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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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We will be making our first ever WDW trip with extended family in May 2017. While some have chosen to fly, we have chosen to drive......from Western Oklahoma. Are there any others that have completed this drive and be willing to share tips or suggestions for stops, hwys, tolls, etc? I would like to make it to Atlanta before Disney and visit the aquarium and the zoo. On the way back, we would like to go back to Tybee Island and touch into the Smokey Mountains. We will have 4 - adults, 1 - teen, and 1 - 6yrs. We are aiming for a leisure drive and not speed race - leave on a Wednesday afternoon, reach Disney check-in on Saturday.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
We haven't driven in years but the only thing I can suggest is keep the end of your trip very "loose." Depending upon the length of your Disney trip, you could be totally exhausted at the end and just want to get home. May could be very hot too which will zap your energy.
I've never been to tybee. But Chattanooga is also a nice stop in the foothills. And it has a great aquarium and children's museum. As well as the incline railroad.
Make sure you have quarters for the tolls in Florida. It will be less than $10. If I remember correctly tolls were about $6
Atlanta is about nine hours away from Disney and traffic is HORRIBLE!! So leave very early saturday.
Less than that as we drove down from Atlanta last December. $3.50 for the longer stretch and 75 cents for the final much shorter one if I recall at all correctly. Not in excess of $5.00 I'm pretty sure because as we saw the first signs, I had an "Oh, organic mulch!" experience. Realized we'd not brought our usual bunch of quarters. No worries, though, since there are agents for change-making on the costlier stretch but didn't used to be a few years ago.
The shorter stretch will still require your having exact change, however.
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Atlanta is about nine hours away from Disney and traffic is HORRIBLE!! So leave very early saturday.
Nope, gotta disagree again about transit time. We typically make it from the Homewood Suites we like in north central Atlanta to WDW in about 6-1/2 hours with only a potty break or two. And that's not by "flying low" either.
Traffic in Atlanta itself is indeed horrible. DH, a native New Yorker, gets to do the driving there, NOT me.
However, traffic from there to WDW (via I-75 primarily) is usually not much worse than through OK City with which the OP is likely familiar.
Good advice to get out of Atlanta as early as possible or do your aquarium and zoo visits, then head to the south end of the city for an overnighter. That will put you in a much less stressful position for getting going to WDW on Saturday.
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“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” —Winnie-the-Pooh
...Chattanooga is also a nice stop in the foothills.
I doubt that the OP will go near Chattanooga but instead would go through Memphis and then sharply southeast to Birmingham, from there east into Atlanta.
St. Louis to Nashville to Chattanooga is our usual route. We're somewhat further north than the OP in Western Oklahoma is even if in the Panhandle.
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“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” —Winnie-the-Pooh
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
I said nine hours because depending on where you are and traffic it can take nine hours. We went through on Saturday afternoon and we're stuck for two hours.
We've left Atlanta before 7:00 a.m. on Sundays the last three years so have deliberately avoided the worst traffic.
Nine hours could be the result of leaving later in the day on a weekday especially.
Best advice: Do your Friday night stay as I suggested near the south edge of the city or, better still, drive a while toward Orlando having secured a reservation somewhere between Atlanta and WDW.
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“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” —Winnie-the-Pooh
We've driven multiple times from Texas, llinois, Louisiana and Alabama. On all those trips we planned on arriving early to WDW to use our tickets the full first day. Which meant we drove farther on the first day.
Because we prefer to drive, we take our own food/drinks. Both for the road and for our time at WDW. (AoA, Cabins are our preferred resorts.)
As you get closer to Orlando the traffic gets heavier. The weather is unpredictable any time of year so watch the hurricane weather reports.
Highly recommend Chattanooga aquarium, Ruby Falls and nearby Civil War battlefield.
Have fun...
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