Ditching the Hubbies for Mousefest - Final Thoughts COMPLETED 3/4/08 - Page 15 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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What a great time you two are having! Between reading your accounting and Scarlett's of the Secret Quest at Epcot, I'm so wishing I'd been there to see you all, I can't wait to hear what the rest of the ladies have to say about this day! I'm looking forward to the rest of your trip.
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Don't know how I missed this update. Wonderful re-cap of the afternoon. What's wrong with those Norweigan men? Guess they don't know a good thing when they see one.
I finally have caught up on the whole trip report. Thanks Dawn for sharing. I so would love to have seen the Secret Quest Lush Club in action. What a fun adventure you and Tiff are having. Would you let me tag along in the future and leave hubby at home?
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They caught us all smiling and looking at the camera!!!
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Day 4, Part 3: A Meal at the Inn, PP Illuminations Meet, and a Mug Shot
Day 4, Part 3: A Meal at the Inn, PP Illuminations Meet, and a Mug Shot
After parting ways from the girls, we had some time and some margarita to finish before our ADR. We sat on the steps off to the side of the Mexico pavilion and made a game plan for the rest of the evening. We had to run back to the room to pick up some things for later in the night so we hoped the bus fairies were gonna work in our favor. After polishing off the margarita, we headed inside the pavilion. We still had some time before our ADR so we decided to check out the Gran Fiesta Tour.
With all my hubby’s trips to Mexico over the past couple of months, I was actually able to pick out some of the sites shown. He would be so proud. After seeing the Three Caballeros, we decided to check-in for our ADR. We waited for about 5 minutes and were led to a table in the middle of the restaurant. Our waiter was an older gentleman that had the energy of a five year old. He got our drink orders (water and soda—no alcohol this time ) and rushed off . While we looked over the menus, I took the opportunity to take a couple pictures of the surroundings.
Once our waiter arrived back at our table, he took our appetizer and entrée order. Of course, I pointed to what I wanted as when I try to speak Spanish, it comes out French.. Weird I know. Our waiter gave me a quick lesson in pronunciation and off he went again. Within a few minutes, he arrived with our appetizers. We both went with the Nachos - border creation of tortilla chips topped with red sauce, melted cheese, chorizo, jalapenos, tomatoes and sour cream. The nachos tasted like normal nachos and no complaints from either of us. I think we were just happy to get something in our stomachs after our little adventure.
Next came the entrée. Tiff went with the Plato Mexicano - Beef Tenderloin Tampiquena, chicken enchilada, and beef flauta, served with sour cream, black refried beans and Mexican rice, and I went with the Pollo a las Rajas - Grilled chicken breast served over red peppers, onions, chile poblano, chorizo and melted cheese. We both enjoyed our entrees for the most part. Both had a little kick to them but still good. I love red peppers but there were A LOT of red peppers. Sorry no pictures as we both started eating.
Dessert was next and we both went with Flan de Vanilla - vanilla custard in syrup, topped with roasted almonds. Tiff enjoyed it, but I am not a fan of the flan at all. : It took a little while to get the bill from our waiter but he showed up and we settled the bill rather quickly after that. We said Adios to Mexico and headed out to the buses to get back to SSR.
The bus fairies were good to us and we made it back to SSR and then back to EPCOT rather quickly. Before we knew it, we were walking through the gates of EPCOT and we luckily had some time to grab some pictures on our way to Italy in the WS.
Once we hit Mexico, Tiff and I took off speed walking. We wanted to make sure we got to Italy before the CP let out as it was going to get crowded quickly. We arrived at Italy and found Mo and Lynn. In our quest to get back to SSR, we forgot to purchase a keychain for the meet , but we still had a great time meeting up with everyone. We made the rounds saying hi to everyone as there were a lot of PassPorters roaming around. Illuminations began, and I got a few pictures before I gave up on the pictures and just enjoyed the show. During the holiday ending, there were a few tears and some soft singing. Great show as always!!
After the show, we all mingled around and waited for the crowds to disperse. Once the bulk of people had migrated out of the park, we got a group shot of the PassPorters. Poor Steve (mattnkatsmum’s DH) got the opportunity to try out several different cameras and took the group photo. Steve!!
We said good-bye and made our way with the CLT to the Beach Club to meet up with Mo and Lynn for a drink. We chatted for a bit waiting for Mo and Lynn to arrive. Once they showed up we had quite a few laughs getting our drinks. I am leaving the full story to the CLT as I have no pictures of this event. The whole Mug Shot I am sure will be explained.
We headed back to our respective resorts as it was getting a little late or we were just flat out tired. I don’t think I have ever walked around the World Showcase as much as I did today. But no complaints..no complaints at all!!! Once we made it back to SSR, we cleaned up and fell into bed.
Coming Up: Some Shopping and Finally Seeing the AK Parade
Great pictures of Epcot at night, Dawn! Watching Illuminations with all of the PPers was amazing! I had never seen the Holiday version before this trip. It brought tears to my eyes both times I saw it.
Phew, just read your trippie from the start - great way to kill an hour Love your photos, they're wonderful. The secret quest sounded such fun, I'm such a lightweight now that I'd have passed out before Italy - but I definitely have to try that margarita Now I have to have the one in Mexico AND Italy while waiting/watching IllumiNations. Great report Dawn
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After seeing the Three Caballeros, we decided to check-in for our ADR. We waited for about 5 minutes and were led to a table in the middle of the restaurant. Our waiter was an older gentleman that had the energy of a five year old. He got our drink orders (water and soda—no alcohol this time 
) and rushed off . While we looked over the menus, I took the opportunity to take a couple pictures of the surroundings.
: It took a little while to get the bill from our waiter but he showed up and we settled the bill rather quickly after that. We said Adios to Mexico and headed out to the buses to get back to SSR.
, but we still had a great time meeting up with everyone. We made the rounds saying hi to everyone as there were a lot of PassPorters roaming around. Illuminations began, and I got a few pictures before I gave up on the pictures and just enjoyed the show. During the holiday ending, there were a few tears and some soft singing. Great show as always!!
Steve!!
I am leaving the full story to the CLT as I have no pictures of this event. The whole Mug Shot I am sure will be explained.
Watching Illuminations with all of the PPers was amazing! I had never seen the Holiday version before this trip. It brought tears to my eyes both times I saw it.
Great pictures of Epcot 
Now I have to have the one in Mexico AND Italy while waiting/watching IllumiNations. Great report Dawn 
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