My solo trip to the World - Booked and back in a week! COMPLETE - finally! 4/24!! - Page 23 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Great updates! The train station photos were awesome. I've seen that so many times, but I'd never really LOOKED at the station. The angles you chose were so new that I thought maybe I was looking at Disneyland at first!
This is fantastic!! Totally getting my psyched up for my KTTK tour! Jungle Cruise is on my top 3 favorites, I love the jokes. Can't wait for more!!
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I am definitely doing this tour - already I'm wishing I could have my own solo trip to take in as many details as you are.
Beth - why are you not working at WDW? You have so much knowledge and love for the place. I can see you as a CM - and probably working your way to upper management before too long!
Love all the pictures and details from the train station. The tour looks great so far, and wonderful details about all the little extras you saw. I have never really read any of the windows, how cool what they all stand for.
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.
Just got all caught up on your trip report. Loving all the photos of the Hidden Mickey's. You've inspired me to get out my book and take a look, granted my book is rather old.
On the Keys tour did they stop the boat near the one guy, forget his name sorry, where he says "I love disco". I thought that was funny.
Beth - why are you not working at WDW? You have so much knowledge and love for the place. I can see you as a CM - and probably working your way to upper management before too long!
I often ask myself this very question! As I listened to Jennifer give her spiel, I thought several times, "I could do this!"
Actually, we've discussed it and it's mostly the weather that's keeping us from making that move. However, the climate in California is much more pleasant, so if I have my way, a job at Disneyland may be in my future!
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Originally Posted by Mauimouse
On the Keys tour did they stop the boat near the one guy, forget his name sorry, where he says "I love disco". I thought that was funny.
Yes! I believe it's during the "lost the key to the men's room" dance where at the very end, one of them says, "I love disco!" You can actually hear him say it!
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Last edited by mom to 3 princesses and 1 prince; 10-12-2009 at 08:44 PM..
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Before we move from Adventureland into Liberty Square, I have to share a little anecdote which will have a big impact on my MK afternoon. When our group took a bathroom break, I took the opportunity to run over to the First Aid station. That morning, I had put my crocs on temporarily while I got ready for the day (not real comfortable with bare feet on hotel room floors...I know, I know...me and Kate Gosselin!) Well, I rushed off without changing into my tennies, and about mid-tour I developed a blister on my baby toe!
The nurse at First Aid chastised me for my choice of footwear and gave me a couple of band-aids. Once I had the band-aid on, I was good to go and I ran off to catch up to my group. The fact that I'd worn crocs instead of tennies became a very good thing later on, blister or no blister!
Onto Liberty Square! Jennifer gave us lots of great inside information! I love history, and even though Liberty Square is small, it is jam-packed with little details and hidden gems! For example: This is a speaker. They didn't have to hide it, but they did. Cool, huh???
It was time for lunch at Columbia Harbor House! I love this place, and haven't had a bad experience here. I'd had my favorite BLT salad the night before, so this time I stuck with another standard: chicken strips and fish sticks! We'd ordered the lunch when we'd checked in for the tour that morning, and the food was waiting for us in a roped-off section of the upper floor. The time passed quickly with good food and pleasant conversation, and soon it was time to head back out into the heat!
Next up was Haunted Mansion! It is another of my favorite attractions, which is so funny, because I refused to ride it until I was in high school! On our first family trip in 1980, my youngest brother was 3 years old and too scared to ride HM. I was 11 years old and I was scared, too, but wouldn't admit it, so I volunteered to stay outside with my brother instead!
We stayed outside for a good 15 minutes so Jennifer could point out some of the details on the outside of the mansion.
Notice the little people? They represent the 999 happy haunts inside the mansion!
See the bat weathervane? I love bats!
My favorite HM detail is that the head Imagineer was a big fan of chess, and there are chess pieces all over the outside of HM!
We got to go into a back entrance, and we were crammed in with another group while we waited to go into the stretching room. We had an enjoyable ride through the spook-filled mansion, and I tried to pay attention to all the little details on the inside, none of which I can remember now! One thing I learned recently has to do with the HM at Disneyland, but it's still a cool fact: the organ that was used in the movie 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is now at DL's HM!
I did find a couple of cool HMs while in this area: Clue 94, page 33
Clue 95, page 33
When we walked back through Liberty Square, this CM was doing a song and dance, trying to get people to come into the restaurant. He was so amusing, and it was so hot out, that we all clapped our appreciation as we passed by!
Up next: my favorite part of the tour - the utilidors!!!
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Last edited by mom to 3 princesses and 1 prince; 10-13-2009 at 01:33 PM..
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) Well, I rushed off without changing into my tennies, and about mid-tour I developed a blister on my baby toe!
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