Points make Paris... TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 6/29 - Page 8 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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From the quick poking around I've done, that would be the inexpensive part for us. The plane tickets are horrendous at this point. So, unless I save for a long time, or win the lotto, it looks like that trip is still just a dream.
Oh my goodness, from Bozeman, I can just imagine how much flights cost. You're best with transatlantic flights with going for the more popular routes, like Los Angeles or New York to Paris or London (you can then take the train from London to Disneyland Paris). That would perhaps cut the cost a little.
That's a lot of security, but I guess I'd probably feel better knowing that was all in place given what has been happening in France & Belgium.
Oh I completely get that, but the bit that got me was that selfie sticks are banned in Disneyland Paris too. Given all the security checks they had, I couldn't believe how many of the darned things we still saw in the park!
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Nothing to eat?! Quelle horreur! (Horrendous spelling on that one, I'm sure. My French is pretty rusty at this point)
No, it doesn't look that bad to me, although I can't remember if horreur is masculine or feminine.
Great pictures from Disney Village. It's very strange that there were no places to eat. Sometimes I feel like there is no rhyme or reason to Disney security. My sister and her family went to Disneyland about a month ago and she said that both her and her husband were searched, but they never looked through their bags or the stroller the kids were riding in. Doesn't make me feel safe!
Nope, me neither and that's what bothers me. Once we did ask security in WDW about strollers and suggested maybe they should check them. They honestly looked at us if we had four heads, but our point was some are laden and you imagine what you could get in in one of those. It just doesn't bear thinking about.
Saturday 30 April – part five: “will you take my photo?”
We made our way into the park, stopping to get our vouchers turned into printed tickets. We had asked when we’d checked in about this, and were told we did have tickets, but I wasn’t convinced, and I was right. Thankfully it was an easy enough process, and it only took a scan of one ticket for all six to be printed out, which was very convenient.
Tickets in hand, off we went, although when we got into the Disneyland Park, this is what greeted us.
Fortunately, I knew that this part of the railroad would be down for rehab, so I wasn’t too disappointed, but I hoped it wouldn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the others. I needn’t have worried. All Daisy kept asking was where was the castle. She said she wanted to close her eyes, then open them when she had a full view, so she’d get the full effect. Well, that sounded good to me. I promised to let her down when she’d need to close her eyes, and we made our way through Town Square…
It was worth it, as this was her reaction – isn’t it wonderful?
We made our way along Main Street…
About halfway up, I got my phone out to take some photos of the castle to post on Facebook, and this woman just walked up to me, said “will you take my photo?” and practically thrust her phone in my hand. I just stared at her, and ended up having to give my phone to Evie to hold. I was so tempted to tell her where to go, but I tried to be as Disney magical as I could, and took her photo, before thrusting her phone back at her as rudely as she’d thrust it at me. Everyone commented on it, and I did see her later, and made sure to avoid her, as I didn’t want to get stuck with more photography duties.
When we got to the hub, I was absolutely blown away by these amazing topiaries in front of the castle. Aren’t they superb?
While there, they officially opened up the park, and I will confess to having some tears in my eyes at a combination of things – the rest of them seeing the wonder of Disney for the first time altogether here, the park opening, and these beautiful topiaries, although there also was a tinge of sadness that we weren’t enjoying the Flower and Garden Festival. Heck, it would’ve been a lot warmer than it was here today!
We made our way through the castle, and Sara really wanted to get a photo done upstairs, but we persuaded her we could always come back, and it would be better to go and enjoy some rides before the waits got too long.
The first ride was the carousel ride, although only Tom and Daisy went on it. I think she enjoyed it!
I wonder if Rude Photo Woman had a sixth sense that you are such a wonderful photographer and that was why she was so anxious (pushy) to have you take her picture? I would have complied as well, but more than likely I would have been very tempted to make it a horrible snap. Blurry, bad angle, zoomed in on just her chin, taken someone else's picture that was next to her, you get the idea! But you were very nice to help her out.
I noticed that the castle (so pretty!) is almost the same color as your hotel? And Daisy's reaction gave me goosebumps!
Looking forward to more!
Gosh that is the most beautiful castle. Daisy is right to react like that!
I wonder what rude-photo-lady would have done if you'd said No?!
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I hear you on the shirt sizes. When I was at WDW last month, I bought a F&G shirt in a L (my usual size). It was so tight that I returned it and eventually purchased one in a XXL! That's ridiculous and will discourage women from purchasing. We are too vain to buy XL sizes when that's not our normal!
My size 14 daughter (UK size) had to have a 2XL t-shirt from Abercrombie & Fitch last year, she was deeply unimpressed!
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Originally Posted by chezp
Unbelievably, there was another security check before you got into the Disney Village, which I wasn’t sure I could see the point of. The only people who can get here are resort guests, and they should all have been searched when they entered the hotels, so why have another lot? This time bags went through the security detector, and so did you. While I fully understand the reasons for it, and I know what happened in Paris just a few short months ago, it did feel a bit like overkill…
Ah, now then - we thought this as well last year, but then our room at the Sequoia Lodge was in one of the outer 'legs' of the resort (which we didn't even know existed until then!), and these areas are all very open - you don't go through reception to get to them, they can be accessed by road/walkways. This means that you can walk from the outside road or walkway, straight past the Lodge rooms, and up to the Village entrance, if you follow the signs or know where you are headed. So you can actually access the Village without going through a security checkpoint, if there isn't one at the Village entrance.
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Silvercat
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Daisy's reaction was great, I loved the topiary's with all the color, they are amazing. Unbelievable how people forget their manners, you however, helped spread Disney magic, way to go Cheryl!
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I wonder if Rude Photo Woman had a sixth sense that you are such a wonderful photographer and that was why she was so anxious (pushy) to have you take her picture? I would have complied as well, but more than likely I would have been very tempted to make it a horrible snap. Blurry, bad angle, zoomed in on just her chin, taken someone else's picture that was next to her, you get the idea! But you were very nice to help her out.
Oh trust me, I was so tempted!
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I noticed that the castle (so pretty!) is almost the same color as your hotel?
It is very similar, although I must admit I hadn't thought of that...
My size 14 daughter (UK size) had to have a 2XL t-shirt from Abercrombie & Fitch last year, she was deeply unimpressed!
That is insane!
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Ah, now then - we thought this as well last year, but then our room at the Sequoia Lodge was in one of the outer 'legs' of the resort (which we didn't even know existed until then!), and these areas are all very open - you don't go through reception to get to them, they can be accessed by road/walkways. This means that you can walk from the outside road or walkway, straight past the Lodge rooms, and up to the Village entrance, if you follow the signs or know where you are headed. So you can actually access the Village without going through a security checkpoint, if there isn't one at the Village entrance.
Oh my goodness, that is a bit scary to learn, especially the bit about you can just go straight past lodge rooms. While I'm sure you could do that at WDW if you really set your mind to it, given all the hedges etc. they have, I think it would be more of a challenge to do that there...