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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Once we were up for the day, we still had a bit of time before breakfast would open. I took the time to call and wish my dad a happy Father’s Day. And the kids called their dad as well. By the time we were done with our phone calls, breakfast was open.
After breakfast, we headed back to the room where we just chilled out for a few hours before we started packing up for the day.
When we were all packed up, I went to get a luggage cart only to find out this huge hotel only has one single luggage cart. So, it took a while to get all our stuff out.
I also had to go pull the van out of the garage. This proved difficult as well, you exit in a different place than you enter and with all the one way roads it took me quite a while to navigate to the hotel loading spot.
Once all packed up in the van, we were bound for New Jersey. We had a short 45 minute drive.
We stopped to eat lunch at Cracker Barrel. It was delish!
After lunch we headed for the Shop Rite to load up on groceries.
Once that chore was done, we were just a few short miles from the hotel.
Thankfully this hotel had a regular parking lot! So glad to not have to deal with parking garages!!
Once settled in the room, I took the three youngest to the pool for a while.
After swimming, we took turns showering. For dinner, we just had frozen dinners we had purchased at the Shop Rite. After dinner, we just relaxed in the room. Tomorrow morning, we are bound for Six Flags Safari New Jersey…
Monday June 16/ Day 16
This morning we woke up and used the microwave to make breakfast. This hotel was nice, but did not offer a complimentary breakfast. The do offer a full breakfast buffet for $10 per person. At that price, no thank you. We used the microwave to make instant oatmeal.
The New Jersey Six Flags doesn’t open till 10:30am and we were not far from it, so we didn’t leave the hotel until 10am. We quickly arrived at the Six Flags, but it was already very HOT. And this particular Six Flags does not have a waterpark inside so I wasn’t sure how long we would be able to hold out in this heat.
This Six Flags is actually called Six Flags Safari and it turned out to be a pretty nice park. Our first ride of the day was the Safari ride which is very similar to Disney’s Safari ride! We saw a lot of animals and just really enjoyed the ride. One noticeable difference is this ride has the option to get off half way through (and catch another jeep later) to see a petting zoo, animal programs, and such… It’s basically like Disney’s Rafi Ki Planet Watch area, but this is in the “middle” of the Safari ride. Austin all but begged to get off, but we didn’t know about it in advance and I didn’t feel like it was the best way to spend our time at the moment- it was getting more and more hot by the moment and I knew we would end up being crunched for time…
Once off the ride, we headed next door to the log type water ride. I don’t generally do water rides, so I sat the ride out while the kids rode.
The biggest roller coaster in the US is housed at this Six Flags and the kids were very, very, very bummed that it was closed this dayL. However, there were plenty of other coasters to ride. We rode a few standard coasters and there were two in the dark (similar to Space Mountain) coasters as well.
There was a Haunted Mansion type ride as well. When I had read about it online the day before, it sounded like it was just a simple walk through attraction. So, I was surprised to see it was an actual ride. Winston got scared. I was zero prepared for this as I hadn’t realized what was going on until it was too late to turn back. He was in tears by the time we were off of it. I had entered honestly believing it was just something you walk through… Wesley didn’t like it either, as he doesn’t like stuff like that…. However, the rest of us loved it!
We had a few more coasters to ride. This Six Flags had tea cups that we enjoyed. There were a few other rides that we rode as well that are different from our local Six Flags.
We had spent the day before reading up on all the rides and deciding which ones we really wanted to do.
For lunch, we ordered a “family” chicken strip meal that included 12 chicken strips, a ton of fries, and four drinks. Chicken strips aren’t my favorite, but this was a good deal in a place where food is overpriced- so I took one for the team. I asked for some water cups as well and we split the sodas.
It was around 4 o’clock when we left the park and we were truly exhausted. For dinner, we stopped off at a Chick-fil-a that was right across from the hotel.
Once back to the hotel, everyone went swimming except Wesley.
After the pool, we just hung around in the room until time for bed.
The next day we would be bound for New York City….
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Too bad that Six Flags didn't have a water park, as it sounds like you could have used an escape from the heat. Nice to have a safari ride, though. Poor Winston with the scary ride!
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All caught up. I've said the same about your other reports, but I do love the way you tour. Sounds like things are going well so far, with a mix of camping and hotels. Glad the younger boys are still excited about their Junior Ranger Badges.
Glad you had a quiet day and then a great time at Six Flags! Can't wait to hear about NYC!
Thanks for following along!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
Too bad that Six Flags didn't have a water park, as it sounds like you could have used an escape from the heat. Nice to have a safari ride, though. Poor Winston with the scary ride!
