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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Appearently lapbars are being added to the logs in Splash Mountain. Screamscape has a pic of one of the logs WDW - Magic Kingdom . Although looking at the pic the logs themselves look like they might be new to me (hard to tell).
I Guess the concern over saftey prompted this move. This will also increase load times slightly and probably decrease capacity (only two per seat instead of the sometimes three per seat)
Anyone going after SM reopens will have to let us know how the new lapbars are.
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.
Blah...first off...singe lap bars are the stupidest thing EVER. They do *nothing* for a child seated next to an adult, especially a larger adult. Take a look at BTMR if you need anymore proof of that. Secondly, I find the seats on SM hard enough to get in and out of without the added torture of a bar being in the way as well. Lastly, the thrill of SM was that slight lift out of your seat you get when you go down that hill and with a bar it takes that thrill away.
Hmm...I guess this is proof that our population really is getting stupider. Splash Mountain opened at WDW in 1992. So they were able to operate it for 18 or so years without lap bars. This is a sad indicator.
Blah...first off...singe lap bars are the stupidest thing EVER. They do *nothing* for a child seated next to an adult, especially a larger adult. Take a look at BTMR if you need anymore proof of that. Secondly, I find the seats on SM hard enough to get in and out of without the added torture of a bar being in the way as well. Lastly, the thrill of SM was that slight lift out of your seat you get when you go down that hill and with a bar it takes that thrill away.
This was my first thought as well. My poor skinny daughter has no chance sitting next to me!
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.
but, I've been on the ride multiple times when some smart alec stood up over and over, prompting the ride operators (who watch through cameras throughout the ride) to repeatedly e-stop the ride in order to convince the standers to sit back down. Over and over and over!
And, if it's true about people wandering around and CMs having to chase them down, that could explain some of the major stoppages I've dealt with either in line or while on a log on the ride.
Plus... wasn't there a death recently at one of the parks where someone climbed out of the log right before the big drop and they ended up crushed. (Not sure if it was in Florida or somewhere else around the world.)
The single lap bar won't help hold onto little kids, but --since there wasn't a lap bar at all previously-- parents will just have to keep a hand on them like always.
But I don't get why a small child can't sit in the middle like they did before. They didn't reconfigure the seats? If they'd gone with separate lap bars (a la Everest) then I can see why, but a single bar should be able to accomodate the kid in the middle...
In 2005 while we were at WDW SM was closed down for 3 hours because a kid (not sure age but I think it was a teen) got off the ride and was wandering around in it.
I really hope they still allow 3. I agree with Eileen, if the seats weren't changed, then a small child in the middle would still fit. For our family of 5, two of them are really small and need an adult with a hand on them.
I actually like the idea of a lap bar and always wondered why there wasn't one on there, with that drop. Call me weird. LOL!
However, I don't understand why they'd reconfigure it so it would only seat two now. That's very annoying, and a little dopey in my humble opinion.
As for the twits who get out and wander around... I can't say I'm surprised. I've heard lots of stories of this happening. I cannot imagine what goes through people's heads that they would think it would EVER be ok to stand up or start climbing around a ride of any sort at any theme park.
There are more out than there are in... to use a quote mom's said my entire life...
In 2005 while we were at WDW SM was closed down for 3 hours because a kid (not sure age but I think it was a teen) got off the ride and was wandering around in it.
Who does that? What is wrong with people? I'll have to check out the pictures but thinking about my super skinny son, even sitting with his sister there is no way the bar will fit both of them. She's skinny too but she's also 6.5 year older.
__________________
Me ~ Christina; DH ~ '92; DD ~ '99; DS ~ '06
My reasons for breathing!!! MGM Studios October 2007
But I don't get why a small child can't sit in the middle like they did before. They didn't reconfigure the seats? If they'd gone with separate lap bars (a la Everest) then I can see why, but a single bar should be able to accomodate the kid in the middle...
I wonder if that hump in the middle pushs the child too forward or up and keeps the lap bar from doing the job of just keeping people from being able to get out of the seat?
Its sad that its come to this...but I guess we could see it coming
__________________
Aug,1978- LBV;Apr,1987-Disneyland;March,1993-offsite;Jan,1997-offsite;Aug,1999- CBR;Sept,2000- ASMo;Aug,2001- ASSP;Aug,2002- ASMU/AKL;Jan & July 2003-POR;June,December 2004- PC;January 2005- ASMU; Aug 2005-PC;Dec 2005-AKL;Jan 2006-CBR ; July/Aug-Saratoga springs; Dec. PC;April 2007- Disneyland;Aug 2007-Disneyland & So Cal;Dec 2007-POFQ; Aug2008-POFQ & Nov 2008 PC,Y&B May 2009 ASmu, June 2009 PC ; Nov 2009 WL & POFQ;Jan 2010 BW & WL; June 2010 POFQ ; Aug 2010 Poly ;Oct 2010 WL; Jan 2011 PC
That is a sad statement. I did not know people actually got OUT of the ride but that does not surprise me.
A friend of mine told me she once got to ride SM again in the front because the log she was on had some stupid people who put up their middle fingers for the picture. CM wanted the others in the log to be able to get a picture so they let them cut in front and ride again.
It takes all kinds.
A friend of mine told me she once got to ride SM again in the front because the log she was on had some stupid people who put up their middle fingers for the picture.
I hope those people were escorted out and there was a way to block re-entry for them. One of the huge changes we've noticed over the last 17 years has been the vacationers. So many, many more rude people seem to be going to WDW. 17 years ago, we never heard cursing, now we hear it all of the time.
Hmm...I guess this is proof that our population really is getting stupider. Splash Mountain opened at WDW in 1992. So they were able to operate it for 18 or so years without lap bars. This is a sad indicator.
I'm thinking it's less that the population has gotten stupider, it's more that it used to be Hey you do something stupid and the general population will go "Well..DUH...if you do something stupid you get what you deserve". Now it's more, you do something stupid and "Hey..sue them...they should have known it was possible for people to leave while the attraction was in motion & therefore should have taken precautions to prevent that".
That's my first thing, the people who did something stupid & got themselves injuried/killed have gotten enough "settle out of court" amounts that the cost of it was getting more costly to do that than install safety devices to cut down on such lawsuits because they won't physically be able to stand up/get out do whatever anymore.
__________________
Becky
DD-17, DS-14, DS-11, DS-7
Contemporary 2005
Crazy Family Get Together July 2011 Ft. Wilderness Cabins with free dining!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
MGM Studios October 2007
Linear Mode
