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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
I started a goal to get my son o every state before he graduates high school. He is 10, and so far has marked off 23 states and Washington dc as for visits, but has technically been to 26 ( lay overs in Texas and Georgia and been to new Mexico via four corners) we have a big blank map we color in states as we go. The technicality states just have a dot in them.
This goal is becoming a nuisance because when I want to go back to wdw my husband reminds me we won't meet our goals if we always go the same place.
Anyway, just wondering if you gave any specific goals for travel.
__________________
I love this picture because my daughter's facial expression matches the Queen of Hearts exactly, and it was completely unintended!
I actually have the exact same goal! We have a big month long road trip planned for this coming summer that will cover 15 of the states. Slowly but surely.....
And we knocked Alaska off the list this past May.... I'm not sure what number we are up to right this second; but we have only checked off into the teens thus far.....
My hubby would like to go to Europe. I am starting to think Australia for my 50th birthday although I wish I had done this trip in my 20's I wouldn't mind taking the kids to Eastern Canada and seeing afew of states too. Newfoundland is also a province I would like to see but not a real high priority. We are hopefully heading to Western coastline next yr.
I am always planning something....it adds spice to my life
Since I was able to fly well this past trip, I'd like to be able to take Lenny and Abby to Disneyland. I was technically once when I was 4 - and for one day - but I don't remember any of it. Someone I know did Hawaii but did a cruise around the islands and that sounded interesting to me (kind of the best of both words - see Hawaii and have your room go with you). Maybe take Lenny and Abby to Washington DC for the Smithsonian museums. Other than that, I don't have too many goals for travel as there's just not many places that would really mean anything to Abby and right now that's what our travel is all about - what she'd like/enjoy/remember something about without being totally uninterested. Of course with no money to go anywhere , it's going to take a long time to meet these goals
I always have travel goals. The problem is getting there, both in terms of time and money!
DH has always wanted to go to Alaska and we're heading there later this month. I've always wanted to visit Yellowstone and some of the big national parks and we'll do that on the same trip as well. Aside from that, Hawaii is a huge draw for us, as is a return to Japan. Other places I want to visit closer to home include Iceland, Prague in the Czech Republic, Moscow in Russia, Copenhagen in Denmark and I'd love to spend more time in Switzerland and Italy as well.
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.
Africa has always been on my short list, but like most others, I lack the money to make it happen. I always have a "cruise fund" going, but lately it's been slim because of DH and me taking big pay cuts and our eldest heading off to college. I'd also like to visit all the Disney parks worldwide (so far done the US and Paris versions). New York City and Washington DC are also on my list.
We tried the every state thing too. We could have got a lot in if we counted the ones we flew over. Since the every state thing didn't work our main goal is to get everyone to Hawaii and next year finally looks like it could happen.
Funny that you mention the USA states...two of my three children have been to more states in the USA than the states & territories in our own country (Australia only 6 states and 2 territories). I was proud of the amount of travel we had done as a family until my DD pointed out this sad fact. Since we are adding another US state (Texas) next month, it doesn't look like slowing anytime soon.
Our travel goals are simple really.
1. Egypt (we will go sometime in the next 4-5yrs, when the kids can all stay home)
2. India to see the Taj Mahal (probably on same trip as number 3)
3. Revisit China when Shanghai Disney opens
4. Revisit Paris without a toddler
5. A Disney Cruise
6. Follow the Australian team on a cricket world tour
The above must fit in with our 'usual' disney trips and trips to visit faraway relatives - not that I'm complaining!
I am pretty much raring to travel, no matter where it takes me (well, there are a FEW exceptions...), but my main goals are:
1) Prague (will be going there next summer woo woo!!!)
2) Spain
3) Nile Cruise in Egypt
4) Re-visit South Africa
5) Fiji & Australia
6) go to the next 3 World Cups (at least) in Brazil (2014), Russia (2018), and Qatar (2022)
__________________
MNSSHP 2015: DH (Bane), Me (Batgirl), Genie, and our friends
My first goal is to never, ever, own a copy of 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. The world is big and wondrous enough without having my nose rubbed in it.
Goals, goals, goals... The Arctic, Antarctica, and everyplace in between? If I get any more specific about goals than that, I'm just setting myself up for disappointment.
Spending a total of four months out of the year traveling? Six months? When it it too much? Like a couple of famous hobbits we know, if you don't have a cozy hole to return to, it's hard to keep your travels in perspective.
The hardest part is choosing between places I've been to but want to revisit for a longer time (which is just about everyplace I've visited), and all those places in desperate need of first-time exploration.
My work keeps taking me to places I'd never expected to visit, or just didn't expect to visit at a particular stage of my life. For example, I didn't expect to tramp around in the snow fields of Mt. Rainier, ever, but I just did that last week while researching Seattle for next year's cruise guide. I'm hoping to (finally) get to the Canadian Maritimes sometime in the next couple of months, for the same reason. Been a long time since I've been in lobster country!
The bottom line is that there are far more than 1,000 places to see. Many may not be grand enough to justify a special journey, but many, many of them are very worthwhile if you already happen to be in the neighborhood.
So, to adapt an old Crosby, Stills, and Nash tune, If I can't be in a place I crave, I'll love the place I'm in.
__________________
Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions
Alaska! I must make it to Alaska! I've been to 49 states, yet that is the one state that eludes me. And now it looks as if Disney Cruise Line can help us. But will we let them?
The problem is...we live in the Pacific Northwest so the LAST place we want to vacation is to more cold and clouds. When we spend our money, we want sun and more sun and warmth! Sigh. Will it ever happen?
- Go to every state in the U.S. (so far I've only been to __, not counting "technicality states")
- Go to every continent at least once (I've been able to cross Europe, Asia, North and Middle America, and Africa off the list - that leaves South America, Australia, and Antarctica)
- See every "main" city in the world (although my list of "main" cities is rather subjective )
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
. Slowly but surely.....
I wouldn't mind taking the kids to Eastern Canada and seeing afew of states too. Newfoundland is also a province I would like to see but not a real high priority. We are hopefully heading to Western coastline next yr. 
, it's going to take a long time to meet these goals
PassPorter Guide Author
The world is big and wondrous enough without having my nose rubbed in it. 
[Andee
Linear Mode
