Our Disney Vacation with Fay and the Crab Assasins - COMPLETE!! - UPDATED 9/16 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
All checked in, unpacked, and getting hungry. So I go to my passporter page for today . .Squid Lipps was the choice for todays dining experience, but it is North of us, near Melbourne, which is totally flooded. That's out. And, since the electricity had been off at the resort for a whole day, we felt it wasn'ta good Idea to try Shutters. I looked at Tuesday evenings page, Ocean Grill, south of us, but very close. Since I had been very good about recording all #'s and addresses for all the restaurants in my passporter, I was able to call and find out that all was well there, and we could certainly come for dinner. Great! So we took a quick look at the beach, then changed for dinner, and headed to Ocean Grille. It was right on the beach, and although a more upscale restaurant, obviously had become a hangout for some of the older locals. We had several nice conversations with local folks who came in regularly and took their recomendations for menu items. I had the seafood casserole, which I know sounds sort of weird, but trust me it was really good, with so much fresh crab meat, lobster, scallops etc. Really tasty. John had a steamer plate with mussels, clams , and crab. Bubby had shrimp, Kittykat had a non seafood kids meal . They were all really great, but I have to say, that the standout thing which was really unique, was the Rocco Blue cheese butter spread they brought with the warm bread and delightful crackers. Totally loved it, and ate some of it for a "desert". But we also got a Tiramisu and split that. Both of our kids love Tiramisu, and that makes it extra sweet. All said and done, the bill was about $100 with tax and tip. After dinner, since it was not raining and the beach looked inviting we took off our shoes and went for a walk. Back at the resort. We played cards with the kids,and them shut down the main room, light out. Then DH and I enjoyed watching olympics and being able to stay up late without disturbing the kids. Thursday, August 21, Vero beach. The wind has stopped blowing so much and our freindly weather channel dude tells us Fay is about 7 miles out to sea, and you can see the clouds circling overhead. So DH fixed pancakes and sausage for breakfast for a big breakfast, with OJ and fruit. Then we headed to the beach, we were going to enjoy the ocean, sun or no sun. Here is what we did.
We couldn't believe how much beach had eroded, at high tide, there was no beach, just a cliff. This is a big turtle nesting grounds, both for green sea turtles, and loggerheads. Unfortunately many of the turtle nests were damaged or washed away. We helped rebury some eggs and talked to the turtle people who were marking the nests. We also found lots of sea urchins that had been washed up,the ones that were still alive we put back in the oceon, we tried to rescue a huge clear jellyfish that was the size of a large dinner plate, unfortunately it washed back in. The kids built a castle during low tide,and then tried to protect it with levies and motes, etc. from the tide coming in.vero protecting the castle.jpg of course they were not successful, but it was really fun to help them battle the tide for a while. We found a few shells, but once high tide was upon us we headed for the pool. Now I have been wondering all day, since they say the storm is heading back towards us, they are delaying flights. So I call Airtran, explain which flight we are on etc. Yep it will be delayed she says. Ok, so by how much, we are scheduled to fly out at just after 8pm. She said nearly all the flights were delayed but official word was they would go out. I mentiones there was lots of flooding north of us, and we were not anxious to get on the road tomorrow and drive through the storm again, only to have no flight. She asked if it was flooded around us. Well, not our resort, but nearby yes. She said again " So it is flooded all around you?!?" she asked.
Next up, will our vacation end on 8/22? Will we ever see the sun?? Will Sheri and John willingly give up the king bedroom with attacked jacuzzi,and oceanview balcony???