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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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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I'm another one who would never ride Manta. Big Thunder is about my limit...
I'm not surprised about the wait for the new penguin ride, as it's the big thing there. I think we'll head straight there at opening when we go next year...
Great start to the morning! And yeah................me = idiot who tried Manta NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER again!!!! I am NOT a roller coaster person AT ALL, so NO idea what the heck possessed me to try it with my family - Let's just say it was not pretty! I couldn't talk for two days due to the screaming!!!
Can't wait to see your photos of DC as I want to visit there some day!
Let's just say...I know 2 idiots!
Quote:
Originally Posted by disneydreamer33
Oh, Manta looks and sounds soooo cool! We would love that.
Glad you made it to DC on time. What a mess!
LOL. I used to love coasters, but my body no longer agrees with me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
This idiot would think about riding that . Looks like lots of fun to me! (Although as I get older, I find myself having more irrational thoughts on roller coasters about what would happen if the safety harnesses somehow stopped working !)
I do too. I used to love coasters....and yes, I personally know 2 idiots from that day! (and it wasn't my parents )
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
I'm another one who would never ride Manta. Big Thunder is about my limit...
I'm not surprised about the wait for the new penguin ride, as it's the big thing there. I think we'll head straight there at opening when we go next year...
I never in my wildest dreams have thought that it looked fun and was shocked that Claire wanted to ride it.
That would be smart. We didn't get there early enough...though I tried, we still had a slow morning and in the end sometimes letting Claire have a little more sleep is better for all of us.
I arrived and went in and the 2 people I had been corresponding with met right up with me. I was confused at first because the guy had told me that he had a meeting that day and wouldn’t be able to join us. I am not sure they want their names used, so I will call them Lucy and Sam. Sam said he was on his way out but wanted to say hi to me. Lucy was going to be taking me around. They were both super nice and Sam left right away then and we got down to business. Lucy told me that the entrance is made to have a resort feel to it and it definitely looked like a hotel lobby. She showed me where you check in and that everyone gets a lanyard to wear for the day.
Everyone is also give a plastic card map and she gave me one as well…which I guess I didn’t scan as I don’t see it in my pictures. There are a couple of packages you can get, but even with the base all food and drinks, including alcohol are included. You can eat and drink as much as you want. With the base package you get to use most of the facilities and it looks wonderful. You can upgrade to a dolphin swim package as well (with an age limit…..I am thinking it was starting at either 6 or 8 without going to look at my notes). There were also a few other add ons that you could do. The prices vary by time of the year and how busy it is. I think she said the price to come on this particular week was something like 300-400 or more per person. I just remember it being extremely high. It does however include 14 days of Sea World and Aquatica as well, but only one day at DC.
We then headed outside.
This place is beautiful and I did not do justice with my pictures as I was shooting and walking and talking all at the same time.
DC had many little lagoons with swimming and snorkeling and some beach areas as well.
They also provide wheel chairs if needed.
The paths were so lush with plant life.
Lucy asked where I was from and I told her Ohio. I told her that I went to Sea World Ohio many times when it was there and was sad it had closed. What a small world. She worked at Sea World Ohio for many years and she also went to college in Bowling Green, which is 30 minutes from my home….and home to the National Tractor pulls. (I know that doesn’t sound exciting to you, but my husband tractor pulled for years and this was always the big event of the year).
I can’t remember what these buildings were, but I think it was something like a guest service area.
I had asked what this land had been in the past and she told me just wooded land. Sea World owned it already for years and years and just built on it when they were ready. Evidently Sea World still owns quite a bit of undeveloped land in the area.
This area was new (there were several newer areas here) and I think it was called marsupial Island.
You can kind of see the critters in the trees there. I might have gotten a better picture later on.
We never stopped for long as we had a lot of ground to cover.
Here is one of the food and beverage areas.
I am sure you have noticed everyone has on a wet suit. DC provides them for every guest. You cannot bring your own in. You have to wear their’s if you are in the water. If helps them keep track and watch each person in the water for safety measures.
They also provide life jackets for those that need them.
And yes, they have wild life here and there.
And they have the coolest Aviary.
You can go in and feed the birds and they come right to you.
I thought this was funny….looks like a headless peacock.
Yep! That bird is on her head.
There’s his head!
For an additional cost they do have cabanas.
And we passed by the restaurant. This lady was very friendly and eager to tell me about the food they had….which looked pretty darn good. I think they should’ve had me taste some of it. LOL.
And they had a gift shop.
If I am remembering right, you could add a CC to your account and use your lanyard ID card to charge things since it was basically a cashless place.
DC is a very interesting place. Did your time allow you to get into the water? The price looks to be very expensive but as you said it does cover a lot of admissions.
Discovery Cove looks so beautiful! I so want to go there someday!
I do too!
Quote:
Originally Posted by rhinohunter
DC is a very interesting place. Did your time allow you to get into the water? The price looks to be very expensive but as you said it does cover a lot of admissions.
No this was strictly a tour. The price varies by time of year and how busy it is. And every so often they will have a sale.
One of these days I really need to go for a day!
When you check in, you are given a section to report to to get your wetsuit. I believe there are 3 stations to do that and then you will also get a locker in that area. Be sure to remember your section as we had an older couple come up and ask which section they were in as they couldn’t find their locker anymore and it appears that they can’t scan your card to find that info out.
I was also told they have wet suits for all sizes of people, so not to worry about that either.
Snacks!
I believe these people were getting ready for a dolphin swim.
Showers to rinse off with.
Beach strollers provided as well.
Snorkeling.
I believe here you could watch sharks through the glass.
On the other side they had something like snuba going on, but I think they have their own name for it.
