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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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After our lunch break, we continued on to the primate house and herpetarium—or what we simple folk like to call the reptile house. Nik mentioned that this area of the zoo reminded him a lot of some of the older building at Brookfield Zoo and you could really tell that these were older structures compared to the most of what we had seen so far. One area I’m sorry we missed was the 1904 World’s Fair Flight Cage and Cypress Swamp.
Does anyone else know/remember the show Zoboomafoo with the Kratt brothers? It looks like he retired to STL zoo.
We finally arrived at the Polar Bear Point and was greeting by a HUGE line waiting to get in. Nik had no interest standing in line. Our local zoo has a similar underwater viewing set up as well. But we did get to see some penguins outside.
We had promised Nik ice cream for dessert so we found a great stand that had not only ice cream but several different types of ice cream cookie sandwiches. I got butter pecan in between two snickerdoodles. Nik got a chocolate waffle cone.
Before we left, we looked around the gift shop for a souvenir for Nik. He ended up getting this cool ornament made out of recycled wool.
On the way back to the hotel, my sunglasses broke. So we stopped a few exits before to a Wal-Mart to see about getting a replacement. They didn’t have anything I liked but we did pick up a clip-on pair for Nik because he couldn’t find his pair at home before the trip.
Once back at the hotel, we grabbed some free soft drinks from the lobby and headed back to the room. Gary & I headed down to the pool. Nik wasn’t feeling well after his huge 3-scoop waffle cone, so he stayed up in the room for awhile and then came down to join us.
The pool has an underwater tunnel that you can swim between the indoor and outdoor pool. We had never seen that before!
Nik had seen a Steak & Shake near the hotel and had asked to have dinner there tonight. That was fine with us, since the evening offering were the same at the hotel except they had switched out mac n cheese for the pasta & meatballs. At S&S. I ordered a patty melt, Gary got a bacon cheeseburger I think, and Nik ordered a hot dog. They both got shakes and I got an ice tea.
Once we got back to the hotel, Nik went up to the room and we stayed in the lobby for our free evening cocktails. We both had two rum & cokes. Then headed back to the room to relax for a bit before bedtime. I think I got up around 6am and we got ready to check out. We did enjoy another free breakfast in the lobby before heading home.
Overall, we had an awesome, but too short trip. The zoo was great and the lantern festival was well worth the trip.
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Disney Magic - Oct 2015
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Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
I especially love the one of the lion... well just lion-ing around! 
Sorry I couldn't resist! 
and that tunnel sounds very neat. 
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