A Coast to Coast Christmas - Phase One WDW - Page 28 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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There has been a general cry for more pictures of the villa and the TBSAALTA, so here goes.
First, a few orientation pictures.
The white, round things placed strategically around the area are LED tea lights. [No way we were going to use open flames! ]
Of course, as the afternoon wore on, the sun started going down.
This was helpful, as Eileen pointed out, because it made some of our decorations visible at a distance.
Shortly before our Guests arrived, Private Dining showed up to set the stage. I'll take a second here to heap praise on PD's heads. They were a joy to work with, and exceeded our expectations from presentation to Gluten Free preparations. I did mess up a little because one of our number could not eat the seafood, but hopefully was able to make up for it with the rest of the offerings.
The stage is set:
Can you find the Mickey?
Evidently, I didn't take any close up pictures of the cheese or veggie plates.
I thought they did a great job on the cake.
Oh, yes, and those "special" M&M's:
Good Friends, Good Times, bob & larry.
Coming Up: Pictures from the actual party!
__________________
"&Larry"
A beautiful day in the neighborhood!
Last edited by LLaffinPlace; 01-24-2012 at 07:18 PM..
The view is wonderful any time of day, but the magic really shines at night.
Rich, Kathy, and Joan look over the munchies.
Here are Joan, Karen and Sharon, and perhaps Bob's arm?
Notice that the wine has been brought out!
And one more Wishes picture:
As Kathy and Rich mentioned, I also asked them to sign their books for me ["Real Women Wear Red" and "Caught in a Trap", respectively], perhaps inadvertently giving them a leg up on any "what's the most unique place you have done a book signing?" competitions with other authors!
I had a lot of fun working with Bob on all the aspects of the TBSAALTA, loads of fun teasing everyone with it, and then how wonderful seeing it all come together.
And if anyone has any ideas as to where we can go from here, please PM me!!!
I'll leave you with some views at Breakfast the following morning.
I love this picture, because you can see the monorail, but you know the train's there too!
__________________
"&Larry"
A beautiful day in the neighborhood!
Last edited by LLaffinPlace; 01-24-2012 at 07:20 PM..
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Larry and Bob, you are the most awesome party hosts! The food looks divine, the view is magical, the decorations are classy! And the pictures you got of that view!
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Sharon you slacker - no photos of the food for me to drool over? 
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Disney Magic - Oct 2015
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