Christmas at Disneyland - a Pictoral Trip Report!---COMPLETE 12/22/08 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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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Christmas at Disneyland - a Pictoral Trip Report!---COMPLETE 12/22/08
Well, I'm sitting here, enjoying the kids exclaim over the snow outside. Keep in mind that we live in Vegas, so this is extremely rare - and it's happened twice in 3 days this week! So, I'm going through our Disneyland trip and thinking about how I didn't keep notes to talk about everything we did, but I have some great pictures. And voila! A pictoral TR is just the answer. I hope you enjoy it - there are some new things at Disneyland (Pixie Hollow, revamped IASW, etc) this year. Let's start with the basics:
What: Annual pilgrimage to worship at our mecca (aka, Disneyland at Christmastime, which we've been doing since 2003).
When: December 6-10
Who: The usual suspects for Disney-related trips
Me - 37
DH - 37
DD - 8
DS - 4 (and tall enough for everything but Indiana Jones in DL park)
MIL - (I'm not sayin'!)
FIL - in his 70s
Why: Do we really need a reason? It's the Merriest Place on Earth at Christmas!
While we were there, there were a few unusual park hours. Plus, we switched up our visiting days. Normally, we drive down on Wed, go to the parks on Thurs-Sun (half day) and head back Sun afternoon. This year, travel on Sat, with park visits on Sun - Wed. Monday and Tuesday were CM parties, so Disneyland Park closed at 6 each day, but DCA was open until 9 each day. I think this reduced the crowds for the weekend, but by Wednesday the crowds were back up.
So, without further ado, I will start posting pictures with small explainations, where necessary (or maybe a witty quip or two!).
What a cute family, Heather! And nice pics - what a treat. Goofy's Kitchen is so much fun - love to observe the kids there - many funny stories to tell.
So how was the weather? And how did you dress for it? Sounds rather personal, doesn't it? Just trying to get my packing list together...
Speaking of snow in Vegas, I posted some pics of it on our pre-Trip Report.
Great photos, Kathy. I posted over there about it. Regarding how we dressed, I tend to stick with pants and an assortment of short and long sleeve shirts with a good coat for evenings (my MM zip up sweatshirt (the gray jacket/hoodie/Disneyland 1955 jacket) is what I usually wear, but it's not quite warm enough for late hours). Keep an eye out, though. If it gets any colder than mid-70's for highs or if there will be moisture in the area (there's another round of storms heading our way around Christmas, so depending on where they originate) you'll want to stick to all long sleeves and keep your jacket handy during the day.
DD loved the pearl in the front clam and insisted that I take a picture....
We know how to welcome the Man in Red! This is his cabin in Frontierland.
Waiting in line, the kids show off their Christmas lists, on Disney paper (DH found it on DL website). The three sections are "Like to have" "Must have" and "Friends and Family". I don't know why they'd ask for stuff for other people???
Ringing the bell on the way in the cabin - we're almost to Santa!
Inside Santa's cabin - treats that Mrs. Claus has been busy baking...
New Orleans Square from the Pirates line...
Just to the right of the picture above...
Taken from the carousel
At dusk. For some reason, the castle wasn't completely lit on Sunday. We didn't see it completely lit until Tuesday evening (pictures coming up later).
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