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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Just a quick report here with the highlights. This was my second trip to DL, the first being in 1969 when I was 20 years, so 45 years later! That trip was with my parents who took me there for my birthday. I was kind of thinking privately, "well, I wanted to do this in 1956 when I was 7 but now I am kind of past it." But when I walked in to the park that day, I swear there was a rainbow over the castle and the angels sang. I have been a Disney addict ever since. However as WDW is closer, all of my families regular trips have been there.
This year my youngest son moved to Burbank to work in film (he is right down the street from the Cartoon Network, Nickleodeon, and the Disney Studios!) so since we both consider Disney home, we wanted to go to DL for a few days. He had sweetly waited for me to come before going, only making trips to Downtown Disney for dinner.
We stayed just off property at the main gate crossing, a very short trip walking. We simply could not afford the Disney Hotels this trip even for such a short time. But it was a very nice hotel with a great pool.
It was very hot and sunny during the day, low 90's but as soon as the sun got low the temperature started to drop and it got almost chilly, enough so that we let FP's go for both Grizzley Bear and Splash Mtn. as we had ridden them during the day and did NOT want to get wet again. Just a note, the River Run was not anywhere nearly as wet as Kali but Splash DL was soaking, not at all like Splash at WDW.
We went to Disneyland on the first day and third day and California Adventure on the second. That worked out well because CA is a smaller park and it was possible to do most everything in one day. The Aladdin Show was wonderful, almost as good as Festival of the Lion King and better than Finding Nemo, at least in our opinions.
Both parks felt pretty crowded, we waited 40 minutes for Pirates and California Screamin' but we felt that it mostly seemed that way because the walkways were so narrow, particularly in DL. Plus there seemed to be a lot more line cutting and pushing than I have seen at any other Disney park!
We loved that they still had the old ticket system and FP going, it felt almost nostalgic and we could use our passholders again!
We spent a lot of time in Innoventions (in DL) because there was a Marvel display of items from Thor, Iron Man and Captain America and my son and his friends really wanted to see it. Nicer than Innoventions in Epcot. Sega stuff there like they used to have in Epcot too.
Of course it all was a lot different to me from my first trip. Walt was right, the trees kept growing and it is lovely. But it was a lot more open and less built up 45 years ago so it sometimes seemed a bit overwhelming to me.
I loved seeing the Golden Horseshoe review, with food, again and Main street had all the wonderful old stuff like the Arcade, Movie Theatre and Magic shop which I loved to see. We even rode Mr. Toad, not ever one of my favorites but fun to see anyway. My son and his friend could not believe that we got sent to Hell at the end! They thought that was weird for Disney! Nice to see all the vehicles on the streets and the Horses drawing the coaches. Toontown was wonderful and I especially loved seeing Mickey and Minnie's houses again. We ate at the Rancho restaurant and one of the ones in New Orleans Square, I forget the name and liked both. Coke Corner for snacking.
At CA, we did not do the Cars ride, the line was impossible and FP's were gone early. We did most everything else including Muppets and Monsters Inc. We ate at the Carthey Circle restaurant and loved the food (very expensive).
After we hit CA which closed at 8:00, we went to DTD and hit the stores. Lots of different ones there. We ate at Rainforest Cafe' which is my son's favorite. He loves the Flying Dragon pizza, which sadly they no longer have at the Florida restaurant.
So our verdict is in, loved it! But had to admit that in our hearts WDW is our favorite. But then we loved Paris Disney and Tokyo Disney and Disney Sea. So I guess we just love it all!
Edit: We also went to Legoland. Definitely shows fading from the California sun. Not much for anyone over 12 and very little merchandise in the stores that could not be purchased at Toys r Us . Food was super expensive ($8.95 for a hot dog!) and not that good. However the water park was really fun and we ended up spending our whole second day there. The kids (20,21,22) had sunburns to prove it!
Last edited by SuzieBC; 08-17-2014 at 04:53 PM..
Reason: spelling,additions
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Sounds like a great trip! We have been spending more time at DLR since my son moved to Orange....he is at Chapman University studying film production. We bought him an AP with a school discount and he gets there pretty regularly!
Thanks for sharing your perspective.
Danielle
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~Shoot for the moon, if you miss, you will land among the stars~
Funny how we develop an affinity to our home park. As an Oregon girl, DRC will always be #1 in my book! I love how grown up and and narrow some of the places are in DRC, and I hate the loss of old favorites, such as Tom Sawyer's Island pre-pirate invasion (too plastic-y for me) and the loss of the sky tram, whatever that was called. But I love that there is still quiet spots just off the hub and between BTMRR and the jamboree stage...Ahhhh, Disney!
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Three days at Disneyland Aug.6-8,2014
That trip was with my parents who took me there for my birthday. I was kind of thinking privately, "well, I wanted to do this in 1956 when I was 7 but now I am kind of past it." But when I walked in to the park that day, I swear there was a rainbow over the castle and the angels sang. I have been a Disney addict ever since. However as WDW is closer, all of my families regular trips have been there.
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