Florida flowers and Caribbean cruising - the trip report! THIS SECTION COMPLETED 4/12 - Page 57 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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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I like the new lobby too - light and airy is an excellent description. I think they did a great job with it.
So glad to hear about Kona. We have a lunch ADR there this summer and I have yet to eat there! I've had to cancel twice due to various reasons, so I'm determined to get there this trip!
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I have to confess I'm disappointed you went to Kona and missed the Creme Brulee!. It is actually my favorite even better than the one at the Cafe in my opinion.
Kona is actually our favorite spot for lunch on a MK day.
The new Poly looks great. I didn't think that I would like it when it was first discussed but I do. Your meal at Kona looks like it would be most enjoyable.
I finally got all caught up with your TR Cheryl!!! I so enjoyed all the pictures from the Tree house Villas! You were able to get some good pictures of the runners passing by BLT also I was impressed with how beautiful the renovation looked in January but I'm really excited to go back in a few weeks to see the Tiki statue that they placed among the rock garden. My DH and I ate at the Kona Café in December when it was all still under major construction and we were really disappointed in the restaurant, but I think it was probably because of the hectic pace due to the crowd levels. After seeing your pictures and the fact that you really enjoyed your meals, we'll have to give it another try this December
I always found the Poly lobby musty smelling, so the refurb looks good to me! Glad you enjoyed your meal at Kona. I don't think I've ever had dessert there, but if I'm ever there again will remedy that! Your teaser is really a teaser! Have you been misbehaving again?
That pineapple dessert looks really yummy--much better than the bowl of plain oatmeal that's sitting in front of me right now. *Sigh*
Ooops, sorry about that!
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Thanks for the pictures of the lobby. From the perspectives that you've shown, the fountain doesn't look quite so lost in that big lobby.
It really isn't. I was so pleasantly surprised (and I know I shouldn't be, as Disney are the experts at this...) about how well everything blended together in there.
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Your teaser makes me wonder if you were taking pictures on CoP again
Definitely not - we didn't make it back on to that this vacation...
All caught up!. How fun to spend time with friends! That makes everything better!! Your meal at the Kona cafe looks delicious! We almost booked the Poly this Summer. It looks like it's commg along beautifully!!maybe in December!
And I'm guessing here, but by then, I suspect a lot of the major work will be done, so it will hopefully be a much more pleasant place to stay by then...
I also liked the new look of the lobby, but I am also so glad that the centerpiece is now sporting the tiki since our trip.
I love Kona, but it's also been years since I had lunch there. I mainly get there for breakfast these days, sort of splitting my time between there and The Wave.
Oh I do love breakfast at Kona - that Tonga toast...
The new lobby at the Poly looks beautiful! I have to admit, at first, I was sad to see the big fountain go. But now, seeing what they've done, I have to say it looks so much better. It looks brighter and less cluttered. I love the light fixtures too!
Great meal! I thought Mark's dessert looked delicious - I love fresh fruit with some chocolate (but then again, doesn't chocolate make just about anything better?!).
So true!
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I agree about it looking so much lighter in the Poly now, after the refurb.
Hope you're not on the path of getting ejected from the World!!! You get in trouble too many times, and you're on "the list"!
I like the new lobby too - light and airy is an excellent description. I think they did a great job with it.
So glad to hear about Kona. We have a lunch ADR there this summer and I have yet to eat there! I've had to cancel twice due to various reasons, so I'm determined to get there this trip!
I hope you make it and enjoy it as much as we did.
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I have to confess I'm disappointed you went to Kona and missed the Creme Brulee!. It is actually my favorite even better than the
one at the Cafe in my opinion.
Oh now she tells me! I didn't think anything was better than the one at the café...
I finally got all caught up with your TR Cheryl!!!
Yay!
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I so enjoyed all the pictures from the Tree house Villas! You were able to get some good pictures of the runners passing by BLT also I was impressed with how beautiful the renovation looked in January but I'm really excited to go back in a few weeks to see the Tiki statue that they placed among the rock garden. My DH and I ate at the Kona Café in December when it was all still under major construction and we were really disappointed in the restaurant, but I think it was probably because of the hectic pace due to the crowd levels. After seeing your pictures and the fact that you really enjoyed your meals, we'll have to give it another try this December
Sorry to hear you didn't have a great experience there, but glad to hear you're thinking of giving it another go.