Don't Stop - Disney part 2 UPATED 5/5 - Page 19 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Okay, I'm finally all caught up. What a great TR. You take wonderful pictures. I feel like I'm right there with you enjoying WS without my kids rushing me lol. I'm not sure if I've asked you this before, but what kind of camera do you have? It takes amazing pictures. I am adding a ton of ADR's for a future trip (maybe next year and DXDP.) I couldn't decide on Cali Grill or Flying Fish for July (our first signature dining), but we decided on FF. Thanks for the review and pictures of TRex since we will be there for the first time soon. Can't wait to read more.
I have looked at your WS pictures over and over again. They are simply AMAZING!!! I love the ones with no crowds. I can just hear the park sounds when I look at those pictures. Your breakfast looked wonderful, By-the-way!!
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Okay, I'm finally all caught up. What a great TR. You take wonderful pictures. I feel like I'm right there with you enjoying WS without my kids rushing me lol. I'm not sure if I've asked you this before, but what kind of camera do you have? It takes amazing pictures. I am adding a ton of ADR's for a future trip (maybe next year and DXDP.) I couldn't decide on Cali Grill or Flying Fish for July (our first signature dining), but we decided on FF. Thanks for the review and pictures of TRex since we will be there for the first time soon. Can't wait to read more.
It's a Sony DSC-F828, sadly they stopped manufacturing it a number of years ago (just about the time we bought it) and I cannot find anything near as good to replace it. I don't want to replace it, but I'm realistic - I've had it nearly five years now and I think it's shot 80,000 or 90,000 shots plus in that time.
Wednesday 23 December – part three: you think you’re going to get this parking space?
We headed back to the room and got ourselves sorted to go out again. I needed to get some photos of various off-site hotels for the Walt Disney World for British Holidaymakers e-book, so that was my mission for today. We had also been looking to go to Aquatica today, but while it was nice enough outside that you could comfortably walk around in a T-shirt or vest top, there was no way that it was warm enough for swimming, as there was still a slight chill in the air and actually, as the day wore on, it did cloud over more and more, which made it even colder.
So it was out along Hotel Plaza Boulevard by Downtown Disney to snap the Regal Sun Resort.
Our next stop was the Comfort Inn Lake Buena Vista:
Then we headed up a road near Downtown Disney that is literally deserted. You can tell that they are getting ready to build there, but it’s so rare to see a prime piece of real estate undeveloped in this part of Orlando that I was a little shocked.
We made our way up International Drive and stopped at a number of hotels to get photos of them and some of International Drive along the way too. By far, the nicest in my opinion was the Rosen Plaza Hotel, which just knocked the others we had seen already for six in terms of look and facilities. This felt like somewhere I could stay outside of Disney property, whereas I wouldn’t have considered the others we had seen.
Yes, they’re still building here! Our favourite, the Rosen Plaza
We headed back down International Drive, seeing the entrance to SeaWorld and Aquatica, the closest we would get to it today. From the road, we could see Kraken. Oh my goodness, this coaster really does tower over the nearby area. What a scary sight!
As we drove along, we saw more and more nice hotels and apartments. This is certainly a lovely area.
Soon we were at the Premium Outlet Mall and the next challenge was parking. Of course it was always going to be busy just two days before Christmas, but we got close to giving up and driving off, before lucking out with a family that we spotted walking back to their car. My goodness, we had a fight for that space though. It was amazing the number of other drivers who seemed to think that they had a right to the space. I think not. :
We had a look in Timberland for some boots for Mark, but no joy there either. OK, so he’s going to Sue and Steve’s with just tennis shoes then. It’s not like he hasn’t been looking for boots, he just hasn’t found any.
We had a look in Nautica, a place we’ve never been in before, but we both found two tops each in there that we liked. That was after we sussed out how it worked. I was getting really annoyed with seeing signs that said 60% off and yet the price tags only seemed to show 15% off, but then the staff explained that you take the 60% off or whatever the actual discount is off the price tag. Cool.
By the time we went to pay for those things, my chronic fatigue had really hit me and all I wanted to do was sit down. Everything thing ached, my legs and my arms, especially. We walked slowly back to the car and I was very glad to be sitting down again when we got back to the car.
As always you took some wonderful photographs on this trip Cheryl!!! I love your perspective of certain angles as it makes me see things in a different way than I normally would. It was great getting to see the pics from different hotels outside of the Disney property! It amazes me that all those hotels can actually make a profit because there just seems to be so many of them!
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I don't want to replace it, but I'm realistic - I've had it nearly five years now and I think it's shot 80,000 or 90,000 shots plus in that time.
What a scary sight! 
: 
Deb
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