Forums Closed
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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
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Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
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02-19-2003, 01:52 PM
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#1
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Community Rank: Wayfarer 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Indianapolis, IN
Posts: 185
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Discovery Cove
Has anyone been to Discovery Cove? The new park at SeaWorld ORlando where you can swim with the dolphins? Any feedback??
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02-19-2003, 04:10 PM
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#2
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PassPorter Message Board Manager
 PassPorter Guide Author
Community Rank: Legend VIP 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Maidstone, Kent, UK
Concierge Level: 3
Posts: 190,285
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Re: Discovery Cove
We went to Discovery Cove in December 2000 on one of the coldest days of our vacations. I think temperatures only just got into the 50's! It was fine when we were in the water, but out of it, it was freezing! [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]
We enjoyed our day there, but we wouldn't do it again. There was a lot we felt they didn't tell us. For starters, the main part of the swim with the dolphins (which is only half an hour in total) is in deep water and you need to be confident about treading water, which I wasn't. [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img] I know why they do it, as the dolphin brings you back to land, but they don't explain it beforehand and if you're not that confident in the water, you'll miss out on the main part of the dolphin experience.
Also, they didn't tell us that you couldn't wear any jewellery or glasses to go out with the dolphins, as it could scratch them. Luckily I had my contact lenses in, but if I hadn't, I wouldn't have been able to see the dolphin, even though I was face to face with it - yes I'm that short sighted! [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]
We loved the pool with the sting rays, that was great fun, but we did think it was expensive for what you got. We thought our recent experience with the manatees at Crystal River was much better value.
Sorry if this sounds negative, but that was our experience of Discovery Cove. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]
Cheryl
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02-19-2003, 08:24 PM
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#3
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Community Rank: Sightseer 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Washington State
Posts: 76
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Re: Discovery Cove
Hi!
My DH and I went to Discovery Cove in December 2001 and we just loved every minute! I'm a water and animal nut and this was the best day I'd ever had at a theme park!
I read Cheryl's review and I wonder if they hadn't loosened up a bit by a year later--I wore my glasses and a ring I can't remove into the dolphin swim. My DH is not as comfortable about being in the water as I am and they offered to just let us have all of our interaction in the shallow area if we wanted.
Our dolphin swim time was also 1/2 hour which we shared with another family. Each part of the family got the opportunity to be in the deep water as well as the shallows. Our dolphin, Lester, did different behaviors in either place. The time was short but very intense and satisfying.
The area where you snorkle with tropical fish was beautiful and very well-populated with different species. It has a "coral" floor in places so a person who doesn't float or swim well would need to stay to the sandy areas. It was COLD water in December, though, and that shortened our time in it.
The main play area pool has the cave and waterfalls and stuff. It was heated and huge and just a lot of fun! The lazy river leads out of this pool and goes under a waterfall into the aviary. I had a little trouble with the waterfall because the water wasn't pulling me along as fast as I thought--but there was someone right there to help. Inside the bird area, we got to feed many different birds (and learn about the different things they ate). They have many, many species. A beautiful, colorful fruit dove even landed on my head before transferring to my arm where it sat for a long time. A tiny member of the deer family (a muntjac) came out of the bushes and licked the salt water off my husband's legs for about 10 minutes. It was so cute!
We really loved the ray pool--we arrived just in time to help the keepers feed the 92 rays their supper. The rays are velvety and gentle, not at all as sinister as they appear.
Lunch (included) was very good and there was not too much hard sell to spend more than the entrance fee except to buy photos. I'm sure they make all their profits selling photos and videos to the visitors--but we wanted what we bought and they are still treasured souvenirs.
All in all, a day of adventure and relaxation. I will definitely go back!
MissB [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
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02-20-2003, 02:08 AM
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#4
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PassPorter Message Board Manager
PassPorter Guide Author
Community Rank: Legend VIP
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Maidstone, Kent, UK
Concierge Level: 3
Posts: 190,285
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Re: Discovery Cove
Quote:
Originally posted by MissB:
I read Cheryl's review and I wonder if they hadn't loosened up a bit by a year later--I wore my glasses and a ring I can't remove into the dolphin swim. My DH is not as comfortable about being in the water as I am and they offered to just let us have all of our interaction in the shallow area if we wanted.
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<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">I'm pleased to read that. We asked if we could have all of our interaction in the shallow area and the answer wasn't exactly helpful. It was along the lines of "if you have to, but you'll miss out, it's your decision". The staff just weren't helpful at all. The answer was the same over my ring, so I had to tug and pull to get my engagement and wedding rings off. We felt their rules were too strict and it's good to hear they've lightened up on things since. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]
Cheryl |
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02-20-2003, 07:28 AM
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#5
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PassPorter Guide
 Community Rank: Trekker 
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Pine Bush, New York
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 1,900
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Re: Discovery Cove
My Daughter and I went to DC. We had a great time and lots of good memories. The suits they give you to wear help you float, you do not neet to tread water. I am so sorry that no one told you that. I am a large lady and mine worked in the deep water. The staff should have told you.
We had a lovely and relaxing time.
Susan
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02-20-2003, 08:53 PM
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#6
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Community Rank: Trekker
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: NJ
Posts: 1,739
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Re: Discovery Cove
Feel free to check my post out my post under PassPorter Universe: General Trip planning and Discussion in the Globetrotting: General Travel Planning.
PoohNTigger [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]
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