From no trip to celebrating 20 years together… planning it all in less than 100 days! UPDATED 6/30 - Page 58 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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You got some amazing butterfly photos, wow! I think you have much more patience than I do.
Oh Disney, we're on to you. We know your little trick... fool me with your wait times! Actually confirmed by a CM. Ha! But yeah, if it's ever wrong in the other direction and we wait longer....
Cute little footprints in the sand, but it makes me wonder how?
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Living with the Land is one of my favorite rides. Even my dh liked it, and said he wants to ramp up our gardening after he rode it. We saw someone in the lab the first time we rode it, but not since.
Great butterfly pictures!
That distortion on the new Soarin' is in the DL version, too. It is distracting. I didn't notice much in the way of smell - it was faint, not nearly as prominent as the old California version.
When we visited the Butterfly tent last week there were hardly any butterflies left to see. It's one of my favorite things to do at the Flower and Garden Festival too. I agree with you on the Soarin ride issue. Disney should have corrected that before they ever presented it to the public but it probably was a cost issue. I actually liked the old movie better than the new one. I love the LWL ride and noticed the little touches too.
Beautiful butterfly pictures, and I love the monorail with Mickey in the shot. I can't remember for sure, but it seems that I often see people in the lab in Living with the Land.
i love your butterfly pictures. My daughter likes to take pictures of butterflies . One day at AK she was stalking a butterfly on one of the trails. The CM asked what she was doing. Once she explained it to him, it was ok.
Liz
Saturday 25 February – part eight: what the heck is going on with those clocks?
We got some final photos on our way out…
… and sadly said our goodbyes. I am so glad we were able to spend this time together, as it was so much fun.
We set off across the bridge from St. Petersburg, and we should definitely have come this way on the way over, as it was only 75c – bargain! It was much more picturesque too.
Sadly, our trip was not going to be that easy home, as we soon hit traffic on the next major bridge…
We watched as the GPS told us first we’d be back at Old Key West by 7:30pm, then at times it went up to 8:20pm because of accidents on our route home!
Of course, the darker it got as we made our way back, the more tired Mark became as well, completely understandably. He had been a total star with all the driving today.
I had another problem. I needed a bathroom and urgently, and the further we went, I became unsure as to whether it was a stomach problem, as suddenly I had cramps and also my temperature appeared to be fluctuating. Thank goodness for McDonald’s is all I can say. Thankfully it was nothing more than just needing to use the restroom, as I was fine after that and no stomach incidents – phew!
We made it back to Old Key West about 8:00pm, and headed over to our two bedroom villa. We headed up the stairs…
… and then my MagicBand didn’t work. I couldn’t believe it! Thankfully Mark’s did, and we were inside our spacious new home. It was insane how much space there was in here. You could tell this was the first to be built, as they really didn’t care about floor space, as shown by the fact the washer and dryer are both on the floor here, taking up more room, rather than other resorts, where they’re one on top of the other. It just felt wonderful, although definitely a crazy indulgence for just the two of us. But heck, why not?
We called for bell services, and when the guy brought our luggage, we got him to sort out the clocks in the bedrooms, which were both reading 4:22pm, rather than 8:22pm. It was very odd. He got those sorted, as I didn’t want a shock when I woke up in the middle of the night, as invariably I would.
The weather today was cloudy at first with light spots of rain, then hot and sunny with temperatures in the low 80s. The best thing today was meeting up with Tanya and Tonya. The worst thing today was the traffic getting to and from the Don CeSar. The funniest thing today was our afternoon with Tanya and Tonya – so many great laughs! Today we tried going to St. Petersburg beach And the result was beautiful as it is, it was a nightmare to get to. The most magical moment today was watching the gorillas.
Next: why can’t we go to the ticket booth?
Funny how great the pictures of the 2 bedroom at OKW makes me happy, and sad at the same time. That is my true home away from home, and we are at 149 days until we get to 'move in' again! I can't even say how happy I feel.. how relaxed just walking in makes me. Home away from home has never had some much meaning to me until I fell in love with OKW and our home in the 2 bedroom units.
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I love the new Soarin' movie, but I agree that the distortion is distracting, especially the Eiffel Tower! I don't understand why that couldn't be fixed.
You got some amazing butterfly photos, wow! I think you have much more patience than I do.
It didn't take that long. I reckon maybe about 10 minutes? It was too hot in there to spend much longer in there.
Quote:
Oh Disney, we're on to you. We know your little trick... fool me with your wait times! Actually confirmed by a CM. Ha! But yeah, if it's ever wrong in the other direction and we wait longer....
Oh my goodness, yes! I'm sure we've all been there, done that...
Quote:
Cute little footprints in the sand, but it makes me wonder how?
Oh come on, you know the answer to that one... Disney magic!
Great butterfly pictures!
That distortion on the new Soarin' is in the DL version, too. It is distracting. I didn't notice much in the way of smell - it was faint, not nearly as prominent as the old California version.
When we visited the Butterfly tent last week there were hardly any butterflies left to see.
Oh what a shame.
Quote:
It's one of my favorite things to do at the Flower and Garden Festival too. I agree with you on the Soarin ride issue. Disney should have corrected that before they ever presented it to the public but it probably was a cost issue. I actually liked the old movie better than the new one.
I must admit part of me prefers the old version too....
Funny how great the pictures of the 2 bedroom at OKW makes me happy, and sad at the same time. That is my true home away from home, and we are at 149 days until we get to 'move in' again! I can't even say how happy I feel.. how relaxed just walking in makes me. Home away from home has never had some much meaning to me until I fell in love with OKW and our home in the 2 bedroom units.
I'm like you. I never got "home away from home" until we bought into the DVC and now I really understand it!
I love the new Soarin' movie, but I agree that the distortion is distracting, especially the Eiffel Tower! I don't understand why that couldn't be fixed.
It may well be cost, as someone else suggested, but it just feels a bit shoddy to me...
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Even my dh liked it, and said he wants to ramp up our gardening after he rode it. 
It's one of my favorite things to do at the Flower and Garden Festival too. I agree with you on the Soarin ride issue. Disney should have corrected that before they ever presented it to the public but it probably was a cost issue. I actually liked the old movie better than the new one. I love the LWL ride and noticed the little touches too. 
It was much more picturesque too. 
I couldn’t believe it! Thankfully Mark’s did, and we were inside our spacious new home. It was insane how much space there was in here. You could tell this was the first to be built, as they really didn’t care about floor space, as shown by the fact the washer and dryer are both on the floor here, taking up more room, rather than other resorts, where they’re one on top of the other. It just felt wonderful, although definitely a crazy indulgence for just the two of us. 
But heck, why not? 
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