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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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to Maddie! I can't believe she is seven years old! Time flies too quickly I love how Thom announced it was Maddie's birthday on the Amtrak train!!! She must have been in her glory receiving happy birthday wishes along with the Amtrak pins handed out!
I remember when I was young, we took a family camping trip to Canada. My mother realized on our way up that she forgot to put her suitcase of clothes into the camper. We made a stop at a "Stein Mart" type of store in Canada for her to buy a few pieces of necessary clothing and proceeded to set up the camper for our first overnight stay in the store parking lot. We often laugh about that story at family gatherings.
Looking forward to seeing the Grand Villa pictures!
Love the idea of taking the sleeper train to Disney. Oh for one of those under the Atlantic.
hilarious about arriving with no clothes, we have been there too. We live in Paris and my DH and Ds were flying to Scotland to watch Scotland France rugby. They had a packed suitcase ready for the hold and an empty carry on to bring something back (can't remember what). Traffic was so bad getting out to the airport it took 3 hours instead of 30 mins. We arrived at the airport exactly 7 mins before the plane took off. all they could do was grab the empty carry on and run through security and board. They were not even last on the plane but they did arrive in Scotland without a single item of clothing and had to go straight shopping.
We rode PotC, BTMRR and HM in quick succession before Amy decided to head back to the hotel and head off (no pun intended ) a migraine that was threatening. I received a text before 3 p.m. that our room was ready (which was incredible in itself ), so she could rest for a bit also.
The rest of us rode IaSW just so we would have the song playing in our heads all day and then moved on to Barnstormer. There was a chance of afternoon thunderstorms every day of our trip and the weather prediction looked as if it was going to hold up today. Black clouds were moving in and we knew that our time was limited. As we stood in a short line for Barnstormer, the CM began making an announcement that the ride would close if lightening was spotted in the area. We knew that our chance of riding was 50/50 by this point, but luck was on our side and we ended up being the very last coaster out.
We actually had to sit for a bit outside after the ride until they could clear the coaster still in the loading area. It did give me the chance to take this great picture of the family!
After we finally unloaded, we decided not to tempt fate and to head back to the hotel ourselves. As we walked out of the park, all of the adults starting receiving text messages from Amy. Apparently, she had arrived in the room and was extremely happy with it. She was sending video, pictures and texts full of love. Mine stated that I was her favorite sister-in-law (we won’t go into the fact that I’m also her only sister-in-law ) and that the room rocked.
Since I had been in a Grand Villa before for a few hours ( Bob and Larry!), I knew exactly why Amy was having such a reaction. BLT truly puts the “grand” in the Grand Villa. Due to the cost in points, I hadn’t booked the Magic Kingdom view, but I figured that the Lake View must be pretty spectacular also if Amy loved the room this much.
We headed to the 15th floor and walked down the hall looking for our room. I kept looking on the right side for our room number which was the lake view, so I was really confused when I saw that our room was on the left side. When we opened the door and I saw the view before us, I realized that we had a villa with a combination MK and Lake View . . . or in other words, we had the best of both worlds. As if this gorgeous villa wasn’t enough, we had a killer double view.
To the left:
To the right:
Amy had taken a shot to take care of her budding migraine and was all smiles by the time we arrived. She was still gushing about the villa and immediately dubbed it the “Kardashian Suite.”
As everyone wandered from room to room taking everything in, I went upstairs and peeked out of the door to check out a theory. Sure enough, the Top of the World lounge was right there. Our location could not have been more perfect!
When I went back downstairs and revealed my latest discovery, Thom and Chuck were immediately taking drink orders and out the door. When they returned with our drinks, Chuck then took the little ones to the Contempo Café to pick up their mugs and get their own drinks. Thom disappeared again and came back with a flatbread pizza from the lounge. The rest of us unpacked the snacks we had brought and had quite a feast.
As we sipped our drinks and snacked, we chatted and watched the show that Mother Nature was about to put on. With two stories of nothing but windows, we had a front row seat for a fantastic thunderstorm. At one point, I was sitting with my back to the windows and could see the glare that the lightening threw off (I think I felt it too ).
Mary Devall actually did a little homework that afternoon.
The master bedroom and a tv in the bathroom!
Thom and Chuck went back to the lounge for refills as day turned into night and we were treated to the lights of MK along with the lightening. There was a Halloween party that night and we honestly felt bad for the people who had tickets . . . and we were all hoping that our party tomorrow night wouldn’t have the same outcome.
About 7:30, we pulled ourselves away from our warm and cozy villa and braved the elements to cross the bridge to the Contemporary. We literally sounded like nine little piggies as we squealed and ran across the bridge as the sideways ran pelted us (they really need to completely close in that bad boy ).
