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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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We got up kind of early today. We had an ADR at Kouzzina at 10 am for breakfast. So we got up around 7:30. We had our showers and coffee/tea. Got dressed and decided to leave a little early knowing we would have to change buses at DTD. We decided to do the DTD transfer rather than going to HS and taking the boat. We had done that last year going to Yachtsman’s and we were almost late because we had just missed the boat and had to wait for another one! So we didn’t want to be late - so we went to DTD. And we waited. And waited. And waited. Almost 40 mins! Apparently, the bus to YC/BC/BW had broken down. “There will be another one coming in the next 15 mins” said the CM at the bus stop. When it (finally) got there, we went to PI and had bus driver change!!!!! Arrrggghhh. Will we EVER get there? We finally got underway and had to stop at the Swan, then the Dolphin, then the Yacht Club, then the Beach Club - OMG - by this time I was ready to lose it. Finally we get to BW and Chuck and I power walk through the arch and down the stairs and practically jog up to Kouzzina. There’s a CM standing outside and I was about to give her our name for our ADR once I caught my breath. She greeted us and said “We're closed” !?!?!!!!!???? *&)&@+*#*?????!!!!!! What?!?!?!? “Oh, we had a water main break and we are closed but you can feel free to go across the lagoon to Captains Grille. They have tables” No. You don’t understand. We planned this breakfast 6 months ago. We made our ADR at 180 days. We have been looking forward to this for a year. We just spent 90 mins dealing with buses and nonsense to get here. NO!!!!!! I thought Chuck was going to lose it. When we asked if we could re-schedule, they said their computers were down. No! This cannot be happening. Chuck and I asked for the manager. She basically said she could get us in later in the week. But all of our ADR’s were already planned (at 180 days just like this one) Now Chuck and I aren’t sure about whether she said she would comp us or not. Chuck doesn’t remember her saying it. I thought she said she would comp us if we came back at another time next week (which she knew wouldn’t be happening). So either way - no comp for us. Our question is - why didn’t they call? They get your number when they take your ADR. Granted, their computers were down but there has to be some way they can access Disney Dining from another computer and get the numbers. It really upset us, because if we have an issue that effects our appointments - we call and reschedule! “I’m sorry, the doctor was called away on an emergency. Can we reschedule your appointment?” Simple, common courtesy. Disney dropped the ball. BIG TIME. We even went next door to the bakery for a croissant and coffee and the same manager came in at the same time and saw us - not once did she say “Comp these people for their coffee” or anything. GRRRRRR!
So we had our croissants and coffee on the BW and re-grouped. We decided to head back to DTD and thus to OKW. We were going to maybe stay around the resort. When we got to DTD and got off the bus, Chuck said what I was thinking “How about Ghiradelli’s for breakfast?” Ummm- let me think - YEAH!
So we had our Ghiradelli’s and then did some shopping. I can’t tell you what we bought exactly. We did a lot of searching for things for other people. I think our souvenir shopping may be limited in future trips.
After shopping, we headed back to the resort. Then we did our usual afternoon routine. Swimming, hot tub, nap. After getting up, we got ready for our night out in DTD. We went a little early and got to do some people watching. We were originally supposed to meet Mel and Meri but we were going to meet up with them at MNSSHP. We then went to Fultons Crab House. It was very good. Our server was in nursing school and we chatted a bit. There was another server who was the spitting image of a friend from the Players Guild here. Chuck saw him and said “Hey, that’s Brian” And he looked just like him - same mannerisms, looks, everything. Dinner was really good. I had the Tuna Tartar and Chuck had the ceviche for apps. Sorry, some of the pics are a little blurry.
And if you knew me, you would know how strange that is for me to order any kind of seafood. I just don’t eat seafood. Ever. But this looked that good and it was that good. Then for entrees Chuck had the filet with a lobster tail (that they tried to forget) and I had the filet. I forgot the pics of the steaks. They didn't last long - they were soooo good!
Dessert was chocolate mousse cake and cheesecake. Because of the lighting, I just couldn't get a good pic of these that wasn't washed out. But you get the idea.
The apps were enough for a meal. We were stuffed! And it was all delish!
After settling up the bill, we started walking toward Cirque while Chuck had to make a call to a friend (co-worker). They were chatting because a MD that Chuck works with called him. The doc said “he just needed to talk to someone who was in the Happiest Place On Earth, because he wasn’t” So Chuck thought that stuff had hit the fan at work and all heck was breaking loose. My thought was leave work at work - we are on VACATION!
Anyhow, we finally got to Cirque du Soliel and got our seats. They were awesome! Felt like we were right in the middle of things. I was holding my breath during a couple of the acts (tight rope walker, etc). We couldn’t take pics but my suggestion - go see it! It is so worth it. La Nouba is outstanding! I wasn’t sure Chuck would really like it but he did! After everything was done, we made our way back to the boat launch to go to OKW. However, we didn’t realize that the resort launches are from PI. We walked all the way back to the Marketplace and caught the boat only to go back to the west side and then to PI to catch another boat. But it was almost 11pm and we weren’t sure if the resort boats were still running or if we had just missed the last one. So we walked back out by Planet Hollywood and caught the bus. Talk about round-about - that was to be par for today with our travel woes!
Sorry about your breakfast plans not working out, but your replacement meal looks fantastic. The meal at Fulton's looks great too. I'd love to see LaNouba. Sounds like fun!
Dinner at Fultons was very good. Unfortunately they forgot that I had ordered a lobster tail to go with my steak. The waitress had them hustle one from the kitchen,and it soon came and was devoured. Not a great day for Disney dining,but it's not like I'm going to starve.
LaNouba was outstanding. The performers didn't phone it in at all. They really went all out,and that's a couple of days before a vacation for them,something maybe we all can take something from.
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"Life can be as easy as a fall,it's all so easy once you just let go."
Hearing again about the Kouzzina mess got me all angry all over again! I understand that the water-pipe break was unforseen, but they definitely should have called you, and then with all the effort it took for you to get there the least they could have done would be to comp your bakery breakfast! The way they handled it all is just wrong. And I'm so sorry that probably now you won't want to try for another breakfast there because it's really wonderful!
Stopping for ice cream was a very good idea and your dinner at Fultons sounds great.
I've always assumed that when you typed in your phone number when making an ADR, it was for unforseen circumstances like the restaurant closing! "We're so sorry, but would you like to try another place for breakfast this morning?" THAT would be the service expected of Walt Disney World. I'm glad you had some good eats later though.
I'm sure you'll let them know on the survey what a mess Disney transportation was!
Just catching up on the mostly awesomeness of your trip....(save Kouzzina). Our family loved La Nouba as well. I recently saw a program on how Cirque attracts performers from all over the world and how amazingly competitive it is to be selected.
Love the Dooney, btw!
Danielle
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~Shoot for the moon, if you miss, you will land among the stars~
Just got all caught up with your last few updates! Love your D&B pocketbook Sounds like a nice day at DHS and your meal at Mama Melrose looked delish! Sorry about the problems with the bus getting over to the Boardwalk area. That's a nightmare ride and then to find Kouzzina's was closed must have been really frustrating!!! Glad you had a comparable breakfast at Ghiradelli though Sounds like a perfect breakfast to me! Your dinner at Fulton's looked really delicious too.
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Sounds like a perfect breakfast to me!
Your dinner at Fulton's looked really delicious too.
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