The Joys of Pin Trading and Water Slides…Our Seven Days at Old Key West! - Page 2 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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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.
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Saturday, 5.28.11.
We pulled up to the OKW resort a little after 2 PM, and even though we did not do online check-in, we were able to get checked in very quickly! Also, gold stars for OKW, as the CM’s were very friendly at check-in, and although our room was not ready, we did get a ground floor AND fairly close to the HH…Building 25! The CM said he could look for something else that was ready, but I told him we would wait! J So, we bought our refillable mugs and filled them at Good’s. (OK, this was a disappointment, but more on that later.) Then we headed for the boat to DTD.
This has to be one of my DH’s favorite things to do while at Disney. It is a relaxing ride! DS5 had tunnel vision and could only think of one word: LEGOS! So, we headed there, and after AN HOUR in that store, he finally found a cool Star Wars set that he liked. It was fairly hot, and after twelve hours of driving, we were pretty beat, so I was relieved, when I got the text that our room was ready. (Right on time @ 4 PM!) We headed back to OKW, and once we got back, we found our 1 BR Villa: 2514. As soon as we opened the door, I knew I would love it. It was nice and cool, and the colors are nice and soothing, I think. DS16 staked out the living room as his space, and DH started unpacking. DS5 played with his new Legos, and I started putting things away. I can’t say enough nice things about the villa, and I really felt spoiled having so much space. It will be hard to go back to a regular room after that!
We had dinner reservations at Olivia’s for 6:25, so after getting unpacked and changed, we head over to Olivia’s for dinner. OK, I have to say that I wasn’t really impressed with dinner. It was OK. I had the shrimp and grits, and as a native South Carolinian, I should have known better. L It wasn’t my Low Country shrimp and grits that I love, so I should have gotten something else. Next time, I’ll know better. DH ordered the NY strip, and although he said it was OK, it just wasn’t great for the price. If we hadn’t been on Dining Plan, I would have been pretty frustrated with the quality of the food for the price. DS16 had the shrimp pasta dish that was the best of all of our dishes. And DS5 had a cheese burger. Considering all the great restaurants on property, we probably won’t return here for dinner again if we stay here again.
After dinner, DS16 wanted to hang out at the resort, but DH and I were thinking about heading to MK, so we waited for a bus. And we waited. And we waited. FINALLY, after about 30 minutes, the bus arrived, just as a storm started rolling in. So by the time we got to MK, the driver told us that there was a severe thunderstorm approaching Disney, and to be prepared. So, after seeing a few strikes of lightning and thunder and DS5 becoming pretty scared, we decided to go back to the resort. Fortunately, there was a OKW bus approaching as we were getting off, so we got back on a different bus to head back! If it sounds confusing, it was! Note to self…next time, don’t make plans to go to a park after a 12 hour drive! J
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.
I swear, if they could put the WDW over the entrance to my parking lot at work I would be a much happier dwarf.
Sorry the restaurant was a let down, but sounds like a great first day otherwise. YDS has decreed we are never to try to go to a park on our first day again when we aren't on the monorail. He just thinks it's "pushing".
We used to run to a park on travel day, lately we have been traveling later and end up planning a relaxing evening at the resort, or DTD. Sorry dinner wasn't as good as you hoped.
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glad the drive down was good and that you missed most of the traffic.
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Pixie Dust
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