PassPorters playing together at Hallowe’en! THREAD 6 UPDATED 1/22 - Page 9 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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We had been booked at a restaurant a little way down the road, but after the near miss earlier, I could tell that Mark was in no mood to drive and I couldn’t blame him. I cancelled that through the online booking system I use and instead we went to the Kingfisher restaurant that’s just outside the Disney complex. It was literally about three or four minutes walk and I knew we would have no problems in getting a table, when we walked in, as the place was pretty quiet.
We were seated near the live music and at first, I had worried about that, as bad live music can spoil your whole dining experience, but this guy was just playing a synthesiser and it was easy listening music, so much so that a some elderly couples even got up to dance. Really cute. We weren’t tempted though. We were too busy eating. :grin:
Our server Crystal was very enthusiastic and did her best to make sure we had everything we needed. I decided to go with the Caesar salad for starter, which was a mistake, as it was really rich and I couldn’t eat much of it. Mark did much better with the shrimp cocktail. I went for the fresh fish of the night, halibut and that was a much better choice. Mark went for the fillet steak and I didn’t hear any complaints about it. I still had room left, so made a valiant attempt at dessert with tiramisu. This was a really good meal and definitely somewhere worth considering if you stay at Disney’s Hilton Head Island resort. The bill came to $80 for the two of us, including a good tip for Crystal.
My Caesar salad
Mark’s shrimp cocktail
My halibut
… and Mark’s fillet steak
Finally my tiramisu
No photos from inside the restaurant, as it was very dark in there and very hard to get any photos.
Kingfisher:
Appetiser 6 8
Entrée 8½ 9
Dessert 7½ N/A
Service 9 9
Atmosphere 8½ 8½
Value for money 8 8½
Average score: 8.23
It was back to the room, where we weren’t able to get a signal for WiFi access tonight, but we were at least able to watch a new episode of CSI, so that was some consolation.
Today we walked 4.5 miles The weather today was hot and sunny and in the 70’s. The best thing today was Fort Sumter. The worst thing today was the near miss on the way back. Today we tried visiting Charleston And the result was it’s a beautiful city and we want to spend more time there in the future. The most magical moment today was driving through the Historical District of Charleston.
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Friday 10 November – part one: what do you mean, it’s too heavy?
It was another Stitch wake up call this morning, but this time I was awake and ready for it. After a shower, it was time to pack the last few bits away. I decided that there was no point taking the rose from Victoria and Albert’s home with us, but it was still beautiful. It was such a shame to leave it.
Then breakfast was needed. My first though had been to go to somewhere like Burger King, but then I thought that maybe leaving the three suitcases in the car wasn’t such a good idea, so I suggested returning to Tide Me Over, so off we went and this morning, there seemed to be a bit more life around. Obviously the tables outside Tide Me Over is another WiFi hot spot, which I didn’t realise, otherwise I would’ve bought the laptop over here. :headsmack:
I got the cream cheese bagel this time and it was pretty good, while Mark stuck with his egg and bacon bagel. We sat there and ate and when we were done, Mark suggested going down to Fishing Pole Pier before we left and I’m glad we did. I didn’t realise that it was a fishing place, as the sign is only on the pier itself. There was a guy down there fishing and he was really talkative about how much he loved this place and standing there, you could see why it was right in the middle of nowhere and just so quiet and lovely.
Sadly we had to leave this tranquil spot and set off on the road, so we went back to the room to get our cases and bid a sad farewell to Disney’s Hilton Head Island resort. I think it’s probably a great place for a “get away from it all” break, but I’m just not so sure that it’s a good base to explore from, as it’s a bit isolated.
Having said that, we took the Cross Island Parkway road on the way out, which is a toll road (only $1) and this seemed to be a far faster way off the island and we got some lovely views back towards Shelter Cover and the Disney resort into the bargain as well.
Having been so annoyed by the traffic light city just off the island, I counted every one of them as we left. I think I’m right in saying that there are 14 sets of them from the I-95 to the Cross Island Parkway. Imagine getting stuck at most of those and that’s what our first drive to Hilton Head Island was like.
On the way to the I-95, I wanted to get a photo of the University that we had being passing every day. It was so beautiful.
We got on to the I-95 and 20 minutes later, we were pulling into Savannah International Airport, which is a really small airport with just 10 gates. As a result, everything is very close together, so we barely had to walk from where we dropped the rental car off and then we were in the terminal. And did they say anything about the car? Not a word. Phew! Mind you, by then, it wasn’t really smelling anymore.
