Forums Closed
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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
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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.
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09-29-2003, 08:49 PM
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#16
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Community Rank: Explorer 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Fort Smith, Arkansas
Posts: 10,721
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Re: Disney in the French quarter - DAY 4, PART 5 POSTED
Thanks for the pictures to go along with this report Chez- can't wait for more!
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Sponsored links
 | | PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World
It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book!
Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95. |
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09-30-2003, 12:49 AM
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#17
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Community Rank: Legend 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: East Bridgewater, MA
Posts: 16,143
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Re: Disney in the French quarter - DAY 4, PART 5 POSTED
Interesting to hear about DLP. Looking forward to more [img]graemlins/wavin.gif[/img]
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09-30-2003, 12:58 AM
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#18
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RED SOX NATION!!
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Connecticut
Concierge Level: 9
Posts: 136,854
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Re: Disney in the French quarter - DAY 4, PART 5 POSTED
Great start Cheryl [img]graemlins/wavin.gif[/img] Can't wait for more and to see your pictures [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
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Sponsored links
| | PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World
It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book!
Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95. |
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09-30-2003, 01:46 PM
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#19
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Community Rank: Navigator 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Chester County, PA
Posts: 6,404
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Re: Disney in the French quarter - DAY 4, PART 5 POSTED
How neat is that? Check in while on the train - cool! [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]
Keep the TR coming, Cheryl!
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09-30-2003, 03:17 PM
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#20
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PassPorter Message Board Manager
 PassPorter Guide Author
Community Rank: Legend VIP 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Maidstone, Kent, UK
Concierge Level: 3
Posts: 190,285
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Re: Disney in the French quarter - DAY 4, PART 5 POSTED
Tuesday 23 September, part two – is this definitely the way to the park?
After dropping off our luggage we headed out of the station and straight to the… er, car park! Don't ask me how, but that's where we ended up. Still at least we were able to use the rest rooms there before finding our way back to the station and the parks. They literally are next door to each other.
As you stand in one place you can see the Disney Village (their equivalent to Downtown Disney, but only about a fifth of the size and a lot noisier – more about that later!) the Studios (their equivalent to MGM) and the Disneyland Park (their equivalent to Magic Kingdom). Being used to Florida where everything is a bus ride away from everything else, it was a bit odd to be able to see all three things from one spot. We opted for the Disneyland Park, not usually what we do at WDW, but somehow the Studios just didn't appeal to me as our first stop.
Our first view of the Disneyland Park
The first thing you notice about the Disneyland Park is the hotel at the entrance. The Disneyland hotel is the grandest and the most expensive of all the hotels at Disneyland Paris but then again you'd expect nothing less from a hotel that has its own entrance into the park. As we approached it, DH asked why we weren’t staying there. I told him that as it was modelled on the Grand Floridian (I'm sure you can see the resemblance in the photos) I didn't think he'd like it, as he wasn't that keen on the Grand Floridian. It certainly is an impressive hotel though.
 
The Disneyland Hotel
We passed under the hotel and up to the turnstiles for the park, where we encountered our first difference with WDW, the turnstiles are not quick, they seem to take ages to read your ticket. As DH said, they probably don't have to cope with the volume of crowds you get in WDW.
Once through, our first stop was the shop at the entrance. I know, we should been heading for the rides, but we were taking things slowly. We figured we had four and a half days to enjoy the parks and by all accounts, the Studios could be done in less than a day, so there was no need to rush to see everything, as there is in WDW. In the shop, I was delighted to see they had Christmas decorations out as well as Halloween stuff, but I was also disappointed not to see more Eeyore (Bourriquet to as they say in France) items. Still you can't have everything.
We then headed into Main Street USA proper and this felt just like WDW, with City Hall on the left and the Emporium straight ahead of you and of course the Castle at the end, although our first view of it was somewhat obstructed by lights all the way our Main Street. Think of the lights they put up between World Showcase and Future World in Epcot at Christmas and you get the idea. It's essentially exactly the same design.
We dawdled in more shops and made our first purchases, an autograph book and pen. We had said we wouldn't necessarily go hunting the characters, but then again we seem to say that every time we go to Florida as well! Just as we got up to the Castle, it started to rain, not heavy rain, but still persistent, so we backtracked down Main Street and hit a few more shops. We quickly came to the conclusion while browsing that although they may not have the range of shops here that you get in WDW, they do have an excellent selection of souvenirs and some very unusual ones too. I could see us buying a lot of little bits before our few days here were finished. Fortunately there were no more purchases for now and as the rain had eased off, we headed again for the Castle.