I was really impressed with their Safari Ride.... I'm assuming it was a "copy" of Disney.... but I actually vaguely remember something about how old it was and it perked my interest.... I'm going to try to remember to Google which Safari Ride is older- Disney or Six Flags....
Quote:
Originally Posted by shazza
All caught up. I've said the same about your other reports, but I do love the way you tour. Sounds like things are going well so far, with a mix of camping and hotels. Glad the younger boys are still excited about their Junior Ranger Badges.
Thanks! The little boys are definitely very into the Junior Ranger program!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Sounds like a fun time at Six Flags.
It was!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Six Flags New Jersey sounded fun, except for the scary ride for some of the kids.
Yes, I felt bad for Winston.... I definitely misunderstood that ride description!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jakesmom1118
Just caught up and oh my it sounds like so much fun!
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This morning we were NYC bound! We were not in a rush this morning, but I didn’t intend to waste any time either. Once we were up and ready for the day, we started packing up. We had cereal for breakfast in the room.
I think it was around 9am when we left the hotel. We had just over an hour drive to our first pit stop- Carlo’s Bakery in Hoboken New Jersey. My daughter loves the show Cake Boss and really wanted to eat here. Thankfully, we had zero problems finding the place. And even better, there was no line what so ever. I dropped the older kids off to be looking over the selections while Winston and I circled around for a parking spot. It took several times of circling before finally finding a place to park just one block over.
Once Winston and I caught up, we quickly made our selections. Winston got a chocolate cannoli that he proclaimed delish. Wesley and I both got chocolate frosted brownies, mine with nuts/his without. Dillon, Madilyn, and Austin each got a mini chocolate mousse cake; Dillon got dark chocolate, the other two got regular chocolate.
They didn’t have bathrooms or a seating area inside. So, we headed across the street to use the restroom inside City Hall and then ate outside on a shaded park bench. We enjoyed our desserts immensely.
We were now bound for our hotel which was located in Times Square. As expected, the hotel had a parking garage and we could not fit. But this time, we were expecting it- so we just quickly unloaded our belongings onto a luggage cart. Now with the van emptied, we quickly took apart our luggage carrier and loaded everything inside the van so that it can go in the garage.
Hotel check in wasn’t till 4pm and it was only about 11am, so it was no surprise that our room wasn’t ready. That was fine, because we had plans to tour the city right off the bat.
We were less than a mile from the Empire State Building, so we were easily able to walk there. We had purchased express tickets in advance and these tickets allowed us to completely bypass all lines which was wonderful. We really enjoyed the view.
By this time, we were good and hungry. The desserts from Carlo’s allowed us to hold off for a late lunch, but we still definitely needed lunch. There was a Wendy’s across the street from the Empire State Building, so we ate there. We had a nice long lunch; not only taking time to eat, but also to relax and get cooled off (it was VERY hot outside).
After lunch, we headed for Grand Central Terminal. It was just about a quarter mile walk. It was very grand indeed and I’m glad we took time to see it!
After Grand Central Station, we headed back for the hotel. It was about 3:30pm when we got back to the hotel and thankfully the room was now ready!
Once in the room, we situated our luggage and just relaxed. This hotel had a microwave and mini fridge and we had an assortment of microwave items including ramen noodles and such… Most of the kids had ramen noodles for dinner; I was still full from Wendy’s… and Winston still had a frozen dinner left from the previous hotel, so he had that…
We just relaxed around the room and showered before heading to bed about 9pm (the little boys had passed out before 8pm).
The next day we had plans to go to the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the 9/11 Memorial.
This morning we were headed to the Statue of Liberty. We had tickets for the first ferry at 8am. We wanted to be there nice and early, so we left the hotel just before 7am.
It was 4.5 miles to the Ferry and that was definitely more walking than we cared to do, so we took a taxi just outside the hotel.
It was about 7:15am when we arrived at the Ferry and we were the fourth family in line for the ferry! At about 7:45am they started checking tickets and letting you through to security.
Unfortunately, once through security they ask you till fill all available spaces. I don’t like this. I seriously prefer single file lines. I don’t like having to worry about getting separated from my group or trying to vie for a spot.
We quickly made it onto the ferry (the first one for the day). We elected to sit up top and enjoyed the ride.
We were all excited to make our way to Liberty Island. We had Pedestal Tickets. I had tried to get Crown Tickets but they were sold out when I tried to get them. I had been very hesitant about committing to taking the near 300 steps to the top of the crown, and so by the time I had decided that yes, we did want Crown tickets- it was too lateL.
But, we had a great time just going to the Pedestal and getting an up close view of Lady Liberty! The little boys were able to earn a Junior Ranger badge here as well.
