Forever Young: A Disneyland Trip 50 Years in the Making COMPLETED 1/16/16 - Page 20 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 pictures from IaSW! I so much prefer the DL one. WDW could use a few pointers from them! And great shots from the Storybook Canal! So cute!
Me, too! So many pluses to the DL version.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
WOW, can't believe all the additions to Storybook Canal! Not only is the Frozen section new, so is Aladin and Little Mermaid - at least since I last rode it. I'm now trying to remember what else was in that ride, as I know it was more than just Snow White & Cinderella.....
That is quite a bit of updates. The video only mentioned the Frozen section being new.
I really enjoyed this update, especially IASW. I that ride at WDW, so it was really nice to see the original.
I was so excited to finally ride the original.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
Still more ongoing fun and new experiences for you in FL! That is too cool with Monstro the whale as you begin the ride through his mouth!
I thought the Monstro entrance was cool, but I'm pretty sure if I'd ridden it as a kid, I'd have been terrified. That part of Pinocchio scared me as a little girl.
Wednesday, October 7 -- A must do classic, two oldie-but-goodies, and an early dinner
Back in 1980 on my first visit to Disney World, I may or may not have ridden Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. My guess is I did not because a) I have no memory of it, and b) it would not have interested my two travel companions. Once I joined PassPorter, I began to read how so many folks preferred it over its replacement, The Many Adventures of Winne the Pooh. When Cam and fam made their first trip to Disney world in 1997, Mr. Toad was already defunct, and Pooh had not yet opened. So I had to wait another 18 years to ride Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride for myself.
We entered the queue with another 20 minute posted wait. Of course, that wait meant photos for me. As we neared where we would board the ride vehicle, Luke said, “I hope we aren’t getting a weasel car.” You can guess where this is going. We got a weasel car. No photos on the ride itself, as to say the least, Mr. Toad is a classic dark and jerky ride. But we loved it!
Mr. Toad himself
Back from visiting the abode of a toad, we moved a little further into Fantasyland and headed for Pinocchio’s Daring Journey, another classic dark ride. We barely had any wait at all for this one, so I had little time for photos. But I did manage a few.
Back outside we stepped next door to Snow White’s Scary Adventures, a ride I still miss at Magic Kingdom. Since it has been a few years since we’ve ridden it, we couldn’t really be sure of any differences. I’m also sorry that several of these came out very red due to the subdued lighting. We had fun riding yet another classic and this time one we had experienced.
At this point we left some of Fantasyland undone as we needed to make our way to New Orleans Square. On the way we saw another cute photo backdrop. This time the backdrop was for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Again the PhotoPass photographer did an excellent job with our poses.
After our photo shoot, we headed straight for New Orleans Square, but when we arrived, we still had about 25 minutes before we needed to check in for our early dinner ADR at Café Orleans. So we wandered through the streets and shops of New Orleans. But then I caught sight of the Pandora shop and our wanderings were over.
There were three cast members inside and the only other customer was leaving the shop back in hand. So I decided to take advantage of an empty shop to look at all the 60th Anniversary charms. In the end I selected the one with the DL castle in blue. I also purchased a cleaning cloth. While one cast member rang up my purchases, another put my new charm on my bracelet.
With bag in hand, we decided to check in early at Café Orleans.
Seating was first available, which meant we could not request an indoor table. A few moments later, probably less than five minutes, we were escorted to our table on the covered outdoor patio where it was actually quite pleasant. This is the view from our table.
We were not hungry enough for appetizers, so we placed our entrée order as soon as our drinks arrived. I ordered the Monte Cristo as I had planned for months. A Monte Cristo is Sliced Turkey, Ham, and Swiss fried in a light batter (think donut/beignet) and served with Berry Puree dusted with Powdered Sugar. I did know ahead of time how rich and sweet these are, but when it arrived, my eyes almost popped out of my head because this was the largest serving I have ever seen of this dish. It included four extra- large sections, each with lots of bread. It was delicious, but there was no way I could finish it. I managed two sections only by tearing off quite a bit of the bread. Luke ate one section once he finished his own entrée, leaving one section uneaten.
Luke ordered a chicken Gumbo Crepe, which is made up of chicken, andouille sausage, tasso ham, and Creole gumbo sauce with sauteed Cremini mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and asparagus; made to order, served with pea puree (thanks allears.net). The pea puree was very tasty as Luke had me sample it. He had to ask our server what it was as neither of us could remember the description from the menu. The crepe looked much lighter than my bread. Luke loved it and not a crumb was left when he finished.
Needless to say, we had no room for dessert, but I did order pumpkin beignets to go for our breakfast tomorrow. When the beignets were brought to our table so was a regular beignet for Luke's birthday dessert.
Total cost = $53.41 with a $5.50 DVC discount. We will definitely come back here, but next time we plan to share an order of Pomme Frites (French fries with cheese and Cajun spices) and the Monte Cristo. That sounds so much more manageable than me taking on the Monte Cristo alone.
Since it was now nearly 4:00 PM, we chose to return to the resort in order to change into our costumes for Mickey’s Halloween Party. But we did meander a bit first. There were two photos in New Orleans Square I wanted to get. One was a shop whose name we thought was so clever.
The other was of the Club 33 sign.
We walked out via the Emporium and other shops. Luke stopped to check out this train layout and I recorded it for me in photos.
You are certainly covering these attractions in fine detail with your camera! I have never been to DL but want to do it eventually. But, I want to go back to WDW in 2016 perhaps as I took a DCL Magic cruise (my first) in 2015.
As much as I want to go to DL I am worried about the planning issues as you had such a dilemma with much of the planning for dining and other special events as it seemed (with your PTR) as you'd never know when the window would open! Just seems a bit aggravating to me and I'm quite the planner like you! Perhaps, DL is still stuck in the 50's and can't leap forward to the new millennium like its' Orlando counterpart and take in this great technology and advance planning opportunities!
Not sure about the resorts either as I know they can be quite pricey and I am not a DVC member. I think you may have posted a link recently about close off site hotels within walking distance of DL. Might be something like resident or neighbor hotels. Well anyway, I plan to go here eventually!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Love those PP photo's, they are so neat! Thank you, thank you for posting where the Pandora store is! I forgot that I wanted a 60th celebration charm until you reminded me. Yummy lunch too! Now I know where I can go to get beignets post race.
WOW, I'm sure you did feel Walt's presences in the last 3 rides. The food photos were great. I from New Orleans and I'm not exactly sure what you were served, but it looked very good.
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