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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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10-02-2014, 10:17 PM
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#11
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Community Rank: Globetrotter 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Florida & Maine
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 3,411
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Update: Day 3, Part 2 Moving to the Boardwalk and More Food!!!
If you're keeping track, we are missing Day 3, Part 1. That is the Wild Africa Trek. Which we did go on, and I will post all about it. But, since I need to download the photos from the WAT website, we'll wait for a later post. I'm going to skip ahead and talk about the rest of our day.
After we finished up at Animal Kingdom, we made a short detour off property to pick up some drinks and snacks for the rest of the week. This was good, because it gave us an opportunity to come back through the welcome sign:
Our destination was the Boardwalk Villas. This is our first stay at the Villas, although we've been to the Inn before. Awesome. It just felt so much more like Disney as we entered the lobby. I will give a summary of our Bay Lake Tower stay at the end of this report - it was good, but the Boardwalk felt like "Home."
We checked into our awesome room, which was ready before 3pm (more details to come later). We just relaxed, took a short nap, and then we were ready to go. Our destination was dinner at the Rose & Crown. When we checked in, we received all of the items for the F&W Premium Package. This included new Magic Bands (remember this). The view from our room in the late afternoon:
We caught the boat over to Epcot at 6:30pm. It's a short walk, but who in our family can resist a boat ride?
It might have been drizzling on and off:
We were soon at the Gateway to Epcot. Guess who's Magic Band no longer worked? Yep, that would be Grumpy Bear's. He was not happy, as a man with an iPad tried for 20 minutes to sort things out (he could see all our passes, etc. on his iPad, but couldn't get the band to work). He finally sent us in, with the suggestion we check in at Guest Relations. By this time, we were already at our ADR time, so we just went to dinner. Grumpy Bear was a Grump, and I am thinking, "Can I NOT put two successful events together in a day?" (foreshadowing - the WAT was a success).
We waited a short time, and were buzzed in. The host took us through the side patio, down onto the main patio, and to the perfect table on the bottom terrace. This is the spot you die for if you want to watch Illuminations from here, and we hadn't even requested an outside table. I snapped a photo with the iPhone:
Grumpy's mood began to pick up, especially when he hit it off with our server, Matt. It was only Matt's second week here, but he was excellent. Lou started with the salmon for his appetizer, and I chose the classic Scotch Egg:
Both were delicious. I chose the Fish & Chips for dinner, Lou went with the Steak & Fish. I am not exaggerating - the Fish was some of the best we've ever had. Lou's steak was good, too. But, he raved about the fish. Excellent!
We skipped dessert, but did have coffee. By this time, we decided to stay for Illuminations, and Matt had no problem with that (we did make it worth his while). I'll just finish by posting a bunch of Illuminations photos ...
Yeah, that's a lot of Illuminations Photos, but Darlene said it was okay 
Needless to say, this turned out to be a special evening. I mentioned in my PTR that the Rose & Crown is a nostalgic favorite of ours, being the first restaurant we ever visited in Epcot many years ago. So glad it did not disappoint!
Up Next: Our First Visit to Food & Wine, or The Wild Africa Trek - not sure which one will come first.
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