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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Where to start?
First off this first one is LONG as its our first 2 days, both @ MK.
Day one was my birthday, but not just any birthday but my 21st AND my golden birthday! This trip will be one I will NEVER forget and you'll see why later.
The cast:
Adam: the greatest man I’ve ever met
Erika: Me Day One (Sunday): Arrival and EMH @ MK
We flew out of MSP in the afternoon of my birthday (August 21) and everything went very smoothly. We were both super excited to get going to the parks and our hotel and actually we were nervous because we had 9:45 ressies @ the crystal palace and we landed at 7 ish. We were feeling pressed for time by the time we go to the All Star Music. I’m so glad we did the online check-in because we could have been waiting a long while otherwise. The lady was really nice and understanding and let us leave our bags (carry ons) in the back room so we could scoot on over to MK .
(A note, while the lady was working on my birthday pin etc, Adam runs off to the other side of the lobby to talk to someone else. I had no idea what he was doing, but remember this as its important for later)
We made it in time for the ressies (Yay!) and were seated just as the fireworks began. Adam wasn’t thrilled where we were seated (right next to the bathrooms) but got over it when he tried the food. It was amazing! I was expecting much different considering it’s a buffet, but man was I surprised! It was also fun to get photos with Pooh and Tigger too. J
MK had extra magic hours and we def enjoyed them! Plus everyone wished me happy birthday! I lost track after 10! It was WAY cool! We were getting tired by midnight and opted to head back and get settled into our room. We were coming back the next day anyways.
Our room was the FURTHEST room away from the main building. And that’s not an exaggeration. We were in Country Fair building 6 on the ground floor and the end of the building. The walk never seemed to shorten any! It was a nice room but our bath curtain smelled like mildew! Adam and I were worried and I was certainly thinking something was way wrong with this picture. We slept on the idea of complaining and by the time we woke up the smell was gone and never returned! So no complaining for us (thank god, I hate complaining). Day Two (Monday): MK and the Best Counter Service We’ve Ever Tasted
Now I know a lot of people get up early and head to a whole day at the parks, but that’s just not how we did it. See we never closed our eyes before midnight so we needed to SLEEP. We got up around 9 and were at the parks around noon (how we lost so much time, I’m not sure but it worked out). We stopped and got a Dole Float right away (it was hot and humid) and Adam had gotten a call from a potential employer so he made a business call as we were enjoying the float before heading to PotC . Adam graduates college in Dec. so he’s been job searchin’ all summer. The call went well and we headed to PotC. We noticed that it appeared to be roped off and to our disappointment it was closed! But not all was lost as we had ridden it a few times the night before. We also sat through the enchanted Tikki room and man was I mad! They took the best part out after that fire! But oh well, it was good to see it and Adam didn’t last time we were here. After this we went on to Frontierland. The wait for Splash Mountain was 55 mins so we Fasspassed it and went on to the Haunted Mansion (we skipped Big Thunder all together; we both don’t like it) ate and went back to Splash.
We had dinner at the Liberty Tree Tavern that night and were my sock knocked off again! It was the best home-style food I’ve ever tasted. For any people that go there, be sure to mix a little of the honey butter in with the mash potatoes amazing didn’t begin to describe it! I didn’t want to stop eating and with the Dining plan we got desert too so we really never did stop! It was sooo much food. Plus I had a bday celebration on it too so they sang me Happy Birthday and I got a cupcake.
We ended up going on rides and such during the parade and fireworks and then leaving with the stampede ending a very magical day in MK.
Up next - Day Three (Tuesday): A Chance of rain and HS get cut a little short
I forgot to mention that this was Adam and I's first vacation with each other that we did all on our own. So it was very exciting!
Anyway on with the show!
Day Three (Tuesday): A Chance of rain and HS get cut a little short
Again we probably didn’t get to the park until 11 or so. We headed straight to the rockin’ rollercoaster and got fasspasses then went to ToT (my favorite ride since I was just tall enough to go on it). Afterward we made our way to the other side of the park as to get to our Ressies at the sci-fi drive in. The drive in was running 20 minutes behind on ressies (and not taking any walk ins) so we had to chill out for a bit before being seated. We ordered drinks and burgers and both were AMAZING. I got the Oreo Orbiter and Adam got margarita or something like it. As we left the restaurant it began to rain. And this wasn’t the oh its raining lets walk around in it anyways rain, it was a downpour. We got soaked trying to make if from the Drive in to Star Wars even as we tried to stay in the stores. We did Star Tours and Muppets and it was still raining and the last couple things on our agenda looked to be rained out (Indiana Jones and Lights,Motors, Action). We agreed that going back to the hotel was a good option so we went back, showered and napped. Adam ended up having dinner after we woke up but I wasn’t hungry so I had a banana. We tried out the cocktail at the hotel then called it a night.
