Sue and the DoD trip that "Just might end up on the Internet somewhere" report!--COMPLETE 6/5/09 - Page 19 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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.
PassPorter Guide Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Southwestern Florida, USA
Concierge Level: 7
Posts: 39,153
Post Thanks / Like
Likes (Given): 39
Likes (Received): 114
Thanks (Given): 18
Thanks (Received): 46
Pixie Dust (Given): 1
Pixie Dust (Received): 8
I am all caught up!
I am fairly certain that I had just left Beaches right before you guys arrived!
All of your pictures are great! I especially love the safari pics!
I love reading all of the DoD reports......brings back great memories!
I don't do good-byes well either!
I've never been to Tusker House. I love your pictures and descriptions. I'm sorry that you had to leave early to work on your flight back home. Isn't that part of the jobs for DH's left at home?
Love the meet with Dawn/Gray. That is such a cool experience for all of the PP's that were there and how cool for her as well. The Yak Attacks look so good. That's definitely on my list for December.
__________________
šOš ~*~
Oct '99: CSR ~ May '02: CR ~ Nov '04: SOG ~ May '06: SOG ~ Dec '07: Solo @ Pop ~ May '08: Pop w/friends ~ Oct '08: SOG ~ Dec '09: Pop w/LeAnn ~ Sept '10: Solo @ Pop ~ Spring '11: AKL ~ Jan '12: Pop for 1/2 Marathon ~ Sept '12: 1st trip for DL 1/2 Marathon? ~ Feb '13: Pop w/pals? ~ Mar '13: Tokyo Disney w/PP's?
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
With boarding pass in hand, Yak Attack in tummy and sad look on face, Angie and I returned to the room. We had an ADR for Whispering Canyon Cafe that night, our last.
We arrived a bit early. VWL is our home resort, and we live in a log home:
so WL holds alot of endearment as well as memories for me!
We were a group of 9, Amy, Angela (Amy's mom), Angie, Wendy, Cheryl,Sara, Sabine, Manuel and me.
We were seated rather quickly. We put our goddess at the head of the table. And I was so happy to finally get to meet Manuel, fresh from his surgery and looking healthy! It had been a bit of an ordeal for Sabine and Manuel, I was so glad that they could join us on this last dinner.
Wendy already knows what she wants:
Angie and I opted for flashing Tinkerbells:
Don't recall what this is, but it looks :
Cheryl decides to pass on the chicken wings:
Some of our entrees:
Meat Loaf:
Pasta:
Chicken:
Steak:
Amy and Angela had the skillet:
Dinner was delicious, as usual, but....
I took a table shot earlier...
And the CM took one later...
Can you see the difference? If you guessed no Wendy, you win! Poor Wendy either got a bad batch of meat loaf (although I had the same thing) or her migraines caught up with her. She had to leave dinner halfway through due to illness. We felt bad that she missed the rest of the meal and beyond, but we all understood. It was so great to get to hang out with her and finally meet her for real, but it was also yet another sad goodbye.
While we were still at dinner, Dennis, Judy and Shawn showed up with someone to say hi to Sara:
Love this shot!
After dinner, we lingered in the lobby and the gift shop and said more goodbyes. I was beginning to think at this point that I would never go to another Passporter function because the goodbyes are too hard. Of course, that's not true, but you know what I mean.
A small group of us decided to go to Territory Lounge for a farewell drink.
I asked if the bartender, Dana was still there. Sadly, she was not. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing that you know the name of the bartender at a lounge in WDW!
See, the last time we were there, Territory Lounge, like so many other Disney properties, had homogenized the menu dramatically. I remembered having a drink there several years back, but couldn't recall the name. I asked our server at the time for it, calling it a "Northwest Territory". He had never heard of it, but he asked Dana, who said "Oh! You mean a Northern Exposure!" She made me one, and it was just as fabulous as I remembered it. It had vanilla ice cream, rum, vodka, coke...a few more things probably, and boy was it good!
Well, lo and behold, without perusing the menu, I asked first for Dana and then for a Northern Exposure. Our CM this time said..."Oh, it's right here!" And...WOW! : It is back on the menu! So there is some hope that WDW will get away from the one-size-fits-all menus and back to a bit more creativity!
My drink:
Group shot:
It was time to leave. We said goodbye to Sara, and drove Cheryl back to her room. I am tearing up just writing about it, so I'll leave it here for now.
Next...final day, the trip home and my thoughts....
Ok, me in the bug glasses.... Best.Picture.Ever!!!!! And I love th group shot of us at the Territory Lounge. Although I am still calling the Northern Exposure the FrozenWasteland!!!
I needed to have the rental car back by 10, so Angie and I were up and about early. I had packed most of my stuff the night before, this morning, I threw the last minute things in and we were ready to go. Angie's bags were delivered to Bell Srvices for her DME pick up (her flight was later than mine) and mine were loaded in the car for the trip back to the airport.
