PassPorters playing together at Hallowe’en! THREAD 6 UPDATED 1/22 - Page 11 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I've not heard of these kiosks for international travel. What are they? Would you explain?
They're basically a new way that Homeland Security is testing of getting international travellers to check out of the country. You put your passport in, then have your photo taken and fingerprints scanned to check it is actually you leaving. It then prints a barcode to say that you've checked out. It's a new system and is on top of having to hand back the visa waiver that's put into your passport when you arrive in the country. So far, I've not heard anything about them extending this system beyond the few airports that they're testing it at.
This was one of those vacations that was great, but I ended up feeling that it was great, despite everything that happened. I haven’t been to hospital before on an American vacation (or any vacation for that matter) since my first trip when I was about eight and I hope I can go another twenty five plus years before I need to revisit one again. I have a feeling I won’t last as long on the insect bite front though, as those little critters seem to adore me. My body just seemed to react badly to them. As for the stomach upset, not one I really want to repeat and Mark is now totally convinced that the Adventurer’s Club is cursed and I’m beginning to feel that way too. It was such a shame, as I was really looking forward to that as well.
Having said that, despite all of the above, I still had a lot of fun and as I’ve said before, we will be sure to get our vacations to coincide with other PassPorters again in the future, as we always have so much fun with them. It was wonderful to see Sue, Steve, Bill, Jan, Maureen, Angie, Tara, Donna, Cathy, Terence, Barb, Bob and Lynn again. and we met some new people in the shape of Lisa and her family.
I know that the Halloween Party just wouldn’t have been half ad much fun, had we not been in a big group of people and that big group also gave me the courage to try a lot of new rides for which I’m very grateful (and yes Donna, that even includes the Mummy, I don’t regret doing it, I just wouldn’t do it again!)
The weather really couldn’t have been more perfect, after the initial shock of that first horribly humid day. I was worried that it might be too hot for us, but temperatures in the 80’s were just right and to see so little rain during the whole of our vacation was really magical.
All in all, I think October is a time of the year that we would go back in, along with May for the Flower and Garden Festival or November / December for Christmas. We both loved the Halloween Party and both thought that it exceeded our expectations. I remembered someone asking on the boards what people’s views were of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party or Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party and most people came out in favour of the Christmas Party. I have to say that I would find it hard to pick between the two, they’re both excellent and how magical that Mark finally found that darned dwarf of his!
The other thing we really enjoyed was the Food and Wine Festival. I think I pretty much got to sample everything I wanted and again, doing this with the others was a real bonus, as I was able to sample some of their food and wine and vice versa. I learnt that I certainly have a very sweet taste when it comes to wine!
Of course, we loved staying at our beloved Beach Club Villas again it’s a great shame that we had to leave, although I did leave Old Key West more than I thought I would and I think I prefer it to Saratoga Springs. Having said that, Saratoga Springs is developing into a really nice resort and I wouldn’t be upset if we ended up spending a day or two there in the future. Talking of the other DVC resorts, we were more taken this time by the Boardwalk Villas and are contemplating trying to get in there for a couple of nights on our next trip, although we know that may well be Mission Impossible, as that’ll be during MouseFest.
Talking of resorts, I really liked Disney’s Hilton Head Island resort, but it wasn’t that convenient for what we wanted it for. It just isn’t that accessible for getting to other areas with the slow approach through all those traffic lights. However, if you’re looking for somewhere to escape from it all, then this is the place for you. It’s probably a perfect spot to enjoy all that Hilton Head has to offer and we met a lot of people who loved it, as they were keen golfers or fishermen or tennis players. You certainly can’t fault the size of the rooms at Disney’s resort, although we would’ve liked some more facilities onsite to complete the resort, like perhaps a sit down restaurant.
And as for the final part of our trip – we liked Savannah, but it wasn’t a love thing, whereas it was for Charleston. A return there one day is a definite possibility.
So what next? Well, we’ll be back in WDW in December of this year, for a bit of MouseFest and then my birthday and Christmas, spending nearly three weeks there. During that time, some of Mark’s family will be there and we’ll no doubt have great fun introducing them to the wonders of Disney – as they say, they’ve only scratched the surface of the magic up until now.
But in the meantime, our 11 night Mediterranean cruise with Disney is rapidly beckoning us, so I hope you’ll join us on a magical voyage from Barcelona through Palermo in Sicily, Naples in Italy, Olbia in Sardinia, Cittavecchia and La Spezia in Italy and finally Marseille and Villefranche in France before heading back to Barcelona. I’ll see you for the happiest voyage to ever sail in May!
Great report Chez, what a lovely time you had! I'm sure you will have a great time on your cruise in May and I'm looking forward to hearing all about it.
Thanks so much for sharing your trip with us Cheryl!!! I loved your photos!! You have such a way with words and it's always a pleasure to read all about your trip, I really enjoy the detail!!
Cheryl - Thanks for taking the time to share your TR! I enjoyed reading about your WDW portion because it brought back so many memories from my recent trip. The rest of your TR was very interesting because you visited areas I've never been to before. I learned a lot. again!
What a wonderful trip report Cheryl! You captured such great pictures and wrote such descriptive commentary that I felt I was right there with you both. Thanks so much for taking the time to write it and I look forward to reading all about your cruise in May. Have a great time.
Cheryl, thank you for all the memories from the first part of your TR - what a blast! And thank you for sharing your experiences and photos from your second part of your vacation.
I'm really glad that you tried the Mummy but I'm even more glad that we didn't lose you in the experience! I have to agree with your assessment that it's difficult to choose between MNSSHP and MVMCP, although for me the choice is made by the warmer weather at night for MNSSHP, which means that I would give the edge to Hallowe'en.
I hope that I'll be able to join you and Mark again in another WDW vacation some day because this one was great!!
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This was great! The Mediterranean DCL cruise is pretty much our dream vacation that we won't be able to take until we're using those walkers you were talking about---you're so fortunate to go now, I can't wait to read all about it. Great detail, as always, I tried tossing around the idea about renting BWV points in December but was quickly vetoed. Well, Wally said we could go if we left the baby with my parents, but I don't think I'm ready for that. Or who knows....maybe I will be. Will be looking forward to more adventures!!!
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I have a feeling I won’t last as long on the insect bite front though, as those little critters seem to adore me. My body just seemed to react badly to them. 
As for the stomach upset, not one I really want to repeat and Mark is now totally convinced that the Adventurer’s Club is cursed and I’m beginning to feel that way too. It was such a shame, as I was really looking forward to that as well. 
and we met some new people in the shape of Lisa and her family. 
However, if you’re looking for somewhere to escape from it all, then this is the place for you. It’s probably a perfect spot to enjoy all that Hilton Head has to offer and we met a lot of people who loved it, as they were keen golfers or fishermen or tennis players. You certainly can’t fault the size of the rooms at Disney’s resort, although we would’ve liked some more facilities onsite to complete the resort, like perhaps a sit down restaurant. 
During that time, some of Mark’s family will be there and we’ll no doubt have great fun introducing them to the wonders of Disney – as they say, they’ve only scratched the surface of the magic up until now. 
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m83/kazzamcgazza/dlp-1.jpg
Cathy
I have to agree with your assessment that it's difficult to choose between MNSSHP and MVMCP, although for me the choice is made by the warmer weather at night for MNSSHP, which means that I would give the edge to Hallowe'en.
Well, Wally said we could go if we left the baby with my parents, but I don't think I'm ready for that. Or who knows....maybe I will be. 
Will be looking forward to more adventures!!!
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