Halloween, Hawaii and holiday celebrations - THIS SECTION COMPLETED 12/27 - Page 15 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I can tell I'm going to love staying here whenever we can book it. At our 7 month window for May it was totally booked up already, but maybe next fall.
I hope you can get in. Wow, if it was totally booked up for May, we really did luck out getting in here!
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Just beautiful, love the look of it from the moment you entered the lobby. I do agree a little store would have been a nice touch, they could have given it a little general store theme to keep with the feel. It does seem like it would be a bit inconvenient just to run over to the main building to fill up a refillable cup let's say.
That's exactly the conversation Mark and I were having last night. After all, if you've got to go to Gasparilla's (I don't know of anywhere closer), that's not exactly close.
Wednesday 30 October – part seven: how did that turn itself back on?
Now I know that, for some people, what comes in the Villas is very important, so I went round and shot photos of everything that was available in the kitchen. Hopefully this will be useful to some people..
By the time we’d finished admiring, exploring and photographing the place, we were wondering where bell services were, as we wanted to grab some food, then head to bed, but he turned up a couple of minutes’ later, so once he was gone, we headed out, getting some more photos on the way.
The main building of the Grand Floridian
I love the way they’ve put in a covered walkway from the villas to the main building, as it does make it feel like part of one big resort, rather than an add-on.
We headed for Gasparilla’s Grill…
…. and I was a bit disillusioned by the offerings in here, as they all seemed to be meat, but eventually I spotted the pasta your own way section, and that had a shrimp option, so I went for them with Alfredo sauce, broccoli, mushrooms and sun dried tomatoes.
Mark got the chicken version with marinara sauce, the same vegetables as me, but also adding carrots.
We also got a pina colada cupcake for me…
… and a s’mores one for Mark…
With that, and some drinks and a snack breakfast purchased for the next morning, we paid up ($51 – oh my goodness, I couldn’t believe how much all that cost! ), and walked back to the villas.
We were given a tray, which Mark was carrying…
….and I think it’s fair to say he struggled carrying it all the way back to the villas, as it is longer than you think, and it was quite a weight. I got a few photos on the way back:
Back in the room, we sat down and ate our pasta, and my goodness, it was really filling. The boxes were deceptively small, but my goodness, there was a heck of a lot in them. I felt as if I barely made a dent in mine, but I did try – honest! As a result, we left the cupcakes, as there was no way either of us could manage them.
Before I went to bed, I had to try out the Victorian whirlpool bath, which sort of feels like a contradiction in terms. Much as I love these things, it just didn’t quite work for me. The jets are all on the bottom, which felt a bit weird. It also wasn’t helping me, as I was exceptionally tired, and I was already feeling a bit wishy-washy, and the bubbles just added to that, as I felt like the water was moving, and of course it was.
I got out after a while, and tried on the dressing gown that was in the room. Again, it was Ok, but it wasn’t as snuggly as perhaps I was hoping.
Just before we went to bed, the whirlpool decided to turn itself back on, which was a bit freaky. I don’t know whether I did something wrong, or whether it just wasn’t well….
The weather today was chilly in London, but sunny with temperatures in the mid 50s The best thing today was our room at the Grand Floridian Villas. The worst thing today was the line for immigration, but even that wasn’t that bad. The funniest thing today was the safety demonstration on the plane. Today we tried staying at the Villas at the Grand Floridian And the result was they were amazing. The most magical moment today was walking into our room at the Grand Floridian Villas.
Also the villas are gorgeous that I you for all the photos. I can't wait to stay there which I'm thinking wil be sooner than we were thinking. It looks like our next move is to Australia which means we will have to holiday in June so booking Aulani will be very difficult so we are now planning VCG and WDW in 2015.
I think it's one of those photos that sums up how someone was feeling at the time.
Quote:
Also the villas are gorgeous that I you for all the photos. I can't wait to stay there which I'm thinking wil be sooner than we were thinking. It looks like our next move is to Australia which means we will have to holiday in June so booking Aulani will be very difficult so we are now planning VCG and WDW in 2015.
I'm sorry to hear about the move to Australia, as it means you guys will be on the other side of the world to us, rather than a couple of hours away.
I take it June's a definite for you? Hopefully we'll be back at the Villas at the Grand Californian (if we can get in there... ) in August or September 2015, so it looks like we'll just miss you.
That dinner does make an argument for the dining plan....that was pricey for a pasta meal. Glad it was tasty. And I hope you had cupcakes for breakfast!
Well that was a looooong day. I understand Mark's face.
That is a lot of pasta, isn't it? I've gotten that before at POR at felt so bad throwing away so much food! I'm glad you guys have a kitchen for re-heating purposes though! Can't wait to hear about your cupcake.
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More beautiful pictures ! I'm sure you both must have been exhausted! That was a pricy dinner, but it did look good! I guess I'd expect nothing less from the GF!
The Villas at GF are stunning! I think they did them perfectly, they kept with the Victorian theming while still blending in modern day amenitities. It's a shame that it's such a long walk to the main building for food and shops.
The Villas at GF are stunning! I think they did them perfectly, they kept with the Victorian theming while still blending in modern day amenitities. It's a shame that it's such a long walk to the main building for food and shops.
That is the only downside I can think of with them.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Wow, just beautiful! We don't usually do split stays, but it just might be worth it to have 1 or 2 nights at GFV. I absolutely love the Poppins reference on the little pull down bed.
Wow, just beautiful! We don't usually do split stays, but it just might be worth it to have 1 or 2 nights at GFV. I absolutely love the Poppins reference on the little pull down bed.
I think a split stay would be well worth it to spend some time there.
That is a long trek to Gasparillas! I was disappointed in the offerings for veggies there, too, but I didn't even see the pasta option. This was a year or two ago, so maybe it's new. Hope you got a good sleep that night, although I know you needed to get up very early! Was the bed comfy?
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Wow, if it was totally booked up for May, we really did luck out getting in here! 
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I got a few photos on the way back: 
As a result, we left the cupcakes, as there was no way either of us could manage them. 
) in August or September 2015, so it looks like we'll just miss you.
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