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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Yep, add me to the group that doesn't like hustlers. Heck, I don't even like the associates in Best Buy bothering me unless I approach them. I just like to be able to look first, not be bothered before I have even moved 5 feet into the store.
I still am in awe of everything. I just can't imagine the amount of time and work to do all of that. I too think maybe some little green men activity had something to do with it.
Another nice update Cheryl, So sorry about the hustlers, I agree that can really ruin things and is so stressful. You know everyone keeps talking about these little green men but did you stop to think it may have been little green women?
Hmmm?
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I've FINALLY caught up! I've been avoiding reading TRs of places I haven't been, because my list of places I'd like to visit keeps getting longer and longer. But I figured since Egypt was already pretty close to the top of my list, it would be safe to read this one. I read about your ordeal getting home so I could get that out of the way first. Yikes! Sorry you had to go through that. And I gave a little cheer when you finally boarded your plane!
I am really enjoying your TR (and it's a good thing Egypt is already close to the top of my list already, because I want to go more than ever, but after things have settled down there).
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
Another nice update Cheryl, So sorry about the hustlers, I agree that can really ruin things and is so stressful. You know everyone keeps talking about these little green men but did you stop to think it may have been little green women?
Hmmm?
I've FINALLY caught up! I've been avoiding reading TRs of places I haven't been, because my list of places I'd like to visit keeps getting longer and longer. But I figured since Egypt was already pretty close to the top of my list, it would be safe to read this one. I read about your ordeal getting home so I could get that out of the way first. Yikes! Sorry you had to go through that. And I gave a little cheer when you finally boarded your plane!
I am really enjoying your TR (and it's a good thing Egypt is already close to the top of my list already, because I want to go more than ever, but after things have settled down there).
I don't blame you. We'd love to go back, but we'll be waiting until things calm down there....
I still cannot get over the size of the temples...they are so beautiful and I wonder how it must of looked in its time, before centuries of the elements got to them. Even now you can tell what an amazing place it must have been.
I am finally all caught up! You take some amazing notes, I know I couldn't remember or even write down all the things learned on your adventure!
There's no way I'd remember it all, so I write it as I go. As it was a more laid back vacation, I was able to write the whole trip report on the laptop as we went and then just add in the photos when we got home!
Thursday 27 January – part eight: experiencing some genuine Egyptian TV and food!
Finally, we made it back to the entrance and went down to the avenue of the sphinxes that used to link Karnak and Luxor temples. Today, the plan is apparently to go back to that, but that means more demolition of everything in the way. We could see some homes that were obviously on the way out, as they were all boarded up. It will also include two Christian churches, one of which is over 100 years old. You may have seen photos of them both in earlier instalments, as we drove over here. I like the idea, but not at the expense of all the city’s other history.
We headed out of the temple and there was our driver waiting for us, who took us straight back to the hotel.
This was honestly the only McDonald’s that we saw in Egypt The Winter Palace Hotel The best shot I could get of the lights on the trees
When we got there, the American students seemed to be checking out, although we didn’t see any that we recognised.
We headed quickly up to our room to get some photos of the magnificent sunset.
I then set about uploading and sorting out photos, before heading out when it got dark to get some night-time shots. I was especially pleased to see the Valley of the Kings all lit up in the distance to try and stop any thieves. It’s a shame they don’t do something out there at night, but I understand why.
After a bit more time in the room, we headed down for dinner and it seemed to be Egyptian night, with a lot of the staff in more traditional dress, Egyptian style tablecloths out and Egyptian music playing. Outside, they were cooking chicken and lamb koftas, which Mark tried and seemed to approve of. Apparently, this was all a finale for the American students, who I think had already eaten and were finally heading out. It was a nice touch and we much preferred the feeling of authenticity.
A view of the Egyptian cooking from our room
Once we’d finished eating, it was back up the room, where we managed to find Arab’s Got Talent. Now, the longer version of the show, as opposed to the short snippets we’d been seeing, weren’t necessarily as much fun, but it was still interesting. We probably watched about four or five acts, and without fail, all of them went through, getting an enthusiastic response from the judges. Now, I’m assuming America’s Got Talent works in the same way as the original, which was of course, Britain’s Got Talent but here in the audition stage, some go through, some get buzzed off and not all get good comments from the judges. It was interesting to watch.
It was an early night, as we’d be setting out again at 7am in the morning for our return to the West Bank.
The weather today was hot and sunny with temperatures in the 80s. The best thing today was seeing Karnak Temple. The worst thing today was how hot it got in the morning. The funniest thing today was people watching round the pool. Today we tried going to both Luxor and Karnak temples And the result was they’re both very well worth seeing. The most magical moment today was spending time in the Hall of Columns at the Karnak Temple.
Next: what’s the road cordoned off for? Is it a demonstration?
Wow! I got so far behind! I have to say that I thought the Greeks and their columns were amazing and numerous! I think the Egyptians have far surpassed both the Greeks and the Romans on amazing columns! (I've spent a fair bit of time in Italy and a week in Greece!)
Finally caught up! Love this TR, Cheryl! The history is so fascinating. I guess I have always been intrigued with the wonders of Egypt, but never really knew the magnitude of all the buildings and statues and all! It's just amazing. I was stationed in Turkey in the 70's and was disappointed in the state of many of their historical places, castles and such. They had not tried to preserve them and they were just falling apart. It's good to see they've been able to save so much of Egyptian history.
I'm finally caught back up again! I'm just loving this! I feel like I've learned so much! Egypt wasn't really on my radar before, but now it's definitely on the list (after it settles down, of course).
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The hustlers would have been so off-putting to me. Sorry they kept bothering you two.
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Now, the longer version of the show, as opposed to the short snippets we’d been seeing, weren’t necessarily as much fun, but it was still interesting. We probably watched about four or five acts, and without fail, all of them went through, getting an enthusiastic response from the judges. Now, I’m assuming America’s Got Talent works in the same way as the original, which was of course, Britain’s Got Talent 
but here in the audition stage, some go through, some get buzzed off and not all get good comments from the judges. It was interesting to watch. 
Melanie
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