A 40th celebration to end the world! THREAD 1 COMPLETED 2/16 - Page 55 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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Beautiful photos! Love the Stitch hat!! The Polynesian's store downstairs is always fun to visit. Thanks for sharing
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Disney Trips: BLT & Poly Bungalow 2016, VGF 2015, Fantasy 2015, Saratoga Springs Resort 2014, Grand Villa at VGF 2013, Fantasy 2013, BWV and Kidani Village 2011, BWV and Kidani Village 2010, BWV and Saratoga Springs Resort 2008,Beach Club Villas 2008,Villas at Wilderness Lodge 2006, BWV 2006, BCV 2005, HHI 2004,Polynesian 2003,Grand Floridian 2000/concierge, Honeymoon at Polynesian 1994,Polynesian 1980,Polynesian 1978
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Sue
If our trips ever coincide (one day I hope! ) then we'll definitely go with you. Any chance of end of October/start of November this year? Just asking...
I'm working on another fall trip, but the dates depend on whether Luke can get off. He has toyed with the idea of retiring with me, but his boss is rather fond of keeping him.
What a nice visit to GF and I had no idea about the walk to the Poly. Only about 10 minutes?
That's what I'd say. Mind you, I am calculating that from the new water play area over to the edge of the Polynesian. If you did it from both main buildings, it could be closer to 20 minutes, as it would probably take five minutes just to walk through the property of each, if that makes sense?
I'm working on another fall trip, but the dates depend on whether Luke can get off. He has toyed with the idea of retiring with me, but his boss is rather fond of keeping him.
Oh... well that's not fair. We're hoping to be out there from 30 October - 6 November... well those are the dates I'm booked off from work. I just need to get on and book it!
Sunday 9 December – part four: a British (and American) get together in Japan!
We had about half an hour in the room before we headed out to do some shopping. On the way out, we stopped to look at the turtles in the Beach Club Villas lake. There were so many of them!
The plan was to go to the Orlando Premium Outlets at Vineland Avenue, but as soon as we joined Vineland Avenue, we got stuck in a traffic jam, so we quickly gave up on that idea, and headed for the Lake Buena Vista Factory Stores instead. Thank goodness we could remember how to get there, as the GPS didn’t want to play.
We had a look in the Reebok store, but honestly, it was the worst selection we’ve seen in all our years of coming to Florida, and there were no staff to help, so we ended up walking out. We’ve never done that before.
I had more luck in VF, where I was able to get three pairs of jeans for $63 - boy was I happy with that!
Mark tried looking for jeans there and in the Levi outlet, but no joy. That done, we headed over to Wal-Mart to stock up on a few things, finding a couple of neat Disney T-shirts in there for us, and also getting deodorant supplies for me, and my dad, after he rang while we were at the checkout. My first question was “do you want any deodorant?” and when he said I had to run back and get some.
From there, we headed back to the room, with me making a quick pit stop, as I realised I hadn’t got Dawn’s cell phone number on my phone, I tried accessing the boards to get it, but it told me it didn’t have enough memory left to access my private messages. Well, I guess there are a few…
We walked over to Epcot, and by now, it was boiling hot, although there was a little more air around. We stopped to get some photos on the way…
… and also got some Photopass pics done in France.
At this point, Mark said “I’m surprised you’re not getting a Grand Marnier slush.” Oh well, if you insist then! It was just what we needed, as its cold helped to stop us heating up anymore.
By the time we got to Japan, it was about 1:15pm, and we couldn’t see anyone else around, so we stopped to watch Miyuki for a few minutes…
… then Sheri came and found us, and told us everyone was upstairs. I checked us in, got the pager, and as we walked up the stairs, it went off. Ok. I saw Annabel, Andy, Clare and Andy, quickly said hi and told them we were going to be seated.
In we went, and after a bit of debate, we won the argument, and managed to have a table of seven to ourselves. It wouldn’t have been fair to have added in another couple into this mix.
We were seated in the first room, and were soon all chatting away like old friends. They managed to get the drinks order out of us, with me getting a Tokyo Sunset, and Mark getting a Yokohama something… I don’t remember the name now!
For the meal, Mark went for the wafu ribs, sake, soy sauce and ginger braised pork ribs, for appetiser…
… while I had the assorted tempura, but just the shrimp and vegetables, not the chicken. It was all very nice, although finding butternut squash was one of the vegetables was a bit on the weird side…
They’ve changed the menu quite a bit, and I was disappointed that you can no longer get a combination of fish, which I’ve enjoyed in the past. Instead, I opted for the Hotate, or cold water sea scallops, while Mark went for the Nihonbashi, otherwise known as steak and chicken breast. There are no photos of our actual entrees, as we were too obsessed with eating them but there are at least lots of shots of them being created!
She really did put on a great performance, and this is one of the reasons that we keep returning here time and time again.
When it got to dessert, the two Andys were very brave, and went for the green tea cheesecake. I should’ve got a photo of it but it came out looking like pistachio, it was very green, and I think it’s fair to say they weren’t 100% sure about it, although I do remember Annabel trying it, and really enjoying it. They haven’t convinced me yet though. It’s just a little too way out for my liking…
Instead, we opted for the chocolate ginger cake, which was very nice:
We lingered for ages, just chatting away, and eventually, after 3:00pm, we figured we’d better leave the premises. As someone said, it’s always a give away, when all the Cast Members are gathered there, trying to be discrete, but waiting to clear your table!
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Great meal at Teppen Edo - This is one that I have been wanting to try FOREVER! and just never have? I love japanese food its my fav. but is this place just like all the rest that you can eat at in your home towns? Or does it have the Disney touch? Trying to get all my dining decided this weekend and this is one I would like to try, if it is different then the places you can eat at at home. Just dont want to waste a dinner if it is same ol same ol. Thanks for your thoughts on this one!
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Me and Cole in the Sears Tower Skydeck, 103 floors up, in a glass box hanging off the side!
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Looks like a great meal and very nice to get the table to yourselves. I've never had dessert there, but really like green tea ice cream, so maybe I should try the cheesecake!
Teppen Edo looks great! I love those types of restaurants! Entertainment and a good dinner all wrapped into one. It looks like a fun group of people too.
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) then we'll definitely go with you. Any chance of end of October/start of November this year? Just asking... 
By the way, your close ups of flowers have been so beautiful.
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We're hoping to be out there from 30 October - 6 November... well those are the dates I'm booked off from work. I just need to get on and book it! 
Well, I guess there are a few… 
It was just what we needed, as its cold helped to stop us heating up anymore. 
and told them we were going to be seated. 
They managed to get the drinks order out of us, with me getting a Tokyo Sunset, and Mark getting a Yokohama something… I don’t remember the name now! 
but there are at least lots of shots of them being created! 
but it came out looking like pistachio, it was very green, and I think it’s fair to say they weren’t 100% sure about it, although I do remember Annabel trying it, and really enjoying it. They haven’t convinced me yet though. It’s just a little too way out for my liking…
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