From no trip to celebrating 20 years together… planning it all in less than 100 days! UPDATED 6/30 - Page 86 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Discovery Cove looks like a fun place to explore. I can't believe people pay $200 for a cabana there! Sorry you were disappointed in the salmon at Laguna Grill but your desserts looked delicious!
Discovery Cove looks just so pretty. Sorry your food wasn't great.. I would never pay 200 bucks for a cabana either, but lots of people seem to like them! I prefer to explore rather than sit all day, but to each his own!
Oh gosh, I am so with you on that! I'd much rather explore as well.
That's crazy - $200 for a cabana (or more, I guess, since you said that was to start). Someone was just talking about a cabana type option at Aulani that's $300/day! Seems like there are other things to spend money on, in either place.
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That's crazy - $200 for a cabana (or more, I guess, since you said that was to start). Someone was just talking about a cabana type option at Aulani that's $300/day! Seems like there are other things to spend money on, in either place.
I'd agree with that, but I guess as they keep offering them, there must be people who are happy to pay that.
Saturday 4 March – part five: Mark makes some new friends…
Now if you’ve noticed we’ve done no swimming at all up until this point, well, you’d be right. We had a cunning plan, and it was to walk around the park, orientate ourselves, and get all the photos taken, then we’d get in. Now one thing was putting us off. We stopped at the wetsuit location (there are three, all near to the lockers) and the guy told us we had to wear a wetsuit for most things in the park. That didn’t tally with what I remembered, as I was sure I remembered our brother-in-law getting out of his to swim with his. The reason it stays with me is that it was a cold day, and we were all like “what are you doing?!”
Neither of us was keen on trying to squeeze ourselves into a wetsuit, as it’s not the easiest thing to do, but we did check with a second guy, after seeing lots of people walking around with vests on, rather than wetsuits, and he told us we could do one or the other. Ok, that makes it a little easier then.
Right, now it was time to walk off our lunch, and explore some more of the park…
Remember me saying before about the size of the Grand Reef and the Freshwater Oasis? Well, here’s the Freshwater Oasis – you judge for yourself. Personally, I’m with the staff member, I think the Grand Reef looks way bigger!
It was around here that we found these macaws. We’d learn a lot more about them shortly…
They also have otters here:
I do love the way they’ve worked more animals in here, given this is a SeaWorld park, and their focus on conservation.
We headed next into the Explorers’ Aviary, just expecting to take a few photos and then be back out again. Oh my goodness, we were absolutely blown away by this place! As Mark said, this was worth the admission alone. When we walked in, we couldn’t believe how many birds there were, literally everywhere you looked.
It was here we discovered the bird feeding, albeit it was done by a member of staff. He explained that this guy likes his fish, but when they put it out for the birds generally, the others get in first, so they always try to give him extra.
They were offering bird feed, and Mark grabbed a couple, and look what happened almost instantly!
I’ve already said he’s the donkey whisperer, as when we visit the Donkey Sanctuary, my adopted donkey comes to see him first before me but it appears it’s every animal…
Anyway, things, or should I say the birds, moved on a bit…
… and then again…
Now by this point, Mark is quite calm, but is threatening the one on his cap that if it poops, it will find itself barbecued as it’s an old DVC cap and they haven’t done such a nice one in recent years. Eventually the bird was rescued from that prospect by a staff member. This poor kid was trying to attract the bird, and it didn’t want to leave Mark!
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LOL at Mark being the bird whisperer! (And the donkey whisperer :rofl ) My dd is like that-I don't think there's an animal out there that doesn't like her. She's all of our cats favorite human. It's a good thing she wants to be a vet tech.
Anyway, DC looks simply amazing! It's definitely on my bucket list.
What a fun update!!. I must admit I was a little worried when you first started this day that I had made the right decision to come here but now it looks like you guys are having a ball!! I the photos of your very own bird whisperer!!
I love the pictures of the otters. I had to laugh at Mark the bird whisperer. Some people just have a way with animals. My daughter's that way with cats and dogs.
Liz
Awww Mark! That's so cool. Well, not with Gareth, but with the birds!
And yes, I can't believe the two pool areas are the same size. What a difference between them! Glad they won't force you into a full body suit. No thank you!
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Sorry you were disappointed in the salmon at Laguna Grill but your desserts looked delicious!
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. I would never pay 200 bucks for a cabana either, but lots of people seem to like them! I prefer to explore rather than sit all day, but to each his own!
As Mark said, this was worth the admission alone. When we walked in, we couldn’t believe how many birds there were, literally everywhere you looked. 
but it appears it’s every animal… 
It's a good thing she wants to be a vet tech. 
I 
the photos of your very own bird whisperer!!
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