A Coast to Coast Christmas - Phase One WDW - Page 27 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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That was fabulous! Such a great evening....great friends, great food, great view. Way to drop the ball though Sharon on the food pics........and special M&M's too
I have been a lurker on these trip reports for a while now, thoroughly enjoying them. (Thanks!) After reading the posts about the kangaroos and knowing I would be at AK this past Sunday, I tried to find the best marker for the trail to share with you and am wondering if they may be seen from multiple viewing areas as I did not find them near Pizzafari but across from the Island Mercantile? The best directions I can give are: coming out of Camp Minnie Mickey and heading right, there are 2 trails almost directly across the path. The left goes to the otters and the right to the kangaroos. Strangely, I usually see the knagaroos on our trips and rarely get to view the otters, as was the case this trip. Hope this helps and everyone gets to see them on their next trip.
Karin
What an amazing, memorable night! I hope someone has pics of the food, the villa, the m&ms!
I do! Please bear with me until tonight. I have uploaded them and just need to post. But I was really tired last night from being sleep deprived because of the storms Sunday night into Monday. Bob & I are fine where we are (lots of flooding, though).
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Rich and I drove up in our Kona Blue Mustang and texted Larry that we were there but the guard gate was backed up (as it always is at the Contemporary). By the time we swung by the entry, Larry, ever the gentleman, was waiting for us.
We parked the car and discovered that Joan had arrived in her taxi and was waiting to pay the fare. What great timing! She was loaded down with all kinds of goodies, and Larry escorted us all to the Villa, which was so FAB. We hadn't seen Joan or B&L since the Food & Wine Festival in 2010. So it was the best setting for a reunion.
When we entered the Villa, we greeted Bob with big hugs and then introductions were made - this was the first we'd met the lovely Eileen (her smile lights up a room), the entertaining story teller JillyBean (can't wait to read more of her report), an ex Bay Area comrade, Karen (although we didn't meet until Florida), and our fabulous trip report hostess, Sharon. Hugs all around like we'd been friends for years! Thank you all for the big !
The Villa was gorgeous and decorated for Christmas with the perfect touch. Wowsa! Can we live here? We're inspired to find a place like this in real life. 2000 square feet - perfect! Larry gave us a tour and we were especially impressed with the laundry room - too bad we hadn't brought the clothes that refused to dry in our Florida rental.
Joan made us our first Yak Attack - and it was so yummy! We definitely need a quick trip to AK to tide us over until Joan can make us another.
Larry even arranged for a little book signing party for both of us. You are simply the best, Larry!
Anyway, it was a wonderful, wonderful evening - we were sorry that Lesley & Tom couldn't make it (next time?) - but we had to leave first because Rich had to work the next day - not all of us are on vacation - lol! More hugs all around, and then we drove home!
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One of my favorite memories was looking up at the BLT as we walked over from the MK. I saw one of the Grand Villas was dark, but had lovely, twinkly holiday lights strung along the banisters. It looked so magical and homey. I remember sighing and thinking "lucky ducks."
Guess what? WE WERE THE LUCKY DUCKS! That was B&L's villa!!
I appreciate every compliment and comment, but I have to say that this one made my day!
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Disney Magic - Oct 2015
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, Bob and Larry!
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