The monorail was packed with soggy party goers. There’s nothing sadder than a drenched family of super heroes , but we did hear that they had cancelled the party so everyone would be getting their money back.
We hopped off at the Poly and Thom checked us in at the Kona Café. Amy and Amanda went to the bar to buy drinks and our pager went off at the moment that they walked up and handed me a glass of wine. Perfect timing.
As soon as we were seated and our server came to our table, I let him know that I had ordered a cake for Maddie. The problem was going to be keeping Maddie awake because she was starting to get a little grumpy (evidence in picture below ) and looking as if she could pass out at any moment.
We ordered a few appetizers for the table to split and then each ordered an entrée. After years of hearing about it, I finally ordered the ribeye. I think between all of us, almost everything on the menu was ordered.
I talked Chuck into trying a Lapu Lapu which he enjoyed immensely. We all had a taste and I could see how it could get you into trouble very quickly if you didn’t watch your intake. Let’s put it this way . . . Chuck was a very happy guy. Maddie had perked up by this time (and no, it wasn't the Lapu Lapu . . . this was a totally staged picture ).
Everyone really enjoyed their food here although we did have a bit of switcheroo. Jack ordered duck and ate every bite and then he ate Maddie’s cheeseburger and then Maddie helped me eat my steak. It all worked out in the end. The steak was a bit fatty and tough for my liking, so it was good that I had help.
Since Maddie had helped me with the steak, she was sitting on my lap when they brought out her cake. It was just perfect and I was so happy with the finished product. Seeing that cake woke her right up and she was grinning from ear-to-ear.
After we sang Happy Birthday and she blew out the candle, she dug right into the decorations on top. We all agreed that all of the decorations except for the “leaves” were very tasty. The cake itself was delicious although we ended up taking almost half of it back to the villa (and never touched it again ).
The monorail on the way back to the Contemporary was still filled with drenched party goers so I imagine that they kept the park open even though they “officially” cancelled the party. The rain had finally stopped by this time, so I imagine these folks were just tired and water logged.
Once back in the villa, either Amy or Amanda suggested going to the lounge for a nightcap and off we went. We found a little corner and chatted away until Wishes began (which was the true sign that the park was still open for those party goers who cared to stay). After oohing and aahing over Wishes, we went back to our cozy little corner and chatted a little more. It was somewhere between 11 p.m. and midnight when we took the short walk back to the room. Everyone else was asleep by this time and we soon joined them.
__________________
Sometimes words aren't needed . . .
Last edited by Jillybean; 11-30-2012 at 10:01 AM..
What an amazing view! Thanks for all of the pictures of the Villa. It's absolutely gorgeous. I'm not sure I'd want to leave it to go to the parks every day! What a cute birthday cake!
What a great day!! That Grand Villa must be very near the 1 bedroom that we had a couple years back. I loved being right next door to the Top of the World Lounge. I hope your luck holds out for good weather for the Halloween Party.
The villa is amazing! I love the photo of Mary Deval doing her homework with Space Mountain in the window behind her. Now, that's a dedicated student. I refuse to believe that Maddie is 7. I remember so well seeing her in her stroller watching Illuminations with a very anxious look on her little face.
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to Maddie! I can't believe she is seven years old! Time flies too quickly
I love how Thom announced it was Maddie's birthday on the Amtrak train!!! She must have been in her glory receiving happy birthday wishes along with the Amtrak pins handed out! 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
), so she could rest for a bit also.
and then moved on to Barnstormer. There was a chance of afternoon thunderstorms every day of our trip and the weather prediction looked as if it was going to hold up today. 
Black clouds were moving in and we knew that our time was limited. As we stood in a short line for Barnstormer, the CM began making an announcement that the ride would close if lightening was spotted in the area. We knew that our chance of riding was 50/50 by this point, but luck was on our side and we ended up being the very last coaster out. 
(we won’t go into the fact that I’m also her only sister-in-law 
) and that the room rocked.
Bob and Larry!), I knew exactly why Amy was having such a reaction. BLT truly puts the “grand” in the Grand Villa. 
Due to the cost in points, I hadn’t booked the Magic Kingdom view, but I figured that the Lake View must be pretty spectacular also if Amy loved the room this much. 
When we opened the door and I saw the view before us, I realized that we had a villa with a combination MK and Lake View . . . or in other words, we had the best of both worlds. 
As if this gorgeous villa wasn’t enough, we had a killer double view. 
She was still gushing about the villa and immediately dubbed it the “Kardashian Suite.” 
). 
, but we did hear that they had cancelled the party so everyone would be getting their money back. 
).
,
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