A tale of two cities… and a few other places… COMPLETED - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Too bad with no update today as boards were down since about 12 am! I think I had the last post on the board just prior. I wish there was a notification for this prior such as in a thread or even better in a headliner in the top of the board like a going flow! Best way to describe this. So we can see this and know ahead of time.
It's a bit aggravating when the site is under maintenance and some things are working and others are not but you don't know until you try! I could access the threads but could not post. Wish I knew beforehand. Just something to consider for Jennifer and Dave and the mods like yourself to make the experience of this board better. Love this board but little things like this would be beneficial to all. Especially those posting on the TRs, which require much more work with the posting than other areas!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
That is some amazing tower and the approach to it looks like quite something as it's just there alone! The views are spectacular and love those of the countryside from there. That is one enormous hog and I don't think Mark antagonized him like he does Piglet!
No, Mark was on very good behaviour with that guy.....
Too bad with no update today as boards were down since about 12 am!
Yes, I did keep trying all day, but with no luck.
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I think I had the last post on the board just prior.
I think you did...
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I wish there was a notification for this prior such as in a thread or even better in a headliner in the top of the board like a going flow! Best way to describe this. So we can see this and know ahead of time.
I don't think there's any way to know ahead of time - I don't believe it was planned maintenance.
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It's a bit aggravating when the site is under maintenance and some things are working and others are not but you don't know until you try! I could access the threads but could not post. Wish I knew beforehand.
Me too!
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Just something to consider for Jennifer and Dave and the mods like yourself to make the experience of this board better.
As I say, this was not planned maintenance in any way. The boards simply fell over, as they sometimes do and when they do, we're all affected. I couldn't post anything, so there's no way of warning people.
Apologies for no update yesterday, but the boards were down and when they're down, no-one can post anything. A call has to be put into a specialist team to get them working again, but they're up now and that's the main thing.
Thursday 21 September – part six: seeing my beloved boy
We saw some lovely clouds as we drove along…
Eventually we made it to the Donkey Sanctuary, albeit after 5:00pm, so I knew the shop would be closed. I’d already said we’d have to come back tomorrow for another donkey dose, and so I could browse the shop.
After a quick restroom stop, we headed over to see my beloved adoption donkey Gareth. At first, I didn’t think there was anyone out, but it turned out there was…
Then, after a moment, a lovely little donkey walked past me, and it was Gareth! So sweet…
Sadly he didn’t stop to talk to me, I guess because there was food in his shed, so I sort of forgive him for that – only sort of though.
Now for those of you not on Facebook, you won’t know this. Gareth had a problem with his hoof a couple of weeks later, and I mean a really big problem. It got so bad that he could barely walk. He wasn’t just limping, he was jumping high into the air, so that he didn’t have to put any weight on that hoof. He was bandaged up, the vets came to see him, and we thought it had improved, but it didn’t. The Donkey Sanctuary posted on Facebook that he was undergoing treatment. I thought he was getting better…
Literally a couple of hours later, they posted to say that Gareth had been put down. To say I was devastated would be an understatement. It came as such a shock. I absolutely loved that little guy and really was heartbroken at his loss. I defy any of you to read the post the Donkey Sanctuary put on their website about him and not shed a tear. I am so, so glad we came here, and I got to see him one last time…
I did get a close encounter with another of the donkeys, Fergal, who came over to see me. I petted him, but knew he was being inquisitive, and wanted something, but I couldn’t fathom it. Maybe it was my camera? No, he was after my handbag strap, and tried to grab hold of it with his teeth. When I realised what he was trying to do, I backed off pretty quickly. I’m sure it wouldn’t have tasted good Fergal.
The donkeys looked as if they were enjoying their salt lick block anyway…
We headed off for our bed and breakfast place for the night, which was actually a medium sized hotel. It was about 20 minutes’ drive away. For as long as we’ve been visiting the Donkey Sanctuary, we’ve been trying to find somewhere local that we really like to say, and I was hoping this would be the place. I must admit as we pulled up, I was in dread, as essentially you drive in past a derelict building. I have no doubt in time it will be converted into apartments, but right now, it’s not a great entrance.
I totally forgot to get a photo of the hotel itself, but it was fine from the outside. We headed inside, and the woman who checked me in admitted she doesn’t usually check people in, but the person who does had gone to do something else. As Mark said, at least she offered to take, and then did take, one of the cases upstairs.
Our room was fine, but honestly, nothing spectacular…
Oh Gareth. Such a sweet boy! The other one going after your purse strap! It's funny, but not funny.
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
Glad you got to see Gareth one more time, but so sad he had to be put to sleep! I know how much you loved him from your various visits in your TRS!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
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The other one going after your purse strap! It's funny, but not funny.
I know what you mean. If it had happened to someone else, I'd have found it hysterical.... in fact, a few weeks later, that bag gave out. The strap broke. Hmmm.... now I think about it, I know who to blame!
So sorry about Gareth I think we have all gotten to know him through your TR’S. Are you going to adopt a different donkey?
Well, here's a story. We hadn't heard a word via letter from the Donkey Sanctuary about Gareth's passing. When my first adoption donkey, Teddy, was taken off the scheme due to ill health, they sent us a letter. A year later, when he died, they sent us a letter. This time? Nothing.
The first thing we had was the renewal reminder a couple of days ago. One was Ruby, my other adoption donkey, and the other was asking us to renew our adoption of Bonnie. I was livid. I'd guessed, as she was new on the website, that she was Gareth's replacement, but nothing to tell us. I have written a long email to them to express how upset I am about this.
We're going down in a couple of weeks' time for the carol service, and I'm going to visit the other adoption donkeys to see which one I like the look of and click with. Sadly, none of the other miniature donkeys in this field are up for adoption (my suggestion), which I think is a shame, as we've got to know them. There are four others in a nearby paddock who are possibles, so we'll see.
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So glad this gave you a chance to see Garett once more. Such sad new of his passing.
Sorry to hear the sanctuary hasn’t exactly handled the news well, in terms of informing you, and then just subbing another as if it made no difference.
So glad this gave you a chance to see Garett once more. Such sad new of his passing.
Thank you!
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Sorry to hear the sanctuary hasn’t exactly handled the news well, in terms of informing you, and then just subbing another as if it made no difference.
Yes, that's hurt especially as they did such a good job of handling Teddy's ill health and subsequent passing.
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I think I had the last post on the board just prior. I wish there was a notification for this prior such as in a thread or even better in a headliner in the top of the board like a going flow! 
Best way to describe this. So we can see this and know ahead of time. 
I could access the threads but could not post. Wish I knew beforehand. Just something to consider for Jennifer and Dave and the mods like yourself to make the experience of this board better. 
Love this board but little things like this would be beneficial to all. Especially those posting on the TRs, which require much more work with the posting than other areas! 
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Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
So sweet…
No, he was after my handbag strap, and tried to grab hold of it with his teeth. When I realised what he was trying to do, I backed off pretty quickly. I’m sure it wouldn’t have tasted good Fergal. 
It's funny, but not funny.
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