We quickly found the Delta counter and that was where our problems started, and not how we thought. We thought that we would have the problem with Delta’s luggage allowance, but they were fine. But apparently our British Airways tickets were discount ones (yeah right, they were nearly the same price as the full price ones! ) and therefore we had a limited luggage allowance. What really wound me up about the whole thing was that I’d checked BA’s website the night before and there was no mention about this anywhere. What made it worse was that two of the suitcases were over the limit and the other was right on the limit, so we couldn’t put anything in that one and the charge for each case that was overweight was $100! No thanks! We stood there, despairing for a moment and then we thought maybe we should just get another suitcase. Fortunately, there was a shop nearby selling them, so I headed over there, while Mark stayed with the case.
I'm sosrry you are having so much problems with your suitcase Cheryl. I wouldn't have paid $100 for each one either! Hope you were able to find a cheap suitcase.
Great updates Cheryl! That tiramisu looks to die for
Sorry about the suitcase fiasco But the Savannah airport is a great one I hope it turns out okay, although it doens't sound promising in the teaser for the next update
Friday 10 November – part two: I’m not paying $500 for a suitcase! :
The first case I found in the shop didn’t have a price on it, so I asked how much and it was $500 said the woman. I nearly fell over at that. I thought it looked nice, but not that nice. I then asked if they had anything cheaper and fortunately I was able to get a small safari style suitcase for just $40, cheaper than the excess baggage charge anyway. I went back to Mark and we were able to stuff enough bits and pieces into the new case to bring the others back under the limit. Thank goodness for that. Close call.
Finally, our bags were on their way, routed all the way to London Gatwick airport, but we would have to check in when we got to Atlanta, as the woman couldn’t get into BA’s ticketing system, which was a shame.
We went through to wait at the gate and I have never seen such a painfully slow boarding process. Delta really could learn a lot from Southwest, they’re so slow at getting people on board and I’m sorry, but boarding from the front is only going to make things worse.
Things weren’t much better when we finally got on board. We were the last zone to be called, but I think that a lot of people from our zone must’ve pushed themselves through earlier, as there were only ourselves and another couple in zone 9 when they called our zone forward to board. I don’t believe that for a minute.
We had the middle and aisle seats and I’m glad it was only an hour long fight, as I was ready to swing for the gut I was sitting next to. He was just so rude, reading the paper and how shall I say, invading my personal space. When I first got on, he was sitting on my seatbelt and I had to move him to get to it. He was a piece of work.
Fortunately, we were soon away from him and into Atlanta airport. We boarded their transit system for the main terminal and when that things says it’s stopping, it means it’s stopping. I got thrown across the carriage and I was hanging on! As we walked through the main terminal to ticketing, my right knee really started to hurt and I swear that it was the train. Fortunately, it eased up pretty quickly, but I had learnt the hard way about that thing.
We got our tickets, no emergency seats (what a surprise! ) but we were three rows back from the start of the economy section on board, which was something then. The next quest was lunch. I had decided to go to Houlihan’s, as I’d heard lots of good things about it and we found it easily enough.
We were seated straight away and just like last night, we had a very enthusiastic server and this woman was someone I wouldn’t argue with. I got the feeling she ran the joint! I went for Fettuccine Alfredo with shrimp, which turned out to be a great choice. Although they did first bring it out with chicken, our server quickly owned up to that as her mistake and apologised. Mark went for the rosemary chicken. We had a bit of a discrepancy over menus, but we eventually sorted that out – we had old menus! Our server eventually told us that our meals came with a side salad to save us ordering a salad between us.
Our salad
Mark’s chicken
My fettuccine
The restaurant
The bill came to $48, including tip and did live up to all the good recommendations we’d heard from people on the boards.
Houlihan’s:
Food 8½ 8
Service 9 9
Atmosphere 8½ 9
Value for money 9 9
Average score: 8.75
We came out of there and caught the escalator down into the middle of what felt like the world’s biggest security line, but at least it was moving, so we joined it and we were through in about 15 minuets, which wasn’t bad.
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We weren’t tempted though. We were too busy eating. :grin: 
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Hope you're not too far over the weight limit.
) and therefore we had a limited luggage allowance. What really wound me up about the whole thing was that I’d checked BA’s website the night before and there was no mention about this anywhere. What made it worse was that two of the suitcases were over the limit and the other was right on the limit, so we couldn’t put anything in that one and the charge for each case that was overweight was $100! 
We stood there, despairing for a moment and then we thought maybe we should just get another suitcase. Fortunately, there was a shop nearby selling them, so I headed over there, while Mark stayed with the case. 
: 
said the woman. I nearly fell over at that. I thought it looked nice, but not that nice. I then asked if they had anything cheaper and fortunately I was able to get a small safari style suitcase for just $40, cheaper than the excess baggage charge anyway. I went back to Mark and we were able to stuff enough bits and pieces into the new case to bring the others back under the limit. Thank goodness for that. Close call. 
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