The Good, The Bad and The Buggy - Nov 2011 TR - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Monday 11/7/11 - WARNING - Food pic . . . Oh heck- you get the idea
We got up at 9 am today (we actually DID set the alarm for 10 am because we had a 12:30 reservation)
We did our usual cup of joe while getting ready for the day. Then made our way to Epcot via monorail. When we first got into the park we checked on the wait for Soarin’ and it was over 1 hour which would have made us late for our ressie. The FP return time was for 7:30 pm and at that time we would be in DHS. So we skipped it for now and went to Nemo. We rode the clam shells (another first for us) but didn’t have all that much time to look around because we needed to be in WS at 12:30. We made our way over to LeCellier for lunch.
Nobody home.
Since I have had the filet 3 times here already and I have had really great steaks this trip already, I decided I would be daring and do something new. I got the burger.
Has to be one of the best burgers around! Chuck got the filet.
Naturally this was after our app of cheese soup and pretzel bread.
For dessert, Chuck had the chocolate mousse
and I had the smores.
They didn’t torch the marshmallow for this which made the dessert subpar IMO. It just wasn't authentic to the smores flavor. It was just ok. But the rest of the meal - Yumm-o!
We had to walk the WS just to walk off our lunch! We walked over to France where I proceeded to get a Grand Marnier slushie (another 1st).
Then we went to Morocco and Chuck tried on a fez.
We kept going toward Germany and stopped by the train/miniature city.
After watching for a while and a few pics, we decided to check out the Caramel Kuche. The line was tolerable today (only about 5 people in line) so I told Chuck we needed caramel corn.
We got the big bag and it was still warm! They even told us not to close the bag right away because it was too warm. The lady behind us in line said that looked really good and I told her it was still warm and had her feel the bag. She then said “I’ll take one of those too!” We munched on that a little but eventually had to close the bag or we could have eaten it all right then and there. We did a little shopping, got Chuck’s shoes, a CD of VOL and we bought some pins - as Chuck started to get into pin trading. And boy that can really add up to an expensive hobby. Then started to make our way back up front to the busses/monorail. The monorail was closed and there is no direct bus to the CR so we ended up going to Wilderness Lodge and took a boat back to BLT. Didn't seem right that the ONLY direct way back to CR is by monorail. Then we went back to BLT to get freshened up for our dinner ressie at DHS.
We had a 7 pm at 50’s PTC and we got there right at 7.
We had to wait about 10 mins for a table and Mindy was our cousin - er waitress. She gave us our silverware and told us to set the table. Then she took our order. I had the Lettuce wedge salad and Chuck had a seafood salad app.
During the app, I dropped my knife and Chuck gave me his. Then when the entrees came, I asked for a new one. No problem right? THEN, I dropped my NEW knife! But it happened while Mindy was in the room and she looked at CHUCK and said “Seriously?” Hahahahaha. It was too funny. Everyone in the room was cracking up! The people next to us were complaining about how they couldn’t eat anymore because the DxDP was too much food. Mindy just looked at them and said “Really? Because they are on it” and pointed back at us. They asked us how long we had been at Disney and Chuck said 5 days with 6 to go! Mindy said that we should be given name tags at the end of our vacation and be honorary CM's. Anyway Chuck had the vegetarian spaghetti and “meatballs” and I had the fried chicken dinner.
For dessert it was Grand dad's Brownie Sundae and a Boston Crème parfait.
After dinner, we took advantage of the EMH. I told Chuck I would wait for him if he wanted to ride Star Tours (I don’t think I can do it because I can’t handle that kind of sensory stuff. Even Soarin is too much for me) Chuck passed even though the wait was only 10 mins. We went on to the gift shop though to build DS a light saber. Then worked our way around back by the Streets of America and came out by TSMM. The stand by time was 60 mins and I told Chuck that we should wait if he wanted to ride, because the chances of us coming back and getting FP’s on another day were slim. We waited and the stand by time was only 30 mins in all reality. We took our spin and I got 98,000! Not a bad score by any means. Except Chuck got 107,000 - he cheats.
We thought this was hilarious - Busted Set Press and $50 in Canada!
After our TSMM - we slowly walked to the front of the park and went back to BLT. I was going to have some wine on the balcony but when we opened the door, all the bugs decided they wanted in. Chuck saved me by swatting them down with a towel. But the bug problem was getting worse! Eww.
Bugs on the balcony
So we just finished our caramel corn with a glass of wine while watching tv before bed.
Up Next: Another Epcot day and MK but will there be food pics?
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Then made our way to Epcot via monorail. When we first got into the park we checked on the wait for Soarin’ and it was over 1 hour which would have made us late for our ressie. The FP return time was for 7:30 pm and at that time we would be in DHS. So we skipped it for now and went to Nemo. We rode the clam shells (another first for us) but didn’t have all that much time to look around because we needed to be in WS at 12:30. We made our way over to LeCellier for lunch. 
Then we went back to BLT to get freshened up for our dinner ressie at DHS. 
Then she took our order. I had the Lettuce wedge salad and Chuck had a seafood salad app.
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