This is also an extra add on for an additional cost.
We were constantly on the move and I just kept snapping pictures when I could.
I think this was inside one of the cabanas.
A dolphin swim going on.
A walk through the gift shop.
They take pictures of the dolphin swim and the Sea Venture as well (that is what they call the snuba thing I believe).
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I talked with Lucy a bit and she had called for the shuttle to come and pick me back up.
I think I was there just over an hour. The place is fabulous. I learned so much about it too. And if I had not already had plans for the rest of the week I would’ve booked a day there in a heartbeat. It is just like a little piece of paradise there. I said goodbye to Lucy and got on the shuttle back to Sea World.
Back at Sea World I messaged my mom to let her know I was back….silence.
I just started walking randomly nowhere till I heard back from her.
I took this picture for my friend Cass as she hates turkey legs.
Mom finally messaged me back that they were at the Blue Horizon show. I know a lot of people love this show, but I saw it once and it’s just not my thing. I think mainly because I thought it was a dolphin and whale show, but they had a lot of swimmers and acrobats in it and being it wasn’t what I expected I just didn’t care for it. I thought the story was strange too. I found a spot outside one of the exits and sat and waited.
And waited and waited and waited. I saw the place clear out and I texted mom who didn’t answer. Finally she responded that they were over by the turtles. Ok, why didn’t they look for me when they exited…or at least text me. So I pulled out my trusty map and headed towards the turtles. I had to pass the dolphins on my way over.
I also found an underwater viewing area that I had not realized was there.
I also found my family.
We took a look at the manatees who were much more boring than the ones at Epcot.
And then we looked at the turtles, who were just so darn cute.
Claire and I departed.
We stopped near the dolphins again as I saw a feeding going on and I wanted to take pictures.
Trying for an artsy shot.
The dolphins were so cute and kept jumping over the little waves. I took a zillion pictures and Claire was bored out of her mind and let me know it.
Since Claire was so bored, we moved on. Claire kept bugging me to ride Manta. I kept telling her no. She still kept up the whining about wanting to ride it….so I said…OK, you want to ride, let’s do it right now and get it done with. My thinking was this was going to scare the pants off of her, but at least she couldn’t go home blaming me for not letting her ride it.
So we went and found the lockers and put our bags and stuff in there. We got in line and there was basically no line at all for it. Well that tells me that only idiots ride this and the park didn’t have enough idiots attending today. LOL!
We got up to the individual queues and watched the people in front of us board. At this point I just thought it was a regular hanging from the track coaster. Then I see them clap everyone’s legs in place and tilt everyone down so they are facing the ground. HOLY CRAP! This is one of those flying coasters. I didn’t back out, but I was not too excited. I asked her if she still wanted to go on it and she said yes. So we were next. We jumped up into our seats and pulled our bars tight over our heads and got our legs clamped in and tilted….and I just started screaming right there. I am sure a few not so family friendly words might have popped out of my mouth. Claire was laughing hysterically about it all. And then we were off! I hate heights. I don’t mind the coasters….when they are smooth…but I can’t stand seeing how high we are going and this time I am facing the ground. One thing goes wrong and I am plummeting to the ground face first. I mostly kept my eyes shut and peeked every so often. And oh yes, I was still screaming. Claire was still laughing too. And then we dove down…..head first! I stopped screaming because it got lost in my throat. Claire was squealing in delight. Who is this kid and where is my sweet lovable little girl? When we did the loops, my body would slam back against the seat and then forward and down again. Not too bad, but I could feel the movement and that was really weird. Finally it was over and Claire LOVED it. I couldn’t believe it. I had wanted to scare her and now she was begging to ride it again. And we did. It was walk on this time and we got right back on. This time I didn’t get the bar pulled as close to me as I should have. The thing about a big curvy body and roller coaster bars are that they don’t form around you so well and if you don’t get it tight you will have a little space. This time I felt the loops a lot more and was really slamming around. My shins hurt and my shoulders hurt. And of course I still screamed the whole time. Again, Claire loved it and wanted to ride it again. I wasn’t sure, but I agreed to one more time. And yet again there was no wait and we got right on. This time was better than time 2, but I was still sore from that ride. Claire begged to ride it again and I told her I just couldn’t do it again but if she wanted to I would walk her through the line and wait for her at the exit. She did think about it for a bit, but she was too nervous to go by herself, so we headed back to the locker and got our things. I will now say I am one of those idiots that rode that ride. It was actually fun and if I could be blind folded because of the height and if it was smoother, I would probably have no issues riding it again. And I am sure whenever we go back she is going to rope me into it again.
So we were done with that exciting part of the day and we headed off.
I wanted to see Shamu. There was not a show currently going on during our stay as I think they were redoing the big tank, but there was an area to go and watch the whales.
As we headed in that direction we found the baby dolphins. I took a lot of pictures, but I couldn’t tell if these were truly babies, moms ready to have a dolphin or just smaller dolphins. Some did look bigger than others in there.
All my pictures pretty much came out the same.
And on we went again.
And we saw Cookie Monster and Elmo walk by. They were in a rush to get backstage though.
Elmo was too fast for me to get a picture, but Cookie stopped and gave some love to some random person.
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NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER again!!!! I am NOT a roller coaster person AT ALL, so NO idea what the heck possessed me to try it with my family - Let's just say it was not pretty! I couldn't talk for two days due to the screaming!!! 
. Looks like lots of fun to me! (Although as I get older, I find myself having more irrational thoughts on roller coasters about what would happen if the safety harnesses somehow stopped working 
I do too. I used to love coasters....and yes, I personally know 2 idiots from that day! (and it wasn't my parents 
)
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