A Trip full of Be Our Guest food, Greek food, and Seafood (August 2016) - Page 13 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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.
I typed a whole update, pressed post, and the site crashed yesterday. Sob. So here we go again but I am really tired today so we will see if it is as good.
Heather had to go to work the next morning so I slept in a bit, did some laundry, took a nap, ate leftover Greek food, and listened to the rain come down all day long.
Original plans had us eating at a local seafood place tonight, but when Heather came home she announced a change in plans. She had to sign into a town council meeting in Clearwater so we would be going to her favorite restaurant there. So off to Clearwater we went!
That is the Clearwater Aquarium where Winter the dolphin is.
And I just love all the big palm trees everywhere.
And soon we arrived!
At least the rain had stopped.
The view from our table.
And these. These were shrimp tacos. These were manna from Heaven. Divine. If I had these available I would never leave.
We then headed down to the beach.
There is a bird out there.
We saw a wedding taking place.
We then went to her meeting where I stayed in the car and called my husband while she went in. He kept asking me what part of Florida I liked and I said I really liked Clearwater and that we had passed Hulk Hogan's house. He then said that we obviously could never afford to live in Clearwater.
We then went for a drive. Heather had to stop in a sporting goods store and exchange some shoes. We crossed some very long bridges over vast expanses of water. We went to Cold Stone Creamery for dessert.
Heather tried to figure out what I was taking a picture of, and I told her we don't have evacuation signs where I come from.
We then went back home, watched some TV, and headed to bed early. I had a very wary flight out of Tampa in the morning.
The next update doesn't have any pictures, but it is an interesting story.
Next update: Sleepless nights thanks to an alligator
A nice update and those tacos look so good! That's funny with the evacuation signs as the first time I saw one of those (as far as I can remember) was on my cruise last year in Grand Cayman.
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Oh wow, that view is great and those shrimp tacos looked wonderful!
It was a perfect view!
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
A nice update and those tacos look so good! That's funny with the evacuation signs as the first time I saw one of those (as far as I can remember) was on my cruise last year in Grand Cayman.
Those tacos! I really wish I could recreate them here at home.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DMA
Glad the rain stopped! Sounds like you had a fun time in Clearwater!
Don't like the sound of the next update!
It was a great time in Clearwater. And I was very glad the rain stopped.
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
I had a hard time sleeping that night. At some point I woke up around 1 am hearing very strange noises. First I heard a low sound I have never heard before that was just creepy. Then I clearly heard a bird. A startled bird. Then I heard a few thumps and then no more bird. Then I heard those sounds again. It was very creepy. I realized I probably heard an alligator getting his dinner. And it was right outside my window. Or it appeared to be that way. So I got on my phone for awhile. I had to be up at 4 am to get my flight.
Heather kept saying that I probably didn't need to be there that early but I told her I didn't have the best luck and I liked to be safe than sorry.
I may have dozed off a bit but I really didn't sleep well. The alarm seemed to go off quite soon. I got up and was ready quickly.
Oh I forgot to add something. I had forgotten to check in right away the day before, so I was on boarding group C. Boo!
I got up and got dressed, finished packing. It was raining again and her front porch was beginning to flood. We headed to the airport and the rain let up a bit. I asked Heather if she had heard the same noises last night. She said no, but she is so used to them it wouldn't have phased her.
Heather and I said our goodbyes and she headed to work. I checked my bag and went through security.
Now all I had in my bag were some Mickey Cookies, a caramel apple, and my phone and phone charger. That apparently looked strange to the person screening because my bag got pulled for extra screening. Fine with me, but I was really glad I wasn't pressed for time. They guy took everything out and kind of chuckled at my cookies. He asked how my vacation was. I told him lovely. He asked if that was all that I had in there, because he couldn't figure out was tripped the screener to something dangerous. I had no idea. He handed me my bag.
I then texted Heather that I was through security and what had happened. She understands now why I like to get there early.
We began boarding a very full flight. I was toward the end and ended up in a middle seat and it was not comfortable at all. I just did a lot of deep breathing and tried not to move. The flight seemed to last forever. Finally we landed in Chicago. My bag actually came quicker than usual at baggage claim, I grabbed it, and Tim picked me up. I came home and napped for hours.
I'm not sure I'd ever get used to alligators getting their dinner in my backyard. I'm with you on being early to the airport. Security always makes me a tad nervous. Glad you made it safely back home.
I'm not sure I'd ever get used to alligators getting their dinner in my backyard. I'm with you on being early to the airport. Security always makes me a tad nervous. Glad you made it safely back home.
I don't think I could get used to that either. I am glad I'm not the only one who wants to beearly to the airport!
That's very odd with the noises and possible gator outside your window! Glad you got to the airport in plenty of time as I try to do the same.
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
That's funny with the evacuation signs as the first time I saw one of those (as far as I can remember) was on my cruise last year in Grand Cayman.
I'm with you on being early to the airport. Security always makes me a tad nervous. Glad you made it safely back home.
Sorry the journey home wasn't the greatest. 
Linear Mode
