Putting a boot into our original Easter plans… COMPLETED 5/3 - Page 18 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Awww Vijay found a friend! Another donkey whisperer, but it's not Mark! How cool you were there and right up front to see it live and in action (and not on the webcam)! What a fantastic day in Donkeyland. A lot learned and so much cute!
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Tanya
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Awww Vijay found a friend! Another donkey whisperer, but it's not Mark! How cool you were there and right up front to see it live and in action (and not on the webcam)!
You are so right, much better to see in person.
Quote:
What a fantastic day in Donkeyland. A lot learned and so much cute!
That was quite the tour and of course you enjoyed it so much! That was something about Vijay as he probably has a sixth sense and knew something was up. He therefore changed his way so amazingly and became rather friendly!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
That was quite the tour and of course you enjoyed it so much! That was something about Vijay as he probably has a sixth sense and knew something was up. He therefore changed his way so amazingly and became rather friendly!
You could be right, as they do say about animals having a sixth sense.
I just had to smile all through this update with the cute donkey photos, and especially seeing Vijay respond to people.
Aw, thanks - that makes me smile too knowing you were. I love sharing donkey photos, as I just think they're so cute and I know so many other people all around the world do as well.
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Cute overload! They are so adorable. So glad you had such a nice visit.
We always have lovely visits there, but this one was even more special with all the wonderful events they had taking place that day. We were able to learn and have fun at the same time. Sound like anywhere else you know?
Saturday 31 March – part seven: the most I’ve walked
We headed off towards Sidmouth…
… and made our way through the high street of the town, which was chaos with so much traffic and people crossing everywhere. I should’ve expected as much, as Easter Sunday is one of only two days in the year (Christmas Day being the other one) where all the shops shut. Some may open in Sidmouth tomorrow, as there are some exemptions if you’re a holiday resort, but I’m not sure. As a result, people go nuts because they have to live without shops for one day…
We found the hotel and there was a parking spot right opposite, so Mark grabbed that and we headed inside to check in. It looked lovely….
We were taken to our room, which was a little walk along the promenade, as we were in a separate annex in a one bedroom suite. It didn’t disappoint…
The view of the sea was quite something, especially the colour of the water. This is turbidity, where sediment is pushed into the water from the neighbouring cliffs. There, I feel very clever saying that – I was told that by a friend on Facebook, which is how I know!
We unloaded and Mark took the car to the car park and then we headed out into town, as I had a very important task I needed to do today. The battery in my Eeyore watch stopped working a couple of days before my op and I haven’t been able to get out and get a new one. It wasn’t an issue while I was mainly at home, but now I’m out and about more, it’s getting annoying and I wanted to get it sorted.
I’d found a small jewellers online that I thought might do watch batteries. A lot of the bigger national name jewellers over here don’t do it any longer, so trying to find someone that does is a challenge. They did and what a trade they were doing – the two people in front of us were also getting new watch batteries.
With that done, we headed back to the hotel, with me feeling very proud of myself. I’d just walked two tenths of a mile each way, so nearly half a mile in total – the most I’ve walked in one go since my op.
We made it back to the hotel in time for afternoon tea, which is served each day between 3:30pm and 4:30pm and is included with your stay. It wasn’t quite the afternoon tea you’d normally expect – i.e. sandwiches and then cakes, as that would be a bit much a couple of hours before dinner, but the selection was still pretty good…
We were told we could go in the front or the back lounge and we opted for the front one, which was pretty busy. I guess everyone who stays here takes advantage of this, although we were latter to find out there was a coach party staying here and I’m sure they took up a lot of the space.
Our tea was brought through to us and we just sat and relaxed and enjoyed our tea and cakes for a while…