Dreaming of a Disney spring break! THIS SECTION COMPLETED - Page 104 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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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All caught up. Sorry about the horrible service you're receiving. It looks like you might have been seated at the same table we were the last time we visited. It was all the way in the back corner. It's disappointing to hear that Le Cellier didn't live up to it's Signature status now...what a shame.
We came to the same conclusion about VWL - if we could stay in the main building we'd stay again, but the Villas are just not as great as some of the other DVC options. We REALLY want to stay at BW or BC one of these days....
Great pictures of Illuminations! That is still my favorite show, I think (although the new memories one on the castle may be giving it some competition!).
I need to go back to your PTR to see how close you are to boarding the Dream!! I am so anxious to read that part of your report!!
You would love both the BoardWalk and Beach Club!
I'll save you looking it up - we're about to start 13 April, which is the day before we boarded the Dream, so we're almost there...
Great pics! Coral Reef and LeCellier and two of our favs., really hate hearing that LeCellier was not that good, now has me second guessing it for next year? But Coral Reef is a must do for us!
I would hope that, by next year, they'd have improved things there. They may even have improved things by now, as I know it's had a lot of bad reviews since it became signature...
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Enjoyed your updates Cheryl I haven't been to LeCellier since they became a signature restaurant but I was there in January and it was so bad that I vowed not to return again. It's unfortunate because it was a place I enjoyed going to years ago but the last two times I wasn't impressed with the food or the service.
Wednesday 13 April – part one: a surprise extra on the Segway tour no-one’s heard of!
It was an early start for us – 6.30am to be precise – as we had to be at Epcot by 8am for the Nature Inspired Design Segway Tour. We were out of the door before 7.30am and, while Mark headed off to get the car, I went to Roaring Forks to get some hot water for the tea, along with milk and sugar, and a couple of muffins for breakfast.
After a near miss with a guy who decided to turn right on red without looking we made it to the Epcot parking lot by about 7.45pm. We sorted out our tea in the car park, chatting to the Cast Members there.
It was so cool to walk through the area with no-one else in sight. It was as if we had the park to ourselves.
We even walked through the bag check with no bag check, as the security guy was too busy, being bored and looking over a gate and didn’t even see us come in!
We went up to the gate and told them why we were there. “The Undiscovered Future World Tour?” replied the Cast Member. : Fortunately, just as we were trying to explain – again - while we were there, Wade, who was one of our guides for the tour, rolled up on his Segway and explained why we were there.
We walked through Future World to Guest Relations with him to sign our waiver forms and met Anne, our other guide. We were literally the only two on this tour, which was so cool.
From there, it was over to Innoventions to do our orientation, getting more photos in a deserted Future World on the way. It was so lovely to be there before anyone else!
Having chatted to them both and told them about our previous experience, they told us that we could have a shorter orientation, as we seemed to know what we were doing. The session started with a really interesting video about how the Segway was developed. I didn’t realise that it came from a wheelchair that could go up and down steps, but sadly that design is pretty much obsolete now, as it cost something like $35,000, so it didn’t sell much. I can’t think why....
We then had the safety video, with all the basics about who can ride the Segways. The orientation didn’t seem to be any shorter to us. We certainly covered all the basics, but I guess we probably covered them faster, because we’d done them a few times before. Wade and Anne were happy with what we saw and told us that we’d head out around World Showcase first, which they don’t usually do on this tour and I was very grateful for them for that. It was such a treat to go out amongst the countries, the majority of them all closed off.
We were able to stop wherever we liked to get photos of topiaries and both Wade and Anne took photos of us wherever we wanted them as well. It was so relaxed and it was a lovely thing to be able to do.
Awesome tour. Although I think I'd be scared I'd fall off or something. LOL
So I caught your update tonight but I'm pretty sure its morning for you... what is the time difference?
We're five hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. I'm on early, as I'm waiting for our Alaskan excursions/Palo bookings to open up - no joy yet. So much for being available at midnight EST!
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What a great private tour! Many years ago they had the Segway wheelchair on display in Innoventions (I think it was till called Communicore then). It was an amazing device--could go up and down stairs, raise the rider to a standing height to deal with high counters at banks, etc. I think there are still some people working to develop it, but it was not only very expensive, it was larger than a fully-equipped regular power chair and wouldn't fit on a lot of car lifts. What a life-changing machine it would be if it could be widely distributed.
How lucky to see Epcot in the early morning in it's beauty and so peaceful. I may have to book a tour to experience the serenity. Although I'm not sure about a ride on a segway. lol
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I haven't been to LeCellier since they became a signature restaurant but I was there in January and it was so bad that I vowed not to return again. It's unfortunate because it was a place I enjoyed going to years ago but the last two times I wasn't impressed with the food or the service.
we made it to the Epcot parking lot by about 7.45pm. We sorted out our tea in the car park, chatting to the Cast Members there. 
: Fortunately, just as we were trying to explain – again 
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