The Daring Duck Disney Destination Duo - Page 7 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Friday Dec 11.
This was a unusual day. Three meets, a delivery and lots of fun.
I knew I was going to need a lot of energy as this was not only a lot of meets, but it was Mickey's Most Valuable Christmas Party night, too.
So to get a lot of fuel, I decided to get a breakfast I had always wanted. Early morning bus to MK, then caught the monoral to Poly and the Kona Cafe. I ordered the Tonga Toast
Banana stuffed french toast with ham and strawberry puree to top it, and Kona Coffee (not the Kona blend : but a french press of pure Kona (enough caffeine in the 2 1/2 cups to wire me for the day ). You have to give up your juice and coffee to get the pure Kona, but it was worth it!
Then off to the opening of MK. First to Donald's Philharmagic, and then the jungle cruise and splash mountain. (I think this the day splash went down later with some passporters aboard ). Off to do a couple of fantasyland rides, then a light lunch (burger and apple slices ) at Cosmic Rays. As noon approached I had to return to Pop Century and pick up Molly's new vinylmations and then catch the next bus right back to MK. On to the monorail and off to the Grand Floridian for tea with a wonderful bunch of people (a few of who, yours truly included, that decided a little Mad Hatters Tea Party would be appropriate.
Molly was excited by her new additions to a vinylmation collection. We all had a great time (and the tea, sally lunm bread and jam and strawberries and cream were not too bad either.
Then off to the Magic Kingdom and our dinner at Liberty Tavern. Our numbers dropped from 8 to 4, but I had a great time with these fine ladies
Sorry about the blurry photo but it is the only one of my lovely companions.
After a delicious dinner of salad with strawberry vinagrette, beef, turkey, ham, and all the fixins and fresh fruit cobbler, it was time to get our wristbands on and end enjoy the extra Christmas hours and 'free' (think $60 )cookies and hot chocolate. We rode TTA in the dark
(Lisa and Deb are great company) and then did a couple other things (my memory fails me). I stopped to see the Stitch Christmas show (not that bad )
then on to pre-fireworks and parade meets near the times board. Mark was nice enough to bring some his finest hats from Tokyo.
It was super to see a bunch of Passporters including our fearless leader Jennifer We missed you Dave , but for sharing Jennifer with us.
After the fireworks and parade, off to Pop to get some rest.
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Don, all your PP meets look like so much fun and some of the meets had such looking food. I think it would be so neat to visit WDW at Christmas, especially with fellow PPers.
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The Yak Attack meet looked like so much fun - and my goodness, what great memories you've brought back from both the afternoon tea and the Christmas Party.
I guess I better finish my trip report before I complain about anyone else not finishing theirs . Apologies to many as I did not get any photos of the meets at the either the Yorkshire Fish and Chips meet or the Italy illuminations Margarita meet. Please make sure you post yours so I can 'steal' copies.
Today is EPCOT day #2. (I am prejudiced...this is my favorite park.)
Entering the park was greated by the always lovely topiaries.
Entered and got a fast pass for Soaring, then went across the park and did Test Track in the single rider line, and then back to ride Soaring follwed by a float through the land. Then another ride with Figment and I got shrunk with the rest of the audience.
I had a semi early ADR at Coral Reef (as soon as the restaurant opened) and had the Grilled Mahi Mahi followed by Baileys and Jack Daniels Mouse. I think my tablemates were eyeing me (or my lunch). I was seated right next to the glass.
Then off to circle the world until our dinner meet. No trip to Epcot should be made without a visit with Off Kilter
The garden in France was a nice quiet place to enjoy a guiet moment (and a pastry )
Then off the rest of the way to every country ending at Mexico. Then across the base and back for a wonderful time eating fish and chips with passporters, the meandering as it got dark to Italy, to enjoy Italian Margaritas. (Now to find Lemoncello, Grappa and a daquiri mix to imitate them.). Having seen (and gotten great photos of ) illuminations I headed back towards the entrance as Sunday was going to be a busy day.