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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Thanks for all the info! Yeah, I had heard go during the daytime because the area isn't too great. We haven't made up our mind about it yet. We are planning on going to the City Museum, Fitz's, St. Louis Science Center, and the St. Louis Outlet Mall in Hazelwood. We will have to go to Ted Drewes. What's the flavor (special) that everyone gets?
There are a lot of good flavors there. The Dottie is good: mint, chocolate and macadamia nuts. It is named after the owners wife. You can make up your own combo of flavors too.
The Outlet Mall isn't really worth your time. It isn't a true Outlet in the sense that some others are. Cabela's is there and it is not an outlet for the chain. You could spend your time at something more fun than that.
Also, across from Fitz's is a place called Blueberry Hill. Blueberry Hill It has a very eclectic display of items. They also have a good menu. The guy that owns it, owns a bunch of things in the Loop. Like the Pin-up bowl, for a fifties type bowling alley. There are pictures of him with all kinds of celebrities. There is also a display case of Chuck Berry stuff. If you time it right he plays there once a month.
If your looking for someplace to eat one night. An area called the Hill has a bunch of different Italian restaurants. You can go from dive bar to four star all in one area. I recommend Zia's or Favazza's for mid range pricing.
Someone had mentioned Forest Park before. In the park is the Missouri History museum. A lot of it is free to walk around an view, and it isn't far from the Loop area were Fitz's and Blueberry Hill are located. Also on the campus of Washington University is an Art museum, Kemper I think, and also Francis Field. It was the location of the first Olympics in the Western Hemisphere in 1904.
Wow! Thanks for all the suggestions. I saw Blueberry Hill last time we were in St. Louis in June. It looked like a neat place. Maybe we will check it out!
The pin-up bowling sounds fun! I will have to check that out too!
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Something to put on your check-it-out list may be the new high-end outlet mall to open in early August in Chesterfield at the Boone's Crossing exit of I-40/64. That's the bigger of two currently under construction.
The second is a wee bit further west-northwest close to the Boone Bridge over the Missouri River and slated to open in September.
These should be more what people expect from outlet malls from the looks of them and the stores that will be in them---stuff like Saks, Banana Republic, Ann Taylor, etc.
I'd plan to go to either between 9:00 a.m. and about 2:00 p.m. or after 7:00 p.m. as traffic on 40/64 gets nutty westbound once rush hour starts which is about 3:00. I anticipate that it'll be a lot more congested, too, once construction starts on the new bridge over the Missouri in about a year.
Lucky us living west of the Missouri. I think I'll be going to Wentzville to shop once construction gets going.
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“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” —Winnie-the-Pooh
Something to put on your check-it-out list may be the new high-end outlet mall to open in early August in Chesterfield at the Boone's Crossing exit of I-40/64. That's the bigger of two currently under construction.
The second is a wee bit further west-northwest close to the Boone Bridge over the Missouri River and slated to open in September.
These should be more what people expect from outlet malls from the looks of them and the stores that will be in them---stuff like Saks, Banana Republic, Ann Taylor, etc.
I'd plan to go to either between 9:00 a.m. and about 2:00 p.m. or after 7:00 p.m. as traffic on 40/64 gets nutty westbound once rush hour starts which is about 3:00. I anticipate that it'll be a lot more congested, too, once construction starts on the new bridge over the Missouri in about a year.
Lucky us living west of the Missouri. I think I'll be going to Wentzville to shop once construction gets going.
I knew some people that used to live in Chesterfield and was there back in '97. It was a nice town back then. I bet it's really grown! That new mall sounds pretty neat! Yeah, I bet you guys are going to love all that construction! ugh...but will be glad when it's done!! Thanks for the info!!
I would also say the Mills (the outlet mall) isn't that great. While we havne't gone to the City Museum yet (our boys are a little too young) it gets rave reviews. I also recommend the Pin-Up Bowl - it's fun and I beleive no smoking now. Everyone has offered great suggestions. Hope you have fun! If you haven't been in the Arch I'd try that too. This year is the 50th anniversary of when construction started.
I would also say the Mills (the outlet mall) isn't that great. While we havne't gone to the City Museum yet (our boys are a little too young) it gets rave reviews. I also recommend the Pin-Up Bowl - it's fun and I beleive no smoking now. Everyone has offered great suggestions. Hope you have fun! If you haven't been in the Arch I'd try that too. This year is the 50th anniversary of when construction started.
What time of year will you be here?
April 2, 3, and 4th. We've been to the City Museum but the roof closed due to rain and we were bummed. I personally didn't care for the museum. It just wasn't what I thought it would be for the price. I know the roof won't be open when we go again but everyone else likes it. I think I would like the stuff on the roof.
Yes, we've been to the Arch. I've been up it at least 4 or 5 times and on the riverboat. I miss the McDonald's that was on the river though.
Let's hope the weather evens out a lot by early April, not that far away! It's still alternating coooold days with rainy ones, and even some rain-snow mix. That's what the "weather-guessers" are saying for this weekend AGAIN.
Good news is that we've had so much rain this winter we're officially out of the drought. I hope so! I want green grass and trees all summer again like it should be!
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“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” —Winnie-the-Pooh
The St. Louis Mills Nascar speed park park had a deal for $14.99 you get unlimited rides on the go carts. So, were going to do that. When we went last time it was late and we didn't get a chance to really look around at the mall or have fun in the speed park.
Somebody had said something about that pin up bowling alley. I saw it last time we were there. Might have to look into that. I hope the snow will be all out of mother natures system!! It's spring!!!
Thanks for all the info.
We got dumped on with this weekend's snowstorm! My little 6" garden frog figurine is buried in snow, and that hasn't happened before in the nearly five years we've lived here.
Oh! I must get to the Botanical Garden to see the Japanese Garden's snow lanterns. I've hoped for a really big snowfall since we discovered what a lovely place it is, and now I've got one. HOORAY!
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“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” —Winnie-the-Pooh
We got dumped on with this weekend's snowstorm! My little 6" garden frog figurine is buried in snow, and that hasn't happened before in the nearly five years we've lived here.
Oh! I must get to the Botanical Garden to see the Japanese Garden's snow lanterns. I've hoped for a really big snowfall since we discovered what a lovely place it is, and now I've got one. HOORAY!
The Missouri Botanical Garden is really a neat place!! Yeah, we got about 8 inches of snow here. I don't like snow at all!!!