Dreaming of a Disney spring break - part three COMPLETED - Page 36 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Glad you are feeling a bit better. I love the Dolphin nursery pictures....how adorable. Angel asked my mother for a dolphin for her birthday, of course my mother asked her but Angel where will it sleep, the bathtub is not big enough...Angel said they would move the furniture out of my room so we could put a pool...I see where I stand against the dolphin
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Wednesday 20 April – part seven: what a cool viewing area!
The final stop was the stingray underwater viewing area, which is a new addition, along with their new coaster Manta. It took a bit of finding, but my goodness, it was worth it. We both loved the viewing area, where you stand underneath the rays. It’s a bit odd at first, but it’s also fascinating and made for some wonderful photos.
It was packed in here and I can’t believe the rudeness of some people. I politely waited until the people in front of me (and goodness, one of them took his time! ) but I was practically elbowed out of the way by a woman who didn’t want to wait two minutes...
With that, we were done, so we called valet and told them that we were done, as you’re supposed to give them 20 minutes notice before you pick up your car.
We wandered towards the exit, checking out the major gift shop, where I got a manatees T-shirt and a couple of fridge magnets.
We then got in line to upgrade our one-day passes to get another free one-day pass. Everyone in your party has to be present with photo ID, but it’s a great idea and meant we could come back to see One Ocean and hopefully Wild Arctic as well.
When we came out, our car was waiting for us and off we went. We headed for a Wal-Mart, although our sat nav didn’t exactly find the one closest to us. It took us off on the 192 and beyond, up the route 27 to a very swanky one that looked quite new. It was packed with things and absolutely huge.
We quickly got what we wanted – a smaller kettle, as ours is huge and a nightmare to pack and a new memory stick for Mark’s camera, as mine was refusing to download images from his memory sticks.
On the way back, we took a backstage route into Walt Disney World, which was interesting. We did get glimpses of the Tree of Life and Expedition Everest, but sadly I wasn’t quick enough to get those.
We were soon back at Animal Kingdom Lodge.
We made it back to the room quickly enough and wouldn’t you know it, having bought a new memory stick for Mark’s camera, suddenly all the images downloaded fine off the thing for the first time in four days.
Wonderful trip report. I found myself getting excited as you got back to Disney World lol. I love seeing your AKL pics. We are staying there for the first time this February!
It looks like Sea World was fantastic. I loved the underwater stingrays. It is so interesting what they look like from below lol.
I am sorry those people were rude to you. That drives me absolutely mad, especially when you are jam packed in. If everyone was patient it would make the whole experience better!!
Beautiful pictures of the stingrays! How nice that you got an extra day on your pass to go back to Sea World! Was that a special promotion that they were running just at that time?
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Your Sea World journey looked like a great time. That Sea Garden is adorable, what a clever idea! I'm glad you guys were able to upgrade and come back again to see more. It actually is a pretty interesting park.... I think we may be heading back again too!
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I love that new stingray exhibit. Just like "OCEANGRLLG" said, they always look like they are smiling...happy little fellows.
It seems like rude people are everywhere on vacation, and soon it gets to a point where I can hold my tongue any longer. I'm glad you have more patience than I do.
I all the pics from Sea World, I too think we need a return trip. DH & I went on our honeymoon 7 yrs ago. Unfortunatly, I let him talk me into riding the Craken & I was not well the rest of the day. One of my favorite pics from that day is DH & the underwater manatee viewing area.
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We both loved the viewing area, where you stand underneath the rays. It’s a bit odd at first, but it’s also fascinating and made for some wonderful photos. 
) but I was practically elbowed out of the way by a woman who didn’t want to wait two minutes... 
all the pics from Sea World, I too think we need a return trip. DH & I went on our honeymoon 7 yrs ago. Unfortunatly, I let him talk me into riding the Craken & I was not well the rest of the day. One of my favorite pics from that day is DH & the underwater manatee viewing area.
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Melanie
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