Don't Stop - Disney part 2 UPATED 5/5 - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Sunday 20 December – part two: fun Jurassic dining with PassPorter friends
All checked in, we drove over to Downtown Disney and texted Carla to let her know that we had arrived. A word here about the weather: the second we opened the door at the Beach Club, we were struck by the temperatures outside. We knew that it was due to be in the 50s today and they weren’t wrong. : It was a shock to the system, even from Tampa, which had been quite a bit warmer.
To get us out of the cold, Mark suggested looking around the Lego store, which I’ve never been in, in fairness because I’ve got very little interest in this stuff, but the models they have in there were amazing. Mark’s eyes were almost out on stalks, with all the stuff that he couldn’t get at home.
While in there, I got a message back Carla to say that they were outside T-Rex, so we headed that way and quickly found them. Introductions made, we got in line and, although the line looked really long, it moved very quickly and we were soon inside in the warm. While we were waiting there, someone called us ahead of everyone in front of us, which was neat and it helped, as it meant we would be eating a little earlier. Useful, as our Candlelight Processional dinner was so early tonight.
We were seated in the coral reef area, which we were really pleased with. It was interesting to actually feel the coral on the wall. It wasn’t hard, like we thought it would be, it was all soft and rubbery, which was quite a surprise.
We poured over the menu for a while, with me going for the Jurassic shrimp skewers and Mark going for the pork shank. Carla, Mike and Mikey went for a Supersaurus sampler, which turned out to be massive when it arrived. They kept encouraging us to dig in, as they said they would never finish it all themselves. The bits I had, like the onion rings and the nachos with cheese, were very good.
I really loved my main course. I thought the flavours all went really well together, especially the mango salsa with the rice, which was a real winner for me. It was interesting to compare with Carla, as she had the same, but found the shrimp to be a bit tough, a comment that Mark also made about his pork.
All in all, I thought that this was both better theming and better food than the Rainforest Cafe and I would come back here again, but I can see that it may not be a great choice for those with young kids, as it does get quite loud and frightening in there, during the meteorite storms.
T-Rex:
Appetiser 7½ 8
Entree 8½ 8
Service 7 7½
Atmosphere 8½ 9
Value for money N/A N/A
Average score: 8.00
We can’t comment on value for money for this meal, as when it came to the time to pay, Carla picked up the bill. Thank you so much for that.
On the way out, Carla and I decided to check out the restrooms in the hope that maybe they would be just as well themed as the rest of the restaurant, but sadly not, although I did love the he-rex and she-rex on the doors. Very funny.
From there, we said our goodbyes to Carla and her family. It had been lovely to meet them and share lunch with them.
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Both a great meal and meet! All the food looks and the atmosphere in T- Rex looks fun, but Stefanie hates dinosaurs, so I may have to try some bribery in order to eat here.
Sunday 20 December – part three: the Brits take over Fantasia Gardens
We decided to go to Fantasia Gardens for a round of mini-golf, as we still hadn’t had a text to say that our room was ready. A lot of people had obviously had the same idea, as the place was packed. It’s the only time we’ve been there and had to wait. We had a 14 minute wait, which did go by quickly enough.
For the first few holes, the spacing of everyone worked Ok, but by hole six, which was a complex insert-whatever-word-you—want-here, we were all bunched, as the family had lost two balls on the hole. It was interesting to see how many Brits were out on the course today. They seemed to be everywhere and that wasn’t something we expected.
We followed suit, losing balls soon afterwards, when one of Mark’s went into the bushes and he never found it. I had a couple of holes, where I managed to get my ball through past that hole and on to the next – I gave the Liverpool trio in front of us quite a shock at that point!
I managed to achieve a six on a few holes, which is the worst score you can get, but I did also score a hole in one on the final hole, the only one between the two of us, which I was very proud of.
I have no idea of the final score, mainly because Mark spent his time ignoring some of my missed shots and so I think I came out much better than I would’ve done otherwise. It was a lot of fun and this is such a creative course. If you’ve never played it, you should at least once.