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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Looks like a nice place and love the food spread! Pretty cool that Paige is sold on having her wedding here. Just hope everyone will be able to travel here as logistics can be difficult, when far away from where you are.
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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!
Beautiful pictures from around the resort. They really went all out for the tour with snacks, drinks, even a mock wedding! Congrats on Paige's wedding! Great pictures!
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Congrats to Paige on her wedding! I love her approach of just having the two of them. I think it's very difficult for most people to do that. I know we talked about it, but it would never have worked out because of family and friends wanting to be there, but it was very tempting, as it would've been a lot less stressful to organise.
I was a little sad she didn't want anyone there but I respected her wishes. I think my Brother inlaw was the most disappointed. LOL. He wanted to travel for a destination wedding!....and an all inclusive resort is right up his alley.
In the end it really did work out nice as we didn't have huge wedding expenses. She did a family get together with Shanes family in April for a reception type thing and our family will be doing one in June.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cattailmarsh
All of these pics are really making me wishing I could go back there again.
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It really is a nice island and Sandals are great resorts. They do cost a bit more (I know some of that is the name brand) but they do include so much.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
Looks like a nice place and love the food spread! Pretty cool that Paige is sold on having her wedding here. Just hope everyone will be able to travel here as logistics can be difficult, when far away from where you are.
Paige got married in January...just the 2 of them so we didn't travel. But many of us would have done it in a heart beat!
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
Beautiful pictures from around the resort. They really went all out for the tour with snacks, drinks, even a mock wedding! Congrats on Paige's wedding! Great pictures!
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I really liked the tours with the snacks. Not all the places did it and we were spoiled by those who did.
Paige had the perfect wedding for her. At first she was going to do one at home and the expenses were just building up fast and she figured with a destination wedding she could have a honeymoon too and it would be much cheaper...and was.
Shane's mom and I took turns watching Gracie. I could tell at the end she was missing her mom and dad. One night she woke up for a couple hours during the night...which is not normal. She was good and we just chilled and watched TV and she looked at me all serious and said "My Daddy Shane loves me very very much!" She is just so cute.
She will be having a little sister in Oct!
They had tables out for display in the lobby…I believe this had things about the Jamaican culture and history and was out because it was the Emancipation day.
The next stop was the Grand Pineapple. Now this is Sandals VERY Value brand. In fact, we had been told a year or 2 ago they were closing them all down and I was surprised to see this one on the itinerary. As we pulled up, Jermaine said straight out…now when we go in…don’t judge….we have tried to close this place several times and people have rioted about it. There IS a market for this resort.
We gathered in the outdoor lobby type area and waited. They told us we could go in the gift shop and shop if we wanted to and got a discount. Ellen found a dress and bought it.
Now I took a few pictures here, but I am not going to post many at all. I would never recommend anyone to stay here. The rooms were super super super tiny, the place was fairly kept up, but just not nice. It did have one buffet restaurant and I think that’s it. The only thing really going for it was the beach.
It was at full capacity and we figured that a lot of locals probably got rooms for the holiday.
This resort is also a bit odd as part of it is on the beach side of the road and part is across the busy street but they have crossing guards to take you back and forth.
We went across and into the spa. The best thing about the spa was the A/C….did I mention it was in the high 90’s with 100 % humidity? The spa was a joke. The rooms were so small that they had to take us basically in groups of 2 or 3 to see the rooms.
And had even more of a damper as there was a residence right behind where I was standing to take that picture. This yard had junk all over and some guys working on a car…..with ghetto music BLARRING! We were all laughing about the whole deal. I think the garage or house has some spray painted logo on the side too. Not a great spot for a resort.
When I got home I decide it wasn’t even worth my time to edit the majority of the pictures from there as the place would never be anything I would want to tell anyone about. It was that bad. As we got in the bus, Marianne pulled out her camera and went delete, delete, delete…..no need to keep those pictures. Hahahaha.
One night she woke up for a couple hours during the night...which is not normal. She was good and we just chilled and watched TV and she looked at me all serious and said "My Daddy Shane loves me very very much!" She is just so cute.
She will be having a little sister in Oct!
That is such a precious story. I am sure a little sister will be great fun for everyone too. How old is Gracie?
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Oh my goodness, that place does sound really bad, but like you say, there's obviously a demand for it - wow, I can't believe they've had that much of an issue closing it!
Some nice photos and the rooms you toured look very nice.
__________________
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!
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
That is such a precious story. I am sure a little sister will be great fun for everyone too. How old is Gracie?
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I know..she just made my heart melt. Gracie will be 3 in Oct and the baby is due on her birthday.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Oh my goodness, that place does sound really bad, but like you say, there's obviously a demand for it - wow, I can't believe they've had that much of an issue closing it!
I know.....It has to be locals because I can't see that many people traveling to the island for a place like that...but I guess there might be? I would be upset to arrive there and find out what it is like. Especially if I was across the street.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
The view from the first room you toured was so pretty! I definitely won't be staying at the Grand Pineapple!
Congrats on your new little granddaughter coming in October. How exciting!
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Some of the rooms have just fabulous ocean views. But the ocean is close to walk to from anywhere on property.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
Some nice photos and the rooms you toured look very nice.
When we arrived at Beaches Negril we knew we were welcomed! Music was blarring, people were there to help us out of the shuttle, drinks were waiting…and also a bit of a surprise as well.
They then gathered us all up for a group photo which they said they would send to us and never did. Lenora ended up contacting a few people to finally track one down for us.
We stopped in this little shop where they gave out little cups of this coffee type drink. I don’t like coffee so I didn’t have any but everyone raved about it.
It was so hot that even the strap on my camera was soaked with sweat. Some people who couldn’t take the heat ended up dropping out of the tour and finding an air conditioned area.
We took our time with the snack since it was cool in here. One thing about Jamaican A/C is that it is not like A/C we have at home. They are wall units and they never seem to get as cold as I would like it. It was however better than nothing.
Nice tour of the resort with some nice photos! It is nice but seems like they are just trying to make the big sell for ownership in this!
__________________
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!
Just got all caught up with your last few posts. Some of the rooms looked very nice and you were certainly treated to enough snacks along the way on this tour! I remember seeing Paige's wedding pictures on Facebook when she got married. Weddings have become so expensive that she probably made a smart decision to not do the big wedding with guests. I can't take that excessive heat so I probably would have been seeking air conditioning by this part of the tour!
Beaches looks nice, but not as nice as Sandals. But maybe that's just the areas we've seen so far. I guess I'm thinking that even though it's the family resort, it doesn't have to be all playgrounds and arcades. But I'm sure there's more to come.
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Pretty cool that Paige is sold on having her wedding here. Just hope everyone will be able to travel here as logistics can be difficult, when far away from where you are. 
I love her approach of just having the two of them. I think it's very difficult for most people to do that. I know we talked about it, but it would never have worked out because of family and friends wanting to be there, but it was very tempting, as it would've been a lot less stressful to organise. 
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