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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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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.
The changing landscape on the drive is wonderful. VERY nice hotel/apartment room. The ocean view is amazing. Sorry for them that the economy is so bad. That looked like a delicious meal.
The changing landscape on the drive is wonderful. VERY nice hotel/apartment room. The ocean view is amazing. Sorry for them that the economy is so bad. That looked like a delicious meal.
You hit the nail on the head, in the Algarve most are called Apartment hotels, I guess because of the cooking facilities. I was surprised about the economy, even though my DH watches the Portuguese news and we were aware of the situation to see it in person makes you really feel for the people. The food was so good we went back another night.
Beautiful pictures! Your hotel really is in a great location.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
What a lovely hotel in a great location!
The location was great, especially if someone did not have a car, they could walk to a lot of restaurants and shops. If you do have a car the Algarve is very easy to navigate, and you can drive from one end to another in a day.
Woke up around 7, got showered and dressed for the day. We headed down to the buffet, there were lots of choices: eggs, bacon, buns, cheese, cold cuts, fruit, cereal, yogurt, beans in sauce, small cocktail sausages (I believe the last two items are traditional on the buffets for the British guests.) We filled up our plates and sat outside by the pool to eat.
My plate
DH and his food. Notice the bacon, I love bacon, but I like it crispy, I found all the bacon on the buffets only partly cooked.
We headed down to the boardwalk on the beach and walked over to the Marina to admire the boats. We walked around taking pictures, and then headed back to the room to change into swimsuits.
One of the things I have found different in Portugal than anywhere else I have been is that if you want a chair and umbrella on the beach you have to pay for it. Since we wanted the shade we paid for 2 lounge chairs and an umbrella for the day. If you do not want to rent you have to ensure you pick a spot that is not in the roped off areas. We walked, swam and lounged until 1 pm when our tummies told us we were hungry. We walked along the boardwalk looking at the menus (most menus in Portugal are written in Portuguese, English, and German and posted outside each restaurant). We found a place called The Tropical that looked good so we had a seat. We both had a ½ chicken and chips, I had a Coke and DH had a beer. It was very good. We then headed up the stairs from the beach and we each got an ice cream at the Hagen Dazs store, I had raspberry sorbet and DH had pralines and cream. We Skyped with our DD and then went back to the room for a half hour nap.
We headed back to the beach where my DH enjoyed the views of a European beach, I must say there were a lot more topless women than on previous trips. We left the beach at 5 pm and headed back to the room, where we showered and got ready for dinner. We left the hotel and headed in the opposite direction than last night, we found a Chinese restaurant called Bamboo Gardens and thought it would be a good choice. We were the only people in the restaurant for our entire meal. We each had wonton soup, egg rolls, cashew chicken, and fried rice. It was very good, again we got a free shot of Port on the house to end the meal.
We walked around for a while, I always felt nice and safe in this part of the Algarve.
We headed back to the room where we relaxed on the balcony and shared a watermelon cooler.
Costs Today:
Lunch € 15.00
Dinner € 20.10
Tips € 7.80
Ice Cream € 5.90
Water € 2.25
Chair rental for 2 for the whole day € 10.00
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.
What a wonderful day at the beach. I love that there are so many restaurants and snack places right near your hotel, but how sad for the poor owners that you were the only guests during the whole time you were eating.
I wonder if Chinese restaurants -- no matter what country they are in -- do better business in take-out than in sit-in. Around here, if we choose to go into a Chinese restaurant to eat -- it's usually not busy. But they will be hustling and bustling to-go orders out like crazy.
With the breakfast, sausages are common at breakfast for British guests, but generally they're ordinary sausages, rather than cocktail ones and I guess the beans in sauce are baked beans?
I wasn't surprised at having to pay for umbrellas and chairs on the beach - lots of places in Europe do that these days, and sadly again, it seems to be a British thing - i.e. they know the British will pay for it.
What a wonderful day at the beach. I love that there are so many restaurants and snack places right near your hotel, but how sad for the poor owners that you were the only guests during the whole time you were eating.
It was a great spot, and you could view all the menu's before you went in, so that helped in making the decisions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DisneyMamaSarah
I wonder if Chinese restaurants -- no matter what country they are in -- do better business in take-out than in sit-in. Around here, if we choose to go into a Chinese restaurant to eat -- it's usually not busy. But they will be hustling and bustling to-go orders out like crazy.
That could be, although no one was getting take out either. We have a Chinese restaurant in Winnipeg that only does take out and it is go popular you have to book in advance.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Very nice day at the beach!
Thank you.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
With the breakfast, sausages are common at breakfast for British guests, but generally they're ordinary sausages, rather than cocktail ones and I guess the beans in sauce are baked beans?
I wasn't surprised at having to pay for umbrellas and chairs on the beach - lots of places in Europe do that these days, and sadly again, it seems to be a British thing - i.e. they know the British will pay for it.
I don't think I saw any regular sausages always the cocktail ones, and yes they were baked beans.
Good to know about the umbrellas, for us its not that much to pay when you are already paying for everything else. We should probably just buy a nice umbrella and leave it at the house.
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