option, you just hop on the first train to come after the fireworks, and get off at New Orleans Square. You can then head down to the water's edge to get a spot for Fantasmic behind the crowd leaving the park after the first show.
--If you have an early entry, save your trip on the submarines for that day. Get to the park about 20 minutes before the gates open, and when you enter, take the path that has the Matterhorn immediately to the left of you. It's by far the fastest way.
Have a GREAT trip!
__________________
Karen, aka Zack's Mom - Lover of all Things Disney and the San Francisco Giants!
The Single Rider Line at Soarin' Over California let me walk right on to the ride, bypassing even the folks in the FASTPASS line (the standby wait at the time was 35 minutes). Your mileage may vary, of course.
Watching the fireworks from the bridge near Pirates of the Caribbean gave us a great view of the fireworks over the Rivers of America and Mark Twain riverboat (see my photos in the Window Seat forum) and we were able to see Tinkerbell flying through the trees off to the right. We couldn't see the castle, of course, so we wouldn't recommend it for anyone who hasn't seen the fireworks before. But it was a great, low-crowd vantage point for us ... and it allowed us to see Pirates immediately beforehand with shorter-than-average waits because everyone else was waiting for the fireworks elsewhere.
maybe it's better than it used to be, but the single rider line for soarin seems to go either way. i'm not surprised WDW opted not to keep it. other attractions with single rider lines include splash mountain, grizzly river rapids, mulholland madness, mailboomer and california screamin'
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for the tip about Whitewater Snacks, Karen! I hadn't decided what do do for lunch that day, and my DD is a huge grilled cheese lover. We will give it a try!
__________________
Saturday, October 9, 2014 - Kaitlyn and I before the Happy Haunted 5K at ESPN Wide World of Sports
I have to second Karen's take on the grilled cheese at Whitewater Snacks in the GCH. Best grilled cheese I have ever had!
Quote:
--If you want to watch the fireworks and the late Fantasmic on the same night with good viewing spots, there are two locations that work for me. You can sit on the benches just past the tip board near the entrance to Frontierland, when the fireworks are over, you'll be first in line to head over to Fantasmic. We also like the view from the train station, as you can really see all of the fireworks that are shot off from Main Street. With the second option, you just hop on the first train to come after the fireworks, and get off at New Orleans Square. You can then head down to the water's edge to get a spot for Fantasmic behind the crowd leaving the park after the first show.
Gonna have to take advantage of this tip as on our first night we have to see the Electrical Parade in DCA, the fireworks, then the second showing of Fantasmic as it is the only night they are offered while we are there.
I found the best viewing spot for the parade when we were there. We went to the first parade of the day, which started near IASW. We went all the way to where the parade started and sat opposite IASW on the wall. Since IASW is closed there is a construction wall (themed to IASW, so it doesn't look bad) directly in front of IASW and no one can sit there. The parade makes one of its performance stops there, as well. The best part was having no guests in the background of my photos! Of course this tip only works for as long as IASW is closed; not sure how it will work out once IASW reopens.
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interesting.. i was thinking about watching it by ISAW this time around too. in the past, there's another part advised by RideMax which also has nobody on the opposite side of the parade.
incidentally, where is YOUR trip report, Dyan? i've been dying to find out if your son clinched an oscar
incidentally, where is YOUR trip report, Dyan? i've been dying to find out if your son clinched an oscar
Okay, okay.....I'm working on it! I actually had WAY to many photos on my laptop that needed to archived and that took FOR-EVAH, as I hadn't done it in over a year Won't be doing that again any time soon! The photos for the TR have been resized, now I just have to upload them and start writing.
As for Kyle, I don't know if he clinched an Oscar, but he certainly clinched something!
Gonna have to take advantage of this tip as on our first night we have to see the Electrical Parade in DCA, the fireworks, then the second showing of Fantasmic as it is the only night they are offered while we are there.
Dawn we just got back from California. A CM at the Vineyard Room told us The Electrical Parade was only going to be there for another week or two before being replaced by The Toy Story Parade which will actually be an afternoon parade. CA is getting ready to do some major rehab work.
You may want to further investigate before your trip to be sure that's accurate.
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for the tip about Whitewater Snacks, Karen! I hadn't decided what do do for lunch that day, and my DD is a huge grilled cheese lover. 
We will give it a try!
I actually had WAY to many photos on my laptop that needed to archived and that took FOR-EVAH, as I hadn't done it in over a year 
Won't be doing that again any time soon! The photos for the TR have been resized, now I just have to upload them and start writing. 
Electrical Parade
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