A 40th celebration to end the world! THREAD 1 COMPLETED 2/16 - Page 50 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Ok, your breakfast pics looked so good that I ended up cancelling our breakfast ADR at Chef Mickey's and changing it to a ressie at 'Ohana. We've never tried their breakfast, but I've heard such good things about it. Your pics sealed the deal! Besides, we always eat at CM so it's time for a change
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I was a little behind, 74 pages behind to be exact. But I'm all caught up now. Great trip so far! I really enjoy reading your trip reports because of all the wonderful pictures.
Can't believe Mark's hat didn't get more reaction (I love it, btw!).
Have you thought of a collage of Mark in all his crazy hats? Or does he have enough to warrant a coffee table book?!
I am also surprised there wasn't more of a reaction to Mark's hat. I've been meaning to try O'hana, but I've seen so many mixed reviews. The only thing that's been constant is that the food is incredible.
Still have a lot of catching up to do but wanted to post some of my comments up until now.I really loved the pictures of the AoA, the theming looks amazing and something I have heard quite a few times but your pictures really gave me a great sense of how well they did there. So glad that you were able to meet up with Linda for a few minutes before dinner...sorry that the meal went downhill (however your meal looked delicious, I always end up withe the chicken or the short ribs while I am there but I might just have to try the lasagna. Glad at least the meal was good and of course great friends to spend time with but I would have been so upset about the service as well...
Ok, your breakfast pics looked so good that I ended up cancelling our breakfast ADR at Chef Mickey's and changing it to a ressie at 'Ohana. We've never tried their breakfast, but I've heard such good things about it. Your pics sealed the deal! Besides, we always eat at CM so it's time for a change
I was a little behind, 74 pages behind to be exact. But I'm all caught up now. Great trip so far! I really enjoy reading your trip reports because of all the wonderful pictures.
Can't believe Mark's hat didn't get more reaction (I love it, btw!).
Have you thought of a collage of Mark in all his crazy hats? Or does he have enough to warrant a coffee table book?!
I hadn't, but maybe I should - there probably would be enough for a coffee table book!
I am also surprised there wasn't more of a reaction to Mark's hat. I've been meaning to try O'hana, but I've seen so many mixed reviews. The only thing that's been constant is that the food is incredible.
Sunday 9 December – part two: “well it is the busy season” :umm
We got off at the Grand Floridian, and took lots of photos of the lobby beneath…
…before heading outside to get some more shots of the construction.
There was a Photopass desk nearby, so we stopped to ask about the photos we’d had taken with Linda on Friday night that still weren’t showing up on our account. The guy told us it was “only a couple of days”, which really annoyed me and I said to him that it was very unusual, in our experience, to not have photos appearing after this length of time. Then he came out with a classic. “Well, it is the busy season”. Oh please, we’ve seen just how busy the parks are, and they are pretty quiet right now. If you think this is busy, you’ve obviously never seen Christmas Day or New Year’s Eve…
We headed downstairs, spotting what we think was new carpet on the stairs…
We got some photos of the lobby from the ground floor…
… and some shots of the gingerbread house. It looked even more intricate than previous years.
We wandered out through the back of the lobby, and headed towards the new water play area.
Oh wow, this is really fun to see, although the ringing of the bell when the water’s about to come pouring down does get annoying after a while. There is no way I’d want a room near this, and have to hear this all the time.
We had a quick look at the quiet pool and gawped at how much the cabanas cost ($185 for a whole day! )…
Compared to the intricate design of the buildings of the GF, the DVC building looks very "square" and no-nonsense right now. I hope it's just the bare building...
I didn't visit the GF on this past trip. It does look like the gingerbread house has more detail than in past years. I think the upstairs balcony is new! That's certainly the time of day to get photos of the lobby. No people around! Busy season?
Your photos from inside GF make me want to visit there longer than I normally do. That pool area looks like kids would just go nuts over it. See you caught one of those rare and elusive North American Tree Rats
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Glad you were able to catch back up. 
I hadn't, but maybe I should - there probably would be enough for a coffee table book! 
Oh please, we’ve seen just how busy the parks are, and they are pretty quiet right now. If you think this is busy, you’ve obviously never seen Christmas Day or New Year’s Eve… 
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