The Best (Re)Laid Plans December TR - Page 7 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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After our regular TSMM ride, we walked over to Star Tours to meet up with all the Reunion participants – we took over several cruisers. I enjoyed seeing a different story line than before, Mixed reactions about the 3-D – in some ways, the ride feels less real than it did before – but it’s still fun.
My red water bottle apparently fell out of my bag during our Star Tours journey, so I waited with a Cast Member until the next group finished their ride. (And yes, the CM located my bottle. ) That took about 5 minutes, and I was concerned that Sandy would be wondering what the heck happened to me.
When I arrived in the gift shop, I found Sandy happily talking with her aunt and uncle, who happened to be there at that exact moment -- I mean, what are the odds? Her uncle tried on some Star Wars headgear:
Must be a Canadian thing, ay?
Sandy had won a lottery for a special Reunion meet at the Carousel in Progress at the Magic Kingdom that started at 1:00pm, so she would need to leave DHS before lunch. Another friend we’d made last December is Nora (Goofynora on our Passporter boards), who rode Star Tours with us and had no plans for the afternoon – so Nora agreed to join me at Sci Fi Dine In for a leisurely lunch.
Here's Nora with Sandy & me:
Then Sandy & I used our FP's for TSMM again:
And this time I would win, because I was Player 1:
Oh, that's right -- I decided to let the "youngster" win again.
So Sandy took off for her "meet" at the MK, and I headed to meet Nora at:
I had a burger with cucumber salad (in lieu of fries) and really enjoyed it. Took a friend's advice and split the red velvet cheesecake with Nora -- yummy! And it came with two glow-sticks made into circles:
Which of course we immediately tried on, and don't we look fabu dahlings?
But of course, we were there for the SHOW, which included Unca Walt himself:
My favorite cartoon from the Sci Fi Dine In involved this scene:
I know a lot of people who say "Don't waste time on table service meals -- go for the attractions." But I really enjoy taking the time to relax over some food & a show (even when I become the performer ). Nora feels similarly, so we were well-matched to while away a long lunch at the Sci Fi Dine In. Nora, I'm ready for a repeat visit with you!
Nora likes to visit Sid Cahuenga’s shop, which I don’t think I’d ever entered before. We strolled through that store and I found a bunch of books for my friends back home, including a Gone With the Wind trivia book and a huge Judy Garland book. I paid a lot of money to have all those shipped to my office so I wouldn’t have to haul them home – but when you find something you know a friend will like, you have to buy it, right?
Where is Sid's? Most of us walk right by it as soon as we enter the park -- it's on your left as soon as you get through the ticket machines.
Nora also took me to where she plans to live someday and as you can see, she's the perfect height to be an object d'art for Echo Lake Apartments.
I'd never noticed THAT before, either -- and it's quite close to one of my favorite "picture windows:"
Nora left DHS at that point, and I headed back down Sunset Boulevard to my favorite attraction of them all, ToT. I bought myself a couple ToT tee shirts & got a shot glass for my friend Avik back at the office (who is also a Disney nut).
What a glorious day!
I fully intended to leave the park at that point, but I could hear the Beauty & the Beast show was nearly at the “Be Our Guest” number, which is my favorite. So I hurried into a seat and enjoyed the rest of the show. I always have to stay until Celine Dion finishes the last long note after the musical is finished (and yes, I get a little every time).
I noticed the sound & light technicians getting up to exit, and I stopped them to thank them for their part in what I consider to be WDW’s best live show. We talked about musicals, and Milton (guy on the left below) recommended a couple DVDs to me: “Waking Sleeping Beauty” and “Weird Romance.”
He told me the film had premiered on 11/22/1991, and I told them I’d seen it that December – and that experience firmly solidified my love of all things Disney. They told me about how lyricist Howard Ashman got so ill during the production of the film, and how Alan Menken and others would play the vocals for Ashman’s approval. Ashman apparently told them to "Barbra (Streisand) it up" on the "Something There" song: "New. . . and a bit a-LAR-ming."
Here are my new pals from sound/lighting -- if you ever see them at the B&TB show at DHS, tell them Cindy says
I was the very last person to leave the amphitheater (surprising the heck out of a couple Cast Members outside ) & was ready to go back to WL. Then I saw two of the street cleaners standing together and went over to them, thanking them for their part in keeping WDW so spotless, which is something even non-Disney people appreciate. Turns out they’re a married couple from California who decided years ago that they would retire in Orlando to work for Disney. They visit the parks on their days off & other Cast Members think they’re nuts.
