Dreaming of a Disney spring break - part three COMPLETED - Page 27 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Really beautiful pictures of AKL! It really is at the top of my list for my next WDW trip!
Cool pics of Sea World! I can't wait to see more. I just spent the day yesterday with my kids at Sea World San Diego, so it will be very interesting to see what's similar and what's different with the one in Orlando!
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I have yet to actually pay to enter Sea World. Been there for work events a few times, but guess at some point, I need to pay to go rides the coasters... they don't run those when conferences are going on... (shucks).
Cool pics of Sea World! I can't wait to see more. I just spent the day yesterday with my kids at Sea World San Diego, so it will be very interesting to see what's similar and what's different with the one in Orlando!
How cool - I'll be interested to hear your thoughts!
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I have yet to actually pay to enter Sea World. Been there for work events a few times, but guess at some point, I need to pay to go rides the coasters... they don't run those when conferences are going on... (shucks).
Wednesday 20 April – part two: learning about stingrays
We headed first to Turtle Point, where I did ask the SeaWorld employee whether the animals ever get put off by the screams, because I tell you, they put me off, but apparently not! With this area, it’s now tough to get good photos, as you get the reflection of Manta in the water, which is a shame.
From there, we headed into the Key West area of the park.
Our next stop was Stingray Lagoon, where we chatted for ages to the employee, as I had some questions. Having seen two different coloured ones, I wanted to know if they were different species and they were. One was migrant and one wasn’t. She explained that they had all been born and raised in captivity and could never be released into the wild, as they were now used to coming to the surface for food from humans, which seemed like a shame. She was excellent and we found all the employees we spoke to during the day to be very helpful with information about the animals we were seeing. They seemed more happy to talk than I’ve ever known them to be before on our previous visits to the park.
I'm enjoying reading about your SW portion - it's giving me something to look forward to on Thursday as well as giving me an idea of what's there. I can't wait to read your future installments about it.
I do have one comment though - is it me or does it seem like the dolphin area isn't overly deep for them? I would have though (since it's not a tank like I remember from way back when) that they would have given the dolphins more room to swim and dive.
Your Sea World day looks great. Very different from ours. We pulled in around 1:30 I think (Have to look at my notes) and not a person in line. O thought our parking was $15, but I can't be sure as Mom paid for it. I thought the parking lot looked almost empty too. We had a nice day, but it was rushed. And my body was so sore from all the walking at that point of the trip. We didn't get to see nearly half as much as I had hoped to.
I'm enjoying reading about your SW portion - it's giving me something to look forward to on Thursday as well as giving me an idea of what's there. I can't wait to read your future installments about it.
I do have one comment though - is it me or does it seem like the dolphin area isn't overly deep for them? I would have though (since it's not a tank like I remember from way back when) that they would have given the dolphins more room to swim and dive.
I'm no expert (where's Terri when you need her? ) but now you say it, it's a good point, as the tanks at the Seas are much deeper. I'm sure they must be fine in it, but it's an interesting point. You're going to love SeaWorld!
Your Sea World day looks great. Very different from ours. We pulled in around 1:30 I think (Have to look at my notes) and not a person in line. O thought our parking was $15, but I can't be sure as Mom paid for it. I thought the parking lot looked almost empty too. We had a nice day, but it was rushed. And my body was so sore from all the walking at that point of the trip. We didn't get to see nearly half as much as I had hoped to.
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She was excellent and we found all the employees we spoke to during the day to be very helpful with information about the animals we were seeing. They seemed more happy to talk than I’ve ever known them to be before on our previous visits to the park. 
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