Our First Christmas in the World - COMPLETED 3/26 - Page 3 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Great photos of the parade. It's been years since we've seen the ordinary afternoon parade. We really must try and catch it one day soon....
The only reason I even thought of it was because when we saw Mary Poppins earlier in the day Jeff asked her where Bert was and she said he would be around for the afternoon parade.
Next we checked out an area over near CP where we could view Wishes . Then we headed to Tony’s for dinner. We checked in at 5:20 and were seated 5 minutes later. Our server was Linda and one thing we noticed right away was she was not very efficient. She kept making extra trips for things she should have brought with her in the first place. But the meal was delish! Jeff had Seafood Cioppino and I had the pork tenderloin with butternut squash. Drinks were iced tea and hot tea. We were too full for dessert.
the bill was $55.28 with TiW discount.
After our meal we used our FPs for a visit to the princesses.
We had a sweet little girl in front of us who was in a wheelchair. And each time we watched her interact with one of the princesses, I would tear up because she was just so darn sweet!
Next we went back out to Main Street toward Adventureland with a photopass stop along the way.
Adventureland was not crowded at all and we rode POC and JC with no waits. At about 7:30 we headed back to find a spot to watch Celebrate the Magic and Wishes. We found out they do not let you stand in the area by CP because that is reserved for people waiting for ADRs. So, we moved down a bit until we found a clear area which had a railing we could lean against. It was very chilly standing there waiting, and we were glad we had jackets, but I was wishing I had a hat and scarf as well!
Both Celebrate the Magic and Wishes were awesome from that spot, even though we had quite a few people come stand in front of us. We were still able to see pretty well.
After Wishes we slowly made our way down Main Street and our walk back to BLT. How wonderful to be able to bypass all those getting on the monorail or waiting for buses!
We stopped at the desk and inquired about getting a cab for tomorrow’s Segway Tour and then went up to our room. Our luggage was waiting for us, so we took some time to unpack and organize the room. We were in bed shortly after 10. Soon after, we heard the Electrical Water Pageant out on Bay Lake. How fun!
Weather today was: Cloudy, windy and cool
The best thing today was: Arriving in our new home resort
The worst thing today was: The chilly night air while waiting for Wishes
The funniest thing today was: Switching seats at Monster’s Inc and then realizing my face was up on the screen.
Today we tried: FP for the princesses
And the result was: practically no wait!
The most magical moment today was: Seeing all the Christmas decorations on Main Street.
We got our wake-up call at 6:00. We showered, had some coffee and tea, and a light snack since we’d be eating breakfast on our segway tour. At 7:00 we left for the Contemporary lobby and the CM at bell services called us a cab. From CR to the Epcot entrance the cab was $20, including the tip. We waited at the turnstiles for the CMs to get the word from Guest services that they were ready, and soon were on our way to check in for our Segway tour. We got our name tags, picked out what we wanted for breakfast (a choice between a full breakfast or fruit with a croissant or cinnamon roll. When everyone had arrived we followed our instructor, Larry, over to the Innoventions building for our training session. After a short tutorial we all put our helmets on and Larry helped us with the basics of getting on and off the Segway.
Then some simple maneuvers like forward and back and pivoting in place. After that we split into groups and tried slaloming around cones and going up and down a ramp. Finally it was time to venture outside! We went around to the backstage entrance of the Land and parked our Segways along the wall. Then we went into a special section of Sunshine Seasons for our breakfast.
Jeff had the full breakfast which included eggs, sausage, bacon, hash browns, French toast and a biscuit. I had the cinnamon bun and fruit. Both were yummy!
After breakfast we all got FP for Soarin and then donned our helmets and followed our tour guide (sorry, I forgot his name) to World Showcase where we had a wonderful tour of all of the countries. We were able to go back into the little walkways of most of the countries using the skills we’d learned in training. Then we would stop and our guide explained little facts about each country’s pavilion. All along Jeff was snapping pictures since no one had told us any differently. It wasn’t until I read Cheryl’s report that I’d realized this was strictly forbidden. Oops!
It felt good to stop here and get off the Segway for a bit. My ankles were really hurting. Then we all had a chance to get our pictues taken.
In France we came upon some sort of photo shoot involving Belle.
After our tour we gathered in the training room where we turned in our helmets and received our pin. We’d really enjoyed riding the Segways and hearing all about World Showcase.
Then we made our way back to Soarin to ride with our FP.
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So glad to hear I am not the only one that got into trouble during Segway tour. I really want to do this one in Nov if FP for Soaring are involved that could help seal the deal with my DW
The segway tour looks great! I've always wondered if riding a segway would make your legs sore, and I guess the answer is yes! They need to invent one with a seat!
Our guide did say that other Cast Members were, shall we say, not as diligent about the rules as they were? He was aware that other people would let people take photos while out on the tour, but strictly it's not permitted, as they want people to have both hands on the Segway at all times to minimise accidents.
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Pixie Dust
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It's been years since we've seen the ordinary afternoon parade. We really must try and catch it one day soon....
Delicious!
All your MK PhotoPass pictures are wonderful. I can't wait to do this Segway Tour in June! 
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