Forums Closed
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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
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Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
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05-07-2006, 10:30 AM
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#181
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Community Rank: Jetsetter 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Wishing I was at WDW
Posts: 2,384
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Re: Two go wild and go west! TWO UPDATES 5/1!
Great update!
More pls!
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05-07-2006, 10:47 AM
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#182
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PassPorter Message Board Manager
 PassPorter Guide Author
Community Rank: Legend VIP 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Maidstone, Kent, UK
Concierge Level: 3
Posts: 190,285
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Re: Two go wild and go west! TWO UPDATES 5/1!
[ QUOTE ]
Great updates!!! I HAVE to get out to Vegas sometime in my adult life . . . SO much has changed in 20 years since I was there last! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502yes_prv.gif[/img]
[/ QUOTE ]
That's about how long it was since I was last there and I couldn't believe the changes. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/jawdrop.gif[/img]
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05-07-2006, 11:46 AM
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#183
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Community Rank: Globetrotter 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Manchester, England
Posts: 3,595
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Re: Two go wild and go west! TWO UPDATES 5/1!
Great update. I stayed at the Luxor 6 years ago - your trip report is bringing back such great memories. More please!
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05-07-2006, 11:51 AM
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#184
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Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Montana
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 11,499
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Re: Two go wild and go west! TWO UPDATES 5/1!
What great photos Cheryl! I love the crocodile photo. He seems to say "Welcome to Mandalay Bay, my dearies, breakfast has arrived!" I love that you caught a crystal blue sky against the sphyinx and all the lapis blue he has on! Wow! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/jawdrop.gif[/img]
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05-07-2006, 12:45 PM
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#185
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Community Rank: Explorer 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Southampton, U.K.
Posts: 8,125
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Re: Two go wild and go west! TWO UPDATES 5/1!
Just catching up with your report. You've taken some great photos [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img]
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05-07-2006, 01:11 PM
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#186
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Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ohio Football Hall Of Fame
Posts: 42,304
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Re: Two go wild and go west! TWO UPDATES 5/1!
More fantastic pictures Cheryl!!!! Can't wait for more!!
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05-07-2006, 01:12 PM
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#187
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Community Rank: Legend 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Louisville, KY
Concierge Level: 7
Posts: 18,767
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Re: Two go wild and go west! TWO UPDATES 5/1!
Just playing catch up on the last three days of updates!! I've only been to Vegas once and all of your pictures make me want to go back. I remember that very long walk to the Shark Reef as well.
Looking forward to more!!
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05-07-2006, 01:53 PM
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#188
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Community Rank: Globetrotter
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: California
Posts: 3,878
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Re: Two go wild and go west! TWO UPDATES 5/1!
Ok that's it Vegas is definately a trip in the future. Great picture Cheryl and your TR is very [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]
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05-07-2006, 03:24 PM
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#189
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Tulsa, OK
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 21,627
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Re: Two go wild and go west! TWO UPDATES 5/1!
Cheryl your pictures are making me want to take a trip to Vegas. I never wanted to go before but your pictures are make me realize it would be very interesting.
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05-07-2006, 03:40 PM
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#190
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PassPorter Message Board Manager
PassPorter Guide Author
Community Rank: Legend VIP
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Maidstone, Kent, UK
Concierge Level: 3
Posts: 190,285
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Re: Two go wild and go west! TWO UPDATES 5/1!
Saturday 15 April – part five: how much alcohol is in that drink?! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img]
We had about an hour before lunch at the Eiffel Tower restaurant, so after trying to call Papilion Helicopters to confirm our Grand Canyon trip for tomorrow and failing, because we ran out of cash (I never knew a local call could cost so much! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img] ), we decided to walk up the Strip to Paris. I’m glad we did, as it gave us a chance to see how the Strip changes as you walk down it and gives you the scale of some of the resorts. Some of the major ones took up blocks while others are really quite small.
        
Aladdin resort
Aladdin with Paris in the background
The Bellagio
The one that really disappointed us was Aladdin. Not only was it small, but it really lacked theming as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if this place was demolished soon as it really doesn’t add much to the city.
I loved Paris though and it was very realistic too. Just like the Venetian, I have actually been to the real place and the architecture here is superb. You can immediately recognise landmarks, obviously the Eiffel Tower, but also the Arc de Triomphe.
      
We checked in for the Eiffel Tower and took the elevator up to the restaurant and were seated overlooking the south side of the Strip with the Bellagio in our vision. I wasn’t that worried about that as I knew the fountains only played at night, but while we were there, we were treated to a dress rehearsal, which was kind of neat.
     
I had deliberately chosen to eat here at lunchtime as I knew it was a lot cheaper than dinner, as there were sandwiches on the menu. The second I saw the menu, I knew what I wanted – the brie and apple toasted sandwich. Mark went for the grilled chicken, tomato and boursin one. Mine was literally melt in the mouth stuff.
The only problem was we really weren’t full when we finished, so we both decided to go for dessert. I went for the opera cake, after learning that it was made up of lots of chocolate. That will do me. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502yes_prv.gif[/img]
Mark went for a dessertini, which was a banana crepe, with lots of alcohol, I knew by the fact that the other desserts on that page were like liquors that this could be quite potent and it was. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/ukid.gif[/img] It was made worse by the fact that Mark couldn’t have cream in it, so asked for it without and it was almost neat alcohol. I laughed so much at the faces he made while drinking it and ended up helping him out a bit and making sure he had lots of water to drink and try and dilute it.
 
All in all, it was a very nice meal and not too badly priced, with some great views to accompany the food.
Eiffel Tower:
Entrée 8½ 8½
Dessert 8½ 7
Service 8½ 8
Atmosphere 9 9
Value for money 7½ 7½
Average score: 8.20
 
We checked out the other views in the restaurant before heading out or should I say trying to head out… The woman already standing in front of the elevator had some difficulty operating the call button and then we all stood there like idiots when the elevator arrived and the doors closed for about 15 seconds waiting for it to go down, before realising none of us had pressed the button. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/blushing.gif[/img]
Next: new views and signing my life away
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05-07-2006, 04:29 PM
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#191
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: The Jersey Shore
Posts: 7,249
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Re: Two go wild and go west! TWO UPDATES 5/1!
Great T/R Cheryl. It makes me want to go back to Vegas.
Oh wait, we are [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]! I booked a trip for August [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]!
Too bad we missed you by a day. It would have been fun sightseeing with someone other than my parents [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
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05-07-2006, 04:46 PM
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#192
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: NC
Posts: 12,270
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Re: Two go wild and go west! TWO UPDATES 5/1!
Just updated Andy on all your pictures, we are both still like "we gotta go there!"
I think Mark's dessertini looked [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/yuma.gif[/img]
I am loving this report!!!!
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05-07-2006, 06:18 PM
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#193
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Living Seas wannabe
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 31,940
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Re: Two go wild and go west! TWO UPDATES 5/1!
Great report Cheryl!!! Your lunch sounds great!
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05-07-2006, 07:14 PM
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#194
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Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ohio Football Hall Of Fame
Posts: 42,304
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Re: Two go wild and go west! TWO UPDATES 5/1!
Great update Cheryl!! Wonderful view from the restaurant!! Can't wait to read more!!!!
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05-07-2006, 08:05 PM
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#195
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: second star to the right
Posts: 13,308
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Re: Two go wild and go west! TWO UPDATES 5/1!
Hello dessert!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/facelick.gif[/img] Another great update
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