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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 am so excited! Our 1st trip to WDW. It will be my husband, myself, and at least one son, 21, maybe another son, 24. We have rented points from a DVC member and are staying in a 1 bedroom, concierge level at AKL.
We will be there Jan. 7-14, 2012 and I want to know if during that time, is it necessary to make lunch reservations for some of the Epcot restaurants. We would like to have lunch at the Rose and Crown and are flexible about the time we eat.
This is typically a slow time of year, relatively speaking. I do note that you will be there over marathon weekend, and so you can anticipate the crowds to be a bit heavier (though still very manageable as compared with peak season) from Friday (1/6) through Monday (1/9).
I don't know what other peoples' experiences have been, but I will say that we've tried several times to eat at the Rose & Crown without an ADR and have typically had trouble getting a table, even during less busy times of year. We finally made an ADR for lunch on our trip this past February and really enjoyed our meal!
So, if you know you really want to eat at the Rose & Crown, I'd recommend going ahead and making an ADR. If you do it at the 180-day mark, I'm certain you'll get what you want. I've never had trouble getting my ADRs for January trips.
If your plans change, you can always cancel it. We've had plenty of trips where we decided in the middle of our trip to change plans and have called to cancel ADRs after arriving in Orlando. It won't cost you anything to make the reservation or to cancel it, so there's really no downside for you in making the reservation in advance.
I would agree that you should at least make some ADRs based on what you think you will be doing, and if you need to cancel or change closer to the date at least you have the ADR. We went back in February during a pretty slow week and even with just two of us, we tried to make a few changes and getting ADRs were pretty hard at the last minute for some of the top choices.
I'm curious if we make a reservation and don't make it on time because a ride took longer than we thought, or something else holds us up, how long will they hold the reservation?
When I went during that time, I saw people get turned away for lunch. Not at Epcot specifically, but it does happen.
If you don't want to make ADRs in advance, you should at least call the morning of, or the night before to make an ADR. This will increase your chances of getting an ADR somewhere.... The other option would be to arrive at the restaurant you want to eat at right as it opens for the day. They are much more able to accommodate walk ups at this point.
For the most part, they only hold your table for 15-20 minutes after your ADR time, so I wouldn't recommend doing anything that would take a lot of time immediately before your scheduled time. I've never had a problem with making it to an ADR on time, though we hardly ever wait more than 20 minutes for any attraction. We usually check in early and are seated very close to our ADR time.
From a time management standpoint, it makes more sense to make an ADR and keep it, even if it means you have to put off a particular attraction until after you finish eating. If you attempt to walk up to a restaurant for a table, they'll likely offer you an ADR for later in the day, which means you'll have to come back later and wait anyways.
I would definitely make ADRs for that week. I know it's hard to try & figure out what you want to eat in January when it's just June......I spent the weekend working on it! LOL My travel agent is making my ADR but needed my list a bit early but I think I finally got it worked out! Good luck!
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