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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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So after a few months of planning and training, our EE5k trip was about to begin. I wasn’t as weepy at I thought I would be when Craig left to take Tyler to school and again when we dropped Jason at daycare. Okay, maybe just a little choked up. I guess I knew they’d be having a blast with their grandparents and would be headed back with us to Disney in just about a month.
After we dropped Jason, we headed to Newark to park and check-in for our flight. We had our e-tickets, but just needed to check bags. We were using DME, but decided to just pick our bags up when we got to MCO because we had so little time and didn’t want to wait. Once we dropped our bags at the counter, we both had the same feeling…”are we forgetting something??” It felt so weird to not have to hold a little hand or call for one of the boys to come back closer to us. Don’t get me wrong…it felt nice…just weird.
We had time to sit and relax and have some breakfast while we waited to board. The flight down was fine and we were soon at MCO and feeling the Disney coming on.
Then it got strange. I got LOST going to DME. We were on the A side, which is like a mirror of the B side, so I headed where I thought we needed to go. Got all the way to the end and realized DME wasn’t where I thought it would be. Asked around and finally got someone who could point us in the right direction. How embarrassing, and Craig didn’t let me live that down. Of course I never claimed to be a DME/MCO expert.
Well, DME didn’t stop the strange at that point. On our way to the bubble, we got pulled over!! Yes…pulled over! Seriously, it’s a bus full of families with children waiting to get to Disney. As far as I’m concerned there needed to be several moving violations and maybe some felonies involved before you should pull over those excited tikes…and not so tikes…on their way to the place that they’ve likely been waiting to get to for upwards of a year!! Pull the poor folks over who have just left Disney and aren’t in a hurry to get to the airport with the 3 hour early DME pick up. Okay, yes I might have jumped across the bus to take a photo of the trooper and our driver having a ‘discussion’ but out of fairness to the poor guy, I’m not going to post it here.
Well, we finally did get on our way and headed first to the AKL. I was so excited to be staying here. It has always been on my list, but not really on Craig’s, so when this race came with a big discount to stay here it worked out perfectly. Here’s Craig when we first got there.
While Craig waited in line for check in I walked around the lobby quickly and took a couple of pictures. This lobby is absolutely beautiful. I loved the bridge and the little fire pit and all of the little sitting areas set up throughout. I headed back to Craig and we checked in and found we’d been upgraded to a pool view. Now don’t get all excited yet…our pool view upgrade was not quite Princess Sharon’s upgrade at the Poly. Here’s our pool view…
The first PPer to find the pool…gets a prize!
After check-in we decided to get changed and head right over to MK for a bit before our dinner ressies at Jiko. We hopped a bus and were over there pretty quickly. I love the feeling when you get to MK for the first time of the trip and I love to make it our first stop.
The first thing we did was head for Splash. My Fave!! And we got FPs. Then we checked out BTMRR and the wait was only 20 minutes. We really only waited about 10 because when we got to the split, the CM started sending people down the FP line and we made up a good 10 minutes there. Then we were off on the wildest ride in the wilderness. (did I get that right??)
After BTMRR we needed a snack and headed toward Fantasyland. I really wanted some corn dog nuggets, but we never did get there and ended up at Mrs. Potts for ice cream sundaes. It was so nice to sit in the shade, eat ice cream, people watch and not have to worry about anyone younger than 40 for a little while.
After our cool refreshments we walked into Tomorrowland and onto Buzz. Again not more than a 10 minute wait (which was to be a theme on this trip). My laser wasn’t working! Seriously, it wasn’t. I know, you’re thinking the same thing Craig was. But, he beat me for the first time. (he may not agree with that, but I do think it was the first time). After that we were going to try MLF but decided we didn’t think we’d have enough time to get to our FPs and then back to AKL if we did. So, we headed back to Frontierland by way of Adventureland (my favorite themed land) and stopped to see Johnny and the boys on POTC on our way. We grabbed a photopass pic on our way over and she took one with our camera as well.
We walked right down the walkway and onto a boat. Then it was on to Song of the South and all of the Briar patch boys with our FPs. This is my absolute favorite ride (I may have mentioned this before) It isn’t the wildest but it’s the best themed (I think) and a long ride. I just smile on it!
After Splash the crowds were starting to gather for the parade and we needed to get out and back to the AKL. So started weaving our through the crowds to head toward Main Street and out the gates. But, we had to stop for a picture of my FAVE view of the castle.
A short trip for now, but it put us both in the Disney frame of mind.
Up next…a new place for dinner and a sleeping giant.
__________________
Dawn
Last edited by dsteiny23; 10-23-2009 at 10:21 PM..
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
So glad to see you started the TR. There is nothing better than starting the trip with some time at the MK. Can't wait to hear all about your meal at Jiko's.
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.
So glad to see you started the TR. There is nothing better than starting the trip with some time at the MK. Can't wait to hear all about your meal at Jiko's.
I always feel like MK needs to be the first thing I see, I just turns me into a little kid right away.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mousestruck
Wow... two TRs going at once! Your are ambitious, girl!!! An awesome start. Looking forward to hearing more!
I'm doing my best Princess Sharon imitation Not sure how it's going to go before we leave...but I'm gonna give it my best shot.
Sorry you got lost trying to find DME. I can't believe your bus got pulled over, I wonder why?
I am so sad it didn't work out to meet while you were there. We were at MK that day too.
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.
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I guess I knew they’d be having a blast with their grandparents and would be headed back with us to Disney in just about a month. 
It felt so weird to not have to hold a little hand or call for one of the boys to come back closer to us. Don’t get me wrong…it felt nice…just weird. 
We were on the A side, which is like a mirror of the B side, so I headed where I thought we needed to go. Got all the way to the end and realized DME wasn’t where I thought it would be. Asked around and finally got someone who could point us in the right direction. How embarrassing, and Craig didn’t let me live that down. Of course I never claimed to be a DME/MCO expert. 
I know, you’re thinking the same thing Craig was. But, he beat me for the first time. (he may not agree with that, but I do think it was the first time). After that we were going to try MLF but decided we didn’t think we’d have enough time to get to our FPs and then back to AKL if we did. So, we headed back to Frontierland by way of Adventureland (my favorite themed land) and stopped to see Johnny and the boys on POTC on our way. We grabbed a photopass pic on our way over and she took one with our camera as well.
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