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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Oh I love that butterfly sitting on the exhibit - just beautiful. Isn't it frustrating when you're trying to get the perfect shot and someone's right in the way?
I loved the butterflies flying all over. Amanda said in the summer there is a lot more in there.
And yes, it happens to me more times that I care for.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rhinohunter
That is a very beautiful exhibit. My wife has seen an exhibit of Chihuly glass art in Virginia. I think it was at UVA in Richmond. He is quite an artist.
How neat. He does have some really neat stuff.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
It's really cool how the art exhibits are integrated in with the real plants and butterflies!
I liked that too and I didn't expect it to be like that at all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
More beautiful exhibits! So much color and design and beauty.
I did love all the colors too!
Quote:
Originally Posted by mojjo
The red and yellow coloring on the last exhibit is amazing. Great pics!
It was amazing. I had posted some phone pictures on facebook that day and so many people asked where I was.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
We then headed out. We had seen most everything there was to see, so we did what every good woman should do…..headed to the gift shop.
I didn’t buy anything, but Mom did buy some cute glass pumpkins to give as gifts.
They had some Chihuly pieces for sale too…Quite a bargain! NOT!
I didn’t have $7,100 with me today.
This was from their Hot Shop. It was all very pretty.
I was tempted to get this cutting board as I have collected pigs for years. Now people give me cow things since I am married to a Dairy farmer, but I was collecting pigs long before I was with Skip. I didn’t for 2 reasons ….1. it was very pricey and 2. It was very small.
We were getting hungry and they did have a café, but it looked dirty. The whole place was so nice and clean, but the café looked disgusting and it smelled like bad meat, so we passed on that and headed out. Actually Claire and I went out, while mom and Amanda were still shopping as we wanted to take a look outside before we left.
Of course I had to get a few more shots of that beautiful Chihuly fixture as we left.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
I saw another guy out doing the same thing too. He had a nice camera as well and was trying to get lots of different pictures.
We reached Amanda and we were all pretty hungry. Claire was close to wasting away to nothing. I had to decide what we would do for the rest of the day. The other place I had wanted to go to was not close to here really, but also not close to where Amanda wanted to eat. In the end, we were kind of tired, so we just chose to all go eat together and then head back to Amanda’s house.
We programed our phones with the address and headed out. This took us through some scary looking areas and I was all too happy to get out of there as soon as possible.
We ended up at a place called the Rusty Bucket (I think). Amanda says it is really good. It was fairly empty too, so we got seated right away. We were STARVING by this point…..and you guessed it…SLOW service once again. I really think this waitress was not with it at all. I think we even ordered an appetizer that took forever to come. And then Amanda ordered something and she had to come back over and over to ask her questions about it. Amanda was very clear that her steak could not have seasonings or butter, but Amanda is sure it had something as she tummy issues later in the day. Thankfully they weren’t too bad though. Our meal was good, though I don’t remember what we all had. I think I had a patty melt and fries, and I would like to say Claire had chicken tenders, but she was on a kick that weekend to try new things, so she might have had something different.
After lunch we headed back to Amanda’s and helped Mom pack up her car. We said our goodbyes and off she went.
I had Claire pull out her doll so I could take a picture of her with it to post online.
Claire then played and I had to do a bit of work again, as I had to keep calling my vendor over and over to fix things.
Amanda rested on the couch and then I said that maybe we would go to a movie. Amanda gave me info to look online and sadly there wasn’t really anything new and good for Claire to see. We then looked at the $2 theatre, which has newer movies at the end of their run. I spotted the Lone Ranger. I LOVE the Lone Ranger. I had seen it alone when it first came out and would love to see it again, we all decided we would got to see that. We still had time to kill, so Amanda napped and Claire and I went for a walk outside.
Finally it was time to go and we headed off to the theatre. This was an old theatre and didn’t have stadium seating. It’s been a long time since I have been to a place like that. The seats also were quite snug for those of us with larger rears. It was kind of like once we sat down, we hoped we didn’t have to get back up for a long time! Claire and I got popcorn and drinks. Amanda had brought her own snacks since she couldn’t have anything there. We loved the movie! When that Lone Ranger music starts……boy it’s just so neat..you just want to gallop around to it. On a side note, this was something I asked for for Christmas and got it and we watched it on Christmas day.
After the movie we headed back to Amanda’s and just lounged around. We weren’t very hungry after all the popcorn but we did finish off the Cheesecake Factory left overs for dinner.
Amanda cleaned her fridge out and told me I could take several items home with me since she couldn’t eat them and if she could eat them in the future it would be after they all expired.
We watched some TV in the evening and Amanda had recorded the MTV award where Miley Cyrus had done her “strange” dance with Robin Thicke. We had seen it when it had originally aired, but we had to see it again to critique it a bit more. We were laughing so hard. What an idiot she has become. There were some other acts we watched and laughed about too. (Lady Gaga was another odd one) And then we enjoyed the 3.5 seconds worth of the NSYNC reunion.
It was time for bed and Amanda had to work in the morning. She showed me how to arm her house alarm so I could do it before I left the next day and we said goodbye to her in case we didn’t see her in the morning and went to sleep.
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Isn't it frustrating when you're trying to get the perfect shot and someone's right in the way? 
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