A 40th celebration to end the world! THREAD 1 COMPLETED 2/16 - Page 88 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
I am finally all caught up after being so behind in your updates for a while now! Glad you were able to get Laurie on Pirates with you. I've noticed some lighting issues on a few rides along with some other maintenance issues that Disney has not kept on top of Sorry to hear you weren't very happy with your meal at LTT. My DH and I had a lunch there about 5 years ago, and it was so bad, along with the service, that we stopped going there. It's too bad really because it's a convenient location for a nice sit down lunch or dinner but the food quality and service has certainly been lacking for quite a few years now. I guess the only way things will change is if enough guests make their complaints known to Disney Guest Services. Looking forward to reading more
I am finally all caught up after being so behind in your updates for a while now! Glad you were able to get Laurie on Pirates with you. I've noticed some lighting issues on a few rides along with some other maintenance issues that Disney has not kept on top of Sorry to hear you weren't very happy with your meal at LTT. My DH and I had a lunch there about 5 years ago, and it was so bad, along with the service, that we stopped going there. It's too bad really because it's a convenient location for a nice sit down lunch or dinner but the food quality and service has certainly been lacking for quite a few years now. I guess the only way things will change is if enough guests make their complaints known to Disney Guest Services. Looking forward to reading more
Sorry your meal at Liberty Tree Tavern wasn't good , That resturant and the Turkey dinner there is one of my favs. I hope it was just a bad night and they aren't going down hill.
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 werre going to try to get an ADR for LTT for our Thanksgiving holiday meal, now I'm glad I didn't even bother! Yes, I also believe you should try things for yourself, but I would have been a little upset if our special meal wasn't great, especially with the themeing. They better step up their game, now that BOG is here! (BTW, with Laurie giving her a little pixie dust that day!)
I have to try LT. I kind of forget about it. I wanted to when it had characters and then they took them out, so I gave up on it again. Maybe we'll fit it in in the future.
How wonderful that you all were able to ride PotC with Laurie! But it sure did look dark for you all. I am disappointed that LTT was so bad. We've only done lunch here once, preferring the dinner which has never disappointed.
Just getting caught up again! Great pictures from MK! How great to get Laurie on Pirates. Sorry to hear there were lighting issues . And what a disappointment at LTT!
I'm so glad that all of you were able to enjoy PotC. It's one of our favorites. It sounds like LTT needs to step it up a little bit! We have not eaten there for quite a while, usually eat at Pecos, but LTT usually has quite a following. Looking forward to more.
__________________
Disney Trips: BLT & Poly Bungalow 2016, VGF 2015, Fantasy 2015, Saratoga Springs Resort 2014, Grand Villa at VGF 2013, Fantasy 2013, BWV and Kidani Village 2011, BWV and Kidani Village 2010, BWV and Saratoga Springs Resort 2008,Beach Club Villas 2008,Villas at Wilderness Lodge 2006, BWV 2006, BCV 2005, HHI 2004,Polynesian 2003,Grand Floridian 2000/concierge, Honeymoon at Polynesian 1994,Polynesian 1980,Polynesian 1978
_______________
Sue
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.
Tuesday 11 December – part six: the monorail isn’t running
When we came out of there, we wandered first through Liberty Square and then the Christmas shop, not buying anything.
I’d love to have bought one of these, but they were very heavy
Then we headed over to the castle.
I suddenly realised I’d forgotten something very important - a Dole Whip, so we made a quick detour into Adventureland, so I could get one. Heaven!
Once I’d finished that, we got some Photopass photos done…
We headed towards the entrance, but found the Move It, Shake It, Celebrate parade on the way, so stopped to watch that for a few minutes.
We stopped off at guest relations to collect our tickets for tonight’s party and asked about whether the seven dwarves would be out tonight, and discovered that they would be by Splash Mountain! Guess where Mark’s making a beeline for tonight?
Inside Guest Relations
We headed out of the Magic Kingdom, and decided to walk back to Bay Lake Tower, and it’s just as well we did, as we think the monorail was down. We didn’t see a single one either way during the whole walk back.
When we got into the lobby, the air conditioning was so lovely to have, after the heat and the humidity outside. We headed back to the room for a little bit of down time.
After half an hour or so, it was time to head out to get some shopping done. On the way out, where there’s construction work taking place, we saw lots of people gathered round, and Mark suspected that was where the problems had started with the monorail…
We were soon leaving Disney property:
Look what I found just after we did!
We headed first for Celebration, stopping at the Melia Orlando Suites to get some photos…
Next: Celebration, cows, shopping and far too much food!
It's amazing how much you did on this day! I was snoozing in my room while you were getting a dole whip, figuring out strategy for finding the dwarves that night, and then heading off-property and having a cow-sighting! I've never even heard of the Melia Suites.