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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Of course no trip to the AK would be complete without the Safari ride, and I also took more time than usual exploring the hiking trails. I also attended the last showing of the day of Finding Nemo: The Musical and enjoyed it a lot more than I had a few years ago -- the actress playing Dory was just plain annoying last time, which is why I haven't been back until now. This time, Dory was almost as adorable as Ellen Degeneres had voiced her in the movie. I thoroughly enjoyed the show. Oh, and while I was waiting in line to get into the theater, I heard a "Cindy!" and a young architect who had worked for our firm until her husband got transferred to Orlando (!) came rushing at me. It truly IS a small world after all.
But the AK is all about the ANIMALS, so of course I'm happy to share some of my favorite animal pics of the trip:
And let's not forget our feathered friends:
And this next pic of the same little yellow bird is now my screensaver
And then I came upon this adorable cardinal, who was sitting quite low to the ground and near the sidewalk -- clearly he's used to tourists, because he calmly kept posing while all us nut-jobs photographed him.
I decided to head back to AKL pretty soon after the Nemo show ended -- I was getting a rumbly in my tumbly and figured Boma would be happy to welcome me a little early (my ressie was for 5:15).
I'll leave you with five more of my favorite details from AK, icons that I'm sure you've noticed on your own journeys to the Happy Place.
You definitely can't miss this fabulous sign at the end of the day -- it always makes me :
AKL was alive with talk of the impending Super Bowl, but I was in an Animal Kingdom haze and tuned it out. Sure enough, the nice people at Boma welcomed me -- in fact, they serenaded me upon my arrival:
Boma doesn't serve Honey Pot, so I had the Star Tree Nouveau Blanc instead. Quite tasty, and yes I had two glasses.
I love me the salads!
I wasn't crazy about the meat from the carving station, but I unfortunately put my hand on a dirty plate AND on a dirty bowl -- and when I say dirty, I don't mean dried-on food -- I'm talking about wet, gloppy stuff. Ugh. I brought this to a couple of the male Cast Members, and they said, "Oh that happens sometimes." I had to ask them for a paper towel to get the glop off my hand. So I wasn't in the best frame of mind to enjoy the meat.
But I sure enjoyed the desserts -- all my dessert photos are too fuzzy to share here, but you can see me enjoying a Zebra Dome:
And since it was about 6:15 at this point, I had plenty time to drop some things off in my room and then go to the fire pit for the Storytelling, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The skies opened up just a bit -- a few big splashy raindrops fell, but nothing to drown our enjoyment of the storyteller.
It was a lovely, calming way to end the day. I headed to my room to "pack" for the Beach Club, and I posted some pics to Facebook while I watched some of the Super Bowl.
I am so glad I stayed at AKL for those two nights -- it was absolutely lovely! And the next day I heard we had gotten a lot more rain that night, but I missed it. How is THAT? And we didn't have any more rain for the rest of my visit.
Monday, Feb. 6: There I was, dawdling in my room at AKL, thinking about going to Boma for breakfast -- when Sheri to say she'd gotten up at 6:30 and was nearly to WDW and that she would convey me and my luggage to the Beach Club! How perfectly mahvelous, dahlings! That was worth skipping breakfast for!
I goodbye to AKL and Sheri drove us to the Beach Club -- where she promptly picked up a man. (I swear, I don't know how she does it. )
And then we asked the dear fellow to take our pic of this momentous occasion:
Sheri was delighted to find we had a first-floor room. She has stayed at the Beach Club (as well as her favorite, the Yacht Club) before, but this was my first time. I was thrilled with the room and with our proximity to Epcot -- our building was the first one you come to after you walk over the hilly bridge thingy from the back end of World Showcase.
My bed is the one on the left -- closest to the bathroom. Sheri was closer to the patio (and the quiet pool, which was just beyond).
I excitedly showed Sheri the vintage hats my friend Kathy had let me borrow for our upcoming day at the Hollywood Studios, and so we tried them on, along with our cigarette holders and fake cigarettes. We look too, too already, don't we dahlings?
We were inside Epcot in no time and heading toward Norway!
The first thing we did at Akershus was pose with my favorite Disney princess of them all! She seemed delighted when I told her I'd seen her in 3-D a few weeks ago.
Now, I was really-really since I'd skipped breakfast -- and the yummy cold buffet was a welcome sight. I could have pulled up a chair to the buffet and spent the day there quite happily, but I contented myself with filling my plate.
And then I also got a yummy entree -- mushroom-stuffed pasta with Swiss Chard and Parmesan Cream. Oh. My. Goodness.
Love, love, love the tree of life pictures! The trip sounds amazing so far. Your trip reports always make me feel like I'm right there with you. Can't wait to read about the rest of the trip with Sheri.
While we enjoyed the feast, the real Disney princesses started walking through the restaurant and interacting with every single guest!
This adorable little girl was sitting quite near us, along with her parents and grandparents, who kindly gave me permission to take these photos:
And Ariel showed Sheri and me how to properly display our fins!
Here's the tapestry you see as you enter and exit Akershus. I've got to tell you, I HIGHLY recommend this place, with or without children! It was yummy and charming and delightful. And here's the link to the lunch menu, and while it's a bit pricy it's SO worth it. (And you get the framed photo with Belle, too!) Akershus Royal Banquet Hall Lunch - Norway - World Showcase - Epcot
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to say she'd gotten up at 6:30 and was nearly to WDW and that she would convey me and my luggage to the Beach Club! How perfectly mahvelous, dahlings! That was worth skipping breakfast for! 
goodbye to AKL and Sheri drove us to the Beach Club -- where she promptly picked up a man. (I swear, I don't know how she does it. 
)
since I'd skipped breakfast -- and the yummy cold buffet was a welcome sight. I could have pulled up a chair to the buffet and spent the day there quite happily, but I contented myself with filling my plate.
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