The Graduate, the Gadget Girls, and the Groovy Grown-ups - Page 22 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Glad the rain did not stop the fun, love the pictures of the girls in the Pooh queue, I totally agree...no reason to FP now, that queue is just too much fun (oh wait you mean its for the kids )
I have found the same thing in regards to the costs of some of the mid-scale restuarants, we checked out the menu at the Captain's Grille on one of our no-ADR evenings since I had told Jasmine what a great breakfast I had there in February, in the end we dined at Joe's Cart on the Boardwalk, not that I don't imagine that the food would not be good, but in comparision to some of the signatures these mid-scale resturants have really gone up in price.
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Hee! I'm rolling now, too, Eileen! I hadn't noticed it, but now that you point it out . . . 'course I'm around teenage boys all the time too. Maybe it's just us.
Karen and Zack were up early this morning for EMH and MK and breakfast at Kona Café. My little family, however, had a slow start to our day. We took our time getting up and ate a leisurely breakfast in the room. We were moving so slowly that Karen and Zack had returned before we ever left.
While Zack and Thom took the girls swimming, Karen returned their rental car and I took off for a few errands. First I walked to the IG to renew our TIW card which had expired on the 31st. I hadn’t bothered to renew it yesterday since we had no ADR’s, so it almost killed me to pay full price at Captain’s Grill the night before! I wasn’t letting that happen again, so renewing that card was the first thing on my list this morning!
After that quick transaction, I wandered over to the Boardwalk and looked for my purse in their mercantile. I didn’t find a purse, but I did buy a 2011 scrapbook, scrapbook paper and a beach towel so it was a worthwhile trip.
As I walked back to the villa, I had my head down perusing my iPhone (I that thing). A man walked up beside me and said "When I passed you earlier you were looking at that thing and you're still looking at it!"
I admitted to him that I was addicted and, before he left me, he made me promise that I didn't text while driving. I promised that I didn't.
I was surprised to find the villa still empty when I returned, so I threw a load of laundry in and just relaxed for a while. It wasn’t long before the swimmers and Karen returned and we were soon heading down to Hurricane Hannah’s to use our first CS credits on the DDP.
Our six-night stay at BCV was actually split into two 3-night stays since Karen and I had each booked one. We had decided to add on the DDP to the first 3-night stay since it would actually be beneficial to us based on where we were eating. During our final 3-night stay, we were eating at places like B&C and Sci Fi where you really don’t get the biggest bang for your buck with the DDP.
All six of us crammed around a little table and enjoyed our lunch outdoors. Of course, I enjoyed a Grand Margarita also! Once we were full, we walked over to Epcot where Karen split off from us to listen to the Voices of Liberty while the rest of us ventured through England and Canada. Zack and Mary Devall wanted to if they could find Larry again at the Seas, so our destination was Nemo.
After our ride, we all went back upstairs to check on Larry, but Maddie soon started becoming antsy so I took her to Mousegears with me since I had finally decided on a purse. Thom snapped this picture of the two "Larry hunters" which I absolutely !
At Mousegears, I grabbed my Mickey Nerd purse while Maddie finally decided to buy a baby Duffy. We quickly checked out and found some shade outside of Ellen’s Energy Adventure which was our group meeting spot. I sent a text to everyone letting them know we were there and we were joined by everyone just in time for the next show (with about 15 seconds to spare according to the countdown at the entrance ). This is a long ride, but it really is fun (especially if you Ellen) and has the extra bonuses of seats and air conditioning.
On the way out, a woman took a spill and Thom ran back to help seeing that no one hardly even stopped to check on her. My husband really should have been a policeman, fireman, or paramedic because he is all about helping people. He may drive you crazy while he's helping you, but he'll help you.
Karen and Zack next decided to ride MS:Orange while Mary Devall decided to give MS:Green another try with Thom. Maddie and I hung out in the play area where she had a blast crawling through the tubes and to me. When everyone returned from their respective rides, it was obvious (from the clapping, jumping up and down and squealing ) that Mary Devall had enjoyed her second ride on MS much more than her first ride several years ago. She was now contemplating the Orange side and questioned us all about it for a long . . . long . . . time. I assured her that anyone who could ride EE four times in a row or PW twice in a row would have no problems with the spinning side of MS.
