Dreaming of a Disney spring break! THIS SECTION COMPLETED - Page 108 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
Wednesday 13 April – part three: enjoying butterflies and fairies
Once again, when we were done, it was back outside into the backstage area and this was our final bit of fun. We got to go up quite a steep hill, which I was a bit worried about, as I thought I might run out of power on the way, but : I was fine with it. We then went all the way around one of the areas that they would use to put water in, if they needed to dump water quickly. It’s surrounded by a fence with barbed wire on top and a canal with gators in it. Disney really want to make sure that you pay your fees to get into the park!
Finally, when we’d gone all the way round the square, we were taken to the helipad, where the big animals are flown in for the Seas and where Ronald Reagan has landed in the past. We were then given free time and told to enjoy ourselves on the Segways and we did!
From there, we started our journey back to where we started from, zipping around some of the greenhouses dotted around in the backstage area. Honestly, you cannot believe how many there are and how big some of the plants are here! :
Soon we were back on stage, with Wade telling us to say hello to everyone we saw, as it tells them that you’re coming through and should ensure that they keep out of your way. So now you know, the next time a Cast Member on a Segway says hi to you!
We were soon back at our training area and sadly our session was over. We’d both greatly enjoyed every minute of it and would thoroughly recommend it. We sadly said goodbye to Wade and Anne, who had been wonderful guides for a wonderful tour. The only downside was that there are no pins for this tour, which is a great shame, but as they knew we hadn’t done the Simply Segway tour yet, they gave us one from that instead.
We headed back outside and went to Bambi’s Butterfly Garden, as it had been far too hot to visit it up until now in this vacation. There was nowhere for the butterflies to stop and eat, which was a shame and a definite plus point for the garden we visited in Vienna, but despite that, we still managed to get some photos of the butterflies either flying around or when they occasionally stopped.
Also in here were the topiaries of Bambi, Thumper and Flower and at least this year, Bambi looks a lot less mean than he did a couple of years back!
Once we were done with the Butterfly Garden, we started to gradually wander towards Germany for our lunch date with Sean, Sharon and Ciaran. On the way, we headed over to see the Fairies Garden. It was certainly a blaze of colour, but in all honesty, I preferred the version I’d seen two years ago.
We didn’t get very far before we saw a Friendship was pulling into the dock, so we decided to catch that instead. I tell you, after years of missing those things time and time again, we seem to have all the luck in the world in catching them now. It must’ve been quiet, as there was only one boat running, so it stopped at both Morocco and Germany.
Sounds like a great start to your day--did you happen to get a picture of your simply segway pin? Beautiful pictures of your morning in Epcot--Can't wait to see what kind of fun you're getting into next!
Love the pics of the butterflies! Thank you for sharing....the tour looks great, hope to do something like that one day. The segways are they hard to learn to operate?
That tour is totally worth every penny. Gators, huh? They really do try to keep people from jumping the fence, wow!
__________________
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
Seriously, there are alligators intentionally on property!? Or was the a CM joke?! I would think Disney would work hard to keep them far, far away.....
I really want you to get through this day, and the next, quickly so you can get on to the DREAM!
Sounds like a great start to your day--did you happen to get a picture of your simply segway pin? Beautiful pictures of your morning in Epcot--Can't wait to see what kind of fun you're getting into next!
I didn't. And I have no idea where it is now - plus my parents are arriving any minute to stay for the weekend, so I don't want to start demolishing the house to find it!
Love the pics of the butterflies! Thank you for sharing....the tour looks great, hope to do something like that one day. The segways are they hard to learn to operate?
I don't think so : although they do take a bit of getting used to. The Disney Cast Members are very good at training you and ensuring you have more than enough time to get to grips with them.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
: I was fine with it. We then went all the way around one of the areas that they would use to put water in, if they needed to dump water quickly. It’s surrounded by a fence with barbed wire on top and a canal with gators in it. Disney really want to make sure that you pay your fees to get into the park! 
We sadly said goodbye to Wade and Anne, who had been wonderful guides for a wonderful tour. The only downside was that there are no pins for this tour, which is a great shame, but as they knew we hadn’t done the Simply Segway tour yet, they gave us one from that instead. 
But I still might do that for DH for fathers day - but he would have to go without me......DD is too young.
Gators, huh? They really do try to keep people from jumping the fence, wow! 
And I have no idea where it is now - plus my parents are arriving any minute to stay for the weekend, so I don't want to start demolishing the house to find it! 
Linear Mode
