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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Wednesday 26 January – part seven: now this is what you call a superior room!
We had been talking about possibly changing to a Nile view, having seen how lovely it was and we had already enquired how much it would be. We were told $40 a night and we figured maybe we’d swap from tomorrow night. However, when we went back to say that, the woman on reception persuaded us that maybe we should swap today, as she could guarantee a room today, but couldn’t necessarily guarantee it tomorrow before check-in time, and as we’d be out on a tour by 2pm, that was what we wanted.
She told us that it was $40 for a Nile view room, but there were bigger, superior rooms on the first floor, which had king beds. Now that was music to my ears, as I hadn’t been very impressed by the twin beds here, with a table in between them, but they were $70 a night. Ok, that was a lot of money. She told us she had one free now, but I wasn’t sure and she went to check with her manger as to whether they could offer it for $50 a night instead. When she came back, she said so we decided to go for it.
We were given our room number and headed back up to our room and packed everything up and headed to our new room, on the first floor. Oh my goodness, what a difference – it was amazing! Look at all this space:
Even better, when you open up the doors at the end, this is what you find – your own private area to lie around, but it opens on to a much bigger area, which you have access to. Wow!
We still hadn’t managed to get anything to eat, as we’d been distracted by exploring the resort and then changing room, but hunger now drove us out. We headed down to the pool area to grab something to eat and the view from there was amazing:
I was lucky enough to catch a shot of this guy!
They had a fairly expansive menu down there. We went for a large seafood pizza between us and it was beautiful:
Mark got another Amy’s Tattoo cocktail from last night, while I tried a Blue Hawaiian. : I still prefer his, I’ll go for that in the future.
I finished my meal off with some Movenpick mango ice cream, which was divine.
We sat there, leisurely enjoying our lunch and taking in the scenery, watching all the feluccas (Egyptian sailing boats) out on the water. It was just so peaceful here, yet the Nile was exceptionally busy with ships. Despite that, you felt like life was just passing slowly by and it was completely relaxing sitting there. I could see why people come out here time and time again. It’s a very, very different feel to Cairo and I could easily see us returning here one day, much more than I could see with Cairo....
Just as we were finished eating, we saw the American students inside the restaurant and one was celebrating a birthday. In true Disney style, the Egyptian band they had at the entrance, who were earlier playing “happy birthday” put it to good use, serenading the birthday boy in the group, while he was presented with a cake. He then had to get up and dance, as did some of the other students. They seemed to be having a great time.
He can’t have had a chance to have eaten the cake, as just a couple of minutes later, they were heading down to the feluccas. We went that way as well, as we wanted to get closer to the Nile and one of the girls recognised us from the Sound and Light Show. We hadn’t seen her at breakfast, but my goodness, she had a good memory and knew what our names were! I guess once seen, never forgotten.
We got some photos on the tripod in the grounds....
... then we wandered down by the Nile into an area supposedly closed for landscaping works, but there was one section with no barrier and other people down there, so we figured why not. It allowed us to get some photos with the Nile and the Felucca that the Americans were on in the background.
After being shouted at in Arabic by a guy who I guessed worked for the Sheraton and wasn’t too happy about us being down there, we decided to cut our losses and headed back to the room to enjoy some downtime. They were showing Mission: Impossible II, which I’d seen a little bit of last night, so I was able to see the rest of it. It was just too hot to be outside and much more pleasant in our lovely superior room!
Next: in the middle between the Japanese and Americans
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Just got caught up, all your pictures are amazing. Glad you had a nice last day in Cairo and glad that you ended up with a seat next to Mark on the to Luxor. There definitely is a different vibe between Cairo and Luxor that you can tell even in the pictures, the Sheraton is beautiful and glad that you were able to upgrade, what an amazing room and view. I can't believe how close to the Nile the hotel actually is...like a balcony to beauty.
You first day in Luxor seemed full but so amazing, it is still so beyond my imagination when you realize how old these tombs are, to think of people living back then, and I love all the stories behind them.
Wow I sure did miss alot Cheryl. Love the updates. too bad no photos from Valley of the Kings but I did check out the website links. I'm curious, dod you know, where the temples actally houses of worship for the "common folk" or where they more just for the kings and queens to declare how powerfully they are? It's so cool to see the photos upclose because you realize that they have actual etching/drawings on the columns and walls and not just paintings.
Your hotel looks beautiful and sounds like such a relaxing lunch along the Nile. I can't believe how much greeer it is along the banks. Takes me back to history class when they talked about the banks of the nile flooding. Puts it into prespective a little bit more.
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Pixie Dust
The Nile looks so beautiful in your pictures! 
PassPorter Guide Author
She told us she had one free now, but I wasn’t sure and she went to check with her manger as to whether they could offer it for $50 a night instead. When she came back, she said 
Look at all this space: 
: I still prefer his, I’ll go for that in the future. 
Holly: 
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