A 40th celebration to end the world! THREAD 2 COMPLETE AGAIN 4/27 - Page 4 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Your photos are making me put a leisurely visit to AKV on my short list. I can easily see spending a couple of days there without needing to go anywhere else.
I think you could.
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Nice job with the restaurant photos as well.
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(I'm interested in the Donkey Sanctuary question too - we've seen all the episodes of MM )
I AKL! I'm sorry Mark wasn't feeling well, but you were right to let him rest right there. Your pictures are beautiful - you had so much to take photos of! I'm sorry the Mara wasn't great - we had some good selections while we were there, maybe it was an off day?
I hope so. I remember when you could get items from Boma there and I was really disappointed that they didn't seem to be doing that any longer... a real shame.
Not mean at all for you to leave Mark to his rest. Nothing you could do for him, but I know it must have felt strange for you to be heading out alone. Really, the animals do look like somebody spiked their wheaties that morning! They've all got a spring in their step! Wonderful photos!
The animal activity is awesome! Great photos around the resort too.
We tried Mara for the first time last Nov. and I wasn't excited much about the choices. African stew was the only "exotic" item. And it wasn't extremely tasty - to me anyway. At least they still sell the zebra domes!!
It sounds to me like that's a trend they're following then. Hmmm.... now you say it, I don't recall seeing the zebra domes. I don't want to get anyone worried, they may have been there, but I just didn't see them...
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Amazing animal activity & great photos. I am wondering why Beach Club tops AKL for you. Is it location only or something else as well ?
It's partially location. It's so convenient for two theme parks and it's easy to just walk somewhere for dinner, with a massive selection of restaurants on your doorstep. At Animal Kingdom Lodge, you only have the three choices. Epcot is also our favourite park, so being near that is a definite bonus.
We also love the theming of the Beach Club. We fell in love with the place when we first visited it on our honeymoon in 1999 and then we watched the Villas being built before we bought into them, so they have a very special place in our hearts that I doubt any other resort will ever top.
So sorry to hear Mark isn't feel well. Too bad you had to leave him in the room, but I'm sure he understood, and probably wanted to be left alone anyway.
You really were getting a lot of activity on the savannah. I guess that's where all the animals were hanging out when they weren't in front of our balcony.
So sorry to hear Mark isn't feel well. Too bad you had to leave him in the room, but I'm sure he understood, and probably wanted to be left alone anyway.
Good point...
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You really were getting a lot of activity on the savannah. I guess that's where all the animals were hanging out when they weren't in front of our balcony.
It is very much luck of the draw. We've had stays where we haven't seen much activity, but this time, we certainly did.
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Amazing photos of all the activity on the savannah! I would have found it hard to leave with all of that going on too. Sorry Mark still wasn't feeling well!
Your pictures of around the resort make it seem rather deserted, but I guess most folks were in the parks. AKL is just so beautiful! Zawadi is my favorite resort gift shop. In fact, I couldn't help smiling as I noted several items that now decorate my home. The savanna does look so alive and I love the zebras when they get playful.
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AKL! I'm sorry Mark wasn't feeling well, but you were right to let him rest right there. Your pictures are beautiful - you had so much to take photos of! I'm sorry the Mara wasn't great - we had some good selections while we were there, maybe it was an off day?
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