A Dream That Came True! The First Timers TR - COMPLETED 9/10 - Page 10 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Scottie was so depressed, but I told him we could still look around. I noticed the wait time on the Flight of the Hippogriff was only 5 minutes, so we decided to give it a whirl.
On the way to the ride, you pass by Hagrids Hut.
It was so much fun! The only drawback to this ride is that it is really quick, I mean it literally felt like it wasn't even a full minute and it was over. After the ride, we check out Filch's emporium, which was loaded with cool stuff (although very pricey!)
and I bought Scottie a new Gryffindor hat.
Outside of Filch's was a cart set up to sell wands. They had every wand you could want, even McGonagall's!
He was still upset about the ride, but he couldn't help being excited at all the shops. I bought him a Soft Pretzel and some Pumpkin juice as a snack (he is Always hungry!). Neither of us liked the pumpkin juice though, it tasted like liquified pumpkin pie but it was almost sickly sweet!
We decided to browse some of the shops.
One of the butterbeer carts.
It was so cool the way it was set up. The shops are all so realistic, and the shop window with the mandrakes in it was awesome. The picture doesn't do it justice, the mandrakes were squirming around and squealing loudly lol.
The wanted poster of Sirius Black was literally moving!
I loved the Hog's Head sign.
We browsed through Honeydukes, where we loved the display of candy!
We especially liked the Giant Chocolate Frog on display in the window.
Zonko's joke shop and Honeydukes are all one open building inside, so after looking at all the sweets
we browsed the joke shop. I loved the pygmy puffs!
Scottie loved the giant wizard chess display.
Then we took a closer look at the Owl Post and bought some souvenir postcards, which we got specially postmarked from Hogsmeade just outside of the shop!
All of the sudden we hear people yelling and running!
What a great birthday day at the MK, you got so much done and how great that you were able to get the Crystal Palace ADR, your plate looked delicious. Sorry that dinner was not up to par, I have heard some great reviews from Shutters and then some not so great, I guess every place has their off nights. Love all your pictures at Universal, I hope the ride opens up again before you have to leave.
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Sorry about your blisters I hope you made it around okay. That moleskin usually really helps. I am loving your report on HP. We won't be able to make it there this trip, but it is definitely on our list for next time! It looks very cool!! I am holding my breath to see if you guys make it on to the Forbidden Journey!!
OOOO I soooo hope you got on that ride!! I love all the pictures! We might go to Universal one day. It’s just hard to do both parks time & money won’t usually allow it. The draw of Disney always overwhelms the draw of Universal. Maybe one day…for now I am completely content reading about others trips there. If you want PM me that recipe…I would really appreciate it!!
OMGosh...could it be? I really hope the ride is back up! Scottie is a trooper b/cI would have cried seeing that the ride was down! All the shops look neat & glad to see they were not a mob scene. Thanks for the review ofthe pumkpin juice. It was something on the must try list, but now I'm not so sure it would be worth the $$. I don't think I'd like it.
Oh no! I was a few days behind, so I didn't have to wait too long to see your other cliffhangers. But now I'm all caught up. I sure hope all the yelling and running was for the ride! Was it? Huh? Huh? Great report BTW. I hope your migrane is completely gone now. Update soon, please!
Glad Scottie had a great B-day at Crystal Palace! We Crystal Palace and celebrated our 12th Wedding Anniversary there during our last trip. I surprised DH with an Anniversary cake.
Sorry about your meal at Shutters.
Hope the ride opens up again!
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and how great that you were able to get the Crystal Palace ADR, your plate looked delicious. Sorry that dinner was not up to par, I have heard some great reviews from Shutters and then some not so great, I guess every place has their off nights. Love all your pictures at Universal, I hope the ride opens up again before you have to leave.
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I'm intrigued to read the next installment...
I hope you made it around okay. That moleskin usually really helps. I am loving your report on HP. We won't be able to make it there this trip, but it is definitely on our list for next time! 
It looks very cool!! I am holding my breath to see if you guys make it on to the Forbidden Journey!! 
I hope the screams mean the ride is back up! 
Maybe one day…for now I am completely content reading about others trips there. If you want PM me that recipe…I would really appreciate it!! 
Crystal Palace and celebrated our 12th Wedding Anniversary there during our last trip. I surprised DH with an Anniversary cake. 
Susan
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