PassPorters playing together at Hallowe’en! THREAD 6 UPDATED 1/22 - Page 10 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Friday 10 November – part three: not a good place for nervous flyers! :
Once through there, we had to brave that darned transit system again. Well I had learnt my lesson and sat down this time and it’s just as well I did, as the stops were just as vicious.
Terminal E, where our gate was, is a weird place. At first glance, you think it’s just for international departures and then you look at the departure board and realise that there are also lots of internal flights leaving from there too. I guess that’s why the duty free shop is set up in such a weird way. You have to show your boarding pass to enter, which I’ve never known before. Mind you, it’s also quite small and it’s very overpriced. Needless to say we didn’t buy anything and left there very quickly.
We quickly “left” the US, using one of the kiosks that all foreigners now have to use (Canadians are excluded from this, I believe) at certain airports in the States (not Orlando or Sanford…. yet!) We first came across it at San Francisco in April, but it’s still not a system that’s well advertised. You should’ve seen how many people on our flight had to go and do it just before we departed, when they were reminding everyone about. Never mind reminding everyone about the system, they need to advertise it more at the airport!
We browsed the shops, but there really wasn’t that much there and we weren’t going to fight with the transit system again to get to any other terminals to explore those, so we just went to our gate and waited there for a couple of hours. It wasn’t such a bad decision, as I was able to get some cool shots of the Atlanta skyline that later disappeared when our flight came in and blocked the view.
The Atlanta skyline All ready to go! Air traffic control Our plane coming in And a beautiful sunset
Soon we were boarding and we took off on time. It’s a scary sensation, taking off from Atlanta, as it’s so busy. You can see planes all around you. I doubt it would be very good for nervous flyers. I saw one come in just before we went on to the runway and then there was another one that looked like a close call too. It was dark by the time we took off, so I got some cool night-time shots and then we waited for drinks and dinner to be served.
Again, my food came out first and again, it was good, a pasta based cheese and vegetable dish and this time we both had the same dessert, so no issues there with me having already eaten mine and then Mark discovering that his was cream based, so he couldn’t have it. I have to say though that we could both have done with something else, the dessert was pretty disgusting.
We both ended up watching the Inside Man, with Denzel Washington, which was an excellent film, although it did mean that I stayed awake for longer than I had planned, but I was really riveted to it.
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I managed to get something like three and a half hours sleep, before they put the lights up and served breakfast. I’ve had more sleep on flights before, but that’s not too bad.
It was a pretty turbulent flight from about two hours in, pretty much most of the way home. Fortunately I didn’t feel it as much while I was sleeping, which was something. One day we’ll have a smooth flight again!
The flight was also very hot and it has to be the first time that I’ve not had to wear a sweatshirt or use a blanket while sleeping. Usually planes are freezing, but not this one. Having said that, the woman who was sitting next to us (it was a full flight) was on her first ever international flight and was travelling alone. She was on her way to somewhere in Africa I seem to recall and connecting through Heathrow – not bad for your first ever international flight! : She was wearing about three or four layers and that include thermals, so obviously she didn’t agree with my assessment of the temperature on board!
I didn’t manage to get many photos on the way in, as the cloud cover was so low, something like 2,000 feet. Trust us to come back home to a damp and dreary London. Still, as Mark said, it could be worse – we have come home to snow before now!
Starting to see the sunrise
The view we got most of the way in
The landing wasn’t exactly smooth, but then it’s been a long time since we’ve said that about any flight we’ve taken and then the worst bit was having to sit and wait for our stand, because apparently there was another aircraft on it. Good grief, it’s hardly as if we were early, they should’ve been expecting us!
Finally, we got to a gate and quickly cleared passport control and then it was on to baggage claim to get our cases. Wouldn’t you know it, our cases were all in the second batch out, so we had a fair wait, but despite that, we were getting a taxi to the hotel, where we had left the car, by about 8.00. It only cost us £12, which I thought was really reasonable, considering that to have caught the bus back would’ve cost the two of us £5. As we were driving back from the hotel, we saw the bus, so this was a much quicker way to do things.
Car checked over and all fine we drove home and were back by 9.15. I was able to arrange an appointment to see my optician to see how m eye was doing and then it was on to do trip report work, which really brings us back to where this all started. :grin:
I'm glad you were able to get the extra suitcase for $40! It seemed like a long travel day for both of you. It always feels good to be back home but you certainly had a magical trip! I really enjoyed reading all of it. Thanks for taking the time to write it Cheryl.
We quickly “left” the US, using one of the kiosks that all foreigners now have to use (Canadians are excluded from this, I believe) at certain airports in the States (not Orlando or Sanford…. yet!) We first came across it at San Francisco in April, but it’s still not a system that’s well advertised. You should’ve seen how many people on our flight had to go and do it just before we departed, when they were reminding everyone about. Never mind reminding everyone about the system, they need to advertise it more at the airport!
I've not heard of these kiosks for international travel. What are they? Would you explain?
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LisaJ
I've stayed at: Grand Floridian, Polynesian, Contemporary, Wilderness Lodge, Boardwalk Inn, Beach Club, Yacht Club and Port Orleans Riverside.
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Sorry the flight was uncomfortable 
At least lunch was good! Doesn't sound like a good update coming up 
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Still, as Mark said, it could be worse – we have come home to snow before now! 
we drove home and were back by 9.15. I was able to arrange an appointment to see my optician to see how m eye was doing and then it was on to do trip report work, which really brings us back to where this all started. :grin: 
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