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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 think I’ve finally gotten over my Disney Blues. After we get home from Disney I get so depressed! I don’t want to think about the trip, I don’t want to talk about the trip, I just want to cry. Since I’m now over that I thought I’d try my hand at my first ever Disney Trip Report!
Let me introduce you to the cast of this TR:
Me-Kymm, 29, Disney lover of the family, my favorite princess is Belle but I have fallen in love with Anna from Frozen. I pretty much enjoy any Disney and Pixar movie in existence. I also love Spin when I can make a class and the other two people on this trip are my life.
Justin, 35, he tolerates my Disney obsession and even enables me sometimes. He is a sports lover and an adrenaline junkie. He works out a lot even when he doesn’t enjoy it and loves Maui.
Jacob, 11, loves Disney and all animated films, hates writing sentences but loves to read about history, especially time periods involving war and loves playing sports and just being with people he loves
This is us in 2011
We decided on November 16-24, 2013 staying at Coronado Springs on Free Dining. We decided on this trip because Jacob couldn’t come to Aruba with us so we decided on a family vacation in the fall and it just so happened we got free dining if we switched to the week of Jacob’s birthday. I was so happy! This is the second trip in that we have gotten to celebrate his birthday at Disney! Since we can’t just jet down to Disney whenever we wanted, I told Justin I would be taking him to dinner for an early birthday celebration as well.
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I couldn’t sleep so I was up at 3:21am. I was just so excited! I got ready and then woke Justin up at 3:45am. I woke Jacob up at 4:00am and we left about 4:30am courtesy of Justin’s friend. His truck was large enough for all of our suitcases and the wheelchair for Justin. We arrived at the airport, made it through security, bought breakfast and sat down by 5:50am. My carry-on was searched at security because I forgot to take out my 3-1-1 bag and Jacob’s pool toys were showing up as a bottles on the X-Ray. No biggie though, I just stood there in my socks while the boys went off to the side and got ready. It is VERY different and a bit difficult traveling with a wheelchair and 3 carry-on bags. While waiting at the gate Jacob did some homework.
We boarded first because of the wheelchair and were seated about 6:30am. We landed safely and had no problems with our magic bands making it easy to board our Magical Express Bus! We walked right on through as a bus was waiting for us and were on our ME bus at 9:48am with a very enthusiastic Carlos as our driver. Carlos also mentioned it was his wife’s birthday and he loves seeing families spending time together. Best driver we’ve had. We were the first stop and were quickly in line for check in. It was raining steadily when we arrived but was much warmer than home!
On the bus
We checked in and our room was ready which was very nice to hear. We were assigned room 5242 but I ended up dropping Justin and the bags in our room and going back to the front desk to beg for a different room. Jacob came with me but enjoyed the cartoon shorts in the lobby. There was no way I could push Justin to the food court every day or even a few times, the walk and pushing Justin was WAY too much. They ended up assigning us to room 9270 which was still further than I wanted (I even offered to pay for an upgrade but none were available) but was about half the trip than the original room. I went back to get the luggage and Justin and we left our bags with Bell Services since our new room wasn’t ready. We left the resort about noon and headed to Animal Kingdom.
We didn’t wait too long for a bus and this was one of the few times I pushed Justin up the ramp on the bus. I am just not strong enough! The bus driver strapped the chair in and we sat down, there weren’t a ton of people on the bus with us. We arrived and got our maps and then stopped to get the Photopass+ Card at the photo store. We then meandered to Flame Tree BBQ where I had the pulled pork sandwich, Justin had the smoked turkey breast sandwich and Jacob had the ½ chicken which he devoured.
I enjoyed my sandwich and Justin said his was OK. This was one of the better QS meals of our trip. We will definitely revisit on future trips.
After lunch we headed over to FoTLK which was a new one for us but first we detoured to visit some characters!
We then went to FOtLK, while waiting in line we chatted with an older couple about the show, which they love, and Disney Cruiseline as well while we waited. We were let in and were seated in the 3rd row of the Lion section. In the first and second rows a family with a Plaid was seated! I was very excited and told Justin who didn’t really seem to care.
Right before the show started a not so fun event happened, Jake sat in gum! Justin dealt with getting it off his shorts and he let a CM know so it wouldn’t happen to someone else. The CM sent a manger over to us who gave us a voucher to replace his shorts. We didn’t want to miss our FP+ for the Safari so we headed straight there and thought we’d shop right after. We enjoyed our Safari ride and then headed out to find some shorts, no luck. We decided to ride EE and work our way toward Dinoland hoping they’d have some kids clothes. EE was Jacob’s favorite ride last time and this time, he made us laugh hysterically as usual, but he didn’t like it as much. I’m not sure why but he wouldn’t ride it again.