Up next (its a loooong one):
Day Four (Wednesday): Belle calls Adam my Prince and Something Happens in France
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Day Four (Wednesday): Belle calls Adam a Prince and Something Happens in France
EPCOT has always been my favorite park, because I am a HUGE nerd. It quickly became Adam’s as well the last time we went. This time it wasn’t too busy, just around test track and Space ship earth (and only when we first arrived) . We fasspassesd TT and stood in line for the 10 min. wait for mission space. We still had some time before our Ressies @ Akershus so we chugged over to Captain EO and figment then headed back to space ship earth.
Now if anyone actually likes Captain EO (at all or more than Honey I shrunk the Audience) please let me know because I felt very sorry for dragging Adam in there. And had I known how terrible it was I would have forgone it all together. Honestly, Honey I shrunk the Audience was a favorite. Personally thought EO could have stayed buried in the archives a bit longer.
/end rant
By the time we had finished Space Ship Earth it was time to eat. And just as we were standing in line to check in it began to rain! The plus side is we were only in it for 5 minutes, down side is that again it down poured. I don’t think I could say enough good words about Akershus! While it was annoying (only at first) that we had to stand in line to get a picture with belle before being seated. I learned it was worth the wait. Even at 21 the interaction between Belle and Adam and I was magical. She asked me if Adam was my beast and commented that he wasn’t as hairy or tall as hers. Laughed that I had taught my beast to smile then wished us a happily ever after! The interactions with the other princesses were just as enjoyable, I got a picture with Ariel, Aurora, Snow White, and Cinderella. Our waiter (Eirik) was super nice as well. And the food! Oh my you can tell Adam and I are Scandinavian because we LOVED the food (the drinks were amazing too). Meat, meat, and potatoes or other carbs lol. Oh and the desert! Cake, pastry, and rice pudding! Plus I put a bday celebration on this ressie too so I got a cupcake!
We waddled (after all that food) out of Akershus and were very much glad that it had stopped raining and went straight to Maelstrom. Then we went off to Mexico. Adam was disappointed that the Japanese gardens were not available as spent the rest of the day going around the showcase and looking in all the shops.
…Well not quite the rest of the day.
We went past the perfect place to watch the fireworks in between France and the UK or there abouts, but Adam HAD to see the waterfalls in Canada after getting a picture with Tigger and Pooh in the UK. Then he dragged me back to France. I was tired and my feet hurt, so I was grouchy. We got a cocktail then headed to rest in the gardens in France. I sat on the first bench I saw, of course, but Adam insisted we go further back and further away from the crowds. He chose a bench that over looked the resort boat launch and had a fantastic view of the sun set. I was going to lay my head in his lap and watch the sunset but something was digging into my back! Here’s what happened:
Me: Adam your phone is digging into my back, can you switch it to your other pocket
Adam: Um, why don’t you switch sides?
I grumble, because it would have been easier for him to move his phone, but do as he says. We start to watch the sun set.
Adam: You know what. I’ve been thinking about our last two years together and now here we are watching the sunset in our favorite place, in our favorite park and I can’t think of a better time to start the rest of our lives together.
And he gets down on one knee, pulls out the ring, and asks me to marry him!!!!! He hardly had time to finish the question before I said “Yes!!!Yes!! Yes!!”
It was the setting that we had picked out about 6 months ago with the most beautiful diamond I’ve ever seen. Its .525 carats, E color, IF, and Ideal cut. In other words perfect! I never imagined that I would be proposed to in Disney World (but always wished it to happen) but there I was!
We watched the rest of the sun set then watched Illuminations, which is our favorite display in all of Disney. Needless to say, it was the best I had ever seen it and we had the most perfect spot to watch them from.
I still can hardly believe it.
And that pretty well wrapped up the best time I’d had in EPCOT.
Up next:
Day Five (Thursday): We get a surprise after I make a fuss about going on the Kali River Rapids
Oh how magical! The gardens in France are the perfect place for a proposal. Congrats on your engagement!!!!
I do have to say that I disagree with you about Captain EO. I much prefer it to the Honey I Shrunk the Audience show, but maybe because I remember seeing EO at the ripe old age of 6 and remember it fondly.
Oh how magical! The gardens in France are the perfect place for a proposal. Congrats on your engagement!!!!
I do have to say that I disagree with you about Captain EO. I much prefer it to the Honey I Shrunk the Audience show, but maybe because I remember seeing EO at the ripe old age of 6 and remember it fondly.
Haha well I certainly feel how you do about Captain EO about Honey I shrunk the Audience. Its all a matter of taste I suppose.
And thank you very much
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Just getting caught up on your trip!
First - I have to tell you that I just stayed at AS Music (for one night) just last week and I stayed in the same building that you were in! It is the furthest away from everything!!!!!! Oh my gosh!
It sounds like you had a magical time! Congratulations on your engagement!
What a magical way to be proposed to!!!
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The best trip EVER
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Congratulations on your engagement! 
, Adam! Your trip was sounding magical even before the proposal! 
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