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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I think Ghirardelli's for breakfast is am excellent idea. I'll need to copy that one on my next trip. I'm sure the hot fudge sauce is the perfect energy boost for a day packed with walking and WDW seems to be a weight gain free zone.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
One quick question please Who in the heck is STACEY? Sorry but everytime you or the big guy mention her I go back reread this and PTR and am still scratching my head.
Now for a very public THANK YOU on FGM duties. That post card has been one bright spot for my friend over past few weeks But she did look at me funny when I said Tink wont recognize me as I'm going to wear a False Mustache !! Sorry for Hijack.
Glad you had such a great day and reading where you watched parade and fireworks from couldn't help but think Greatly disturbed minds think alike Thats where we watched from Thought about bringing my scrubs from Morgue and being Dr A. Nuss Proctology but decided it was not time or place
Thanks! It was a lot of fun. We were just so tired and my camera battery died. I think we would have to do this one over again.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ashli
The pulled pork sandwich at Pecos Bill's is my fave MK CS. Great update! Glad you actually got the breakfast you had planned for on this day.
It was good. We don't eat too many CS. Chuck was looking for a place that serves tacos. He thought it was Pecos Bill's but we come to find out it was Tortuga Tavern.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
Between your time at AK and the MNSSHP sounds like you had a great day!! How cool that you meet up with Melanie and Meri at the party!!
It was cool. Great to have another PP meet! They are really sweet!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
Over all, another good day! Fun to meet up with Meri and Melanie during the party. I'm sure I wouldn't be able to keep up with them, either. I'm always amazed reading other peoples' reports by how much they do during one day. I'm good in short spurts followed by long down-time.
Oh, no... sorry for the confusion! I just meant I was angry again for you since hearing briefly about it from your live update during your trip. I've had several fabulous breakfasts there and was very concerned that their customer service was so bad.
OH! I forgot that I told ya'll about it before! Duh! We really liked their breakfast. And we hadn't planned on too many breakfasts - instead we had more early lunches, so I was really looking forward to this breakfast!
Quote:
Originally Posted by OneLittleSpark
Sounds like a full and fun day! You got some good pics of the tigers. I am looking forward to the MVMCP, I have done the MNSSHP two times.
Glad you got to do your breakfast today. Peso Bills is one of my fave CS places. I just wish I knew that you could ask for a regular roll, instead of that hard nasty multigrain one. I think I read that they got rid of those? Hmmm....
Can't wait to hear about your relaxation day!
We've done MVMCP x2 but this MNSSHP was a first. I just wish 1- my camera hadn't died and 2-we had planned it a little better. We had decided to do this last minute so our "costumes" weren't planned well and that night, we were pretty tired. We don't do many CS so Pecos Bill's was new to us. It was ok. But I think it didn't agree with Chuck too well as he started not feeling too well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hugmonster
A down day no way!!! Bet they go shopping..
Hmmmm. Maybe . I don't think there was a day where we didn't AT LEAST go into the gift shop at the resort.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
What a packed day!
Yeah - we were kinda filling em up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OneLittleSpark
OMG! That is SO cool Shazza! SO much better than that creepy guy staring. LOVE the pic!
Isn't it cool! I saved it to my ipad.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
What a great day! Love the pics from AK and MK! Glad you had a great time at the party!
Thanks! It was fun!
Quote:
Originally Posted by shazza
Just used photoshop to replace the background with Mickey and Donald
I saved it to my Ipad! I'm so computer illiterate! I just figured out photobucket! (and sometimes still have issues with that!)
Quote:
Originally Posted by lfredsbo
Had a bit of catching up to do!!! Sounds like a great time!!!
Love the pic of Chuck sleeping on the monorail!
And LOVE that Shazza was able to photoshop that pic!!! Creepy guy! We have a few of those too I think!
Well, you're excused for getting behind. After all, you were decidedly out of town! Chuck always seems to catch 20 winks on the bus!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Thomhazel
I think Ghirardelli's for breakfast is am excellent idea. I'll need to copy that one on my next trip. I'm sure the hot fudge sauce is the perfect energy boost for a day packed with walking and WDW seems to be a weight gain free zone.
It was good!
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeL
One quick question please Who in the heck is STACEY? Sorry but everytime you or the big guy mention her I go back reread this and PTR and am still scratching my head.
Now for a very public THANK YOU on FGM duties. That post card has been one bright spot for my friend over past few weeks But she did look at me funny when I said Tink wont recognize me as I'm going to wear a False Mustache !! Sorry for Hijack.
