Four if By Land, Six if By Sea Updated 3/29 COMPLETE - Page 23 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 in NYC this weekend also!!! I was in the East Village at a show and then went to dinner with friends. Were you in the Times Square area? Sounds like you had a great time and you sure got the perfect weather for walking around the city!!! How great that you were able to meet up with Sharon too.
Our hotel was about 10 blocks up from Times Square and a couple of blocks down from the park, but we were all over the city. How fun it would have been to run into you!
I had fun with you (and your friends). Can't wait 'til next year!
Sounds like you had an interesting bus ride, there. Love Maddie telling tales of her thrill rides. And those pics of you and Maddie with Pooh and friends are too, too cute!
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
After taking tons of pictures with Pooh and the gang, we met Thom and Mary Devall at Dinosaur where Mary Devall and I waited in an almost non-existent line. I really have no idea of why I love this ride so much, but I do know that I keep a on my face the entire time. Towards the end of the ride, I noticed that we were waiting a bit longer in spots than we should have - - for instance, if this would have been real life, the asteroid or a dinosaur would have probably got us. When our truck finally pulled into the unloading zone, I noticed that all of the lights were on so something was up.
When I saw our ride photo, I simply had to have it. I was smiling away as I usual am, but Mary Devall had her hoodie up and looked like she was screaming her head off. I bought one of the smaller photos, had it shipped to our room and we were off to find Thom and Maddie.
We headed in the direction of TTS looking for Thom and Maddie, but were surprised to see it covered with temporary walls. For some reason, I didn’t remember seeing that it would be closed during our trip. We checked the stores, but when they weren’t in there I turned to my phone. They were in the very last hold out - - the Boneyard.
Mary Devall immediately ran for the dig site and jumped right in while I started answering some text messages. I heard the young male CM say in a very snippy voice “Put your shoes on” and I looked up to see Mary Devall without her flip flops on. She immediately put them on and continued digging, but was ready to go soon after that. I know that rules must be followed, but do you have to be such a twirp (that’s the word I use when I want to use another word ) about it? I tried to give him the stink eye, but he wouldn’t even look at me.
We soon found Thom and Maddie playing around the slides. While the girls slid for a while, Thom informed me that Maddie had been none too happy to find her dinosaur ride closed. She was so angry that she didn’t even want to see Pluto and Goofy when they appeared. Now that’s angry!
After finally managing to drag my family out of the Boneyard, we headed for Africa for a safari ride. On the way, we saw Baloo and King Louie and hopped in line since Maddie has a hard time passing by big furry creatures without saying hello. Since the line wasn’t moving quickly, I ran over to the safari and picked up FP’s for later.
By the time that I returned to my family, Mary Devall was in a drum contest. The CM who was in charge asked another man to pick the fastest drummer. He pointed to Mary Devall and she was absolutely thrilled. I captured these photos from the video that I took, so you can see first the rapid fire beating of drums, then the call of "stop" by the CM, followed by the look to the judge for a ruling and finally the proud pose by the fastest drummer.
Continued in next post . . .
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Sometimes words aren't needed . . .
Last edited by Jillybean; 03-12-2009 at 11:20 AM..
It was finally our turn to see Baloo and King Louie. I just love watching my girls get totally lost in those big bear hugs!
Since we still had a little time before our safari FP’s were ripe, I suggested that we backtrack and eat Y&Y CS. When I told Thom how good the chicken fried rice was, he decided to try it for himself. The girls both wanted a hamburger with French fries and applesauce.
Thom took the girls with him to find a table while I waited for our order. This was a very simple order, but as I stood at the window watching what I thought to be our order being prepared I quickly grew confused. I had never seen so many fries in my life. In addition to two orders of chicken fried rice, two hamburgers, French fries, applesauce and assorted drinks, we had two very large orders of French fries on the tray.
I couldn’t help but have a flashback to a little over a month ago when Lesley and I stood at this very window waiting on our order – this window apparently had some weird mojo going on.
I took our tray of fries to the table that Thom had found. While he doled out food to the girls, I ran a quick errand to the bar that was conveniently located right across from our table for my beloved Yak Attack. In my excitement, I announced to the bartender that I wanted a Yak and Yeti. As soon as it was out of my mouth, I realized what I had said and quickly corrected myself “Um . . . I meant a Yak Attack.” I gave him a good laugh for the day.
The day was warming up nicely, so it was so wonderful sitting out in the sun with my family, eating yummy chicken fried rice and sipping my FAB! After our break, we walked back to the safari and entered the FP line right in the middle of a gaggle of teenage girls. They were very sweet, but there were so many of them! A fun (and bouncy) safari was had by all.
Sorry you had to deal with a snotty CM. Congrats to Mary Devall for being the fastest drummer. Those pics of the girls with Baloo and King Louie are precious. And glad you enjoyed your Yak & Yeti
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
Of course MD was the fastest drummer! Her Daddy (not to mention Auntie Karen) would expect nothing less. Love the outfits on both of the girls and the adorable "bear hug" photos. Can't wait for more!
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Karen, aka Zack's Mom - Lover of all Things Disney and the San Francisco Giants!