Two Chips and a Dip (The Appetizer Trip) Nov 30 thru Dec 5, 2007 - With Final Thoughts - COMPLETE - Updated 2/21 - Page 21 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I'm all caught up now. Great updates Eileen! Love the cards with AllEars and PP on them. I love chatting with other guests. I end up telling them about the websites. Great idea!
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Oct '99: CSR ~ May '02: CR ~ Nov '04: SOG ~ May '06: SOG ~ Dec '07: Solo @ Pop ~ May '08: Pop w/friends ~ Oct '08: SOG ~ Dec '09: Pop w/LeAnn ~ Sept '10: Solo @ Pop ~ Spring '11: AKL ~ Jan '12: Pop for 1/2 Marathon ~ Sept '12: 1st trip for DL 1/2 Marathon? ~ Feb '13: Pop w/pals? ~ Mar '13: Tokyo Disney w/PP's?
I have to say, I like to talk to random strangers as well and help them out if needed. But I tend to look to Andy first with a look of "I'm gonna talk to them don't get embarassed"
I just got caught up - I can't wait to read more and I just want to say - Way to go Calder! Congrats on your black belt. DGD is 5 and she's now a green belt. Black belt seems so far away.
Eileen,
thank you so much for a great report!!!! Prior to seeing your new report, i was sitting here bemoaning the fact that i don't have another trip planned for a while!! you have made my day!
Eileen,
I just read the whole TR from start to finish and I must say . It is obvious you guys have a great time. Keep it up! Can't wait to read the next installment.
Beth
Eileen, I just caught up on your last coupla updates. First, thanks for the hippo shoutout! We missed KS because of the parade back-up, so I truly appreciate you getting me my dose of hippo.
What a wonderful time you and the two chips are having! I hardly recognize you without the commando touring, but I love it! (I also love Jill's suggestion of a Lucy-like Disney advice booth ). Great Photopass pictures, too.
The boys came back from the pool refreshed and happy. I, on the other hand, awoke with pillowcase creases permanently embedded in my cheek. Still, I think I made out better on this deal because I really needed that nap after several nights of no sleep.
We got ourselves ready to go and managed to snag a bus to Disney Studios (it was still MGM then, but I’m really trying hard to adjust to the DHS or DS acronym.) As we walked off the bus at 5PM, the most spectacular sunset was painting the sky above the entrance. Bob was really enamored of it and stopped to take several pictures.
Once inside, I noticed the great decorations. I “got” the theme of “Tinseltown” and “stars” and felt so superior later while watching the Samantha Brown special.
I love the streetmosphere shows in this park so decided to push our ADR a bit so we could take in the “prepare for holiday dinner” show done by the Public Works Team – a sort of 3-man Abbott & Costello group. It was very funny and had quite a crowd around them.
Finally, we’d pushed our ADR 15 minutes past it's time and I knew we’d have to move out before the show finished. Good thing I’d not pushed it farther because, as soon as we walked up to the 50’s Prime Time, I noticed a huge crowd of very frustrated and P.O.’d people. Apparently, the Sci-Fi had unexpectedly closed for the night and there were a lot of angry guests who were forced to scramble for new tables at other restaurants. The 50PT CMs were doing whatever they could to take in people with ADRs from Sci-Fi, but they did have to turn away all walk-ups to the 50PT and those that tried to come over from the Sci-Fi without ADRs.
Zoiks!!
We didn’t have to wait long – but it gave me enough time to show Bob the “flying geese” on the wall in the living room. He let out a big guffaw because he’d seen those above the fireplace in my parent’s old mountain house and had always rolled his eyes at them. Heee!
We were seated at one of the “countertop” tables – the ones with that come out from the cabinet with the TV. I pointed out to Bob that the hardware on the cabinets is exactly what I grew up with (before the big remodel in the 70’s when everything in my childhood home went to avocado and orange. Blech – I still can’t stand those colors!)
Our CM (Alejandra) was extremely mellow and really didn’t interact with us much. She did tell Calder to take his elbows off the table a few times and made Bob remove his baseball hat. What I need to explain here is that my hubby has unusual hair – it’s very bristly, coarse, straight and thicker than a cat’s. Back in the 80s, he tried to let it grow out and wound up with a white man’s afro that stood out from his head 5 full inches. He can only manage one hairstyle to tame the Brillo pad he has on his head and a hat just makes it flatten down wherever the band hits the hair – the rest still points straight up. Hat head for Bob is like nothing you’ve ever seen before.
