A special birthday, a diamond anniversary and a west coast adventure UPDATED 9/7 - Page 28 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!

Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!

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Old 09-04-2015, 08:12 PM   #406
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Wow, what a gift! Happy Birthday Mark!

The bear photos... crazy. Lucky, and crazy!
I know, right?!
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Old 09-04-2015, 08:13 PM   #407
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Happy Birthday, Mark! What a great present. I've seen the northern lights many times from a small boat off-shore in northern Maine and Nova Scotia and they are amazing.
Oh wow, I had no idea you could see them from there - you learn something every day!
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Old 09-04-2015, 08:15 PM   #408
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to Mark! Here's hoping you two are having a whale of a day!!
Very good!

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I saw your Facebook pictures of the bears and WOW!! Iceland in Feb., now that should be cold for sure.
Mark now understands why I was so keen to get him to buy lots of winter gear...
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Old 09-04-2015, 08:21 PM   #409
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Popping in to say "Happy Birthday" to Mark! Now I need to go back and catch up.
Thank you so much!

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Will be interesting to see what you think of Alaska the second time around. We're thinking of going back for our 20th anniversary next year.
We are loving it, more so than our first one, if anything...
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Old 09-04-2015, 08:22 PM   #410
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Your bear encounter was incredible. , Mark! I'm really hoping some whales came out to mark your special day. Awesome present, Cheryl!
Fortunately, they did!
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Old 09-04-2015, 08:24 PM   #411
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Ok, a quick update on today. We absolutely loved our photo safari. I learnt so much more about my camera from it, including more about the various settings on it. We walked through a trail up to the Mendenhall Glacier and then we headed out whale watching. Oh wow, we so many, seriously it was unbelievable! Sadly no orcas, but we can at least try again in Iceland in February... I did get some tail fin shots, one of which I've edited and put on Facebook, so you can see what we saw!
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Old 09-04-2015, 10:47 PM   #412
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The whale picture was awesome!!!
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Old 09-05-2015, 11:27 AM   #413
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A belated Happy Birthday to Mark. It sounds like you've had a great time so far. I don't know able seeing all those bears though.Mark's birthday present sounds wonderful. I hope you get to see the northern lights. I saw them once and it was an unforgettable experience.
I can't wait to read more.
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Old 09-05-2015, 11:29 AM   #414
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I saw the whale tale picture....Another amazing shot!!!
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Old 09-05-2015, 02:57 PM   #415
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Glad you saw some whales!
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Old 09-05-2015, 04:02 PM   #416
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You finally saw some whales.
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Old 09-05-2015, 04:06 PM   #417
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I loved your bear and whale photos!
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Old 09-05-2015, 09:11 PM   #418
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The whale picture was awesome!!!
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Old 09-05-2015, 09:13 PM   #419
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A belated Happy Birthday to Mark. It sounds like you've had a great time so far. I don't know able seeing all those bears though.Mark's birthday present sounds wonderful. I hope you get to see the northern lights. I saw them once and it was an unforgettable experience.
I can't wait to read more.
Liz
Apparently they were out on Thursday night over the ship, but we were in bed. I saw a photo one of the photographers took of them.
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Old 09-05-2015, 09:13 PM   #420
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I saw the whale tale picture....Another amazing shot!!!
Thank you!
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