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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Hey I was just curious about how much of each day do you plan? We are going in December and I have seen some touring plans and noticed that there are plans laid out for each park. So far I have plans laid out for each day but, not specifically for what we are doing in each park other then some main attractions.
I wouldn't want to be tied down to a specific itinerary and I understand that doing WDW without a plan isn't the best idea but, I am normally a type of person who will just go where the day takes me. Anyone else like this or do you plan out everything you are doing throughout the day?
That's the way we are too. I know what parks I want to see each day and I get an idea from everyone on what are their must-do rides are and that's about it. We go quite often and usually in the slower seasons so that has alot to do with it. We know if we miss something, we'll just catch it next time so we don't stress about it. Our next trip is this June and the crowds will be higher than anything we're used to but I still am not going to use a touring plan only because I think the family would not enjoy touring that way. If the crowds are bad and the heat is too much, we're going back to the pool at the hotel.
With 3 children and 1 with special needs, we attempt to have a plan, however things can get thrown to the wind very fast. Last year I tried to do everything and anything. This year we are doing the laid back touring and see what happens.
I plan which park we'll go to each day along with our one ADR for the day. But that's it. I do not make further plans as to which rides and in which order. We go with the flow based on ride times, fast passes, characters out, etc.
As long as you're not going during a busy time a year, you'll be fine. If you were going when the crowd levels were high, then I would say you should definitly plan. Personally, I am a planner. I have like to know what I'm doing before I do it, otherwise I would probably walk in circles.
I don't like being tied down to a schedule either. We really don't plan our days at all. We decide the night before or the morning of which park we want to see that day. I only make ADRs if the restaurant is very popular.
We also go at a relatively quiet time of year crowd-wise, so keep that in mind too. The longest we waited in line for anything last week was 10 minutes for Splash Mountain.
I love to plan. I plan all the major rides and attractions for first thing in the morning. Specific order depending on when we arrive. Then right after lunch it's down time. We do try to pick up anything we might have missed in the am. This style of touring works best for my family since we get up early.
I too hate being tied down by a specific plan. Normally we know which park(s) we want to go to each day but we normally take it easy once we are at the park. If there is a ride that we REALLY want to ride, we will normally get a fastpass for it and go with the flow on the rest.
I know which park we'll go to & make sure I've squared away any dining reservations, then just have a list of things that are happening at specific times & go from there! I'd rather have the information than need to hunt for it, but I don't nail us down to anything specific until we're actually IN the park for the day! Even then, we kind of play things by ear & skip stuff that's too crowded/hot/etc.
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My first trip to Magic Kingdom:
My next trip to WDW: March 2017!
We have a plan when we go to WDW but it certainly is not cast in stone. We know what rides and attractions we want to do that day but not in any particular order. I just gives us a general idea. I have seen people make plans of what order they are doing rides and the times they will be there, scheduled right down to the minute. Trying to following a schedule like that is stressful and takes all the fun out of a vacation. I would suggest a loose plan for the day working with your ADR (if any) and not get too excited if you miss something.
Just make sure you have enought time at WDW to do what you want. Some people want to do four parks in two days and see and do everything. That won't happen so don't even try.
We, my family, plan our schedule around our ADRs. Then, we'll map out a general plan for what we want to do at the parks. We plan in the general sense we don't plan everything out (doing rides in a certain order, etc.). We feel that if we tried to plan everything out, it would only lead to a lot frustration and the vacation would turn into a lot of whining and complaining.
The most we plan once there is dinner ressies so that usually included which park on which day. Other than that we try to make sure to hit everyone's must do's. Other than that it is unplanned.
We do set a plan as to what TS we have booked and what park we will be in that day. I also pencil in any nighttime shows or things that we really want to do but we just go with the flow at the park. We try to ride some of the big rides or grab FP's for them early but other than that it is where our feet take us
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