Forums Closed
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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
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Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
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09-05-2005, 09:31 PM
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#1
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Community Rank: Explorer 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: NC
Posts: 12,270
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Our Gatlinburg Labor Day Getaway - COMPLETED 9/17!!
The Gatlinburg Labor Day Getaway
WHO: Me (25, many, many, many trips to Gatlinburg) and DH, Andy, (24 4th trip with me)
WHERE: Rocky Waters Motor Inn, Gatlinburg, TN
WHEN: Saturday, Sept. 2 - Monday, Sept. 5, 2005
WHY: Labor Day Getaway
PRE-TRIP:
A little background about our trip. I decided last weekend (Aug. 28) that we should spend our time off for Labor Day in the mountains. We hadn't been anywhere since NY and I knew we could use a getaway. Our last trip to Gatlinburg was last fall (End of Sept., first of October) so I figured it was time to head back. I searched all day online for a vacant hotel (that was also affordable) and finally found one, The Rocky Waters Motor Inn. We booked our room for $99 + tax per night. Not too bad for Labor Day weekend and a room with a private balcony over the river.
Then comes Wednesday and all the talk of the gas situation. At first I was concerned about the fact that we'd be paying out our ears for a tank of gas to get us up the mountain and back again. Then I started to realize that we might not be able to go at all due to shortages. When I left for work early Thursday morning I saw that most of the gas stations down Harris Blvd. were already out of gas and the ones in Statesville that did have gas were charging $3.49/gallon. When I got home from work I called our hotel to ask about the "gas situation" up there and he said not to worry, there wasn't a shortage, the gas was just more pricey than usual. Feeling a little better I called the Chamber of Commerce for a second opinion. I received the same response from the lady there. And just to top it off I called the Visitors Center on Friday to get one more response (which was the same). So we filled up our gas tank and got ourselves all packed up Friday night so we were ready to go Saturday morning.
Coming up: Day One, The Early Bird Catches Some....Gas???
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09-05-2005, 09:34 PM
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#2
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: NC
Posts: 12,270
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Re: Our Gatlinburg Labor Day Getaway - Day One Part One 9/05
Day One, Part One: The Early Bird Catches............Some Gas??
We got up early (well early for us on a Saturday  ) around 7:00 Saturday morning. We showered, got ready, and loaded up the car. We were on the road by 8:15am. Now that we live in Charlotte we have a pretty easy, fairly straight shot to Gatlinburg. We hit I-77 and took it all the way up to where I get off the interstate to go to work. Then from I-77 we got on I-40 West. We drove on I-40 forEVER! We went from exit 152 in NC down to 0 at the Tenn. State line, and then from 451 to 443 on I-40 in TN. So we went about 160 miles on I-40. Andy stopped and filled the car back up at the TN. state line. He got 5 gallons of gas and it was about $25. The gas was $3.09 which was cheaper than it was here. So we knew 2 things: A)Gas could be found and B)We only needed a little over 5 gallons to get us to our destination and then a little over 5 gallons to get us back).
Once we got off of I-40 we were on US 321 which took us right into Gatlinburg. We arrived into Gatlinburg a little before noon. And me, who knows that area like the back of her hand (see that story in a sec.) got lost  I know the area so well b/c my parents honeymooned there 28 years ago and for the majority of my childhood we went multiple times EVERY year. I still enjoy going though, b/c I always used to see all the couples and couldn't wait till the day I could hang out with my sweetie there 
Anyhoo, I finally figured out where we needed to go and we pulled into our hotel a little after noon. Andy went in and checked us in and we were able to get into our room 2 hours early  So that was a good thing! Our room was very nice. We had a nice big king bed, a sleeper sofa, table and chairs, fridge, microwave, and a balcony over the river. Everything looked good! So far...so good.
Here are some pictures from Part One:
Our king bed in our room. This is the only picture I took in the room b/c I didn't want to waste space on my card.
Andy enjoying the view...
Chillin' out, maxin' out, relaxin' all cool....
The view from our balcony
This guy was flyfishing in the river. I think he actually caught a couple.
Coming up: The Theme of this Trip....Roll me out the door please.
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09-05-2005, 09:57 PM
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#3
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Living Seas wannabe
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 31,940
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Re: Our Gatlinburg Labor Day Getaway - Day One Part One 9/05
Great beginning Melissa!! The view from your room looks lovely!!!
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09-05-2005, 10:00 PM
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#4
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: NE Ohio
Concierge Level: 8
Posts: 11,856
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Re: Our Gatlinburg Labor Day Getaway - Day One Part One 9/05
Great start Melissa. Your pictures are wonderful. I can't wait to read more.
Liz
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09-05-2005, 10:01 PM
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#5
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: second star to the right
Posts: 13,308
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Re: Our Gatlinburg Labor Day Getaway - Day One Part One 9/05
Great start! Can't wait to hear more!
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09-05-2005, 10:15 PM
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#6
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Illinois
Concierge Level: 1
Posts: 9,564
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Re: Our Gatlinburg Labor Day Getaway - Day One Part One 9/05
Great! Don't keep us hanging!!!
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09-05-2005, 11:11 PM
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#7
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Dopey's biggest fan!
Join Date: May 2004
Location: China Spring, TX
Concierge Level: 9
Posts: 26,975
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Re: Our Gatlinburg Labor Day Getaway - Day One Part One 9/05
Great start!!!  |
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09-05-2005, 11:22 PM
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#8
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Niagara Falls
Concierge Level: 3
Posts: 12,431
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Re: Our Gatlinburg Labor Day Getaway - Pretrip 9/05
Great start and pictures! Pretty neat looking river!!!
Looking forward to more!
Jennifer
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09-06-2005, 12:52 AM
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#9
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Community Rank: Traveler 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: PA
Concierge Level: 1
Posts: 297
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Re: Our Gatlinburg Labor Day Getaway - Pretrip 9/05
Great so far!! We went to Gatlinburg & Pigeon Forge August 13 - 19, I loved it there. I am planning to go again next summer.
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09-06-2005, 05:34 AM
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#10
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RED SOX NATION!!
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Connecticut
Concierge Level: 9
Posts: 136,854
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Re: Our Gatlinburg Labor Day Getaway - Pretrip 9/05
Great start Melissa  What a view from the room  |
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09-06-2005, 09:07 AM
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#11
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Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ohio Football Hall Of Fame
Posts: 42,304
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Re: Our Gatlinburg Labor Day Getaway - Pretrip 9/05
Great start Melissa!!
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09-06-2005, 09:22 AM
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#12
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Community Rank: Legend 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Louisville, KY
Concierge Level: 7
Posts: 18,767
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Re: Our Gatlinburg Labor Day Getaway - Pretrip 9/05
Wonderful start Melissa! I've never been to Gatlinburg but have always wanted to. Love the view from your room!
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09-06-2005, 09:57 AM
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#13
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Community Rank: Legend
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Newtown Square, PA
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 23,859
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Re: Our Gatlinburg Labor Day Getaway - Pretrip 9/05
Great start Melissa!! That place looks nice!!  |
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09-06-2005, 10:07 AM
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#14
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Faith, Trust, Pixie Dust
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Connecticut
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 34,171
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Re: Our Gatlinburg Labor Day Getaway - Pretrip 9/05
Great job Melissa! More please!
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09-06-2005, 11:25 AM
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#15
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Community Rank: Trekker 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Harrisburg, PA
Posts: 1,410
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Re: Our Gatlinburg Labor Day Getaway - Pretrip 9/05
Excellent start - lookin' forward to more!  |
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