From no trip to celebrating 20 years together… planning it all in less than 100 days! UPDATED 6/30 - Page 23 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I stayed at the Royal Pacific about 5 years ago, and I really enjoyed it! Your pictures brought back those memories! Your meal looks fabulous, and Mark's pie looks soooooo good!
Beautiful resort! Your meals looked very delicious, but I hate how cold some restaurants are air conditioned. I get some strange looks but I always take a light jacket along with me to restaurants all summer.
I usually do in Florida and I was kicking myself for not doing so for that meal.
Sunday 26 February – part seven: the best security guard ever!
We paid the check and gratefully headed out of Emeril’s Tchoup Chop into the sunshine. Now we were going to catch the boat over to CityWalk, but we managed to miss the boat dock, so ended up walking over, which was fine, and it was a pleasant enough walk. I would imagine if you’re heading to or leaving from Islands of Adventure, it’s probably quicker than taking the boat actually, because of where the dock is located in CityWalk.
When we got to the security outpost, we were immediately asked by John who was working what year we’d joined the DVC, as I was wearing my DVC cap. It turned out he joined in 1994 at Old Key West, then known as the Disney Vacation Club resort, as they never planned on building anymore. Oh wow, how things have changed…
He told us an interesting story, and I have no idea if it’s true or not. It’s certainly the first time I’ve heard it. Apparently Walt wanted to build a house where Old Key West is now located. Then Roy said the same thing, but it never happened, because of both of their untimely deaths, so instead Disney decided to build a special “member only” resort, as it was such a special plot of land to both of them.
Anyway, we chatted for about five minutes, and he was totally charming. I was fascinated that such an avid DVC member is now working at Universal, but I didn’t quite pluck up enough courage to ask him how that came to be…
We headed into CityWalk, and I got the photos I needed…
On the way, Mark found a funny photo opportunity!
Later on, he decided to risk the water play area… and got away with it. Now had that been me, I wouldn’t have done!
We had a browse in the Universal Studios Store, but found nothing we liked…
We then made our way over to the boat dock. A boat was there for Sapphire Falls, and not long afterwards, boats arrived for both the Hard Rock Hotel and Portofino Bay. There was only one boat that hadn’t been – of course the one we wanted. We thought we’d seen ours coming, but it was a second for Sapphire Falls, so Mark asked where ours was, and thankfully it was only another couple of minutes away.
I got plenty of photos on the way back to the resort…
… and as we walked back to the main entrance…
Now the reason I was very happy we’d got valet parking is that I asked in Tchoup Chop if we got any discount on it, assuming it would maybe cost us $5. they validated it, and it was free! Thankfully it wasn’t as chaotic when we got back there, and we were soon on our way again…
What a great day you're having--Cupcakes for breakfast, meeting friends, pretty weather, free parking, interesting people to talk to and not getting wet. Sounds like a winner to me!
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I can see the similarities to the Poly at that resort. Interesting! Free parking - finally!!
That's a really cute story about DVC. Wonder if it's true? And I wonder why he's working there?!
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Tanya
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What a great day you're having--Cupcakes for breakfast, meeting friends, pretty weather, free parking, interesting people to talk to and not getting wet. Sounds like a winner to me!
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The Royal Pacific looks like a great and well themed resort! I'm considering this for my stay at Universal in October prior to WDW! Emeril's looks so good and I may have to try this place. Nice photos from Citywalk and looks like Mark was in his element as a child with the water!
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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!
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at Mark in the water play area. 
If so, that's an awesome story!
Great pictures of City Walk!
for free parking!
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