A sad Angie checking in:
We had breakfast at Olivia's, another first for Angie but not for me. We had an awesome CM named Jerry from "da Bronx" who spoke like he left New Yprk the day before yesterday. Actually, he had been here for 14 years!
Olivias:
My breakfast burrito:
Angie's Mickey Waffles:
One last photo:
Too soon, it was time to get on the road. This goodbye was a bit easier, because Angie and I see each other more frequently. (It's nice to only live two states and a short drive away from a Passporter friend! ) I got in my car and headed for the airport.
Dollar was much more efficient at getting their car back then they were at giving it out, so I flew through the return and into the terminal. The Southwest line was a bit long, but moved quickly, and next it was a breeze through security. I got a coffee and a Philly pretzel and called my friend Margo back home. We chatted for awhile, and soon my flight boarded. I got a window seat about 15 rows back (not too shabby, considering I was number 57!) and settled in. Our flight was on time, and soon we were landing in gray, cloudy Philly.
Our baggage was delayed because the Southwest carousel wasn't working, and they herded us like sheep from one terminal to the next. Soon, I had my luggage, and I called Steve. He was in the middle of a crisis, and was delayed by about a half hour, but at 4, he left work and came and picked me up. Despite my sadness at the goodbyes, it was really great to see him and get that big hug and kiss on the curb at Philadelphi Airport! Of course, he was still pouting a bit that he didn't get to go, so we dealt with that issue once or twice during the drive!
I arrived home to a relatively clean house, and...wow! All the cats had survived without me! They were happy to see me though, Daddy doesn't spoil them as much as Mommy does.
I unpacked, threw in some laundry and texted people that I was home. We picked up a pizza for dinner and relaxed. By 10, I was exhausted and ready for bed. Tomorrow it was back to work at 6 AM. No rest for the weary! Reality was here.
Fantastic update!! That photo of me at Tusker House-- I can STILL taste that horseradish! That was hot stuff!!
Loved the photo of our dinner at WCC!! What great company we had that night!! I hated leaving. Let's just say it didn't sit right with me...............
And because I had to run, I missed saying goodbye to you, Angie, Sabine and Manuel, Amy and Angela(who I will see next week ) and Sara!
I'm tearing up also because the End is Near!
This trip was incredibly special to me for a number of reasons. First of all, I didn't think there would be a Disney trip this year due to other financial obligations. So being able to pull this off, albeit without Steve, was wonderful.
Second, the group down there was amazing. Friends, old and new, gathered in a magical place for a true magical gathering can only make for a magical experience. I know that I have only touched the tip of the iceberg with the magic I've shared in this trip report. There were more magical moments then some people experience in a lifetime.
Third....how can I even begin to describe the wonderful place that is Passporter? I was trying to imagine my life if I had never found this website, and I couldn't even imagine. The friendship, the camaraderie, the FAMILY that I have here is beyond words, beyond feelings, beyond imagination. It's very hard to describe to a non-Passporter the emotion that goes along with this. (You know, you get the "your travelling with someone you only met on the internet" look...)
Passporter is so much more than just a website and a guidebook. It is the feeling that you get when you see the Castle on Main Street for the first time. It is the warmth you feel when you step out of the airplane into the warm Florida sun. It is the comfort of a well worn pair of jeans. And it is the place that I am proud to call my Internet home.
Thanks for sharing this trip with me. Thanks to all of you for being my family. And thanks to Jennifer and Dave for creating this magical world of friendship, fun and family!
It's over. Thanks for sharing your trip with us but so sad that's it's over.
__________________
šOš ~*~
Oct '99: CSR ~ May '02: CR ~ Nov '04: SOG ~ May '06: SOG ~ Dec '07: Solo @ Pop ~ May '08: Pop w/friends ~ Oct '08: SOG ~ Dec '09: Pop w/LeAnn ~ Sept '10: Solo @ Pop ~ Spring '11: AKL ~ Jan '12: Pop for 1/2 Marathon ~ Sept '12: 1st trip for DL 1/2 Marathon? ~ Feb '13: Pop w/pals? ~ Mar '13: Tokyo Disney w/PP's?
About This Page: 
But now you've got me feeling sad right along with you. 
Goodbyes are hard!
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
home. Isn't that part of the jobs for DH's left at home? 
šOš ~*~ 
PassPorter Guide Author
And I was so happy to finally get to meet Manuel, fresh from his surgery and looking healthy! 
It had been a bit of an ordeal for Sabine and Manuel, I was so glad that they could join us on this last dinner.
Of course, he was still pouting a bit that he didn't get to go, so we dealt with that issue 
once or twice during the drive!
) and Sara! 
Linear Mode
