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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Every summer around my daughter’s birthday (August 19th) we usually take a weekend to get away somewhere – just the family (myself, hubby, and daughter). In the past we have done Cape Cod, New Hampshire, New York City, and Hershey Park. We had already spent almost 2 weeks in Disney in July this summer, so we were tossing a few ideas that wouldn’t break the bank. We discovered that Hershey was quite expensive by the time you added gas, tolls, lodging, food, tickets, etc. and having just done that long trip to Disney, I really didn’t want to spend that kind of money – not to mention that my husband had to work the actual birthday and weekend prior, therefore he wouldn’t be able to go and they were not allowing anyone to take any more vacation days in August. While trying to figure out something with my husband just a few weeks prior to the birthday – he suggested that I take our daughter to WDW!!! We had airline credits that needed to be used, our annual passes were still valid, and we had gotten a discount code for lodging. Okay – really???? No need to tell me twice!!! At first Emily was hesitant to go , as she had never NOT seen Daddy on her birthday ~ so it would definitely be different – but he reassured her it would be okay, so she agreed! So very quickly, we were booking and planning!!!
Cast Members:
· Myself ~ Lisa ~ age 41 – LOVE all things Disney – especially Disney Trips!!!
· Daughter ~ Emily ~ turning 14 while at Disney – another LOVE of all things Disney!!!
When: Saturday, August 17 – Tuesday, August, 20, 2013
Where: POP Century (we are DVC members, however, had used all our points in July for that use year )
How: Flying from Providence to Orlando via Southwest Airlines, then using DME to transport to Resort
Why: To celebrate Emily’s 14th Birthday in Disney!!!
Saturday morning, August 17th, Emily and I woke very early – with Scott (he has to leave at 5am when he is on day shift!) – We finished packing up the last minute things (we were just taking carry-on bags) – and soon my mom and step-father were picking us up to drive us to the airport (we could save $$$ by not parking there, and Scott really wanted to be able to pick us up when we came home). We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare!!! I think we forgot to take into account that we would not be parking, dragging luggage and checking bags ~ so we had plenty of time to get a decent breakfast, and we ended up at the TGIF’s they have at the terminal – Emily had French toast with sausage and I had French toast with bacon. It was good to have something other than a bagel or muffin!
Soon it was time to board the plane and we were flying to our happy place!!!
Getting settled in on the plane ~
Our flight was pretty uneventful – actually I slept most of it!!! Had to rest up before this kid had me running all weekend!!! Well, it was uneventful until we landed – then we sat, and we sat some more on the runway waiting to get into our gate – apparently it was quite busy at MCO today. I think it was a good 30 minutes late pulling into the gate! This was cutting into my Disney time!!! Lol.
We managed to make it to the DME bus, which left pretty quickly once we boarded (it was 12:12 when we boarded)
and soon we were seeing that beautiful welcome sign
and we were pulling into POP at 12:46!
We got checked in – our room was ready!! So we were able to locate it and drop our bags! Also – should mention here that we had the magic bands, as POP was one of the resorts “testing” them, which also meant that we could take advantage of the new Fastpass+.
Our room:
Around the area we were in - the 70's:
We were pretty hungry – so we stopped in Everything POP and grabbed a burrito to share for lunch.
After lunch we boarded a MK bus!
Once we entered MK, we headed in to trade our Photopass voucher for the Photopass Plus card and set off!
Emily had a mission ~ on our last trip she had been eying the Tiaras at the crystal shops. She had been given Disney gift cards/money for her birthday from friends and family prior to this trip, so they were starting to burn a hole in her pocket, and she headed straight for the shop in Adventureland – and soon found her tiara! She wore that proudly!
Next – we headed to Space Mountain (if you have ever read any of my other TR’s, you might remember that SM is a must do first for Emily)!
Then we stopped for a few photopass photos.
We were heading to Hollywood Studios – as we had Fastpass+ to use there! So we headed for the TTC and were soon boarding the DHS bus!
Up Next: Which side will we get?
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
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Off to a fantastic start! Too funny about the tiara! If you don't mind me asking, how much were the tiaras? Lukas wants to eat with Cinderella and we have an ADR at the castle (that I hope we can still go to) and I thought it would be fun for me to wear a tiara, but it's hard to find one that fits an adult in Disney!
Off to a fantastic start! Too funny about the tiara! If you don't mind me asking, how much were the tiaras? Lukas wants to eat with Cinderella and we have an ADR at the castle (that I hope we can still go to) and I thought it would be fun for me to wear a tiara, but it's hard to find one that fits an adult in Disney!
Thanks! I believe this one was about $30? It was a very simple one, but she said it was comfortable. I think you should go for it
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
Glad you're writing this one up, too, Lisa. So sweet of Scott to suggest this trip and a lovely thing to spend some one-on-one time with your growing-up-too-fast daughter. She's a natural for the tiara! I know you both probably missed Scott-- it's odd even for me to see the photopass pix without him!
Thanks so much Lisa! If we go, I will definitely go for it!
No problem! Can't wait to see yours!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
Glad you're writing this one up, too, Lisa. So sweet of Scott to suggest this trip and a lovely thing to spend some one-on-one time with your growing-up-too-fast daughter. She's a natural for the tiara! I know you both probably missed Scott-- it's odd even for me to see the photopass pix without him!
Thanks Laurie! She is growing WAY too fast
It was odd not having Scott with us, but fortunately Emily & I have been able to do many weekend getaways without him (due to his crazy schedule), and we do well, although we miss him, I truly treasure my one on one time with her.
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
Great start! I've always wanted a tiara too - but they don't look good on me. Em's looks perfect for her!
Here's a couple facts that will make you think- Our son's b'day is Aug 20. I thought that was neat that Em's is the 19th. And I'm related to the founder of RI. I always think about that when you post that you fly out of Providence!
Just things to make you go hmmmmm. .
Only have time for a quick check in at PP today, but saw this one and wanted to say how glad I am that you've started Emily's birthday trip TR.
Thank you!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coop
Great start! I've always wanted a tiara too - but they don't look good on me. Em's looks perfect for her!
Here's a couple facts that will make you think- Our son's b'day is Aug 20. I thought that was neat that Em's is the 19th. And I'm related to the founder of RI. I always think about that when you post that you fly out of Providence!
Just things to make you go hmmmmm. .
Thanks! I think you should still get a tiara
Very interesting tidbits......I was born in RI
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Great start!
Thanks!
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
About This Page: 
A Birthday Fit for a Princess TR:
)
– he suggested that I take our daughter to WDW!!! 
We had airline credits that needed to be used, our annual passes were still valid, and we had gotten a discount code for lodging. Okay – really???? No need to tell me twice!!! 
At first Emily was hesitant to go 
, as she had never NOT seen Daddy on her birthday ~ so it would definitely be different – but he reassured her it would be okay, so she agreed! So very quickly, we were booking and planning!!! 
)
Lol.
So we were able to locate it and drop our bags! Also – should mention here that we had the magic bands, as POP was one of the resorts “testing” them, which also meant that we could take advantage of the new Fastpass+.
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Disney Magic - Oct 2015
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