Forums Closed
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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
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Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
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01-21-2007, 12:45 PM
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#46
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Community Rank: Globetrotter 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Manchester, England
Posts: 3,595
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Re: PassPorters playing together at Hallowe’en! THREAD 6 UPDATED 1/17
Great update. Your carriage ride sounds great.
So, Savannah. Is it worth a trip?
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01-21-2007, 01:59 PM
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#47
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Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ohio Football Hall Of Fame
Posts: 42,304
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Re: PassPorters playing together at Hallowe’en! THREAD 6 UPDATED 1/17
Beautiful photos of Savannah!!!
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01-21-2007, 02:18 PM
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#48
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PassPorter Message Board Manager
 PassPorter Guide Author
Community Rank: Legend VIP 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Maidstone, Kent, UK
Concierge Level: 3
Posts: 190,285
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Re: PassPorters playing together at Hallowe’en! THREAD 6 UPDATED 1/17
[ QUOTE ]
So, Savannah. Is it worth a trip?
[/ QUOTE ]
I would never say that any city or country is not worth a visit. We did enjoy Savannah, just not as much as I thought we would, as I've heard so many people raving about it on the boards. We thought in terms of history, we'd seen better in places like Boston and Philadelphia and I guess that coloured our view a bit. The cold weather didn't help either. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502no_prv.gif[/img] In short, if you're in the area, it's worth seeing, but I think we just went in with very high expectations of the city and it didn't quite meet them.
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01-21-2007, 02:22 PM
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#49
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Community Rank: Explorer 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: NE Ohio
Concierge Level: 8
Posts: 11,856
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Re: PassPorters playing together at Hallowe’en! THREAD 6 UPDATED 1/17
Beautiful pictures of Savannah. Your next installment sounds interesting.
Liz
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01-21-2007, 03:47 PM
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#50
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PassPorter Message Board Manager
PassPorter Guide Author
Community Rank: Legend VIP
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Maidstone, Kent, UK
Concierge Level: 3
Posts: 190,285
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Re: PassPorters playing together at Hallowe’en! THREAD 6 UPDATED 1/17
Wednesday 8 November – part five: locked out! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img]
Then it was back to Hilton Head Island and it always takes longer to get back there than you think it will, but the scenery was lovely.
 
Instead of going back to the room, we headed for Disney’s beach house, which is on the right, just opposite the resort, about a mile’s drive away, so you either need to drive there or get the Disney shuttle bus that runs there, although it wasn’t running that much while we were there, as it was off season. I think the hours were something like 10am – 4pm. You also have to go through a security gate to enter the whole complex. While they’ll wave you through, provided you have your Disney parking permit in the windscreen of your car.
The beach house was literally deserted when we got there, there was no-one else to be seen, which was perfect for me to take photos, but it was also a little bit freaky as well. You have to use your room key to get into the beach house. We found that the room key took a couple of attempts to work, but didn’t think anymore about that. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/ukid.gif[/img]
The beach house
A cool Disney touch on the main gate!
    
Another nice Disney touch
    
Once we finished exploring the beach house, we headed down to the beach itself and boy, it was beautiful. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img] I loved the lighting that the sun gives in the fall, I think it’s more beautiful than during the summer. There is a lot of beach here, although it did look as if the tide was out. We found some crabs on the shoreline, some of which were still intact and some of which sadly weren’t. It was very peaceful, with only a few other people around.
        
Aaah.... how sweet! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/love.gif[/img]
 
