Don't Stop - the Florida road trip section UPDATED 3/16 - Page 41 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Finally had a chance to catch up on a lot of posts, it was great finally getting to read about your Florida road trip. Still cannot believe how much rain you have had, and we are talking rain. Glad that driving was still ok, but I would say definitely scary. Love the hotel in Key West, and you meal looked wonderful. Glad you both enjoyed it so much. Looking forward to reading more, now that I am finally all caught up.
All caught up!!! I loved your shots of Miami, even in the rain!!
LOVE Key West and I love that you did the Trolley Tour. Bet it was warmer than the 45 degrees in Jan. 2005 when I was there! Brrr! That was COLD that day! Still great! Its so neat you saw the same stuff we did and I've got the same picture of Ernest Hemingway's house!
Saturday 19 December – part two: the southernmost everything!
Finally, we got off at our stop and sadly said farewell to Jim. We had loved his commentary and made sure to leave him a good tip for his troubles.
We walked the short distance down to the Southernmost Point, getting photos of the Southernmost everything on the way – house, ice cream parlour, bed and breakfast, hotel. You get the idea!
The southernmost letter box? No, it was just cute!
Finally we were there and set up a photo with the tripod, which fascinated the woman behind us, but we weren’t that happy with the result, so we then got her to take one as well. I was surprised by the fact that there’s not more around here. In most places, there would be goodness knows how many souvenir shops, but not here, which made a nice change.
When we got to the bus stop, we picked up a few bits, including some fridge magnets and a Christmas ornament, before boarding the next bus.
You know us, any silly photo op and we just have to get a picture!
We didn’t stay on it long, getting off at the next stop for the Hemingway House. We did see some interesting sights on the way though...
We did walk over to the Lighthouse, as I thought maybe we might go up it, but not at $10 per person. I thought that was a bit steep (no pun intended! ).
[b]Next: these cats have a better life than we do!
Cheryl,
Loving your report! Before your report leaves Key West I just wanted to ask...is the bar on the roof of your hotel open to the public or reserved for guests of the hotel? We love Key West but can only handle a couple days and nights at a time. We get very little sleep while we're there. But lots to see and do and it looks like you are hitting all the highlights and more.
ah...... thanks for the picture of the southernmost point guest house. that's where we stayed!! we got married at the hyatt and me and Ken and our friends and family took over the southernmost point guest house. It was lovely!! You're bringing back good memories!
Ya gotta get your picture taken by the buoy and conchs.