Don't Stop! PRE-TRIP AND LIVE TRIP REPORT COMPLETED - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Sorry to hear about the drapes at Vero but glad you got moved to another room. So glad we had that spontanious meet outside B&C and again by the entrance/exit of EPCOT. I'm glad to hear you haven't said anything about being sunburned. You did look a little crispy when we last saw you.
Hoping we'll catch up with you next June on your side of the pond!
I was a bit worried that day too about being sunburnt, as I was burning up on our way out of Epcot, but fortunately I got away with it - for once!
Chez, it was nice to see you and Mark again, even though we didn't get to talk for long. Sorry I missed dinner, but I guess you'll forgive me because of where I was. Keep having fun and I hope to get to see you again soon!
Yeah, I guess we'll have to forgive you for missing dinner this one time... Looking forward to reading all about your adventures that night - when I have some time!
Well, since we last spoke, we've been to the Morikami Museum and Gardens, which were amazing - unmissable and then we drove through Fort Lauderdale, beautiful place, before heading to Miami. We hit the beach once there, as it's a perk with the resort we stayed at - you get a spot on the beach and a chair each and an umbrella between the two of you. Mind you, you do pay $19 a day for the privelege!
The next day we set off on our guided tour of the Everglades and Miami. The airboat tour we took was awesome - we saw so many alligators out there and loved it. Then we headed back to Miami for our tour and the rain hit - oh my goodness, we've never seen rain like it. : It let off for our walking tour of Little Havana, but by the time we got back to Downtown, the water was (no word of a lie) up to car door handles. We were so glad to be in a bus. We've never seen flooding like it. We all passed up on the boat tour - not the weather to be out in a boat. :
The rain continued the next day. It held off long enough for us to get some photos of Coral Gables and the Biltmore Hotel and then we just about made it to Vizcaya, but missed most of the gardens due to rain. As there was nothing else to do in the rain, we set out for Key West.
The drive down was fine until about 25 miles out. Before that, it had been raining on and off for about the previous hour, but nothing serious. At that point, we just hit torrential rain - we couldn't see the road, so we actually pulled off for 10 minutes to try and allow it to ease. We set off again and it was a nightmare for about the next 10 minutes with almost no visibility.
When we made it to Key West, they had more flooding, but it had all gone the next morning. Our hotel was stunning with a wonderful history and we had a great meal at a nearby restaurant that night.
Yesterday was spent sightseeing on the Old Town Trolley Tour, visiting the Southernmost point, Hemingway's House, the Mel Fisher Museum, Mallory Square and then taking our sunset cruise, but was wonderful, but eventful. You can wait for the trip report for that.
Today we were up early to take our flight to Tampa, then drove to Disney and met Carla (cjadkins) and her family for a great lunch at T-Rex (great to meet you guys! ). After that, we played mini-golf and then fortunately our room was ready, so we could change for dinner, as it was pretty cold today (50s daytime high and 30s overnight low). We went to Teppan Edo for dinner, made a new friend, saw the Candlelight Processional with Whoopi Goldberg (amazing! ) and then IllumiNations and you're back up to date again!
Cheryl, Im so sorry to you and Mark had to experience all that rain and Flooding in my beloved South Florida. The Everglades is so much fun, isn't it? The drive to Key West didn't sound too scenic with the torrental rain. Glad to hear you're back in Disney. Was Whoopi Goldberg actually in Disney in person?if so what did you think of her?
I was thinking about you guys all weekend while watching the news reports of the flooding in South Florida. I'm so glad to hear you were OK and made it! And it sounds like Key West was a success too, albeit a bit cold. Welcome back to the WDW bubble! Hope your Christmas is magical!
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Tanya
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Cheryl, Im so sorry to you and Mark had to experience all that rain and Flooding in my beloved South Florida. The Everglades is so much fun, isn't it? The drive to Key West didn't sound too scenic with the torrental rain. Glad to hear you're back in Disney. Was Whoopi Goldberg actually in Disney in person?if so what did you think of her?
she was there in person - she was the narrator and she was wonderful.
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Looking forward to reading all about your adventures that night - when I have some time! 
Then we headed back to Miami for our tour and the rain hit - oh my goodness, we've never seen rain like it. 
: It let off for our walking tour of Little Havana, but by the time we got back to Downtown, the water was (no word of a lie) up to car door handles. We were so glad to be in a bus. We've never seen flooding like it. We all passed up on the boat tour - not the weather to be out in a boat. 
). After that, we played mini-golf and then fortunately our room was ready, so we could change for dinner, as it was pretty cold today (50s daytime high and 30s overnight low). We went to Teppan Edo for dinner, made a new friend, saw the Candlelight Processional with Whoopi Goldberg (amazing! 
) and then IllumiNations and you're back up to date again! 
Plus you got to see Whoopi Goldberg, how great was that?
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