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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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’m back, finally writing a PTR. This kinda snuck up on me. I’m sure you’re all familiar with it: you book a trip months (or more!) ahead, you wait impatiently for your 180 day mark, then time slooooows until you panic because your trip is right around the corner! Well, I haven’t hit the panic mode, but I’m definitely lackadaisical – so I’m hoping this PTR will boost me off my backside and make me address all those last-minute things. We’re 7 weeks out, so let’s get it started!
Who:
Me, Nancy, 42, 6th trip to WDW (including honeymoon), 3rd time with kids. Part-time office manager, full-time parent (so chauffeur, social secretary, cleaning service, shopper, confidant, volunteer, goalie, pitcher, QB, band-aid applier, and anything else that gets thrown my way). Have planned about 85% of previous trips, with input from DH and DKids. My motto in life is, “I’m organized so I can be spontaneous.” Fill me with knowledge, and I might just use it. Favorite things at WDW: World Showcase, Peter Pan, Soarin’.
DH: Rob, also 42, 5th trip to WDW (luckily, including same honeymoon), 3rd time with kids. Has worked at the same company (though in many different jobs) for 18 years. Ultra-stable, a bit of a worrier, will worry about the weather if everything else is settled. Motto in life: “Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.” We just had our 15th anniversary, so I guess we’re here to stay. Favorite things at WDW: RnRC, HM, Soarin’.
DD: Alison, 10, huge reader, Harry Potter freak, organized, non-competitive but likes sports for fun, a mini-me (I realize I’m bragging now) because she loves geography, writing stories, history, cultures, languages, animals, and science. If it’s not made by Lands End or LL Bean, she won’t wear it (and even then, only if it’s soft). Motto in life: “Let me sit here with my cozy blanket, my hot chocolate, and my pile of books.” She wants to be a pilot when she grows up, and write books while she’s waiting for her passengers. Favorite things at WDW: BTMR, KimPossible, shopping at World Showcase.
DS: Colin, 8, is a boy’s boy without being too tough. He’s a nice kid who the teachers love, but he’s the class clown with his friends. Into flag football, soccer, rip-sticking (funky skateboard), and playing with the 10 other boys in the neighborhood (poor DD, I guess that’s why she likes to read). Also a Harry Potter freak. Motto in life: “I like to run. And jump. And I’ve got a personal soundtrack that runs from the minute I wake up to the minute I fall asleep.” Favorite things at WDW: BTMR, Splash Mountain, Nemo show at AK.
I hope that you and your family have a magical time at the world
__________________
Heather - "I'm Tinkerbell's biggest fan!"
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
When: My signature says “Shhhhh…it’s a secret” because my kids see my PP signature regularly. So I'll let you in on the secret - we’ll be in our happy place from Tuesday, November 29 (a few days after Thanksgiving) thru Tuesday, December 6. DD’s birthday happens to fall in that time (a coincidence, since we were trying to schedule around Columbus Day, Veterans Day and Thanksgiving). This is the one year the kids are in the same school, and pixie dust rained down on me the day I found out that parent conferences are scheduled while we’re gone. So the kids only miss four days and 2 half-days, during a totally non-productive week. I just have to re-schedule conferences – not a problem.
Unfortunately, we still have to plan a little around the taping of the Holiday parade at MK on Dec 3 in the middle of our trip, but we’re avoiding MK on Saturday – and Sunday in case it gets rain-delayed. Then Pop Warner comes in as we’re leaving, but that shouldn’t impact us too much.
The trip is a surprise for the kids. They know we’re trying to plan a trip, and that "we’re searching for deals." We’ve been saving money in an old moonshine jug and that’ll be their spending money (I told them we can go when there's $500 in there - there's currently $240).
They loved helping to plan the last two trips, giving lots of input. This time they said they want to be totally surprised. But DD loves to organize and plan, and DS has some pretty strong opinions. How to balance that? I know! Tell them three days in advance! That’ll give them the high without the panic. (that’s the plan, anyway - fingers crossed)
We have a menagerie (another wrinkle in the surprise plan), so when we’re at my parents’ house for Thanksgiving, we’ll leave the dog with them and tell the kids that Saturday. With three day’s notice, we’ll return home, have Sunday to discuss/plan/pack/distribute other animals, Monday to brag to all their friends, and we leave Tuesday morning. With a 10:00 a.m. flight, we’ll be walking down Main Street by mid-afternoon.
The reveal is still being planned. Actually, I haven’t really thought about it, but I’m not planning on anything commercial-worthy. Since we’ll be travelling to my parents’, I can’t really pack anything big like balloons. Maybe if we’re tired of turkey we’ll get pizza and do the pizza-box-opening surprise. I also have a countdown calendar we've used for the other two trips - it's a fabric banner with little Disney character dolls velcro-ed to it. You take one off per day. Maybe I'll pull it out (I can hear the squeal of excitement now), and have them keep pulling guys off it until we get to three. Hmmm...
Then JetBlue, baby! Love the service, the non-stop, the first bag is free, and the TVs in the headrests. And they take me where I want to go. Aaahhh...
About This Page: 
Well, I haven’t hit the panic mode, but I’m definitely lackadaisical – so I’m hoping this PTR will boost me off my backside and make me address all those last-minute things. We’re 7 weeks out, so let’s get it started!
), 3rd time with kids. Part-time office manager, full-time parent (so chauffeur, social secretary, cleaning service, shopper, confidant, volunteer, goalie, pitcher, QB, band-aid applier, and anything else that gets thrown my way). Have planned about 85% of previous trips, with input from DH and DKids. My motto in life is, “I’m organized so I can be spontaneous.” Fill me with knowledge, and I might just use it. Favorite things at WDW: World Showcase, Peter Pan, Soarin’.
), 3rd time with kids. Has worked at the same company (though in many different jobs) for 18 years. Ultra-stable, a bit of a worrier, will worry about the weather if everything else is settled. Motto in life: “Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.” We just had our 15th anniversary, so I guess we’re here to stay. 
Favorite things at WDW: RnRC, HM, Soarin’.
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PassPorter Guide Author
with the surprise reveal!
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