National parks, natural beauty and a bit of Disney wonder! DISNEYLAND SECTION COMPLETED - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Wow, you know some people with some seriously cool jobs! We didn't see Mystic Rhythms whiel we were three, but Tokyo DisneySea is an amazing park and I can see why she went back again.
YES, he was there that day. He told me he was the stunt Genie who did all the flying through the air. Like when the huge snake turns into Jafar, that was him he said.
How random
Amazing pictures....the show sounds amazing. So glad you were able to get a seat so you could enjoy. Hope that the night brings you a better sleep then last night.
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Whew, it took me two days off and on to catch-up. Great pictures from in the park and around the Grand. Our first stay at the Grand was May 2010, we fell in love and even though we live in Southern California, we became members.
We have been fortunate that during our stays in the Villas our rooms have faced WOC and we were able to watch from the room. One day we will watch from the park but with our grandsons still so young, we preferred to watch from the room.
Hope your second night, you sleep better. We always have slept well there as we feel the beds are so comfy, but then again we have not travelled great distances from other time zone. We love having the 2nd bathroom in the 1 bedroom units. Someone asked about the studios and yes they are just as nice as the 1 bedroom, very similiar in layout to the studio unit we had at Kidani and Beach Club in January.
Looking forward to reading more of your report.
I was half hoping for a room with a view of World of Colour, but it all worked out OK in the end.
Your seating was great and gave you a really good view of the show! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I still have mixed feelings about WoC...I think it's a fabulous show, but not worth camping out for an hour or two! I'll definitely see it again, but only with the dining package! By the way, did Mark like it as much as you did?
You definitely packed in a lot in your first 24 hours!
YES, he was there that day. He told me he was the stunt Genie who did all the flying through the air. Like when the huge snake turns into Jafar, that was him he said.
How random
We did thankfully sleep better then the night before. I went to bed around 10:30pm and woke up at 5:15am. Not ideal, but certainly an improvement on what had come before....
Again, we took our time getting going and were on our way to the parks around a similar time this morning, as the day before. However, the difference when we got to the Disneyland Park was huge. We couldn’t believe how many people were waiting to get in at roughly the same time. Obviously Sunday is much busier than Saturday here.
We got into one line, then we realised that there was an early morning entrance with no-one in it (I guess all the resort guests were already inside ) so we moved into that. Thank goodness we did, as we got early morning slips of paper to show, as we walked down Main Street. We were given our own sidewalk to walk down, so we didn’t have to compete with the crowds, which was perfect. They really had thought of everything.
I must admit that I did feel very self righteous going in past everyone else and looking back at the crowds on Main Street and I’m ashamed to say I thought (and said! ) “losers”!
We headed first for Tomorrowland to go and ride Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters.
Unbelievably, I was leading Mark the whole way round and doing rather well, even if I say so myself, until the last scene, when he just blitzed one target and got about 30,000 in one go. So not fair...
After that, we headed back to the hub to get some more Photopass pictures done. We hadn’t found many photographers yesterday and today I wanted to try and make up for that and we did. We got a variety of shots done. Now getting the CD would be worthwhile after all.
Isn’t this a lovely stock photo?
Then it was off towards Adventureland, where I got various shots...
We then browsed a few shops. I think more here than in Walt Disney World, the shops are well worth visiting to see the theming inside, as a lot of it is superb.
We walked through New Orleans Square, getting more photos on the way.
Where are all the crowds?
Next: I cannot believe how much this differs from the Disney World version!
Wow-- you certainly DID take a lot of pictures! And I, for one, am very glad that you did, as I so enjoy getting my early morning Disney fix from them before heading out the door (to earn money to go back to Disney myself!) So thank you for the motivation.
What a relief that you were able to get in before all those losers!
Seriously, it was good to avoid the crowd - looks like it might not stay so empty in the park once they drop the rope!
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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We didn't see Mystic Rhythms whiel we were three, but Tokyo DisneySea is an amazing park and I can see why she went back again. 
PassPorter Guide Author
the pictures of WoC and all the pictures. Can't wait for more.
We couldn’t believe how many people were waiting to get in at roughly the same time. Obviously Sunday is much busier than Saturday here. 
) so we moved into that. Thank goodness we did, as we got early morning slips of paper to show, as we walked down Main Street. We were given our own sidewalk to walk down, so we didn’t have to compete with the crowds, which was perfect. 
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