The Best (Re)Laid Plans December TR - Page 9 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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The Disney magic continued for Sandy & me as we headed out on the boat from Fort Wilderness. Guess what we got to view from the boat?
Sandy told me her kids (Canadians, remember ) always ask her, "What does the American flag have to do with the Electrical Water Pageant?" Beats me, but it's fun to see!
And the magic wasn't over YET, because when our boat stopped at the Contemporary Resort, we saw Peter Pan -- in the flesh! He sounded and acted just like Peter, and I was so excited I didn't even think about taking a picture. Wow! Peter Pan talked to US!
And then we were back at the WL dock, and I was ready for beddy-bye. But of course my much younger pal Sandy wanted to go to Downtown Disney. I walked her to the bus stop, where a bus was waiting -- quite full, but Sandy got the last standing-room spot! And she told me the next day that a lot of people got off at the next resort, so she got to sit down!
You want to see some Photo Pass pics of Sandy & me from DHS, right? Of COURSE you do!
And now, back to our story. It's Friday (Dec. 9) -- and I marched up to the ticket window at Epcot and upgraded my 6-day Parkhopper to an Annual Pass and then it was rope-drop time. I met up with Sandy and Jeff (a fellow Reunioneer who was fun to talk to) on the way to Soarin'. The three of us rode it twice (and got Fast Passes for later) and then Jeff left for another "meet" while Sandy and I discovered we make perfect crash-test dummies.
Then Sandy & I rode Mission Space (green version, thank you very much) and got in line for the Universe of Energy when Sheri to say she'd meet us after that -- Darlene was still .
I gave Sheri one of my FP’s for Soarin’ and the three of us enjoyed it together – and picked up more FP’s for later. We got the second row this time, and I took pics of our feet and then of the feet above us – and I got Sandy to pretend they were udders & took a pic of her “milking” them. (Hey, if you can’t be silly with Disney pals, life loses all meaning! )
Our feet on Soarin'
Other people's feet on Soarin'
Sandy "milking" the feet:
We did a little window-shopping and enjoyed the fabulous weather. By this point, it was around noon – so Sheri left to pick up Darlene, and the two of them would meet us at Tutto Italia (Italy, of course dahlings ) for our 1:15 lunch with Nora.
Sandy & I rode Listen to the Land, did Soarin' again (I think -- I've lost track ) and then took the boat over to Morocco and then strolled to Italy. This photo looks a bit cloudy, but it was another lovely, comfortable day (high 70s to low 80s) and then sun would alternately come out and disappear.
I still get teary when I think about that light display at FW. It truly was a magical night!
Sandy, I got up at our staff meeting yesterday and showed two photos from that & described it -- and then I said, "Here I go!" and everybody laughed as I got teary-eyed. When I finished, one of the male architects pretended to brush a tear from his eye & I went over and clobbered him.
Last night & this morning I sang along to the Candlelight Processional CD, and I burst into mini-tears several times & had to stop singing. It's all so magical. I just love it!
When I finished, one of the male architects pretended to brush a tear from his eye & I went over and clobbered him.
I hope that wasn't Matt! If it was, I'll clobber him the next time I see him (which should be Tuesday).
That video was amazing! I got chills and teary eyes. That solidified another trip to the world in December (maybe for Chrsitmas one year when the kids are older) and to tour the campgrounds.
You meal at Artist's Point looked delish...and what a wonderful way to spend the eveing but seeing all the beautiful displays....the castle display was breathtaking, I can only imagine the beauty of seeing it in person, with the lights and the music (going to check out the video at home as I cannot get it to play at work).
The start to the day at Epcot sounds great so far....can never go wrong with a couple of rides over California.
I hope that wasn't Matt! If it was, I'll clobber him the next time I see him (which should be Tuesday).
That video was amazing! I got chills and teary eyes. That solidified another trip to the world in December (maybe for Chrsitmas one year when the kids are older) and to tour the campgrounds.
Kelly, it wasn't your friend Matt who made fun of me -- he knows better! But of course all the architects love to make fun of my Disneymania -- and I'm happy to give them another excuse to
I brought my cigarette holder for the occasion, and we soon met up with Nora, Sheri & Darlene.
Our handsome servers, dahlings:
And although Darlene had known Nora for about 30 seconds, apparently she liked her immediately:
Nora & Darlene don't care for olives, but the rest of us enjoyed them -- and even asked for seconds.
Of course, Sheri and I have been acting fabu together for almost 3 years now -- ever since Passporter's Decade of Dreams celebration at WDW in May 2009.
Nora & I ordered RRRRRRRRRRRRossinis and Sheri & Sandy order Bellinis. What was Darlene's beverage -- a Cosmopolitan or something? Anyway, cheers!
Darlene could NOT believe how Disney-crazed the rest of us are, and her eyes when I asked Sandy and Nora to display their color-coded spreadsheets. We all create those, don't we?
Ready for some food porn? This Bufala Mozzarella plate reminded me of Italy.
And I ordered the Penne Caprese with more fresh mozzarella & basil.
Everybody loved their selections. I remember Darlene saying the steak was even better than at Artist Point.
I had specifically worn my Alaska tee shirt that day because at 3:00 the Reunioneers would ride Spaceship Earth together and everyone was to say they were from Alaska so the big map would have Alaska glowing like crazy. Well, we had so much fun at lunch that we were paying the bill at 3:00 -- so the five of us determined to ride Spaceship Earth on our own a bit later.
The best part of our leisurely lunch was when Darlene kept saying she wasn't going "to put a Disney character in a frame over my mantle" and the others started making voodoo signs at her. I asked them to cast a Disney spell over her -- she looks pretty traumatized here, doesn't she?
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Amazing display! 
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Pixie Dust
) always ask her, "What does the American flag have to do with the Electrical Water Pageant?" Beats me, but it's fun to see! 
and then it was rope-drop time. I met up with Sandy and Jeff (a fellow Reunioneer who was fun to talk to) on the way to Soarin'. The three of us rode it twice (and got Fast Passes for later) and then Jeff left for another "meet" while Sandy and I discovered we make perfect crash-test dummies. 
to say she'd meet us after that -- Darlene was still 
) for our 1:15 lunch with Nora. 
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
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