Forums Closed
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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
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10-24-2011, 02:30 PM
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#11
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Community Rank: Navigator 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 6,770
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Day 4, Part 1
Since the weather forecast was looking pretty bad for today, we didn’t even bother to set our alarm. I ended up waking up around 8 a.m. and it was very gloomy out and raining steadily. 
Our original plan had us going to Animal Kingdom today but in the back of my head I’d been devising alternative plans due to the rain. I was sad to miss our AK plans (including lunch at Yak and Yeti)  but I thought we’d do better of at Epcot or DHS.
We headed out around 9:30 a.m. and since we were both pretty hungry, we decided to pop in to see if there was any room for us to have breakfast at Kouzzina. We were told it was a 25 minute wait and figuring it would take an hour to eat, that would bring us to 11 a.m., which I thought was too much of our morning gone so we kept heading towards Epcot.
DH had a rain jacked on and I was using an umbrella. I quickly learned that this wasn’t the type of rain that an umbrella would protect me from!  It was coming at me from all angles so once we were inside the International Gateway, I ducked under cover and popped on my hat and poncho. DH did the same and we were good to go. I had also brought some of those beach water shoes, which came in handy although they started to rub my heel as the day went on. 
We headed over to the Land and by now it was almost 10 a.m. The FastPass return time for Soarin' was for 11-12 so it seemed like a pretty slow start to the day! We grabbed up FPs and then I had a bright idea.  I have always wanted to do the Behind the Seeds Tour and this seemed like the perfect opportunity! We went over to the desk and a very nice CM helped us book the 10:30 a.m. tour. I was so excited that there was still room and that gave us just enough time to grab breakfast from Sunshine Seasons.
DH had yogurt and a croissant and I got the kids platter, which had breakfast potatoes, a link of sausage and a slice of French toast. It was very good but sorry, no pics. 
It was almost time to meet our tour so we quickly packed up our rain gear and I changed into a dry pair of flip flops. There were 11 of us on the tour and our guide as Roderika (nickname Ro), a college program CM from North Carolina.
We started off in one of the back rooms where we learned about the natural alternatives to pesticides that they use – things like wasps, ladybugs, etc.
Hidden Mickey!
Ro asked for three volunteers to take vials of ladybugs to be released later in the tour. I volunteered!
Next we headed into the hydroponics greenhouse. I have to admit, I got very excited when we saw our first boat come by – it was really cool being “inside” the ride.
Ro gave us a quick primer on hydroponics, including some information on creating our own hydroponic garden at home. I think DH wants to try it in the spring.
We also got to sample the cucumbers they grown in The Land.
Here’s the tube the use to grow the “Mickey head” cucumbers.
We moved on to the eggplants, where I got to release my ladybugs.
(ooooh, a rare hidden Heather picture  )
I don’t think I mentioned it, but I bought this hat the day before at DHS
Go do your job ladies!
At this point in the tour the rain was coming down so hard that we couldn’t hear Ro!  It was just pounding on the greenhouse – I thought an exhaust fan or something had turned on but no, it was the rain. I was thankful to be inside!!
We moved on to learn about the peppers. She told us some interesting facts about ghost peppers, which are one of the hottest (if not the hottest) peppers in the world. She said they grow them just for show because they are too hot to eat. The CMs have to wear protective gear when they harvest them and then they are composted!
We saw the area where they grow pumpkins but there were none on the vine because they had just been harvested for the seasonal display.
Next we went into the fish room. One interesting tidbit is the shrimp you see in this picture is in isolation because he’s aggressive and will eat the baby shrimp!
Hidden Mickey!
A highlight in this section was getting to feed the tilapia. Ro warned us that they get very excited when the food comes in and we might get splashed. She wasn’t kidding! It was really cool to see them all swarm to the hand of whoever was throwing food in.
We ended the tour in the tea and spice garden where we divided into teams and had a little spice identifying contest. I won’t give it away in case anyone wants to take the tour in the future!
At the end of the tour we bid goodbye to Ro and headed over to use our Soarin’ FPs. I highly recommend this tour if you’re a fan of The Land. It was $18/pp and lasted a little over an hour.
Up next: A hop, skip and splash to DHS
Last edited by WeRDisneyFanatics; 10-24-2011 at 02:40 PM..
Reason: fix picture
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