You can find me in da Beach Club -- COMPLETE!! Final Thoughts UPDATE 7/1 - Page 29 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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We still had a bit of time to kill before the Pirates & Princess Party, so we allowed Kat to play in Pooh’s Playful Spot for a while.
Please indulge me with the Kat photos in this update. I took as many photos of her as I could with her fabulous hairdo.
We had an ADR at 6.10 for Liberty Tree Tavern. A little pixie dust was sprinkled ……………….
Tah DAAAAAHHHHH
Steve and I just stuck hats on, but Kat looks cute, don’t you think?
LTT was evidently a very popular choice. It was a good 20 minutes or so before we were seated (plan your ADR time accordingly).
Eventually we were escorted to our seats. I was delighted to note that almost everyone in the place had made an effort and dressed up for the party – some of the costumes were really quite sophisticated – a woman on the next table had transformed herself into Pocahontas, and looked terrific.
Everybody loves LTT it seems. Liking LTT is analogous to liking the Magic Kingdom. Or dolphins. Everyone just does. So, I’m somewhat ashamed to admit this, so I’ll whisper. Come close……….”I didn’t like Liberty Tree Tavern very much. The service was rushed and the food tasted like it came from my local freezer store. But don’t tell anyone I told you this because they’ll think I’ve finally taken leave of my senses, and they’ll say ‘Don’t listen to Mattnkatsmum because she hated Marrakesh and we all love it. Same with Mama Melrose. And she raved on about Coral Reef when everyone knows it’s rubbish.’ So shhh. Let’s keep my thoughts just between us. Otherwise no-one will love me anymore”
DECLARATION SALAD - Tossed Mixed Greens, served with our special Tavern Strawberry Vinaigrette Dressing
I’d looked forward to this as I really fancied the dressing. I thought it just OK, nothing out of the ordinary.
Then we got a couple of characters:
I was a little disappointed that they weren’t sporting Pirate and Princess costumes. Because the place was so busy, it was a case of ‘smile, click and run. There was not much interaction, I’m afraid.
My beautiful, elegant, delightful daughter wanted me to take her photo….
This is the true Kat. Don’t be fooled by the cutesy stuff.
PATRIOT'S PLATTER - A generous serving of roasted turkey breast, carved beef, and smoked pork loin, with mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables, herb bread stuffing, and Stouffer's Macaroni and Cheese.
Proudly sponsored by Stouffers.
Warm apple cobbler with vanilla ice cream included.
Not bad. But it would be hard to screw up a dessert methinks.
And given that we weren’t seated until 6.20 and were out by 6.55, you should have some idea as to how rushed this meal was. I would highly recommend that anyone wanting to eat at LTT before any of the parties make an ADR for no later than 5.30.
The party was already underway. We studied our treasure map (this had been handed to us at the entrance – I forgot to mention this previously). A number of ‘X marks the spot’ markings were on the map. Kat loved the concept of this and we explained that we were involved in a treasure hunt throughout Magic Kingdom We also possessed black satin booty bags for collecting our goodies.
I’ve thought about how to describe the party. I was going to scan in the treasure map and describe the whole set-up in meticulous detail, but given that the Pirates & Princess Party looks as if it may become a regular feature, I don’t want completely to ruin the surprise. Instead I’ll share some photos, and you’ll get the gist.
There are some amazing photo opportunities.
Ariel spent loads of time interacting with Kat.
This might just be the loveliest character photo I have.
As I said….don’t be fooled.
We had the rides to ourselves. Kat rode Goofy’s Barnstormer without having to get off.
She also got to dance with Sebastian.
The parade was great. Unfortunately, our photos are lousy, but I’ll post a couple so you get the idea.
Can you guess whose hand this is????
Kat and I rode the Magic Carpets. I’m thinking that this photo lends some credibility to the PotC ghost theory.
Kat also spent some quality time with Jasmine.
The piece de resistance of the entire evening is the fireworks show, which is quite the BEST FIREWORK SHOW I HAVE EVER SEEN. It was, with no intention of over-egging the superlative, SPELLBINDING. I would go so far as to say that the fireworks are worth the price of admission in themselves.
My photos do not begin to do this show justice, alas, but I’ll post what we took.
By now, Kat had fallen asleep, so we decided to call it an evening. We all agreed that the Pirates & Princess Party had been superb.
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The Pirate and Princess Party looks awesome - I love the photo of the three of you with the Castle behind. How cool do you all look? You're too funny with your restaurant reviews - yes, I think it's fair to say that most people love the Liberty Tree Tavern, but not everyone does. I think you may have had a bad experience, as it does sound like your meal was pretty rushed!
Great update Karen! Kat is absolutely beautiful in her Snow White costume. Her hair looks so pretty - it was definitely a bargain going to the Main Street Barber Shop! Sorry to read that you didn't fancy LTT all that much (I know that's a secret) but I do think there lunch menu is better than the dinner menu. So glad that Kat enjoyed herself at the P&P party. Can't wait for more.
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Fantastic update Karen Kat looked adorable in her outfit (and you and Steve too)! What a great time you had at the party! I so wish we were going this August to take advantage of it Great pictures too!
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Sorry to hear you didn't like LTT too much.... your pictures of Kat are FABULOUS!! She is adorable and I love the photo of the "real" Kat!! I can SO identify with that!
Kat is too adorable!! When you gave your review of LTT, I actually leaned closer to the computer to read it in a whisper....!! That's how involved I am in reading your TR!!
Thanks for all the great pics (and running commentary). Sshh...I'll keep your LTT secret since we are not fans of it or MM, either!
I am glad we are returning in August to hit P&P.
danielle
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Kat looks absolutely precious as Snow White and you and Steve aren't too bad yourselves as pirates! What a fun evening (even though you didn't like LTT -- I forgive you ).
Karen, I loved your P & P Party pics; it helped me relive our wonderful party night! I'm glad you liked the fireworks; thanks for your pictures. We spent that portion of the evening waiting to see Ariel, and then hiding in the Princess bathroom nearest Ariel's Grotto (DD7 decided she didn't care for fireworks after all.)
Kat looked lovely, and what a bargain hunter you are, says one who ponied up for the whole BBB experience times two!
I love the photo of your loot. I wanted to take a pic of ours for my P & P Party scrapbook page, but couldn't quite get it right. I think I'll copy your idea; it will look splendid next to my "Wanted" poster of one Captain Jack Sparrow!
Looking forward to more! By the time you're done with this TR, it looks like you'll be ready to start another!
Great update as always. So Kat's not always an angel, huh? Love the contrast in the one with her tongue out to the one that she's got her eyes closed sitting on Ariel's lap. She's precious either way. Also love the ghost photo. That's a hoot.
I'm glad that you has a great time at the party. The fireworks show looks stunning. I have a video from Mouse Guest Weekly Podcast dated Feb. 7. It's the full show. Here's a link to the site.: MOUSEGUEST.COM: Mouse Guest Weekly Click on Show Archive at the bottom.
Sorry LTT wasn't up to par. I have never eaten there but am planning to on my next trip. Thanks for the tips and thoughts.
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You're too funny with your restaurant reviews - yes, I think it's fair to say that most people love the Liberty Tree Tavern, but not everyone does. I think you may have had a bad experience, as it does sound like your meal was pretty rushed! 
Kat looked adorable in her outfit (and you and Steve too)! What a great time you had at the party! I so wish we were going this August to take advantage of it 
Great pictures too!
).
Kat's apple bag with her Snow white dress 
Suzie
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