Dreaming of a Disney spring break! THIS SECTION COMPLETED - Page 99 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Finally got all caught up as I was cruising Alaska (but not with Disney) for a week. Your pictures as always, are just amazing. I can't wait to see the HM when we go in three weeks. It was done when we were there in March but was only opened occasionally during the days we were there and we kept missing it.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Love all the pictures from the new interactive HM queue as well as the ride itself! The Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It parade is mine and Stefanie's favorite.
Again--wow twice in one week--I'm going to have to go to bed before a Cheryl update--have a million things to do and only a few hours to do it in tomorrow--before leaving for WDW Sunday morning!
Interesting story about Master Gracey's head stone. I learned on a back stage door that the staff of the HM always make sure there is a "blood red" rose on his headstone. It is rumored his ghosts haunts the HM and if someone forgets to put a rose on his head stone, the ride often breaks down. --- HMMM.
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Again--wow twice in one week--I'm going to have to go to bed before a Cheryl update--have a million things to do and only a few hours to do it in tomorrow--before leaving for WDW Sunday morning!
Tuesday 12 April – part five: the Coral Reef – any better second time around?
We headed out of the Magic Kingdom and over to the monorail. The only one that they were letting people catch was the resort one, with the express only dropping people off. You couldn’t board that one, which was a real pain. While waiting for a resort monorail, I reckon we saw three or four express ones come in and depart again empty. Very frustrating.
When we did get a monorail, we were convinced that the driver was a learner. He was fine with acceleration, but braking was a bit of an issue, shall we say...
When we got to the Ticket and Transportation Centre, there was at least an Epcot monorail waiting for us. The problem was that we then sat on it for about five minutes, just outside of Epcot. By the time we finally got there, it had taken us 40 minutes since leaving the Magic Kingdom. That is stupidly long, but thank goodness, we had allowed enough time to get there and weren’t having to rush.
We still had enough time to grab some Photopass pictures on the way in and asked the guy to take some slightly different shots by the entrance, which he was delighted to do. I think sometimes they’re quite happy to do something a bit different, as it must be a change from the usual.
We headed over to the Coral Reef, where we found Bruce and Marta waiting for us. It was just as well I had my ADR number with me, as the girl couldn’t find the reservation under our name. Thank goodness I carry that with me.
It took a few minutes to be seated and when we were, we were about as far back in the restaurant as it was possible to be. I was a bit disappointed, but despite that, we still got some good shots of the tank.
I’ll say here that our server wasn’t the best. : To be honest, the quality of service to date on this vacation hasn’t been great. He seemed very self-assured and full of himself and didn’t seem very good at listening or understanding what we said. Let’s just say that he was hard work.
For appetiser, I went for the crab cakes with tropical fruit salsa and tequila aioli....
... while Mark had the steamed mussels with cilantro sofrito, fennel, tomatoes and toasted ciabatta.
I couldn’t fault mine per se, but I wasn’t 100% sure about the sauce they came with and whether it went with the dish.
For entree, I went for the lobster ravioli with fresh shrimp and lobster cream, after learning that I could have it made without fresh tarragon, as I just do not like that stuff at all. Mark had the grilled New York strip steak served with horseradish smashed potatoes and market fresh vegetables. Mine was beautiful and not too filling, like it sometimes can be or too rich.
Of course, dessert is also included with the Deluxe Dining Plan, so we had that as well. I knew that Mark would have the key lime mousse with roasted pineapple, mango glaze and chocolate pearls, as he loves that. I went for the passion fruit crème brulee, after much debate as to whether I should get the Chocolate Wave. To be honest, I made the wrong choice. The brulee was so sweet and sickly, it wasn’t true. Oh my goodness, I had two mouthfuls and that was all I could manage, which was a great shame. But it just wasn’t me at all and I like sweet things, which you an idea as to how sweet it was.
Coral Reef:
Appetiser 8½ 7½
Entree 9 9½
Dessert 5 8
Service 6½ 6
Atmosphere 9 9
Value for money 8 8