Driving Karen nuts in 10 rides or less **Updated 2/18** COMPLETE - Page 8 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 just KNEW you would have naughty bits to share with us even if they are Donald's! I love the card you sent to Karen and I think it's really sweet that ya'll kept her included in the trip even if it was to torment her endlessly.
Fantastic update, Eileen!! I'm totally enjoying this trip report!!
Sounds like ya'll had a busy day. How wonderful to meet all those PassPorters! WOW! And your view - FANTASTIC!
Can't wait for more.
Oh my, finally found this TR and boy am I glad I did. How much fun you were having. All the pictures are wonderful. Sounds like a magical trip for sure. Can't wait to hear more.
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I had trouble sleeping that night – I think it had to do with enjoying the Magic Coffee Machine a little too much!
Just to document the princessy bed vs. the kangaroo wrestler’s bed :
But… I’d like to have it known that I completely UNTUCK my bed before I even get into it. The Princesses literally have to stand at the head of the bed and squeeze in under the covers to maintain the perfect princessy envelope.
We, of course, had to do our time at the Concierge lounge, making sure to get our (and Karen’s) money’s worth of free pastries, fruit and hot beverages.
Then it was off to the Studios to meet up with PassPorters who wanted to experience Tower of Terror with the FastPass Queen herself. The boat is always such a lovely ride – especially early in the morning with the diving ducks.
The EMH had started already, but there wasn’t much of a crowd.
We hooked over to the TOT to find that Heather (ilovedisney247) and Bob and Larry were already there. We waited a few minutes to see if anyone else was going to join us and then we headed in.
By about the time that we turned in to the pre-show room, Jill’s central nervous system was really amped up.
We managed to get the first and second rows on one side and got ourselves situated – it’s also when Jill got herself “ready” by hooking an arm through the arms of each of her CLQ-1 neighbors.
The funniest thing was, she was gripping my arm so tightly that I could seriously feel her heart fluttering like a bird – this girl was SKEEEERT!! I did my best to “talk her through it” (although I’m sure Mary Devall could’ve done it better!) and let her know when we were entering the drop tower. Then I quietly reassured her that they were locking us into position and we were safe – even though I don’t think she was listening at all by that point, merely holding on for dear life. Once we were ready to drop, I said “this is it” and gave her arm a squeeze – I looked over and Jill had her head tucked down and was waiting for death to find her.
Luckily for Jill (and my arm), it was one of the mildest drop sequences – lots of small hops, short drops, long climbs up with immediate drops that give great air time (which I think are smooth and wonderful) and… then… I saw the black and white swirly thing, telling me that we were done.
I covered the hand that was cutting off the circulation in my elbow and yelled, “YOU DID IT!”
Jill looked up, all confused, still scared, but suddenly relieved. “It’s OVER?!”
Yep… you did it, girlfriend. And you survived… with a smile.
She had such a GRRRR-eat smile of happiness and joy that I was literally beaming when she said she’d *totally* do it again!
I took a guerilla photo of the ride screen, but it was crud. Luckily, Sharon bought the ride pic (one went in Karen’s box) and I got to snap a blog photo of it at the MegaMouseMeet.
Heeee! I love all the different expressions – I’m in full-on holler, Jill looks like she wishes she’d wrapped herself in bubble wrap, Sharon looks supremely happy and the whole front row looks like we haven’t even started the ride yet.
The gang was going to hang for a bit longer, but I had to get to the MMM for my registration table duties. I headed out of the park and only stopped to admire one window – it was heeee-larious! The “legs” did a Rockettes kick line.
I was walking through the park exit when I saw a boat just letting on the last of the passengers. I figured it would be pointless to run, but then I noticed that the CM was waving to an older couple chugging along the walkway to the gangplank. I figured I could at least beat the old lady. I didn’t even break a sweat and managed to snag a seat on the outside bench – lovely. Just lovely and peaceful (if one ignores the sound of the engine) and such great views.
<-- bye bye, Studios!
I also was charmed by the “heraldric” dolphin statues on the Swan hotel – it no longer disturbs me.
More in a bit...
Last edited by Caldercup; 12-29-2008 at 02:36 PM..
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