A Spring Adventure: Wilderness, Flowers, and the Force (with Cam and Luke) PTR Updated 5/22 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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The flowers along the lake really are always spectacular, and the floating gardens as well. With the hard winter we've all had, this will be exciting to see!
This is the first winter that it has been so cold here that all the grass died and turned brown. Very barren looking right now, but I guess at least Luke hasn't had to mow yet. I'm very ready for color in the world again.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
I remember when the F&GF used to extend till' the end of May. I had the chance to see those beautiful flowers on two occasions: 2006 and 2008. I loved how Epcot looked, so colorful. Someday, I'll be able to go during the festival and see it that way again.
It was probably the summers of 2006, 2007, and 2008 that we got to see a few of the topiaries the first week of June.
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I can really relate to your and Luke's beginnings. DH and I were friends for a couple of years and helped each other over a few breakups before we became a couple. I really think that helps in a marriage - being friends first makes a strong foundation. Plus I love the Muppets too and like they are important in ya'lls history.
BTW I hear there are twinkling lights added to some of the floating gardens this year.
I can really relate to your and Luke's beginnings. DH and I were friends for a couple of years and helped each other over a few breakups before we became a couple. I really think that helps in a marriage - being friends first makes a strong foundation. Plus I love the Muppets too and like they are important in ya'lls history.
BTW I hear there are twinkling lights added to some of the floating gardens this year.
I have to agree on being friends helps in a marriage. for the information on the lights, another reason to get night shots as well.
I just the story of you & Luke! Very sweet!
I think the F&GF gets better every year! Someday we'll make it back, but it's going to be a while.
And if we make it in October it looks like we'll miss you!
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I just the story of you & Luke! Very sweet!
I think the F&GF gets better every year! Someday we'll make it back, but it's going to be a while.
And if we make it in October it looks like we'll miss you!
We picked the third week in October, hoping to avoid any of Kentucky schools' fall breaks. Last October was much more crowded than we had expected. But I'm sad that we'll miss you all.
Cam, I love your report on the things you are hoping to see. I'm getting so excited for our trip and visits to Epcot. This will actually be our third trip to F&G! I'm so excited for you to experience it!
What a great "meant to be" story!! Love it!! And totally love that The Rainbow Connection is the theme song in the background.
The data of the FGF is astounding. It makes me realize a whole different perspective on all those pretty flowers and colors that we pose in front of in our trip photos. So many of those I've probably just taken for granted, but it's amazing to think of how many individual plants and flowers go into those beautiful landscapes and the amount of people hours logged into their care. Great details!
The flowers kind of remind me of the floats of the Rose parade in Pasadena. So amazing that they cam even keep that many flowers alive...I pretty much manage to kill half of our flowers every year.
As I am catching up and reading about your FP+ selections, I realized we will be in Orlando the same time as you this year and we are going straight to the port and not the parks this time around.........uugghhh, so bummed I'll be missing you.
Congrats on all the ADR's too, I'm excited to hear about Tony's as we haven't been back there in years, and we have decided to eat at San Angel this fall because the kids love going in there for "Donald's ride" and mentioned if we to could eat there one day!!!
Artist Point sounds like a lovely choice for your first night.....dressy dress and khakis too Score!!
Oh boy - you've gone and done it and told me there are papers and die cuts for the Flower and Garden Festival at Scrap Your Trip. So if we do end up going at Easter next year, I'm going to have to investigate that....