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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Escaping Election Chaos –a PTR for 31 October – 3 November at WDW and 3 – 10 November aboard the Fantasy.
It’s been a few years (we won’t discuss how many) since I attempted a trip report of any kind. I don’t know why I decided to start again, but this little three-day at WDW seems to be tailor made for getting my feet wet. Since we are just a few days from leaving…I better get busy! If I do well, perhaps I can do one on our long trip in May! Anyway, hands and feet must remain in the PTR at all times, stow all loose items and dispense with any liquid beverages…it could get bumpy out here.
Our cast:
NanaTink….54, Wife, Mom, Mema, family Disney planner. Busy planning trips since 2001. I work as an analyst for the Federal government in downtown DC at the Department of Justice.
Sulley…also 54, Husband, Dad, Papa, Disney enabler. Secret Disney lover, but if asked, it’s all for moi. He works at the Pentagon as a Public Affairs officer. Retired from the Navy in 1998 after 22 years, it took a lot of convincing on my part to get him to cruise.
Our first trip to Disney together was our very first vacation that wasn’t to visit family or connected to a move to a new duty station. Our youngest child had graduated from high school the year before, our oldest in the Navy himself.
I don’t remember who came up with the idea of going to Disney the first time, but I want to say the original idea belonged to Sulley, that he saw an advertisement for Shades of Green and thought it was perfect. As it turned out, SoG was undergoing renovation at the time, so they booked us into POR, Alligator, Bayou, and as they say, the rest was history! Or as I have been known to say, you have nobody to blame but yourself!
Since that first trip, we’ve made an additional 15 trips to the World, traveled to Disneyland 3 times and taken 9 cruises. In addition, we joined the Disney Vacation Club. And remember, this is ALL.MY.FAULT!
That’s us in my signature picture, it’s one of my favorites, taken on the Dream in June last year, which, coincidently this plan had its germination. As always, DCL had its onboard booking offers and we decided that since we both work in DC, and having been through the ‘drama’ of elections, both having political appointees as bosses, we did not want to be around during the election, either way it goes. Plus, we were excited to sail on the Fantasy as well, so the 3 November cruise jumped out as the perfect one. I booked it.
“Now wait,” you are thinking…”this isn’t the cruise trip report area!” Fear not, there is a Disney stay attached…I just wanted to give you the beginning point.
Fast forward to last October and you will find Sulley and I working on planning our January trip to WDW with our youngest son and his family. We were talking about leave plans for the upcoming year, and Sulley said, “you know, I love taking the kids and the grandkids, but sometimes I just miss wandering around with just you and not having to plan around other people. When can we go just for us?” (Remember how Disney trips are ALL.FOR.ME? )
When we travel for a cruise, we usually take Friday off, and travel down at our leisure and stay at the Hyatt MCO. It’s easy and we are right there for the bus to the port first thing in the morning! No concerns about flight delays. I looked at our point situation and realized we had plenty to add a few days at Disney before the cruise. We could fly down, take the DME to WDW and spend a few days wandering around! Sold, but still have to wait a few days for our 11 month window. I could still plan though!
Now, I know that October 31 is Halloween, and the Magic Kingdom will definitely have MNSSHP that night, and knowing they usually have a party a couple days afterwards, I asked Sulley if he was interested in going to the party again. He declined, saying, I just want to stroll around, do a few rides, take photos, nothing fast-paced as our last few trips have been. I agree, so low key is the plan. I’m reading everything coming out about the Fantasyland expansion and trying to figure out what will, won’t or might be open when we go…hmmmm.
Finally, our 11-month DVC window arrives and I hop online and book a Saratoga Springs one bedroom, arriving on October 31st, checking out November 3. Now many people will wonder why do we waste our points on a one-bedroom for only 3 nights.
There are a few reasons. I often have problems sleeping and get up and wander around. I don’t want to disturb Sulley with my nocturnal wanderings, so a one bedroom allows me to get up and go into another room to read if I want and not worry about keeping him awake. It also has the advantage of having a washer and dryer in the room, allowing me to do our laundry just before the cruise so I do not have to pack EXTRA clothes for the trip. Plus, I have the points, so why not?
I task Sulley with finding our airfare as he is a United Premier Exec frequent flyer which is helpful as our baggage is free and he is complimentary upgraded to Economy Plus, a god-send with his long legs! (Due to the budget crisis, his government travel was curtailed this year, so we will lose this perk next year )
We discussed our park plans, knowing our time is limited. I voice my desire to go to MK our arrival day of 31 October and see what the new Fantasyland has to offer, knowing that the park will close at 7 for non-party attendees, this will allow for a nice dinner following and maybe a trip to DTD. Sulley agrees, and states he of course wants to ride ToT and RnRC, so day 2 looks like DHS, possibly some wandering of Epcot FWF. I point out our time in MK will be limited our first day and I would like to go back and ride some rides and just wander the park. Sulley agrees. So we have a basic plan, now it’s time to think about food. Where should we eat?
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Sounds fun. DH and I just returned from a 3 night stay that was supposed to be just us leisurely visiting the world. Well, we get there and there is still so much we want to do that it turned commando!
__________________
Oct. 31-Nov. 5, 2014 BWV with DH and DS, Nov.9-17, 2013 BCV with DH, DS (7), my parents and sister, October 2013 WL with just DH
Dec. 10-15, 2010 POR with DH, DS (4) Ddad(60)
DS on his first trip! January 2008 Windsor Hills
TR http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...irst-trip.html
Glad you decided to do a report! I loved the intro and it sounds like it'll be a great trip. I understand booking the 1-bedroom. So nice to have the extra space, laundry and that nice, big bathroom and tub!
Sounds like a wonderful couples time trip! I need to do this with DH again soon! DH and I went alone the 1st time and have had the kids with us the other times! Maybe our next trip will be just us!
Cant wait to read about where you have chosen to eat!
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
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About This Page: 
He works at the Pentagon as a Public Affairs officer. Retired from the Navy in 1998 after 22 years, it took a lot of convincing on my part to get him to cruise. 
Or as I have been known to say, you have nobody to blame but yourself! 
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