Some of the wildlife we came across on the beach
      
The view of the beach house from the beach
Once we finished, we walked back to the beach house and put the room key in to open the gate. Nothing happened. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/ukid.gif[/img] We tried again. Nothing happened. OK, third time lucky or not and I couldn’t find my room key to try that, so we were locked out. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] Another couple of attempts, but no more success and so we had to resort to desperate measures, Mark had to climb over the fence by the gate and then let me in. As he said, he’s probably on security camera somewhere doing that, but we certainly weren’t challenged when we got back in.
It was as if life had suddenly returned, with a couple of families there. As we left, another family arrived and looked like they were going to go swimming. Well, they’re braver than me. I had heard someone say that the water in the swimming pool was warm, but there was no way I was going to try it for myself. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502no_prv.gif[/img]
Next: heading up for a great view!
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01-21-2007, 04:03 PM
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#51
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Living Seas wannabe
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 31,940
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Re: PassPorters playing together at Hallowe’en! THREAD 6 UPDATED 1/17
Great update Cheryl - although I am sorry to hear you were locked out.
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01-21-2007, 09:31 PM
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#52
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Tinkerbell's Aunt
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: McHenry IL
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 13,254
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Re: PassPorters playing together at Hallowe’en! THREAD 6 UPDATED 1/17
Cheryl - Glad you got back in the Beach House! It looks like a great facility. Thanks for sharing the photos! I'v3e always wanted to visit Savannah. I think I'd like to stay there in one of the bed and breakfasts - but go when the weather is warmer.
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01-21-2007, 09:52 PM
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#53
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Batman's Gal/Mickey's Pal
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Owensboro, KY USA
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 95,254
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Re: PassPorters playing together at Hallowe’en! THREAD 6 UPDATED 1/17
The beach at Hilton Head looks wonderful! Every time Stefanie goes on the Disney site she checks out Hilton Head for some reason. She's disappointed that it's not in Orlando with WDW.
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01-21-2007, 10:42 PM
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#54
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Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ohio Football Hall Of Fame
Posts: 42,304
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Re: PassPorters playing together at Hallowe’en! THREAD 6 UPDATED 1/17
Great upate Cheryl!!!
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01-22-2007, 11:06 AM
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#55
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RED SOX NATION!!
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Connecticut
Concierge Level: 9
Posts: 136,854
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Re: PassPorters playing together at Hallowe’en! THREAD 6 UPDATED 1/17
Great updates Cheryl! Yikes! Glad Mark was able to climb over the wall and get you back in [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] Love the pictures of the beach, especially the heart Mark made [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/love.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/toast.gif[/img]
More please [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
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01-22-2007, 11:17 AM
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#56
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Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 35,829
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Re: PassPorters playing together at Hallowe’en! THREAD 6 UPDATED 1/17
Great update. Love the pix, especially the beach shots
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01-22-2007, 03:17 PM
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#57
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PassPorter Message Board Manager
PassPorter Guide Author
Community Rank: Legend VIP
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Maidstone, Kent, UK
Concierge Level: 3
Posts: 190,285
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Re: PassPorters playing together at Hallowe’en! THREAD 6 UPDATED 1/17
Wednesday 8 November – part six: heading up for a great view!
As it was still fairly light, I suggested that we went over to Harbourtown, so that I could climb the lighthouse there and get some views of the area. At the sea end of the island is Sea Pines Plantation. This is a private area and unless you’re staying there, you have to pay a $5 entrance fee to go through the gates. This was the first of Hilton Head Island’s residential gated communities in 1957 and it’s still the biggest to this day.
Harbourtown is a big draw for tourists, as it boasts a lighthouse that you can climb to the top of. It’s 114 steps in all and we both made it to the top. It helps that you can stop at every level to learn more about this part of the island. It was originally established as a nature reserve by a couple who envisaged having a small gated community amongst the deer and other animals and to their credit, as you drive towards Harbourtown, that’s the feeling you still get today. They did a good job of preserving the area. This is more what I thought the whole of Hilton Head Island would be like, if I’m honest. I wasn’t expecting it to be so commercialised and thought that we’d get more views like this from the roads.
        
Climbing up the lighthouse….
… and finally we made it to the top!
The top of the lighthouse was well worth the climb. Because I was a bit ahead of Mark, we both ended up separately getting the pressed penny that said “I climbed the 114 steps to the top of Harbourtown lighthouse”, which was quite funny. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] There was a pretty nice sunset tonight, certainly more impressive than the night before and I think we picked the right time to do this and to see all those expensive yachts below us in Harbourtown was quite something. How I’d love to have enough money to live here. A girl can dream, right? [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
           
”I’d like one of those!”
   
We headed back down and got a few more photos from ground level. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
  
We headed back to the hotel, finding the island’s roundabout, complete with instructions on how to use it. It was quite amusing to read all those signs about something that is so familiar to us. I got these photos a couple of days later, as it was dark by now, to illustrate my point:
   
Next: an unexpected surprise on the laptop!
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01-22-2007, 04:45 PM
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#58
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Tinkerbell's Aunt
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: McHenry IL
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 13,254
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Re: PassPorters playing together at Hallowe’en! THREAD 6 UPDATED 1/17
Cheryl - Harbourtown looks lovely - and the yachts [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/jawdrop.gif[/img] ! How I would love to spend a few days on one of those. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502yes_prv.gif[/img] Can't wait to hear about your surprise.
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01-22-2007, 05:43 PM
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#59
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: NE Ohio
Concierge Level: 8
Posts: 11,856
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Re: PassPorters playing together at Hallowe’en! THREAD 6 UPDATED 1/17
I'm glad Mark climbed over the wall to let you back in. All your pictues are wonderful. One of DD's loves is lighthouses. I won't tell her you climbed that one because she'll want to go too. I can't wait to read more.
Liz
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01-22-2007, 06:04 PM
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#60
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RED SOX NATION!!
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Connecticut
Concierge Level: 9
Posts: 136,854
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Re: PassPorters playing together at Hallowe’en! THREAD 6 UPDATED 1/17
Great pictures from the lighthouse (and on the ground as well)! I grew up with roundabouts (well, we call them rotaries) so it's funny to watch people drive in them who don't know how (I guess as long as they don't crash into you [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] )!
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