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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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've decided to try a different trip report method in the hopes that I'll actually complete it. I'm one of those that never seems to finish their trip reports.
We've used Passporter and the pockets for all of our trips since 2001. I have them all stored together and we have a great deal of fun going back to the old trips and reading the pockets. It usually just takes that one jotted line for us to fully remember the event it was attached to. We do have some mystery lines that we can't remember why we wrote them but that is almost as much fun as we try to make up stories that the comment might have pertained to.
After all these years and trips, the Passporter pockets are an integral part of our trip. We couldn't imagine not finishing our day filling out the pocket and reviewing how the day went.
So, here are our pockets from this trip with **filled in facts for the trip report that don't fit on the pockets.
Rental car/shuttle: Disney Magical Express
Returning 12/11 - 10:05 am Arriving home at 12:00 pm
Flight #: 515
Notes: Added Early Bird check-in to tickets.
Our First Day/Journey Day schedule:
Early Morning: Dropped off the dog at boarding
11:00 Light lunch at home
12:00 Left for airport
2:45 Airplane left on time
6:30 Landed in Orlando and went to DME pickup
Evening: Checked into Contemporary, dropped off things in the room. Headed down to the Wave for dinner.
Memories of our Journey and First day
The weather was sunny, high 60's when we left and night, high 60's and windy when we arrived.
The best thing about our journey was no lines at the airport in the morning. None! Security was a breeze.
The worst thing about our journey was trying to kill time at the house while waiting to leave for the airport.
The funniest thing about our journey was not knowing what to do while waiting to leave the house. We are too used to early morning flights.
During our journey we tried playing Angry Birds on the phone and the result was we like smartphones and Angry Birds is addictive.
The most magical moment during our journey was finally arriving at the Contemporary and being here.
**You should have seen us trying to not make a mess in the picked up house while entertaining ourselves before we had to leave. It was tragic and funny.
Hotel: Bay Lake Tower
Room Type: Studio
Special Requests: Outside the C
Room Number: 7632
Floor/Building 6th floor at BLT
Memories of our Room
The first impression of our room was "Eh, it's okay"
The best thing was that it technically met our request requirement and was outside the C.
The worst thing was that it technically met our request requirement in that it was outside the C but it faced the contemporary and was very close to the walkway making the balcony use uncomfortable.
The amenities were the lovely pool and sundry Contemporary benefits.
We tried a room near the elevator for the first time and the result was it was nice to not have to walk as far after a tiring day.
The most magical moment was realizing the stairs to the 5th floor walkway were very close to our room making the Contemporary very convenient to us from this room.
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Wake-up: Showers and at the bus stop by 7:30.
Early Morning: Caught the bus to AK, went to Guest Relations to pick up our AP's and TIW.
Morning: Touring AK
11:45 Lunch at Tuskers House
Afternoon: Toured AK until 4:30
Back to room to change for dinner
8:40 Dinner at Narcoosees
The weather today was mostly sunny, mid-70's as a high
The best thing today was riding Expedition Everest 4 times and only using a fastpass once. Wait time was never over 5 minutes.
The worst thing today was the cigarette smokers behind the Tuskers waiting area outside. .08 on a scale of 1 to 10 on "worst things". It was nearly a perfect day.
The funniest thing today was the girl who prematurely screamed on Expedition Everest.
**She was so excited about the ride that when you go over the first big hill and you are cranked up top and expect a big drop...then it's not a big drop...she screamed and then realized it wasn't anything big yet and her partner in the car just laughed hysterically. It was very funny.
Today we tried doing nothing new and the result was a predictably good day.
**Basically, we have developed a touring plan we follow most trips. Everest --> Dinosaur --> Everest --> It's Tough to Be a Bgt -->Africa to goof/shop or walk Pangani until lunch....etc. We followed our normal touring plan and it was a pretty, great day.
The most magical moment today was watching the Christmas party fireworks from Narcoosees.
**We had a truly fantastic dinner that ended with us watching the fireworks from the porch around Narcoosee's and finishing with a wonderful dessert. It was a great end to the first full day.
Wake-up: Showers and at the monorail station by 7:30.
Early Morning: Rode monorail to Epcot.
Morning touring Epcot
11:30: Lunch at Kringla Bakery in Norway
Afternoon: Toured the World Showcase including a cuple of holiday storytellers and Off Kilter.
3:40 Early dinner at Tokyo Dining for CP package meal.
6:45 Candlelight Processional with Geena Davis as speaker.
Memories of our Third Day
The weather today was sunny and warm.
The best thing today was finally getting to ride on the top row of Soarin'.
