Nineteen nights of MouseFest, Disney and Christmas - THREAD 2 - UPDATED 2/1 - Page 10 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Wednesday 12 December – part one: taking a mis-guided tour
I was up earlier than I had anticipated, so set to work with sorting out all the photos we took yesterday. Before they were edited down, it was what must be a record breaking (even for me!) 500 of my photos, with 200 from Mark!
Before we headed out today, we wanted to have a look at the savannah and see what was out there in the daylight, but it obviously wasn’t a good time for viewing them. As one Cast Member told me “They’re all still asleep” and it seemed they were. We saw some kudu, a zebra off in the distance, an ostrich and that was about it. Not a great result. We also saw how well construction is progressing on the new DVC resort. It’s going up a lot faster than I ever imagined, considering that it doesn’t open for another 18 months yet.
We were on the road to the Poly later than I had planned, but we still made it in plenty of time.
We were meeting Bruce, who we first met on the Mediterranean cruise, for one of his misguided tours. Joining him were his wife Marta and another couple. Essentially, you go round the Magic Kingdom with him and hear about some of the stories from his life as a Cast Member and also his amazing bits of Disney trivia – I’m telling you, this guy is good! I have never met anyone like him who knows Disney as well as he does. Some of the stories about the trivia side of Disney just left me I don’t know how he remembers it all, but he’s packed full of fascinating facts. Bruce has so much to share and it was a real privilege to be on the receiving end of some of his stories.
Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself. The first thing we did was to get breakfast at the Kona Café before we set off. I went for the Tonga Toast (in case you don’t already know, that’s banana stuffed Sourdough French toast rolled in Cinnamon sugar and server with a strawberry compote), with a side of fruit, while Mark had steak and eggs and when we say that, we’re talking a 5oz char-grilled New York strip steak served with two eggs, home fried potatoes and a biscuit. As he said, there’s no way we’d be able to get either of those dishes at home for breakfast!
While we were eating, we had another impromptu PassPorter meet (I love it!) with Janice (TiggerTails) who came over for a quick chat. I’m glad she did, as it was great to meet her:
Before we could get away and start the tour, the server noticed my birthday pin (as I said before, why just limit it to one day when you’re at Disney?) and here’s what I was presented with – after I had stuffed myself stupid with Tonga Toast:
Kona Café:
Food 8 8
Service 8 7½
Atmosphere 7½ 7½
Value for money 8½ 8
Average score: 7.88
Needless to say, I did not finish it. In fact I barely ate half of it, although I did try and make a dent in it, just because I felt it would be rude not to!
There’s no way that I can describe the tour for you, so I’ll five you the very edited highlights. We started in Main Street and then headed for Tomorrowland, Mickey’s Toontown, Frontierland and Liberty Square.
On the way, we learnt so many things, for example the exact date that it is when you walk into Main Street (that was really interesting, as it’s so obvious once you know the answer), who owns the Emporium, where you can watch cartoons in Main Street and the names of all the roads in Main Street (this is just one of the points when I was left gawping at Bruce’s amazing knowledge of all things Disney).
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Wonderful update - that breakfast looked great too - I've tried Tonga Toast and always found it too sweet for me - but I love the steak and eggs mark had! Can't wait to hear more about your day at MK!
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Wow - your room is amazing! We love La Nouba and have seen it three times but it's been a couple of years and I'm dying to go again. Next trip for sure! Your tour with Bruce sounds amazing - he is just an incredible wealth of knowledge!
Hi Cheryl,
I don't post much, but I always enjoy your trip reports. Thank you so much for all the wonderful details that cause me to feel that I actually was there with you. Especially since we don't have a trip planned now, nor is there likely to be one in the immediate future
Looking forward to more!
Karen
P.S.: You look fabulous.
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Next up: Half Marathon at my Happy Place
Last edited by Bellaciavo; 01-18-2008 at 10:30 AM..
Your tonga toast is making me hungry. I love that, except there is always so much of it. Bruce sounds so interesting. How did you find out about his tours and when does he offer them?
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I have never met anyone like him who knows Disney as well as he does. Some of the stories about the trivia side of Disney just left me 
I don’t know how he remembers it all, but he’s packed full of fascinating facts. 
Bruce has so much to share and it was a real privilege to be on the receiving end of some of his stories. 
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Can't wait to hear all about your tour with Bruce 
More please 
We love La Nouba and have seen it three times but it's been a couple of years and I'm dying to go again. Next trip for sure! Your tour with Bruce sounds amazing - he is just an incredible wealth of knowledge!
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