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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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So, today I noticed that there was availability for the MK fireworks dessert party. Naturally, I had to consider it. Then I noticed for the first time that there are two options, one with "plaza garden viewing" and one with Tomorrowland Terrace viewing. There's a $20 per person price difference.
Did I book it? Yes, but I did go for plaza garden viewing, which cost me $40 less for the two of us. I'm spending a minor fortune for this trip, and I guess that extra $40 wouldn't have mattered, but still...
I am glad we're doing the dessert party. Has anybody done the viewing from the plaza garden? Unless we get weather, which is always possible, I think it will be a really good location, right?
We have done both--the plaza garden view and the Tomorrowland Terrace. We enjoyed the Plaza Garden View much more, even though we were standing. Guests at the Terrace can sit at tables and view, but when we did it, other guests stood up at the railing and blocked our views and we ended up standing anyway!
The plaza garden is a reserved spot, requires the dessert party bracelet to enter, and is very well supervised. We had desserts and then made our way to the garden--we even brought a few treats with us. We could have sat on the grass if we wanted. Our view was fabulous!
Glad to here the view is good. I've booked this for our upcoming trip based on the crowds I saw for the opening night of "Happily Ever After". Have done the twice terrace before, but felt it was too far back to fully enjoy "Wishes".
The only disadvantage I can see for the plaza garden is that it isn't covered, but the show would be canceled if there was rain, so I think this is a good choice.
The plaza is a designated artificial grass area that was added when they redid the hub a couple of years ago. It's between Casey's and the Walt and Mickey friends statue.
I booked it last night as well. We've done the terrace one a few times, but we booked the Garden one this time. I'm excited to be doing it again. We love dessert parties! Well most of them anyway.
The only disadvantage I can see for the plaza garden is that it isn't covered, but the show would be canceled if there was rain, so I think this is a good choice.
The plaza is a designated artificial grass area that was added when they redid the hub a couple of years ago. It's between Casey's and the Walt and Mickey friends statue.
Did you book this online or did you have call to book it? I am thinking about this for my September trip.
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Kate in PA All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them- Walt Disney
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What is the trick to finding availability? I have been trying to book one of these for October for over a week now and there is never anything available?
We have done both--the plaza garden view and the Tomorrowland Terrace. We enjoyed the Plaza Garden View much more, even though we were standing. Guests at the Terrace can sit at tables and view, but when we did it, other guests stood up at the railing and blocked our views and we ended up standing anyway!
The plaza garden is a reserved spot, requires the dessert party bracelet to enter, and is very well supervised. We had desserts and then made our way to the garden--we even brought a few treats with us. We could have sat on the grass if we wanted. Our view was fabulous!
Enjoy your trip!
Do both options start out at the Tomorrowland Terrace for the desserts, and then the garden people walk over to the viewing area before the fireworks start? So the $20 difference is just for the viewing location since both options get the same dessert offerings?
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Huge Disney Fan...Always Have Been...Always Will Be!
Disneyland 60th Anniversary Celebration TR here!
2013 WDW trip here!
2011 trip to Hawaii here!
Do both options start out at the Tomorrowland Terrace for the desserts, and then the garden people walk over to the viewing area before the fireworks start? So the $20 difference is just for the viewing location since both options get the same dessert offerings?
Yes, both start out at Tomorrowland Terrace and the dessert options are the same.
Each group has its own arrival time, just to help keep the groups separate. The Plaza Group arrives at 7:45 and heads up the ramp to desserts. This area is near the restroom. The seated group comes at 8:00 (I believe) and turns left into the lower area where another, but the same as above, array of desserts are on display.
The plaza garden, IMHO, is problematic unless you plan to stand. My group of fellow viewers all decided to sit, to give us all, including kids, an equal view. However, there were a lot of people stopping and starting directly in front of the garden throughout the show, and it was virtually impossible for CMs to control it. I think the viewing area is poorly located related to walking areas.
I hope it works better for those of you who have trips yet to come. Next time, I would stick with the terrace viewing and pay the extra money.
Thanks for the updates. I had read both descriptions on the website, and it looked like both tickets got the same food but just a different view location. On the face of it, it doesn't seem worth the extra $20 just to have a seat on a chair. However, if the view from the garden area isn't so great, then I might have to give it some more thought.
joelsmom, were you allowed to stand in the garden area? It sounds like the view would've been fine if you were standing. I'm just having a hard time justifying the extra $20 (times 3 people!).
toddjodybrent, did you have assigned seating at Tomorrowland Terrace? The last time we went a few years ago, people lined up really early, but it turns out the tables were already assigned. Also, did you find the view from the garden area any better than watching from afar at Tomorrowland Terrace? I've heard there are fewer fireworks in the new show, so more of the action might be closer to the castle.
__________________
Huge Disney Fan...Always Have Been...Always Will Be!
Disneyland 60th Anniversary Celebration TR here!
2013 WDW trip here!
2011 trip to Hawaii here!
toddjodybrent, did you have assigned seating at Tomorrowland Terrace? The last time we went a few years ago, people lined up really early, but it turns out the tables were already assigned. Also, did you find the view from the garden area any better than watching from afar at Tomorrowland Terrace? I've heard there are fewer fireworks in the new show, so more of the action might be closer to the castle.
We had an assigned table and were in front. Then, when the fireworks started, people in back, moved forward to the railing and stood in front of our table, so we had to stand up to see--very frustrating.
The view from the garden was great near center on the castle. We could see Tink, too! We stood up about half-way back so the people in front of us, but not in the reserved area, were not a problem.
We doing it again in just a couple of weeks and have reserved the plaza garden. . .again.
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I had to consider it. Then I noticed for the first time that there are two options, one with "plaza garden viewing" and one with Tomorrowland Terrace viewing. There's a $20 per person price difference. 
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