Forums Closed
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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
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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.
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01-19-2006, 11:28 AM
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#1
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Community Rank: Navigator 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Davidsonville, MD
Posts: 6,563
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Naples, Florida
Anyone know anything about this town and surrounding areas (Marco Island, Everglades)? My cousin has a vacation home down there and we were thinking of checking it out.
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01-19-2006, 11:48 AM
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#2
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Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ohio Football Hall Of Fame
Posts: 42,304
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Re: Naples, Florida
It's really beautiful there Joan and the beaches are outstanding. Naples probably has more to do and really good restaurants also.
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01-21-2006, 08:47 AM
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#3
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Living Seas wannabe
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 31,940
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Re: Naples, Florida
High end upscale town with loved gulf beaches. I "lived" at the marco island hilton for 15 days after hurricane charley when I was doing recovery work.
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01-23-2006, 01:14 AM
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#4
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Community Rank: Scout 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Central NY State
Posts: 4,202
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Re: Naples, Florida
Joan,
I HIGHLY recommend going to Naples! My grandparents moved there soon after my parents got married, so I've been going down there all my life (ahem, [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img] 35 years). It's grown and changed a lot over the years, but still remains a remarkedly clean, safe and friendly town, despite being one of the largest concentrated areas of millionaires in the U.S. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] Even though it's getting to be a large city, it still has that small-town feel.
One of the nicest things about Naples and surrounding area is its white pristine sand beaches. All of the beaches in the city of Naples are public, so anyone can use them, whether you own property there or not. All of the downtown streets dead end at the beach, with metered parking or you can get a "beach sticker" visitor's pass from City Hall. Most of the streets are square blocks, so it is easy to find your way around town. Also of note on the water is the City Pier, which is a great place to fish or watch the spectacular sunset.
Take the Olde Naples Trolley tour to get a good feel of the area, and a little local history, too. Be sure to stop at Tin City, which is an old canning factory made over into a series of eclectic shops and restaurants. One of my favorite restaurants, The Riverwalk, is here, and Kelly's Fish House is right next door. Tin City is alos the place to go for charter fishing and sightseeing cruises.
Other places to shop include the 5th Avenue and 3rd Street areas, with such mainstays as The Mole Hole, Wind in the Willows and The Beach House, among others. Be forewarned though! High-end merchandise with high-end price tags can be found here, although window shopping is always fun! The Miromar Outlets, near Southwest Florida Internatioal Airport (code: RSW, where you'd likely fly into, just south of Ft. Myers; about 35 minutes north of Naples) is much more my style and price range! It's an outdoor mall with about 80 outlets including Tommy Hilfiger, Addidas, Chico's, Bose, QVC and my personal favorite, The Disney Character Outlet! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] There's also the Prime Outlets south of Naples and the Tangor Outlets on the way to Sanibel Island, so TONS of shopping to be had! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
Also not to be missed in Naples is Carribean Gardens, formerly called "Jungle Larry's", which is sort of a mini version of AK. We went a few years ago after not having been since I was little and were pleasantly surprised. They have lots to see including live animal shows (don't miss the gator feedings!), and you can easliy spend at least half a day here. Another great "touristy" place is The Shell Factory up in Ft. Myers, which is a hodge-podge of shops, animals and even a nightly water and light show set to music. While in Ft. Myers, stop and visit Thomas Edison's Winter Home, fascinating place; did you know he had the first cement pool in the state of Florida?
Down towards Everglades City there is Chocoloskee (sp.?) where you can tour Ted Smallwood's General Store, which is a museum of the area, and once served simultaneously as the store, bar, post office and school! Also out this way is Ochopee, home of the smallest working post office in the U.S. Stop and get your picture taken inside, but be forewarned: you'll have to take turns! (yes, it's THAT small! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] )
I think that about covers it. If anyone has any more questions, feel free to p.m. me! Definitely plan a trip there and let me know when you're going! Maybe I'll be down visiting my Dad and we can meet up! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]
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01-23-2006, 01:53 AM
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#5
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Community Rank: Scout
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Central NY State
Posts: 4,202
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Re: Naples, Florida
I forgot to add that there are also TONS of golf courses there, (sorry, I'm not a golfer, so I can't tell you what greens fees are like, although I imagine they can run steep), and a number of city parks with tennis courts, and other sports facilities.
Some websites that might interest you:
http://www.naplesnews.com/ The Naples Daily News, local newspaper-lots of info. here including live webcams of the area
http://www.flylcpa.com/ Southwest Florida International Airport. Just opened a brand new terminal in September, 2005. Southwest and JetBlue now fly in here, as well as Northwest, Continental, US Airways, USA 3000 and Delta among others.
http://www.classicflorida.com/ official tourist guide to SW Florida.
www.napleszoo.com Carribean Gardens Zoo website.
www.florida-everglades.com/SmallwoodStore Chokoloskee Mueseum
Ochopee Post Office
38000 E. Tamiami Trl.
Ochopee, FL 34141
239-695-2099
The smallest post office in the United States (8'4" x 7'3"), this building was formerly an irrigation pipe shed. Opened after a 1953 fire burned Ochopee's general store and post office.
Directions: Located 30 miles east of Naples, 70 west of Miami in Big Cypress National Preserve.
General Information: Free admission
www.fifthavenuesouth.com Naples' 5th Ave shopping area
www.shopsouthwestflorida.com info and addresses of the top shopping in the area.
Hope this helps! The classicflorida.com one seems to have links to almost anything you'd need. Have a great time! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] |
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01-25-2006, 08:24 AM
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#6
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Community Rank: Legend 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Michigan's Upper Peninsula
Posts: 27,691
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Re: Naples, Florida
Great links, Lisa!
My co-worker is actually moving there next month. Just put in his 2 weeks yesterday!
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01-25-2006, 10:16 AM
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#7
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Community Rank: Scout
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Grand Blanc, MI
Concierge Level: 4
Posts: 4,238
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Re: Naples, Florida
Lisa - I have to thank you too. We will be in Naples (the Vanderbilt Beach area) for Spring Break and you've given me some great ideas!
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03-08-2006, 12:53 PM
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#8
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Community Rank: Scout
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Central NY State
Posts: 4,202
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Re: Naples, Florida
It's official! Made my plane ressies last night. I'll be down in Naples April 3-12. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/thewave.gif[/img] Anyone wanna meet up? Send me a p.m.![img]/ubb/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]
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03-08-2006, 01:32 PM
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#9
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Community Rank: Globetrotter 
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Bethlehem,Ct 06751
Posts: 3,918
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Re: Naples, Florida
I agree with everything that has been posted. I have been there many times as my sister lives there. The gulf beaches are beautiful. my niece got married at the Vanderbilt Beach Inn and we had a great time there.
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03-09-2006, 02:13 PM
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#10
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Community Rank: Globetrotter
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Virginia
Posts: 3,498
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Re: Naples, Florida
A friend of ours lives there in a mega-million dollar home (somewhere between 10 and 14 million. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img]) Sigh....
It's a beautiful place. You'll love it.
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03-09-2006, 04:05 PM
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#11
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Community Rank: Scout
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Long Island, NY
Concierge Level: 7
Posts: 4,168
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Re: Naples, Florida
I'm just going to miss you Lisa. I'll be in Naples April 22-26. My cousin has a house down there. My sister and I were supposed to go last October, but Hurricane Wilma hit the week before we were to go, so we cancelled. Just rebooked it a couple of days ago.
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