Go your own way - Decade of Dreams - UPDATED 6/24 - COMPLETE!! - Page 26 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Friday 1 May – part four: pushed out the way for a bear!
So now what to do? Wendy suggesting going shopping, but a) knowing that I had got her a Memories by Betsy gift basket and that had a Contemporary pin in it and I didn’t want her to buy it and b) knowing how much we might have to kill, I reminded Wendy that she had said that she wanted to show me Fort Wilderness in the daylight, as I’ve only ever been there at night. We set off for the marina, getting some photos on the way.
One of the first things that struck me was how beautiful Bay Lake Tower looked. I’m really impressed with it, it came out much better than I thought it would do.
A boat was just coming and we boarded that and headed for Fort Wilderness and again it was a really nice journey across the lake. This place is very different during the day. I never really knew how much beach there is here for starters and when we got further in, I never knew that they have Spanish moss on a lot of the trees, so that was really neat to see.
Isn’t this just the cutest thing? We guessed whoever owned it was a Minnie fan…
We went into the Settlement Trading Post and Wendy got a Humphrey the Bear, which I pretty much got barged out of the way for her to get to him. It worked out great, as she had $22 credit still left on the BoardWalk from when the Annual Pass rate had come out, so she was able to put it to good use.
We headed next for the Tri-Circle Ranch and, again, I had no idea that it was so close to the Hoop Dee Doo Revue. We’d been to that before and I never realised that there was another set of buildings so nearby. As we walked around there, Mark called and it was so good to speak to him, especially as he seemed a bit more upbeat than when I spoke to him yesterday.
After I finished on the phone to him and Wendy finished talking to Ben, we called to see if our room was ready. That was one weird experience. They asked us to confirm our phone number and address and nothing matched up, as they seemed to have a totally different address for us. Fortunately, it was all sorted out in end, but it was strange.
We headed back to get the boat, but just missed one, and we had quite a long wait for the next one, although fortunately there was some shade for while we waited. When it arrived, it was the same captain as we had on the way over here and he recognised us straight away, which was nice. I got some good views on the way back, especially of Discovery Island:
On the way back to the Contemporary, we got talking to a family who were thinking of buying into the DVC and Wendy and I did the sales pitch on them, telling them how great it was and I think we did a good job of convincing them.
Love your photos of Fort Wilderness. We've been over there a couple of times and it's a great place to spend a few hours, particularly when combined with lunch at Trails End.
I uploaded just one photo so far and it is of THE BEAR. You know when you get tunnel vision? I opened the door to the Settlement Trading Post for Cheryl and followed her. Chatting along like we do quite well when all of a sudden I think I squealed and stuck my arm out and gave her a shove out of the way. She's looking at me like Bloody heck woman, what are you doing??
I had to get THIS: Humphrey
I've shown him with the totem pole that you will recognize from the WL(i bought the statue in 2004), not many people know who Humphrey is or that he's only in 3 cartoons and that you can view them on that one DVD from Disney(the ones that come in the silver tins).
I was so glad to show Cheryl Fort Wilderness in the daylight. I was going to hop on a bus and ride around the campground, but after talking to our spouses and then calling to see if our room was ready, we wanted to head back.
WTH was that about? For some reason, when she asked me to verify the address of the ressie, I started telling her Cheryl's and she said it didn't match. So I did mine. Nope, no match either. Then neither of our phone numbers matched, which by now we were getting very upset, but not too worried because we knew were in there since we'd checked in all ready. But the address came back as someplace in New Jersey. In the end, the lady knew we were who we said we were and just gave us the room number. Hey, if she hadn't we would have just went to the check in desk and gotten it that way.
I was kind of starting to get a bit flipped out because this was our first time booking with a travel agent and a few weeks prior to DoD it was announced that the rates went down so we'd have a credit waiting for us at the CR. That didn't prove true as it wasn't on our portfolio. Now the address didn't match up.
Talk about a kind of rough start at the CR!! But it was about to get worse.............
Oh dear! I hate to hear how it will get worse..... the hotel having the wrong info would have really stressed me out, I'm sorry you guys had to deal with that. Question: Did you get Humphrey at the Wilderness Lodge? Is that the only place to go for him? I just him. I got a hat with him from DLR and I'd LOVE to get the stuffed furry friend!!!!!
Oh dear! I hate to hear how it will get worse..... the hotel having the wrong info would have really stressed me out, I'm sorry you guys had to deal with that. Question: Did you get Humphrey at the Wilderness Lodge? Is that the only place to go for him? I just him. I got a hat with him from DLR and I'd LOVE to get the stuffed furry friend!!!!!
No, the Humphrey merch. is available at both WL and FTW. At FTW, literally, you walk in the door and there HE is!! The statue i bought in 2004 at the WL though.
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.
Another Humphrey fan here too. I have the Wilderness Photo Frame from 2003 with the Totem, fireplace, and of course a picture of myself underneath Humphrey at WL. So glad that you found him and he's still available. Might have to check him out this next trip.
Sounds like you had a fabulous time over at Fort Wilderness. I too just like wandering around and checking out everything. Don't like hearing that it get's worse though.
Another Humphrey fan here too. I have the Wilderness Photo Frame from 2003 with the Totem, fireplace, and of course a picture of myself underneath Humphrey at WL. So glad that you found him and he's still available. Might have to check him out this next trip.
You're in luck! They just started carrying the merch. just the week prior to our visit. It's like he was waiting for me!
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
him. I got a hat with him from DLR and I'd LOVE to get the stuffed furry friend!!!!!
More please!! 
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
Linear Mode
