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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I walked into the doors that go into Cinema Hall. As soon as I walked in, I spotted them just outside the gift shop. That was easy. I head worried I wouldn’t recognize them or find them. We said hi and hugged. I have to admit, I was also relieved that I could understand them. They are from Austria, (for those who don’t know) and I worried about their accents a bit. I sometimes have a hard time understanding thick accents, but I had no problem at all with them. I asked Karin later if they could understand me OK as well, (I sometimes talk too fast) and they said yes.
They asked to see my room, so I led the way and showed them around. I knew this was nothing compared to OKW, where they were staying, but they seemed to like the refurbishment. They had stayed here several years ago themselves.
We then exchanged gifts. I gave them both a T-shirt I had made with a Disney Dream Design on it.
I also gave them each a t-shirt that had Skip’s tractor pulling logo on it as well.
They gave me a bag full of goodies. There was a cookie kit for Claire, which we made once I got home and they were so yummy, and Karin had made these really cute “Mickey pants” tissue holders. I just love it and it is always in my “Disney Dooney purse(s).” Also a pot holder from Austria, which is technically too pretty to use, but I have, so I get good use out of it.
Also in the bag was a bunch of candy. Claire loved it and gobbled most of it up with in a few days of me being home. And an Austrian CD as well.
After a look around the room, we headed off to their rental car…which was a Ford convertible Mustang! I was riding in style!
We headed off to OKW (Old Key West) to have a look around their room as well. After all, this was an educational trip for me and I needed to see as much as I could..right?
On the way over, Karin told me that they had already eaten at Wolfgang Pucks twice. They had just arrived the day before, but it is a favorite of theirs. I have to admit, when she said the name, at first I had no clue what she said, and she repeated it and then it clicked. She said it the “correct” way, not the American way that I say it! LOL! Wolfgang sounded much better the way she said it and she said Puck more like how I would say pook.
We soon arrived!
Tom did a fancy skid into the parking lot and the car did a 360 turn, landing us perfectly in our parking spot!
Ok, I might be exaggerating a bit on that one! LOL!
Karin showed me her little friend she had brought along.
Their room was on the 2nd floor so we headed up and I tried to get a few of the details.
Karin took me right out to the balcony and showed me their view. WOW!
She also took me around through the laundry room, bathroom and into the bedroom and I have to admit, I was a bad picture taker here. I was in awe at how much room there was and how nice it was. I missed a lot of the picture opportunities.
I did get a picture of the bed though.
A glance back at the bathroom.
The main living area with kitchen was so big. I was shocked at the size. This is bigger than some people apartments. I think I have personally lived in smaller space than this before.
Karin had Tom get us some glasses of wine and we sat down to talk. I’m not a super big wine drinker, but what ever they had…it was good! They kept on insisting I eat something or drink something. I then accused them of trying to get me drunk so they could laugh at me make a fool of myself. Every time my glass was about half empty. Tom would quick rush to the fridge to get more wine. Even if I told him no…he didn’t listen.
We chatted till about 5:30 about a little bit of everything. It felt like we knew each other forever. We talked about DVC and they told me why they would never buy it…and the funny thing is, on their last day of their trip….they bought! I am so happy and jealous!
At 5:30 I decided it was probably time for me to move on. I didn’t want to take away from any of their plans. We decided to do a few pictures before leaving. I hadn’t pulled out my SLR, so I just set the timer on my point and shoot. It wasn’t too bad, but I really should’ve put it on a tripod for a better shot…I was too lazy.
And the one Tom took. He got us much better in the shot. I can’t remember for sure, but he might’ve had a mini tripod.
I then asked them if they would pose with Phineas and Ferb!
Awww, that tissue holder is so adorable!! Do you think she'd share the pattern with a fellow knitter? (Pleeeease!)
Such a nice (HUGE) room at OKW. Looks like it would hold a lot of people!
What? No picture of the mustang?
Glad you and "the boys" had such a nice meet--
__________________
Disney Magic Western Feb. 21st, 2009
Last edited by Big Baloo; 10-17-2011 at 06:14 PM..
