National parks, natural beauty and a bit of Disney wonder! COMPLETED - Page 64 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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.
Taking a break from last night's Downton Abbey to pop in here...
I thought Hole n the Rock was a house that you can tour, and I looked it up--it still is, but they added a zoo?? Seems very odd and not a match, but I guess you have to do whatever you have to do to bring the crowds in!
And yes, those are llamas. Llamas are very popular animals to raise out here. Just watch Napoleon Dynamite!
Sounded like a big storm! I'm the opposite though, I rather enjoy them. Maybe enjoy isn't the right word.... I can't rest during them, I suppose they make me slightly nervous, but I am in awe with what Mother Nature can do so I get anxious and excited and nervous all at once when a storm is approaching! Lightning is amazing!
Oh, mapquest. How many times have I been messed up by their estimated times!! Frustrating to say the least. At least the directions are right, even if the times are off.
__________________
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Taking a break from last night's Downton Abbey to pop in here...
I thought Hole n the Rock was a house that you can tour, and I looked it up--it still is, but they added a zoo?? Seems very odd and not a match, but I guess you have to do whatever you have to do to bring the crowds in!
And yes, those are llamas. Llamas are very popular animals to raise out here. Just watch Napoleon Dynamite!
that sounds about right. If a tourist attraction over here needs more visitors, they'll add something to get people through the day and it doesn't necessarily tie in with what's already there.
Sounded like a big storm! I'm the opposite though, I rather enjoy them. Maybe enjoy isn't the right word.... I can't rest during them, I suppose they make me slightly nervous, but I am in awe with what Mother Nature can do so I get anxious and excited and nervous all at once when a storm is approaching! Lightning is amazing!
Oh, mapquest. How many times have I been messed up by their estimated times!! Frustrating to say the least. At least the directions are right, even if the times are off.
Lightning always freaks me out, although the only time it didn't was when we watched it out to sea from Miami - probably because it didn't have the thunder or anything else to go with it.
I've learnt my lesson with Mapquest - I'll check everything with Google maps as well in the future.
Thursday 15 September – part two: one of the national park’s best visitor centres!
Soon we were coming into Moab.
The sure sign of civilisation!
We found the post office easily enough in Moab, so that I could send a friend’s birthday card and then we started to look for food. We’d already checked and no Wal-Mart or Target here. Did you know that there are only three Wal-Marts in the whole of Utah and that the nearest Target to here is in Colorado? Well, you do now!
We spotted a garage that had a shop attached to it and I was able to get a chef’s salad, while Mark got a chicken salad and we each got a Krispy Kreme doughnut. That’s lunch sorted then.
It was only another couple of miles to Arches National Park....
As we arrived, we could see that it was going to be something of a climb to get into it, but thankfully, the roads were 100 times better than yesterday. When we got there, we upgraded to an Annual Pass, although the woman was very apologetic that she could only credit us $80, the cost of the pass. It didn’t bother me, as we’d spent $85 to date, so that was fine.
We headed into the visitor centre, doing our best to read the outdoor exhibits, in between the people standing there smoking. Couldn’t they move to one side, especially as none of them were actually looking at the exhibits?
Inside, there was more and this was definitely one of the better visitor centres we’ve seen. It was packed with information and neat exhibits and was a lot of fun to look around.
Our obligatory gift shop visit got us books on both Arches and Canyonlands, as we’d decided to go there later, now that we were Annual Pass holders and fridge magnets, along with a couple of postcards. More to pack...
Then we set off around the park. I will be honest, I was expecting to see arches from the outset, especially as the park is supposed to be home to 2,000 of them. Well, if we saw more than a dozen, I’d be surprised, as sadly they were nowhere near as easy to spot, as I’d originally hoped, although having said that, this park does have a lot more to offer than just arches.
That’s where we’re going – where that car is! The visitor centre below us
It's great that they put so much effort into making a great visitors' center. Nice to view all the exhibits explaining what you're about to see. Looking forward to more photos of the park.
Mcdonald's and a chinese restaurant = civilization!
Fascinating stuff in the visitors center. I love explaining that all to my kids, and watching their faces in disbelief that the earth existed soooo very long ago in order for these things to form.
I have a question for you - What does your fridge look like? Do you put up all these magnets?
__________________
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
I love seeing all the signs you've photographed--as the chains and brands that are available vary so widely across the US! I think that the History Channel show American Pickers has made me slightly obsessed with seeing gas station signs!
Mcdonald's and a chinese restaurant = civilization!
Fascinating stuff in the visitors center. I love explaining that all to my kids, and watching their faces in disbelief that the earth existed soooo very long ago in order for these things to form.
I have a question for you - What does your fridge look like? Do you put up all these magnets?
we do - although I had to rearrange it a few months ago to fit them all on...
I think this was before the rearrangement, but it gives you an idea...
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
About This Page: 
Tricia
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
that sounds about right. If a tourist attraction over here needs more visitors, they'll add something to get people through the day and it doesn't necessarily tie in with what's already there. 
and then we started to look for food. We’d already checked and no Wal-Mart or Target here. Did you know that there are only three Wal-Marts in the whole of Utah 
and that the nearest Target to here is in Colorado? Well, you do now! 
Linear Mode
