From no trip to celebrating 20 years together… planning it all in less than 100 days! UPDATED 6/30 - Page 48 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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A nice meal for the most part at R&C and in many visits I have never dined there as I feel there are much better choices in Epcot! May do it one day. Nice photos of Illuminations. They were very good and only thing wrong with them may be that they were dark at times. If they were mine, I'd be happy with them!
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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!
Sounds like you're having a good trip over all. I just love the naked yorkies, although I automatically picture a furless yorkshire terrier. I'm going to have to see IllumiNations one of these trips. I've been on ten trips of at least 10 or 11 nights in length and have yet to see IllumiNations. It's always on my to do list but obviously never makes it to the top of the list in terms of priority. At this rate DW will discontinue it and I'll have never seen it.
EPCOT in the Spring is always so awesome. I love the flowers and the topiaries. You were very lucky to get the waterside table at R&C. Judy and I have been able to do this several times and it is such a treat. I am impressed with your shots of the globe. I have never been able to get that good of shots.
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A nice meal for the most part at R&C and in many visits I have never dined there as I feel there are much better choices in Epcot! May do it one day.
I'd agree with you on that. I think we'd previously only had lunch there twice and, on each occasion, we weren't exactly wowed by what we had there.
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Nice photos of Illuminations. They were very good and only thing wrong with them may be that they were dark at times. If they were mine, I'd be happy with them!
Yep, I'd say there were a bit dark. They're not as good as my previous efforts, but I'll get there...
Sounds like you're having a good trip over all. I just love the naked yorkies, although I automatically picture a furless yorkshire terrier.
Oh my goodness, I picture a naked Yorkshire man... not one in particular mind, I hasten to add!
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I'm going to have to see IllumiNations one of these trips. I've been on ten trips of at least 10 or 11 nights in length and have yet to see IllumiNations. It's always on my to do list but obviously never makes it to the top of the list in terms of priority. At this rate DW will discontinue it and I'll have never seen it.
Wednesday 1 March – part one: what is it with drivers?
We were both awake around 6:00am, but neither of us really wanted to get up, although we couldn’t sleep either. Don’t you hate it when that happens? Eventually, I figured I’d have a look to see what the sunrise was like outside. The answer? It was Ok, but nothing spectacular.
We got going and headed out just before 8:30am, which would hopefully be enough time for us to get to SeaWorld for park opening at 9:00am, when we were due to meet Janine (FanOfMickey on the boards).
As we drove off Disney property, I got shots of this, which Mark told me was a conveyor belt to remove spoil from the Studios… and look at the pile they have of it next to the road!
I figured we didn’t need the GPS, as we knew where we were going, and heck SeaWorld is well enough signposted, but someone got distracted by work he said was going on on Disney property, claiming it looked like the Millennium Falcon…. I doubt it this early on in the process of making Star Wars Land, but I guess anything is possible. Anyway, the GPS had to come out, as we were definitely off course after that, when the turn for the I-4 was missed…
Once we did get on to the I-4, my goodness we couldn’t believe some of the driving we saw. I swear driving in Florida has become much more aggressive, even since our last visit in September. Mark nearly got cut up by a guy trying to use the merge lane to just get a little further ahead in traffic. What the heck is it with people?
We were soon pulling into the SeaWorld parking lot…
… and even here someone cut in front of Mark – can you believe it? Really? We had preferred parking, so we got the biggest laugh, as we were much closer to the entrance. I don’t mind paying the extra $5 for that, as parking is already including with the Discovery Cove tickets we paid for. I’m not paying Disney’s prices ($40 for preferred, as opposed to $20 for the normal parking fee ), I think their pricing is just obscene.
We made our way into the park…
… and once in there, I texted Janine, as we’d agreed we’d meet in the park. I didn’t realise it, as I managed to miss two texts from her, but it was fine, as she found us by the flamingos, which isn’t that far from the entrance.
We headed into the Key West area of the park…
… and into Stingray Lagoon. I love these guys, but they are always so darned hard to photograph.
When Janine and I saw the Stingray Nursery section, you should have seen the pair of us – we were both cooing over them. Yep, we both love baby animals!
We headed over to the Dolphin Encounter area, and despite not paying for SeaWorld’s behind the scenes tour, which takes you close up to them, I still managed to snag a couple of good shots…
However, I always find the best shots are in the underwater viewing area, and today was no different.
I hate, hate, hate I-4. We almost get into so many wrecks every year just on that stretch of road, and it's always bc someone is trying to get 2-3 spots ahead of us.
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May do it one day. Nice photos of Illuminations. They were very good and only thing wrong with them may be that they were dark at times. If they were mine, I'd be happy with them! 
PassPorter Guide Author
You must see it, it's so beautiful.
Eventually, I figured I’d have a look to see what the sunrise was like outside. The answer? It was Ok, but nothing spectacular. 
I doubt it this early on in the process of making Star Wars Land, but I guess anything is possible. Anyway, the GPS had to come out, as we were definitely off course after that, when the turn for the I-4 was missed… 
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