Reason: spelling! Again!!
What a great time you had with them! And those rooms at Old Key West are absolutely massive - I remember how shocked I was, when I first saw the size of our studio there...
Great pictures of ASM.
We stayed at OKW two years ago and I absolutely loved it. I would love to buy into DVC and have that as my home resort, but I think you have to be put on a wait list or something for it now.
Awww, that tissue holder is so adorable!! Do you think she'd share the pattern with a fellow knitter? (Pleeeease!)
Such a nice (HUGE) room at OKW. Looks like it would hold a lot of people!
What? No picture of the mustang?
Glad you and "the boys" had such a nice meet--
I'll ask her.
I do have a picture of the mustang. It should be in my next post...which I haven't even started on yet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rhinohunter
Nice visit. OKW is really a great place to stay. We have stayed in a studio which was like alarge hotel room. The suites look much better.
It's really huge and gorgeous!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
More great pictures and a great time with Tom and Karin!
We had a really nice time
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
What a great time you had with them! And those rooms at Old Key West are absolutely massive - I remember how shocked I was, when I first saw the size of our studio there...
They are really wonderful people.
thos rooms are so big, I was totally shocked.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great pictures of OKW!
Thanks
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
What nice gifts you all got for each other! Great pictures of OKW.
Claire really loved the gifts...she REALLY enjoyed the candy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mom2twingirlies
That room at OKW is awesome. So much space!
It's huge.
Quote:
Originally Posted by disneydreamer33
Great pictures of ASM.
We stayed at OKW two years ago and I absolutely loved it. I would love to buy into DVC and have that as my home resort, but I think you have to be put on a wait list or something for it now.
I would love to buy DVC...period....but my husband will never agree. He thinks it's a scam....And he's the guy who excpeted a collect call from a prison the other day...not realizing it was a scam.
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It was time for me to leave. Karin then gave me a pin for my lanyard. I don’t collect pins, but had on the ones I earned from the Disney College of Knowledge. The average Disney goer does not have these, so I thought it was fun to wear these around. Karin gave me one for the “Mickey’s Magical Party” in Disneyland Paris. I was excited to have another unusual pin.
I had a wonderful time, but I didn’t want to take up too much of their day. I asked how to get to DTD and they insisted that they could drive me. I assured them that it was no big deal, but they were not taking no…kind of like the wine they were pouring for me all afternoon!
We headed out to the car and Tom put the top down this time!
I took a few shots on the way out. I wanted to capture some of the beautiful grounds.
Isn’t this cute?
I love this picture!!!!
Karin pointed out things to me as we drove along. Even though we usually have a car while at WDW, we mostly use the buses, and I never really do a whole lot of looking at details of the area.
We passed the Treehouse Villas. That was pretty exciting. I never knew really where they were, and I could catch glimpses of them.
And the fire station!
Before I knew it, we had arrived at DTD. We said goodbyes and I thanked them for driving me around in the “cool” car. I was very happy to have met them. They are just wonderful, friendly, generous people.
I turned and took one last picture as the drove away.
I turned to walk into Downtown Disney. This was the first I have ever seen the T-Rex.
Now that the sun was shining and I had time to explore a bit, I put the point and shoot camera away and pulled back out the big boy.
I took a picture of the T-Rex sign and realized I had some major fog on the lens…along with major sun on the lens. This is what you get when that happens…and I even tried to fix it a bit.
I stopped between the new lego store and World of Disney and let the lens defog. After it looked good, I shot some of the new lego structures.
I wished I had a big ladder to stand on and get a good view of these. There were so cool, but hard to get good pictures of.
A lot of the clouds in the background look like it may rain at any moment, but it didn’t feel like that, nor did it ever rain. It probably was off in the distance somewhere though.
I wanted to get a picture of the lego family…BUT there was always someone there ……in my way, so I took a couple of partial pictures.
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those rooms at Old Key West are absolutely massive - I remember how shocked I was, when I first saw the size of our studio there... 
Liz 
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