Sleeping Beauty Castle
We went upstairs to see La Gallerie de Belle du Bois Dormant (Gallery of Sleeping Beauty), which tells the story of Sleeping Beauty in stained-glass windows, but also in French storyboards (fortunately I could just about translate for DH). I’d read before we got here about the window which changes its design from a rose to a pair of doves and back again, so we made sure to see that, something which I’m sure a few people miss.
 
From a rose to doves
The tour of the Castle then took you outside, where we took a couple of photos with Fantasyland in the background, but I wasn't finished with the Castle yet.
DH with Fantasyland in the background
I wanted to see the dragon that lives below the Castle as well. As we walked in, he was “alive” and threatening visitors. He truly is an amazing piece of animatronics and I was able to get a wonderful photo of him in full flow, the flash on our digital camera really does work wonders!
The dragon in full flow!
I was half thinking of watching the Princess Parade after we left the dragon, but instead we headed for Adventureland, browsing yet more shops, before getting our first character autographs - Goofy and Governor Ratcliffe. I'd read some really horrendous queue jumping stories when it came to the characters, but the only problem we had was with a British family, I’m ashamed to say. I can see why they probably do have problems with the queues for characters, but it’s more to do with the characters themselves. They really were running riot and doing just what they wanted, more of which later…
Next: an hour and a half in and finally an attraction!
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09-30-2003, 03:41 PM
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#21
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Community Rank: Sightseer 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: UK
Posts: 90
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Re: Disney in the French quarter - DAY 4, PART 5 POSTED
Hurray!! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] Another Chezp TR!
Karen
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09-30-2003, 03:43 PM
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#22
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Community Rank: Trekker 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Concierge Level: 3
Posts: 1,852
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Re: Disney in the French quarter - DAY 4, PART 5 POSTED
Hi Cheryl,
Thank you so much for writing this trip report. I'm finding it quite the education! I would definitely direct people to reading your report prior to a trip to Disneyland Paris. It's so much better when you have your eyes open and your expectations in check. What great pictures! What I like is that it's a bit different in design but still looks like Disney to me.
More please!
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09-30-2003, 03:44 PM
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#23
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Community Rank: Legend
Join Date: Mar 2001
Posts: 17,365
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Re: Disney in the French quarter - DAY 4, PART 5 POSTED
Nice update and I'm all for taking it slow like you did in someplace new! LOVE that dragon photo - how cool is that the the castle is pretty much an attraction in and of itself!
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09-30-2003, 05:01 PM
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#24
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Community Rank: Legend
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: North Central Ohio
Posts: 21,629
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Re: Disney in the French quarter - DAY 4, PART 5 POSTED
Great installments Cheryl! This is the first trip report that I've read about DLP. Looking forward to the next installments! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
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09-30-2003, 06:19 PM
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#25
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Community Rank: Trailblazer 
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Pittsburgh, PA , USA
Posts: 5,943
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Re: Disney in the French quarter - DAY 4, PART 5 POSTED
Okay, how many frequent flyer miles do I need to get to Paris? [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
Thanks so much for the detail and the pictures - loving it and can't wait for more! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
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09-30-2003, 07:34 PM
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#26
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Guide since 2003
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: West Mifflin, PA
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 11,546
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Re: Disney in the French quarter - DAY 4, PART 5 POSTED
Cheryl,
You are only on day 1 & I'm hooked.. Disney Paris sure looks a lot different from WDW.. can't wait to read more of the similarities/difference
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09-30-2003, 08:20 PM
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#27
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Community Rank: Navigator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Chester County, PA
Posts: 6,404
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Re: Disney in the French quarter - DAY 4, PART 5 POSTED
How neat is that dragon!?! Great TR and excellent photos! Keep it coming!
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09-30-2003, 08:41 PM
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#28
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Community Rank: Legend
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Newtown Square, PA
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 23,859
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Re: Disney in the French quarter - DAY 4, PART 5 POSTED
Wow, Cheryl!! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] Great report and awesome pictures! So far, everything looks gorgeous! I especially love your pictures of the castle and of that dragon! Way cool. [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img] Keep [img]graemlins/puter.gif[/img]
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09-30-2003, 09:17 PM
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#29
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Fort Smith, Arkansas
Posts: 10,721
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Re: Disney in the French quarter - DAY 4, PART 5 POSTED
This is terrific Cheryl and I love the picture of Mark with Fantasyland in the background! Great photos!!
More please!
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10-01-2003, 12:36 AM
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#30
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Community Rank: Adventurer 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Carrollton, TX
Posts: 965
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Re: Disney in the French quarter - DAY 4, PART 5 POSTED
What a great report so far, Cheryl! The pictures are the perfect compliment to this wonderful report!
Can't thank you enough for sharing, and really looking forward to more [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Carol
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