Stepping into a new continent a week in Hong Kong COMPLETED - Page 12 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I was so excited about this part of your TR....the Mickey train is so cool...it really makes the whole experience start as soon as you get on the train (kind of like the DME....lol - but much niceer). I loved the fountain before the park with all the characters....like a little Disney park....
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I am so excited to see Hong Kong Disneyland!! The train was so awesome!!! I loved it. The Imagineers really did a wonderful job!!!!! I can't wait for more!
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Monday 18 February – part two: a sight I have to stop for!
We walked under the railway and the first sight was one I just had to stop for. Usually, I never wait in line for characters out in Town Square, as you know it’s going to take some time. However, the one thing I had said that I wanted to do here was to get my photo taken with Mickey and Minnie in their traditional Chinese new year costumes and what’s the first thing we see when we walked in? You got it! So we got some photos, then got in line…
We waited and waited.. while we did, we saw the Muppets touring round or should I say Beaker and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew. It’s hard to explain, as everything was in Chinese, but the technology that goes into them is a bit like Wes Palm, who you might have come across in Animal Kingdom before. They stopped every so often to interact with the audience, but any of what they said was lost on us.
As we waited, we met an American woman, who seemed to be on her own. She noticed our Disney tops and straight away asked us if we were doing the world tour of Disney. I explained that we were, but on separate trips and we wouldn’t be done until we finished with Japan next year. It turned out Hong Kong was her final stop and she was doing all the parks in one trip. She told us how amazing Tokyo Disney had been. I can’t wait to see that next year, as I’ve not heard a bad work about it from anyone.
We also saw the Chinese dragon procession to celebrate the new year, which was pretty neat.
Then finally we got to see Mickey and Minnie, but not before they had taken a three minute cheese break. They were lovely and seeing them, I totally forgot all about the long wait we had had to see them.
That done, we went and got a locker to put all our things in, as it had warmed up considerably and we had no further need for our coats. We walked up Main Street, taking photos as we went. This seems to be more of a lived in Main Street with lots of doors leading up to houses above the shops or that’s what it appeared to be anyway. It was certainly quiet as we walked up. Often we’d look around and see only a few other people in sight, a pleasant change from most times you’re in Disney. We picked a good day to visit.
We got up to the castle and went round taking photos of each of the Mickey statues that are part of the New Year celebrations. They are meant to represent each of the signs of good fortune, such as health, love and prosperity. Some were weirder than others, but we still got the whole lot:
I'm probably doing the wrong thing encouraging you, but it's actually a cheap place to get to from the UK and we didn't think it was that expensive when we got out there either. : A five night stay in the hotel we stayed in through Virgin Holidays costs between about ฃ650 and ฃ800 per person through most of the year.
That does seem do-able - . Now if the Disney Park is up to scratch I may well be completely sold!
Wow, looks like you picked a perfect day for a visit! Great weather, low crowds... Pretty cool. Also, I love how the Asian influences are visible everywhere Can't wait to see more pictures!!!
I love the photos. HK DL is definitely on the list for our heritage tour with Serenity. What is the name on the last Mickey? I can't see it behind the rope.
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: A five night stay in the hotel we stayed in through Virgin Holidays costs between about ฃ650 and ฃ800 per person through most of the year. 
. Now if the Disney Park is up to scratch I may well be completely sold!
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