**I've ridden Soarin' so many times and always end up 2nd or 3rd row. In three trips I never landed on the 1st row. On the last ride of the day, for us, the CM said 3 and I turned and made a very sad face at John. The CM laughed out loud at me and sent us down to the next gate so I could be on the 1st row.
The worst thing was the awful parents in Norway blocking all the other children from being up front at the holiday storyteller so their children were the only ones.
**This has to be some of the worst behavior I've ever seen at Disney. At one the holiday storyteller area, this woman had this massive double stroller up at the rope and best spot for kids to be able to watch the show. She just kept standing there and I thought she must not realize where she was parking waiting for her family. Eventually her kids and husband showed up and she had the kids sit in the stroller. They waited til near the show beginning and only then got the kids out of the stroller, sat them at the rope and moved the stroller so a few others could sort of see. The parents (both very tall around 6 feet) proceeded to stand over their kids to block ANY other kids and a lot of adults from seeing or participating in the show. Of course their children were the ones chosen to participate. The father even physically moved himself to block two children who came up to find a spot to watch the show. It was awful and had another level of sickness in that it all took place at a storyteller about Christmas. DH and I were able to see because we found a spot to sit opposite the horrible family. I managed to worm out a spot in front of me for a little girl that came up late so she could see the show well.
The funniest thing today was Sigrid and Julenissen Holiday Storytellers. In spite of the dreadful parents, it was one of the funniest shows. Sigrid had Lucille Ball comic timing.
Today we tried the salmon & egg sandwich at Kringla bakery and the result was it was very yummy.
The most magical moment today was Geena Davis and the candlelight processional.
**This was our first time to see CP and it was a bit overwhelming. Absolutely beautiful.
Sounds like you had a great time at Epcot. Boo to people who think they are the only ones trying to give their kids a magcal experience. I can't stand peop;e like that...
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Wake-up: Showers and walking down to Magic Kingdom by 7:30ish
7:30 Early Morning: Breakfast at the Wave 7:30 (Cancelled due to change in MK opening time)
Morning: Touring MK
11:30 Lunch at Columbia Harbor House
Afternoon: Touring MK
5:30 Back to room to shower/change for dinner
8:15 Chef's table Wine Tasting dinner at Flying Fish
Memories of our Fourth Day
(Passporter pocket filled out by DH since I had way too much wine to write after the dinner)
The weather today was warm and partly cloudy.
The best thing today was wine tasting dinner at the Flying Fish Cafe.
The worst thing today was my (RoonieRoo's) shoes.
**They do fit, really. When my feet aren't a bit swollen from walking parks for three days they do fit. But this night, they did not and OMGosh they hurt. We had to do quite a bit of walking from BLT to the MK to catch a bus to Boardwalk and then walk from there to the Flying Fish in shoes that did not fit well. At least I had enough wine with dinner to not notice so much on the way home.
The funniest thing today was Leslie and Julia at Flying Fish and the little girl on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
**First, the little girl on BTMRR: She was precious. She had that great "hair" they give the girls at BBB. She was so excited to be in the last car on BTMRR as she was a daredevil. It was just pure, outright glee for her.
Second, the Flying Fish Cafe wine tasting dinner with the Chef was one of those high marks for all our combined trips. When we got there, we were sent to the wine bar for a complimentary drink while we waited for our dinner to start.
There was already a couple there we started chatting with. We found out really quick that they were our TWINS or actually US in about 20 years. It was amazing. They were from Austin, Texas and were silicon valley engineers/software nerds. Julia worked across the street from my sister at Lockheed during the big shooting at ESL that my sister was in the middle of. They did a lot of the same work in the industy that DH and I do/did.
We just kept finding commonalities in our life all night. It was crazy. We kept discovering people we knew, neighborhoods we had lived in, major events we were both involved in. (i.e. the Cat 5 tornado in Lubbock in 1971)
After we bonded, they started our meal with the chef. The meal was positively amazing and DH and I learned quite a bit about wine pairing (the how and why) from our server. We laughed ourselves stupid with Julia and Leslie. There were two more couples at the end of the table doing the dinner too but they were very quiet. The chef and the sous-chef were fighting over who got to spend the next course with us as we were "The fun table".
In the end, DH and I now have some new friends that we visit again later in the trip and are looking forward to their visit to us in Austin in the future.
Today we tried wine tasting dinner at Flying Fish and the result was a new must do.
The most magical moment today was riding Pirates of the Caribbean by ourselves. We had our own boat and there was nobody in the boats around us. It literally felt like we were the only ones there. We saw that ride in a whole new way.
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