Glad you had such a great day and reading where you watched parade and fireworks from couldn't help but think Greatly disturbed minds think alike Thats where we watched from Thought about bringing my scrubs from Morgue and being Dr A. Nuss Proctology but decided it was not time or place
Mike - Stacey is the lady on the tv at the resort that does the "infomercial" about the "Disney Must Do's". It just constantly repeats. No problem about being FGM. It was my pleasure. Glad it cheered her up! It was my first time doing that. No worries about the hijack (it really wasn't that much of one). I would leave THAT name tag off the scrubs!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lazanya
Great updates! Sounds like you had a great time at the party!
Thanks! We did - but like I said, we didn't get all out of it that we could have.
Today was an “off” day. We didn’t have park plans. We slept in. I woke when Chuck came back after starting laundry. He said “meet me at the pool after you wake up”. OK. So I had my tea and caught up on fb. Then I got ready and headed down to the pool. He wasn’t there. I figured he was in the laundry room so I waited but didn’t see him. I went to the laundry room and he wasn’t there. I thought maybe he went back to the room to drop off laundry and would come back to the pool. Nope. Finally, after I swam alone for a bit, I went back to the room and he said “How could you miss me?” It was just a comedy of errors really. We must have kept missing each other.
OKW pool
nice weather! For now
WARNING - FOOD PORN!
We got dressed and went to lunch at Olivia’s.
I want this ceiling fan!
Our server Jason was really nice. He told us how all the uneaten/left over food gets “composted” and fed to the animals. Chuck had crab cakes, shrimp and grits and I had onion rings and a Cuban sandwich.
We took our desserts to go (key lime tart - oh so good!) We took the tarts back to the room and then we were going to rent a pontoon boat. We signed the contract, got our life vests and went down to the dock.
As he was going over everything, they yelled down that they were shutting it down due to weather.
Yes, there were clouds - but we probably could have squeezed our ½ hour in there. So we rented a surrey bike instead.
Man - ½ hour on that and your legs are screaming! It is a work out! When we came back it was getting more cloudy and going to start raining any minute. We went back to the room and changed into our suits and decided to go for a swim. Together this time. It was raining but no lightening or thunder so we were ok. And we figured - we’re getting wet anyway. We practically had the pool to ourselves! After pool/hot tub time, we came back and napped. We also figured out our luggage situation for the trip home (bought an extra carry on for Chuck at the gift shop which we kind of planned to do.) and ordered an owners locker. Then we got ready for dinner.
WARNING: MORE FOOD PORN!
We took the bus to MK and then the monorail to GF. We made it in time for our ADR at Narcoosses. This was a first for us both. We had a seat by the window and it was a fine view. I had the cheese board and a margarita for app while Chuck had calamari.
Dinner I had the surf and turf. Now, mind you, I don’t eat fish. And I have NEVER had lobster. I was planning on sharing this with Chuck. But he didn’t get much of it! LOL! It was soooo sweet and tender and delectable and yummy! Not fishy at all. I don’t like fish because I don’t like the fishyness of fish. (sometimes it is a texture thing) Well, this trip has changed my mind. First the tuna at Fulton’s and now this!
Before
After:
Chuck had Ahi.
Then we had our desserts. We had been chatting with our server and it came up that tomorrow (9/16) was our “technical” anniversary. We have the anniversary we celebrate (in July) which is our ceremony day and our “technical” anniversary which is the day we did all the paperwork - we got the marriage license and filed it, etc. So our desserts came with little Happy Anniversary chocolate things on them. I had the molten chocolate cake and Chuck had the mango sorbet with fruit.
All in all - one of the best meals!
We decided to go home the easy way - we took the bus from GF to DTD and switched there. No need to battle crowds because Wishes had just ended. We actually left Narcoossees during the fireworks and watched some of it while walking to the bus stop. Once back at OKW, we decided to go over our plans for the rest of the trip since this was about midway. We ended up tweaking a couple of things. We cancelled our ADR’s at Rose and Crown and Hollywood Brown Derby. Because if we had kept them, we would have been zig zagging all over WDW. We would have had to go to Epcot in the middle of our last AK day (for lunch) and would have had to go to DHS in the middle of our Epcot day. It was just better this way. I was a bit bummed because I was really looking forward to those but it’s not like I wasn’t already eating really well. Anyway, after another full, rich day, we hit the sack.
What a wonderful day of relaxing and eating. Your meals look delicious! Good for you for trying new things! I know what you mean about fishy fish. There is fish, and then there's fish stick smelling fish.