We spent about a total of two hours here before heading back to the ferry for Ellis Island.
I really enjoyed Ellis Island as well. They have a movie you can watch here in addition to a museum to explore. I love this kind of stuff!! We spent near two hours here as well.
Now, initially I had envisioned being able to go to the 9/11 Memorial next (which would have been less than a quarter mile walk) before going to lunch in China Town.
Well, it was now past lunch time and there was no way we could hold out till after the 9/11 Memorial.
China Town was less than two miles away and I had initially thought we would walk there, but we were exhausted and starving- so we took a taxi.
We ate at a place that I had read was good- Jing Fung. I really enjoyed the dumplings, but the rest was…. Not great. Put it this way, an hour after our “lunch” in China Town, we ate at McDonalds .
We had a hard time getting a taxi here, so we ended up taking the subway to our hotel. We have a McDonalds next to our hotel, so we stopped in for food (I only got a milk shake, but kids got full meals) and took it with us to the hotel room.
As I type this, I’m telling myself we are still going back out to the 9/11 Memorial. Who knows if I’ll ever be in NY again and I don’t want to miss something so important…. With that said, the kids have zero interest in leaving the hotel…. So, we shall see what happens…
First of all, let me say we never left the hotel again last night. So, we did not get to the 9/11 Memorial L.
Today we were set to visit Central Park. We had under a mile walk from the hotel. It was sprinkling on and off on our walk there, and I had left my umbrella back in the room. I decided to pop in a little store and purchase an umbrella. I figured the kids would just have to get wet and if it weren’t for worry of my camera and phone, I probably would have just taken a chance myself on getting wet- but I surely didn’t want to take chance on a downpour breaking my phone and camera…. So, I purchased an umbrella (that I didn’t end up using).
Once we made it to Central Park, we immediately seen a large playground and the three youngest had a great time playing and climbing. We found out later that this playground is where several scenes from the show Jessie were filmed, and the kids loved that because they love that show!
After a while, we headed out to see more sights. We came across a Park employee who gave us a map. Even with the map, it was VERY difficult to navigate the park. There are multiple walk ways and none of them have signs. Despite the nice weather, after over an hour of walking aimlessly around we were frustrated.
We ended up renting a pedi-cab to tour us around. I knew about these in advance. But what I really wanted to do was rent personal bicycles and follow along on a bike tour. Unfortunately, we had arrived at the park before 8am and we found out later that most things like that don’t start before 10am. Wish I had known in advance…. The pedi-cab wasn’t my first choice, but we enjoyed it all the same.
The weather was so nice, I really wouldn’t have minded walking- but the problem was we simply couldn’t find the things we wanted to see. So, the pedi-cab was needed just for navigational reasons.
It was about 11:15am when we left Central Park. We stopped off at TGI Fridays for lunch (sign on window said it’s the largest TGI Fridays in existence). We enjoyed our lunch and then we walked back to the hotel.
We relaxed in the hotel for a few hours (or several hours). Some of us had ramen noodles for dinners; the rest of us had peanut butter & jelly sandwiches.
After we ate, we headed next door to check out the large Disney store and the large Toys R Us store.
At the Disney store, we enjoyed looking around. Madilyn and I spotted some Mickey I love NY shirts that we really liked. But they didn’t have my size and so neither of us got the shirt.
At the Toys R Us store, the little boys spotted several things they wanted but it was mostly overpriced, so we refrained. Madilyn and Winston rode the Ferris wheel, which is super cute themed. Winston was desperate to ride the Scooby Doo car, but you couldn’t choose your car and they ended up in the Little Tikes Car.
This was the first time we had left the hotel in the evening hours and it was noticeably different outside! Not only was it super busy, there were half dressed women standing on the streets! They literally had no clothes, just their bodies painted. I just can’t believe this is not illegal!?!
We popped in McDonalds for some milkshakes and carried them back to the hotel with us.
Once back in the room, we just relaxed and showered before going to bed. Tomorrow we would be bound for Connecticut.
Great updates! You took a nice, big bite out of the Big Apple. There's no way you can fit it all into a short trip, and once again, the things you did you really enjoyed. I love the photos from Liberty Island. Too bad the Chinese lunch was such a disappointment. Yes, NYC after dark is quite an "experience"! The Times Square area is much more family-friendly than it used to be, but it's still New York!
Great updates! You have me thinking that I need to take a trip to NYC soon. It looks like you had a great time. Can't wait to see what you'll be doing in my home state (CT!) Maybe you'll give me some ideas for places to visit.
Sounds like you made the best of your time in the Big Apple. Sorry you didn't get to see the 9/11 Memorial, but as we always say about Disney, there's a reason to go bac now...
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