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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 know, I know I am sure you are all sick of my TRs by now! But his might be our last planned DLR trip for a while (I think ) since we have a big WDW/DCL trip in May of next year.
We have done many trips to DLR in the last year (5 ) and this upcoming trip was kind of spur of the moment and kind of not. Although I had really wanted to run the DLR 1/2 marathon (again) but injuries kept that from happening and I was not able to get registered for the 5k before it filled up. So I had been watching the Labor Day weekend rates on and off for a while.
During our February trip we met the Davids Family and then during our July trip we joined them in SeaWorld for a day and then a quick lunch at the Grand Cali. Tricia and I keep in touch about all things Disney and/or mommy related so it means a lot when we can combine those things in a trip together.
Just before our July trip I happened to find a great rate at one of the DLR hotels (the Grand Cali this time) and I told Tricia about it and before I knew it they were booked too and we had a great weekend with good friends planned.
I have PMed with another PPer about race training as I ran the DLR half marathon in 2009 and then she did the Princess 1/2 Marathon in WDW 2010 and is signed up for the upcoming DLR 1/2. She will do great and will earn the coveted coast to coast medal. So Tanya (Disney_Duke) will also be in DLR during this trip and we plan on meeting up as well.
So this trip will be filled with some great PassPorter time in addition to tons of Disney magic and fun.....so I have to do a TR right?
Yay, you started!!! Totally looking forward to this trip, and best of all, meeting new friends.
__________________
Tanya
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We had our plans set for Sunday 9/5-Wednesday 9/8 at DLR set but we had to decide what else if anything we would plan. Our last few trips we drove out and spent 2-3 weeks at the family beach condo but we could not do that this time so we decided to fly. My hubby grew up in LA and although it is not on my list favorite places to visit I knew he really wanted to go and take the boys to Griffin Park and a couple of museums so we decided to fly into LAX and spend three nights in LA somewhere. Then off to DLR for 3 nights. We went to SeaWorld on our last trip and the tickets gave us another day to come for free if used before the end of the year so we started looking for a place to stay in that area. There are so many things we like to do down there we decided on 3 nights down there and then home. With all of this planned we knew we would need a rental car as well.
So I started my search for good hotels and Kent started looking for a rental car that could handle all 4 of us with our bags and our double stroller.
I really wanted to find some cool hotel options for the bookend parts of our trip as we will be doing the Grand Cali for DLR and I wanted to come up with some neat choices. The Mission Bay area where SeaWorld is has a lot of options but I really wanted to be close to the water since the bay provides a lot of protection so the water is very calm and great for little kids. One of the choices I found was a place that had private bungalow rooms right on the beach area. In reading reviews of this place I saw several people had booked for lower rates with HotWire so I gave Kent a mission to figure out which one was Paradise Point and set it up. He is a skilled computer geek and came through. So we are booked there for set post DLR, He also took care of the rental car although come to think of it he never told me what he booked....hmmm....need to check with him on that.
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The problem I run into with big cities like LA is that I don't know the areas very well and there are thousands of hotels to choose from. My hubby grew up there but he is very laid back so he is always telling me whatever we choose it will work out just fine.
So I toured tons of hotels on Trip Advisor and was no closer to a choice. On a whim I went to a travel site and looked for only 4-5 star options (hahaha) well the Langham Huntington hotel pops up for a crazy low price. This is a beautiful old hotel with sweeping grounds and it looks like a palace up on a hill. It is very fancy but this price is was very reasonable!!! We checked with them on the price when we added our two kiddos. All was good and Kent's mother (passed away in 2004) always wanted to stay here so that sealed the deal. We booked it!
So we had all of hotels set and the car set and airfare set so now I can just plan the fun stuff......