Dreaming of a Disney spring break - part three COMPLETED - Page 25 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Dinner looked DELISH!
And those night shots you got at AKL look like what you see if you use the night-vision binoculars they have at AKL. VERY cool! Need to see if I have a night shot on my camera.....nope, looks like only a low light setting.
I've lost track - are you heading home?! Given that you just used up your snack credits.....but then I guess we should be getting close to your starting a new PTR, right?!
: a few more days yet... it's just that we've finished using up the Deluxe Dining Plan credits from our two night stay at Bay Lake Tower. We've got another five days to go yet!
As for a pre-trip report, I'll probably be kicking off the one for our Alaskan cruise and road trip through America's national parks in, I guess, mid August, so a little while yet...
Sorry that you missed Illuminations but dinner looked well worth it, everything looked delicious.
Loved your shots from the balcony...definitely a nice view. Can't believe the trip is coming to an end soon (you know if we had our way we would have you and Mark endlessly traveling so we always would have a TR to read )
Well, if someone's prepared to fund us, then we'd happily do it!
Looks like a great meal at Tutto. I just love it there! The only other place on property I've had the bufala mozzarella is at Flying Fish. They have a Caprese salad with aged balsamic vinegar that's to die for!
Just getting caught up! What great pictures, especially the night shots from AKL! And what an amazing Inspiration tour that you took! Too bad they don't offer it anymore! It sounds like you've been having a great time, and some fabulous eats!
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Wednesday 20 April – part one: these lines are insane!
We had a bit of a lie-in today, as we had decided to go to SeaWorld today and it didn’t open until 9.00am, which surprise me. What surprised me more was that the GPS system claimed that it would only take us 15 minutes to get there.
There were no animals out on the savannah. We saw a couple of birds and an ostrich.
We headed down to the Mara for breakfast, getting out tea sorted and chocolate croissants each. My goodness, they were some size!
We headed out around 8.45am...
Hidden Mickeys in the carpet!
We immediately got into a go-slow on I-4. We made it to SeaWorld probably about 25 minutes later and the lines there for the parking were insane. I never seen so many cars waiting to get into a theme park. :
We started trying to work out how much money they must be taking and came to the conclusion that it was a lot! When we got to the booth, we opted for valet parking, as it was $30, while preferred parking was $20. It was the best additional $10 we’ve spent in a long time. We literally drove right up to the entrance and dropped the car off with instructions to call when we were 20 minutes from leaving the park.
We headed into the lines for bag check, which seemed more thorough than Disney, and then for the turnstiles. You should’ve seen the line for guest services for food and tour reservations.
The first thing you now see when you enter the park is Manta. It totally dominates the skyline and we watched in stunned amazement at what this ride does. Never ever would you get me on that thing! :
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: a few more days yet... it's just that we've finished using up the Deluxe Dining Plan credits from our two night stay at Bay Lake Tower. We've got another five days to go yet! 
(you know if we had our way we would have you and Mark endlessly traveling so we always would have a TR to read 
John and I chose to eat at Tutto Italia for our anniversary, and it did not disappoint!
your nighttime giraffe pictures! 
When we got to the booth, we opted for valet parking, as it was $30, while preferred parking was $20. It was the best additional $10 we’ve spent in a long time. We literally drove right up to the entrance and dropped the car off with instructions to call when we were 20 minutes from leaving the park. 
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