I would post the picture but I can't find it on my Photopass disc! I remember saving them because Jacob was slumped to one side screaming. I'm telling you, this kid is hysterical on roller coasters.
We headed towards Dinoland but had no luck finding shorts but we did stop for Ice cream, Edy’s dibs for Jacob and some water for Justin. We ended up at one of the first stores we were at and exchanged our voucher for the only pair of size Boys L sweatpants in the entire park! We got Jacob changed and then headed to It’s Tough to be a Bug.
We all saw the show even though this is one of my least favorite attractions in the World. I simply hate bugs, I hate all the noises, scents and of the course the lovely surprise at the end. We were in the back and no one was behind us so I just stood up at the end. I wanted to ride Dinosaur, since we have never ridden it, but Jacob wouldn’t ride it for some odd reason so we skipped it. We also missed Dug and Russell because their line was so long all day. We didn’t see anything more than a 10 minute wait but we still used our FP+ all day. We stopped for our first family picture of the trip!
We headed back to the resort and caught a DTD bus. We headed to Fultons where we had about a 20 minute wait for our ADR but were called to be seated at 7:10pm. Our servers name was Russell who sounded like he was from England. He was a tiny bit slower paced than we’d have liked but he was very entertaining. We were started with crackers and crab dip, we were given the recipe for this as well, and Jacob was started with cheddar goldfish crackers. We all started off with some water and we sat for a bit discussing our menus. Russell asked us if we were on the dining plan and we said yes. He brought out his Iphone thing and scanned my band. He charged us for 6 credits but he changed it to 4 credits when Jacob wanted to order from the kids menu. In all his meal cost less than $16 so I didn’t want to waste 2 credits on that! Jacob ordered the kids mac ‘n cheese with a fruit cup to go with it.
I ordered the filet mignon and mashed potatoes.
Justin got the crazy named crab thing.
I enjoyed half my steak as I only like well done meat (no pink) but half my steak was pink. The potatoes were delicious! Jacob ate about half his meal not counting the fruit cup, but don’t worry I ate all his pineapple, and his “I’m full” mood was setting in. Since we got dessert on the dining plan, I had a very delicious root beer float and Justin ordered the chocolate chip cookie sundae. Jacob turned down dessert which made Russell check him for a fever. When our desserts came, Justin shared his with Jacob who ate a good portion of the ice cream. We settled our bill and left the restaurant when Jacob requested a stop at Goofy’s Candy Co. where he bought a powder stick with orange and grape powder and a lollipop. With a stop at bell services, we got back to our room about 10pm. Our bags were to us by 10:30 and this includes the bags that were delivered to our original room. We were all showered and lights out by midnight.
Glad the blues have gone away and your TR has started!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lfredsbo
Glad you were able to start your TR! Hope it continues to help with those blues
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Great start! I always find starting a trip report is a wonderful way of getting over the Disney blues!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great start!
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
Glad you're writing about the trip! Can't wait to read about it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OhToodles!
Glad you're ready to start the TR! Can't wait to hear about it!
Thanks for following along everyone! I will try to get updates done faster than once a week but work has been absolutely crazy. Our department finally hired on our extra help and then the girl who sat next to me walked out! So I've been training the new guy, doing 2 jobs (mine and hers!), training for my new position (yes, in addition to the new position i was given in October!), and now I'll be training 2 more new people starting tomorrow. Probably not the best time to keep a TR updated but oh well. These trips are what helps me get through the day lately. With any luck I'll be able to plan a trip for next year and it will probably be with me, Jacob and my dad! I'm taking my mom in 2016 so we have started tentative planning for that too.
So anyway sorry in advance if I don't keep this as updated as quickly as it should be.
Thanks for keeping me company while I relive this trip!
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There's nothing better than a trip to WDW around the holidays! Too bad your room location wasn't the best, and you certainly could have done without the gum incident, but other than that, a pretty nice first day!
Sorry your room was farther than you wanted, but at least got moved a little bit closer. Sounds like AK was a pretty good day except for sitting in gum - nice they gave you the voucher to replace the shorts though. It's hard to find kids clothes at the world though - especially pants!
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I always find starting a trip report is a wonderful way of getting over the Disney blues! 
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
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