Going north, south, east and west - UPDATED 12/18 - Page 40 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Playing catch-up....again. Sorry KSC was disappointing, your pics are beautiful, though. As well as the photos from T-Rex...amazing! Glad you enjoyed some great company at dinner though the meal was not as on par as usual...hopefully just as off night.
danielle
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Enjoyed all the photos as usual. I'm glad to hear you say the Zebra domes were not up to par. We tried Boma for the first time in September and after all the raves I was looking forward to the domes. But I found them very ordinary and actually kind of bland.
Wow, I can't believe how far behind I got. Glad that I finally got caught up. Amazing pictures again. Sorry KSC was a disappointment. Guess maybe since it is a government agency, they don't want to put too much out there and funds are probably scarce for improvements and updates. Love all the pics of the DVC models. Thanks for sharing those.
T-Rex looks like a really great place. I think we will need to check that out when we get a chance to get back to WDW.
Wonderful updates, Cheryl! We had so much fun with both you and Mark. As my memory serves me, we closed the place down ~ didn't we? I'm so glad that you liked your Eeyore and that it was one that you didn't have. Mark's reaction to piglet was priceless. He probably wonders "Does EVERYONE know about my experience with Piglet?"
You know, he is a bit like that - but I do keep telling him that the whole incident is pretty legendary on the boards!
Thursday 23 October – part one: they went quickly!
It’s hard to believe that this is our last full day at Disney already. I must admit that I feel very fortunate to be able to spend so long here usually. I can’t imagine only having six days or less to visit on a regular basis and I know we’re very fortunate to be able to come for longer.
Anyway, it was our last day, which meant printing out our boarding passes for our Southwest flight in the morning. I waited and waited for the online check in to open and when it did, I realised that you couldn’t check in without also printing out your boarding passes, so it was down to the front desk to get them to do that for us and I’m glad I did. We got A36 and A37, but that was about five minutes after online check in opened. My goodness, those went quickly!
We drove over to the Contemporary for our breakfast at the Wave and what a nice place this is.
The menu perhaps wasn’t as inventive as I had hoped for. We’ve certainly seen more innovation at other restaurants for breakfast, so far this trip, but the acqui juice they serve here is very unusual. I’m not sure what I’d compare it to, but it was certainly refreshing, once you got used to it. We were told that it’s used for detox purposes, so maybe that’s why it tasted a bit odd.
I had the pancakes, which were wholemeal – everything here is wholemeal, in keeping with the healthy principle that they have in this place I guess – with fruit compote. Again, this was flavoured with the acqui juice – they like that stuff here. As for Mark, he went for the petit fillet, which was included under the Deluxe Dining Plan. The food was good and after a lukewarm start with our server, she turned out to be excellent too. She insisted on giving us two bottles of Evian water to take away with us, as we were entitled to it under the Dining Plan. She got a good tip for that.
The Wave:
Food 8 8
Service 9½ 9
Atmosphere 8 7½
Value for money 7½ 7
Average score: 8.06
On the way out, we stopped at the front desk to ask if we could see one of the existing rooms at the Contemporary, as I was interested to see how similar they are to the model rooms we had seen yesterday. There wasn’t a room available, but the woman on the front desk, Francine, showed us a book with photos of the room and they couldn’t have been more different. The studio at least uses some of the same softer colours, but not the one bedroom villa, which is just garish, compared to the existing rooms. Looking at those photos, I much preferred the style of those rooms. The colours are just much more subtle and softer.
We headed out and drove over to Typhoon Lagoon to take some photos. It wasn’t a really hot day and there was quite a breeze, so I wasn’t expecting the place to be that busy, but it was. It was packed with people coming in and there were a lot of special needs children as well that Mark later learnt all came from the UK.
Mark enjoying the music at the park!
We walked around just taking photos and also getting some Photopass pictures done of us. We spoke to one of the Photopass guys who explained that there are now 32 of them in the water parks, rather than just the previous 13 they had. They did a lot of hiring during the summer apparently. He also told us that when Typhoon Lagoons closes on Saturday for its five month rehab, the main work they will be doing is on the surf pool, as it’s got a massive crack in it and needs some serious work.
That looks delish but enough for two people. Wow! Love the pictures at Typhoon. I've never been there. It looks very relaxing especially without kids running every where.
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Oct '99: CSR ~ May '02: CR ~ Nov '04: SOG ~ May '06: SOG ~ Dec '07: Solo @ Pop ~ May '08: Pop w/friends ~ Oct '08: SOG ~ Dec '09: Pop w/LeAnn ~ Sept '10: Solo @ Pop ~ Spring '11: AKL ~ Jan '12: Pop for 1/2 Marathon ~ Sept '12: 1st trip for DL 1/2 Marathon? ~ Feb '13: Pop w/pals? ~ Mar '13: Tokyo Disney w/PP's?
Another great update! Hard to believe you are on your last day of Disney already!!
Great photos of Typhoon Lagoon. closest I've been to it has been the bus stop!! Looks like you picked a great time to go, the park isn't crowded at all. I'll have to remember that!
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Had to catch up. Love your updates. All of your pics were wonderful. Sorry your wonderful trip is coming to an end. Looks like you guys had a wonderful and memorable trip. Look forward to more trip reports from you.
Breakfast looked intersting, glad you both got to try out the Wave. Loved the pictures from Typhoon Lagoon...we are still trying to decide which Water Park to try this summer and I am really liking the looks of TL...
Can't believe the WDW part of your trip is almost over...
Great updates and photos!! I agree with you - the BLT rooms are a little disappointing. I thought they would be more warm and inviting. And, this photo...
I enjoyed catching up on all your updates Cheryl!!! Sorry that the KSC was a little bit of a disappointment to you. I've read other TR's that have come away with the same impression that you did. Sounds like you got to enjoy some nice table service meals on this trip! I enjoyed seeing the pictures of the BLT rooms. The colors are a bit loud but some of those rooms will have such a beautiful view at nighttime! I guess there is no guarantee to get a MK view when you book there though. I can't believe your WDW vacation is almost done I'm looking forward to reading about your pre-trip report for the DL Paris trip you have coming up soon! You and Mark always look like you enjoy each others company so much. It's really a joy reading your reports.
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Liz 
I love your Photopass pics 
Sounds like you got to enjoy some nice table service meals on this trip! I enjoyed seeing the pictures of the BLT rooms. The colors are a bit loud but some of those rooms will have such a beautiful view at nighttime! I guess there is no guarantee to get a MK view when you book there though. I can't believe your WDW vacation is almost done
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