3 Notes at Portofino...Never again! - Page 2 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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I was there during Fay too! The rain, yikes!! We went thru 2 ponchos!! We were at the Hard Rock, didn't feel like trudging back down the path in the deluge, boats not running, but they do have a bus shuttle back to the 3 hotels, which we took.
We were treated very well, so for those of you who were planing to stay, I would stay with your plan. Sometimes things go wrong, no mater where you stay, WDW or other places. But the majority of time I think there's no problem.
Please don't anyone get me wrong. I wouldn't want any of you not to go to the Portofino because of our problems. It just wasn't a good stay for us and I needed to vent. I'm sure that for every bad stay at the PBH there are hundred's of great ones. But next time for us it will be Royal Pacific.
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Please don't anyone get me wrong. I wouldn't want any of you not to go to the Portofino because of our problems. It just wasn't a good stay for us and I needed to vent. I'm sure that for every bad stay at the PBH there are hundred's of great ones. But next time for us it will be Royal Pacific.
Please don't feel like you can't vent over a bad experience. We want to hear the good and the bad - I think it's helpful. So vent anytime!
Portofino is the only Universal resort we've never tried. We've had less than perfect stays at the other 2, but the management was always quick to try and remedy the situation. It seems like that wasn't the case with you. You might want to write a very polite letter to the management that details all your problems - maybe it will help improve future guests experiences.
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Michelle - with my step sisters!
Last edited by Shell_of_the_South; 09-08-2008 at 09:10 AM..
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I'vetayed at the PBH and RP and had wonderful stays each time. I actually felt I had much better service at Universal than Disney and the hotsl were much nicer.
I think sometimes people will have problems no matter where they stay. My worse stay in a hotel anywhere was at the Contemporary at Disney. I know others rave about it. I think I just hit bad luck (someone tried to open the sliders to my room at 2 AM) and then bad service.
I would not hesitate to stay at any of the Loew's hotels. I'm also at the point where I would consider staying at the Contemporary again.
Please don't feel like you can't vent over a bad experience. We want to hear the good and the bad - I think it's helpful. So vent anytime!
Portofino is the only Universal resort we've never tried. We've had less than perfect stays at the other 2, but the management was always quick to try and remedy the situation. It seems like that wasn't the case with you. You might want to write a very polite letter to the management that details all your problems - maybe it will help improve future guests experiences.
I know it's been a while since we stayed but now that I'm home and have had time to think about it, I beleive a polite detailed letter of our stay might be the right thing to do. I think I'll write Portofino and Loews. Thanks for your advice and thanks for understanding.
Linda
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I'm sure that for every bad stay at the PBH there are hundred's of great ones. But next time for us it will be Royal Pacific.
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Michelle - with my step sisters!
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