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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I'm hoping to get a BBB appointment in the MK on our DD birthday then breakfast at CRT right after. So I have a couple questions so I can plan out this time before my 180 comes up in a couple weeks.
1. When would the first appointment of the day be open? I know at CRT you can get a seating for say 8am even though the park doesn't open until 9am. Is it the same for BBB? If an appointment is available will I be able to make one before the park opens?
2. How much time should I allow between BBB and CRT seating? We did BBB in DTD on our last trip and I remember it being about an hour, but I'm not positive about that. I don't want to be rushed for time, but I also don't want there to be too much time in between. I know we're basically just walking across the hall so there won't be travel time so that will help.
I don't think breakfast would be possible after BBB. You might do better to get the first appointment of the day at BBB and then do lunch or dinner at CRT...
The appointment, depending on what you get at BBB, can be lengthy and so can the wait.
Hope it works out for you and that you have a fabulous time.
It will depend on the wait time and the kind of package you choose at BBB. If you have one of the first appointments of the day, then obviously the wait time isn't an issue. My DD got just the hair and nails and we were out of there in about 35 minutes. If you do the whole shebang, you might give yourself an hour to an hour and a half depending upon your princess! So my advice would be to book CRT about 1.5 hours after your appointment at BBB.
BBB should be open at 8 am. If you get one of the first appointments, you should still have plenty of time for breakfast but I would make it at least 1 1/2 hours later so you're not stressed if you have to wait or if anything takes longer than you expected. On our last trip we did a 10 am BBB appointment and a 12:30 lunch at CRT. That gave us plenty of time to get the professional photos done in between - before I had to worry about my DD's getting lunch all over their princess outfits!
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You should have plenty of time as long as you snag an early appointment at BBB. We have done BBB at DTD and then made it to Epcot for Akershus breakfast twice.
We did this exact thing last July. DD has a BBB res at 8am, she got the largest package, and we had CRT breakfast at 10:00. Worked out perfectly with a few minutes of wait time in between even!
For November 30, we were able to get two appts at 8:05. Since we too were stressing about how much time to allow, we decided to go for an early lunch at 12 noon. While that is probably too much time, we wanted this trip to be very stress free.