Zack wanted to do a little shopping in Japan so we headed in that direction. While Zack shopped, apparently I was bemoaning the fact that I had not had a Grand Marnier slushie yet because Thom offered to get one for me (see how helpful he is? ).
I took him up on his offer, but when he asked Karen if she wanted one, she had to admit that she had already had one on her way to see the Voices of Liberty. Oh, you wicked, wicked woman! She even when she told us (as if I wouldn't have done the same thing had I been walking by France ).
Thanks to my husband, I was soon enjoying my treat while Maddie had a kaki gori and Mary Devall had a Sprite. It was so relaxing to just sit on the curb, sip my drink and watch the world go by. Those simple moments sometimes end up being my favorite of the trip.
While Maddie and I finished up our treats, Karen and Mary Devall slipped away for a few minutes to see the candy lady. When they returned and Zack has rejoined us, we strolled over to Mexico to enjoy the boat ride before we checked in for dinner at La Hacienda.
I was so excited to eat here for the first time because I love Mexican food and all of the reports that I had read so far had been positive. Karen checked us in and we did have to wait probably about twenty minutes before we were seated, but we were rewarded with a great table by a window (Karen guessed that we were given such a great table because we were the only people waiting who weren’t complaining every 5 minutes to the hostess ). We hadn’t planned on still being at dinner during the fireworks, but the wait for our table gave us a front row seat for Illuminations.
Thom and I decided to share the seafood mixed grill which was absolutely delicious! I think the only thing left on the plate was a lone pepper.
I also tried the avocado margarita which was so good that I ordered a second. It was very different from my normal margarita on the rocks, but very refreshing and tasty.
During dessert, the lights dimmed in the dining room and the show began. We had a dead-on view of the globe and could not have asked for better seats.
For dessert, I ordered a chocolate crème brulee which actually tasted more like a chocolate pudding. It was just okay, but the view of Illuminations and the second margarita more than made up for it.
After our fantastic dinner, we took our time walking back to the room. We chatted for a while longer and then all went to bed after a simply fantastic day!
__________________
Sometimes words aren't needed . . .
Last edited by Jillybean; 08-18-2011 at 07:31 PM..
Love your update! Love LaHacienda Margaritas!! I tried the "sweet" tea that they have, yes Disney has some places that now have sweet tea, but it had that nasty sulfur water taste to it so I could not drink it so I got a Margarita instead and gave the tea to my DH LOL The seafood mixed grill is delicious, we had that as well, and amazingly we had to wait about 20 or 30 minutes for our table and other people just kept complaining over and over and we just waited - got a table by the windows and had a great view of Illuminations Glad you did as well, patience pays off! I can't wait to find out if Mary Devall conquers the Orange side of MS!! Yours girls are just so adorable, I have loved watching them grow up through your TR's.
Sounds like such a fun day. It's nice how you all paired off to do the things you wanted to do and met up with each other at different points in the day. I'm glad to hear that your meal at La Hacienda was good because I've read some bad reviews on it and was afraid to give it a try. You couldn't have asked for a better view of Illuminations! Your margaritas looked delicious
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My little family, however, had a slow start to our day. 
We took our time getting up and ate a leisurely breakfast in the room. We were moving so slowly that Karen and Zack had returned before we ever left. 
I wasn’t letting that happen again, so renewing that card was the first thing on my list this morning! 
that thing). A man walked up beside me and said "When I passed you earlier you were looking at that thing and you're still looking at it!" 
and, before he left me, he made me promise that I didn't text while driving. I promised that I didn't. 
Once we were full, we walked over to Epcot where Karen split off from us to listen to the Voices of Liberty while the rest of us ventured through England and Canada. Zack and Mary Devall wanted to if they could find Larry again at the Seas, so our destination was Nemo. 
to me. When everyone returned from their respective rides, it was obvious (from the clapping, jumping up and down and squealing 
She even 
when she told us (as if I wouldn't have done the same thing had I been walking by France 
Glad you did as well, patience pays off! 
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