Of course, WE don’t think they’re nuts, do we, dear ? They urged me to work for WDW after my own retirement. I can’t imagine living in Florida – I really do enjoy winter more than summer, for one thing – but I can totally imagine myself being a seasonal Cast Member. Just sayin’.
So here are two more new friends, Dennis and April from Huntington Beach CA:
Around 3:15, I headed to the bus stop for WL. Talked with a family with two boys. The 6-year-old, Elliott, talked my off – to my great delight. He’d say, “And you know what?” and I’d say “What?” with my eyes .
We watched the parade floats going back to their storage areas while we waited, and got most of the characters to to us -- I'm not sure whether Elliott or I got the most excited. That was great fun.
On the bus to WL, the mom (Tia) asked me lots of questions about where they should stay on upcoming visits – they love the WL, but feel transportation is too time-consuming. I told them I’d stayed at the Grand Floridian in March & took nearly two hours to get there from Epcot (another fun story ), and in my opinion you should find a resort with the amenities & price that you want, and then just build in 90 minutes' travel time for everything. I suggested she look up “cindybelle” on the PP boards – I hope she does!
I walked down to the beach at WL and noticed some bear tracks .
Oh, WHY hadn't I brought my swim suit? Could've had the whole place to myself! I endeavored to suffer on.
Went back to my room and sat on my balcony, writing this trip report in longhand – it was 65 delightful degrees outside. Perfect – cloudy but still.
I enjoyed about an hour of that and then headed downstairs to the lobby to await my dinner guests: Sandy coming from the MK and my dear Passporter friend Sheri (from Florida) & her mom Darlene (from Cleveland) who had arrived that afternoon. This would be all of our first times at Artist Point!
I second the recommendation that you see Waking Sleeping Beauty! We enjoyed it tremendously. I think you'd also like "The Boys" about the Sherman brothers. You'll be so amazed realizing how much Disney music you know & love was written by them.
i have to find those echo lake apartments....something i have never seen at DHS. love the bit about little elliott....ha ha ha. i can just picture it in my mind. oh and kelly...gee thanks for encouraging our little wallflower to vye for "star of the day" or whatever you called it. ha ha ha...there will be NO rest for the next person who travels with her now...oh wait, that might be me!
Such great photos of DHS! Your balcony view back at WL is pretty nice, too. I'll add my recommendation for "Waking Sleeping Beauty". It's a fantastic documentary and I guarantee you'll more than once, especially during the section about Howard Ashman.
What wonderful fun with both Sandy and Nora! I think I'll try to get a picture of Stefanie in that alcove at Echo Apt. Too cute! We met a husband and wife who both worked at the B&B show a few years ago. They too encouraged Luke and me to retire to Florida and work at WDW. But like you summers are too hot, so seasonal employment might work.
Great updates! The bit calling the phone boxes in the United Kingdom was hysterical! I also love the way you're thanking Cast Members for their work and taking their photos - I'm sure they really appreciate that and what great stories you're getting from them as well.
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Hey Miss Cindy Lou!!! Just caught up on your trip so far - and it sounds mahvelous dahling!!! I can hear you at the HBD and I am loving it!!! You are suck a star!! I love how you stay to talk to CMs about their work, and thank them for being part of the magic of the place you love so much!!
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) That took about 5 minutes, and I was concerned that Sandy would be wondering what the heck happened to me.
Her uncle tried on some Star Wars headgear:
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to go with you! Let's do it!
every time). 
) & was ready to go back to WL. Then I saw two of the street cleaners standing together and went over to them, thanking them for their part in keeping WDW so spotless, which is something even non-Disney people appreciate. Turns out they’re a married couple from California who decided years ago that they would retire in Orlando to work for Disney. They visit the parks on their days off & other Cast Members think they’re nuts. 
off – to my great delight. 
. 
more than once, especially during the section about Howard Ashman.
PassPorter Guide Author
The bit calling the phone boxes in the United Kingdom was hysterical! 
I also love the way you're thanking Cast Members for their work and taking their photos - I'm sure they really appreciate that and what great stories you're getting from them as well.
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