Well… guess who got the giggles every time she looked at her husband across the table. I decided to forgo the idea of an adult beverage as I figured it’d make me lose all control and I’d just spend the meal in a puddle of laughter.
Calder didn’t seem all that hungry, so he and I agreed to split the fried chicken, which I found as delicious as so many people say. I failed to notice that that came with greens and totally had to choke that down in case Alejandra decided “making me eat my veggies” would be the one thing she’d pull as our server.
Bob had the pot roast and raved and raved about it and the root veggie mash.
Both boys had a root beer float and still had enough room for dessert. Calder – a HUGE fan of s’mores – thought these were the cat’s meow. I wish we’d not gotten the build a sundae because, once he’d finished “building” it, he was pretty much over the idea of actually consuming it.
We settled the bill and saved about $10 with the DDP.
The Osborne lights were next on our schedule so we headed in that direction, stopping to play with the rope at Indiana Jones. This time, I made a point of entering the lights from the main street and I’m glad I did – it really hits you in the solar plexus from that vantage point! Calder and I set up a side bet to see who could spot the Halloween cat first. Unfortunately, I saw it and visibly startled so I couldn’t pretend not to see it and allow Calder to win. Shucks – I’m really bad at that! Oh, well... at least I allowed him to bring his new lightsaber with him to the Studios... so that must win me some points, right?!
Once we’d seen our fill, Calder was jonesing for some merchandising time inside Tatooine Traders. I pulled up a wall and sat down to send a few text messages while the boys played with all the Star Wars stuff. Bob came out to tell me about some fun items and I sent him back in to pick them up.
A sticker for my brother --who loves to tell his son Luke “I am your father” in Darth Vader’s voice—
A t-shirt that I loved, but didn’t buy (but Karen bought for Calder for Christmas and totally made his day a few weeks later!)
[Front].................................................. ............... [Back]
And… last, but not least… a pair or earmuffs for Karen, who’d just cut off 10 inches of her hair for charity. The ear muffs were the big “cinnamon bun” pouffs worn by Princess Leia. (I don’t think Karen’ll ever wear them, but they completely cracked me up!!)
With our purchases in hand, we raced off to try and find seats at Fantasmic. The walk in was rather harrowing as many guests tried to zig and zag through the fast-moving crowd. I had to step in several times to help people catch their balance as the zig-zaggers toppled into them. I grumbled at a few people, but got my revenge when I wound up finding better seats than ANY of those suckers! We walked about two-thirds of the way down the Mickey section and found three seats dead-center. Perfection!!
The show was, as always, fantastic. I oohed and ahhed (having decided not to bother taking pictures) and wept my way through the whole finale once again. I don’t know why it slays me so, but the moment when Sorcerer Mickey appears at the top of the set in all his glory really sets me blubbing – especially when you hear the HUGE inhalation from the crowd.
<<sniff, sniff>> It moves me just thinking about it now… <<sniff, sniff…>>
We walked out with the ginormous crowd and had to wait for two buses before getting on, but we snagged seats… so that worked out well. Once back at the room, we snacked on our room goodies and watched TV. Bob logged on to the ‘net to see if work was exploding in his absence (it was…) and I jotted down notes. Once we heard Epcot’s fireworks finale rattle the windows, we turned off the lights and settled into bed.
I flipped on the lights again and set the wake-up call, giving my boys a tongue-lashing about getting up and to a park FOR OPENING… …just to make me happy.
best. t-shirt. EVER!!!!! I, too, am a star wars geek. i even have the yoda back pack. I suddenly have this urge to fly down just to puchase this shirt.
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Reminder to self - don't take breaks from the boards any more! I can't wait for more!
More please!!
Larry
Danny and I at Epcot 8/14/08
We missed KS because of the parade back-up, so I truly appreciate you getting me my dose of hippo. 
He can only manage one hairstyle to tame the Brillo pad he has on his head and a hat just makes it flatten down wherever the band hits the hair – the rest still points straight up. Hat head for Bob is like nothing you’ve ever seen before. 
Calder and I set up a side bet to see who could spot the Halloween cat first. Unfortunately, I saw it and visibly startled so I couldn’t pretend not to see it and allow Calder to win. Shucks – I’m really bad at that! 
Oh, well... at least I allowed him to bring his new lightsaber with him to the Studios... so that must win me some points, right?!
…just to make me happy. 
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