A 40th celebration to end the world! COMPLETED 6/24 - Page 42 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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That's one thing I love about the castle at DL - the walk through part! And I actually love the size of it - but agree it's a shock if you see it after seeing the castle at WDW.
I know what you're saying. The size of it isn't the problem, it's what you're used at the other parks that make going there a bit of a shock. I guess they just wanted to go bigger with the castles after Disneyland?
Love your photos, but I have to say that I hope Mr Toad doesn't disappear any time soon. It was my favorite ride at WDW when I was a kid and I love that I can still ride it at DL!
I think it'll be there for some time to come, not that I'm an expert or anything, but from what people are saying about lines for it.
Tuesday 25 December – part three: why can’t Disney World do this?
When we came out of there, Dumbo had almost no wait (I think I had to wait for one rotation of Dumbos, then I was on), so I went to do that. Of course, Mark’s far too cool to ride Dumbo so he just stood and photographed me instead…
I always have the greatest time on this ride, as you can probably tell from the photos he got. It’s just so much fun, and is iconic Disney, plus I always ride it, and just feel like a kid again. After all, where else in the world can an adult ride a flying elephant and not be ridiculed….
By now, it was almost 8:00am, so we made our way over to the entrance to Adventureland, along with all the crowds. It was cool to hear the park opening announcement as we waited to be let in.
We lost most of the crowds as we walked past Indiana Jones Adventure, but we had somewhere else to be…
I was concerned that later on, the wait for Pirates might be obscene and this is always a must-do for us, whatever Disney park we’re in. I have to say that I do absolutely adore the Disneyland version. It seems longer, and it was certainly in much better working order than the Florida one had been a couple of weeks earlier. As Mark pointed out, you even see the cannon coming out of the fort to attack the ship, which you don’t get in Disney World. It’s little touches like that which make all the difference, and make this so much fun to ride.
When we came out of there, it was 8:20am, and I wondered if we just had time to go on the Haunted Mansion Holidays, before we were due back in the room to Skype with Mark’s family at 9:00am. I figured it couldn’t hurt to take a look… and there was no wait!
Off we went….
Honestly, I think I said this the last time we did this in October 2008, but why on earth Disney World doesn’t do holiday overlays, I don’t know. Actually, in truth I probably do. It probably attracts more than enough crowds and they know that they can get away without having to do anything… certainly that would be my best guess, whereas judging by how not particularly busy Disneyland was today, I guess they do need to draw people into the parks.
Anyway, this is absolutely superb, and if you get the opportunity to visit Disneyland between October and December, do, and make sure you go on this. You really won’t recognise this as the Haunted Mansion. Sure, the same ride is there underneath all the holiday décor, but everything else is changed, including the narration. If you’re a Disney fan, and you’re used to the usual Haunted Mansion spiel, it does make a very pleasant change to get something so different….
Next: “have you ridden Radiator Springs Racers yet?”
One day I have to see the holiday layovers. It's interesting to see that Christmas morning is not such a crowded time. No line for Dumbo! I'm planning a trip back to DLR right now for next May, IF I can get a studio at 7 months at VGC! I'm glad they're doing a better job at upkeep of Pirates at DL than in Florida. I can't say that I really noticed last November, though, I was just so excited to be on the ride again!
As a person who's ridden Dumbo at Disneyland I completely agree with you. It's iconic. I was with a friend who lives near there and she didn't see the big deal, but even though they went to Disneyland all the time, she's not a Disney nut like me. I also agree with you about Pirates of the Caribbean. It's so much better than the one at Disney World. You did a great job capturing the details. Haunted Mansion with the holiday overlay was really amazing. I didn't know what to expect when I went on it, but this was truly amazing. Even the que line was detailed every bit.
Wow, three more classic rides on Christmas morning. Awesome way to start the day! Thanks so much for sharing those photos on Haunted Mansion! I have yet to ride the DL version as it's always closed Labor Day weekend when I'm there for the race. That's when they're putting in the Holiday overlay - which looks really cool!!
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I am glad to see I am not the only one who rides Dumbo, Alone!!!!!! The entrance to the Pirates ride is very different from Florida . Also, I love the entrance of the Haunted Manison with the 4 huge pillars in front. What a lovely change!!!
One day I have to see the holiday layovers. It's interesting to see that Christmas morning is not such a crowded time. No line for Dumbo! I'm planning a trip back to DLR right now for next May, IF I can get a studio at 7 months at VGC! I'm glad they're doing a better job at upkeep of Pirates at DL than in Florida. I can't say that I really noticed last November, though, I was just so excited to be on the ride again!
I so hope it works out for you and you're able to get back there next May and of course back to WDW in December. It's still one of my favourite memories of our last trip - the two journeys we shared with you on Pirates.
As a person who's ridden Dumbo at Disneyland I completely agree with you. It's iconic. I was with a friend who lives near there and she didn't see the big deal, but even though they went to Disneyland all the time, she's not a Disney nut like me. I also agree with you about Pirates of the Caribbean. It's so much better than the one at Disney World. You did a great job capturing the details. Haunted Mansion with the holiday overlay was really amazing. I didn't know what to expect when I went on it, but this was truly amazing. Even the que line was detailed every bit.
I honestly think that the Haunted Mansion Holidays and It's A Small World Holidays (you will see that as well) are almost reason enough to go to Disneyland in the holidays. Add in Cars Land and well, there's no reason not to!
Wow, three more classic rides on Christmas morning. Awesome way to start the day! Thanks so much for sharing those photos on Haunted Mansion! I have yet to ride the DL version as it's always closed Labor Day weekend when I'm there for the race. That's when they're putting in the Holiday overlay - which looks really cool!!
Oh you'll have to go back at some point when it's in place, as it is amazing to see. What a shame you always miss it.
I so hope it works out for you and you're able to get back there next May and of course back to WDW in December. It's still one of my favourite memories of our last trip - the two journeys we shared with you on Pirates.
Luke has said when we go to Disneyland it needs to be in October or November. He is a huge Jack Skellington fan and wants to see the overlay at Haunted Mansion so bad. We are definitely coming up with lots of good reasons to visit DL and soon!
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so he just stood and photographed me instead… 
I have to say that I do absolutely adore the Disneyland version. It seems longer, and it was certainly in much better working order than the Florida one had been a couple of weeks earlier. As Mark pointed out, you even see the cannon coming out of the fort to attack the ship, which you don’t get in Disney World. It’s little touches like that which make all the difference, and make this so much fun to ride. 
Awesome way to start the day! Thanks so much for sharing those photos on Haunted Mansion! I have yet to ride the DL version as it's always closed Labor Day weekend when I'm there for the race. 
That's when they're putting in the Holiday overlay - which looks really cool!!
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