The Surviving Deployment Trip Report, Updated 10/18 COMPLETE!! - Page 38 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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'm catching up with your TR little by little! MNSSHP is going to be so much fun. Victoria's sketchbook is amazing! I too want to meet Jane and I'd be even more excited if Tarzan were there, too.
I just read through all the latest updates Im so sorry you got so sick but glad to hear you were able to brave the parks the next day! I made the mistake of watching the video with pinnochio at work and started giggling like crazy my manager thinks im nuts now! But I loved that video it got me even more excited for our trip, Im going to show it to my DH tonight! Thanks for sharring your wonderful trip with us I have loved reading all about it and cant wait to hear the rest plus all about the next one with your DH.
Hee hee! I'm glad you enjoyed the video. The characters can be so much fun. I hope you have many wonderful experiences with them.
Wow you've been going full steam ahead with the updates! They've been great, you've gotten some wonderful pictures. Sorry you had to stay in bed one day, at least you knew you'd be back soon. Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip!
So sorry you were sick, Laura. But it's still better than being sick at home. Glad you weren't out of action for long. You kept saying things that Jennifer had never done and the more you said it, the more I was like "what has she done?" Glad y'all had fun together. Sorry your experience at CRT wasn't great. I still haven't eaten there, and with reviews like yours, I won't be rushing to it!
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You kept saying things that Jennifer had never done and the more you said it, the more I was like "what has she done?" Glad y'all had fun together. Sorry your experience at CRT wasn't great. I still haven't eaten there, and with reviews like yours, I won't be rushing to it!
I wondered the same thing! She wasn't kidding when she said she never went. If I lived that close, I would have an annual pass and be there all the time!!!
CRT was meh. I wouldn't rush there. There are too many other wonderful places to eat.
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We slept in. That NEVER happens on Disney trips. But, being sick, I needed my rest. I may look happy and well in my pictures, but I was not well. The congestion in my chest made it really difficult for me to sleep and then walking around in the heat was brutal. It was scorching outside while we were there. Yuck!
Anyway, I'm not sure what time we got up. I don't even know what we did for breakfast. But, I do know that DHS was to be our first stop. We wanted to see some characters. I've always been the one who loves the characters so the fact that Victoria was into it was fantastic in my book. Oh yeah, we decided to don our tiaras today. (I bought these for $2.50 a piece at Claire's.)
We waited in the scorching sun for a bus. Geez it was hot! We got on the bus, and no sooner did it pull away from the curb, I realized we had left Michael in the room. How sad. We decided to go on to DHS and stop back by Pop when we were through there. It wouldn't be the same without Michael.
So, we got to DHS. The return time for FPs for TSMM were too late for us. We had ADRs at Le Cellier! Anyway, we headed straight for the Animation building. We saw the UP! characters the other day, but Dug wasn't with them, and we only had PP pictures taken. So, we wanted to see Dug. He was so mischievous! I had put my backpack on the floor next to the railing. While Victoria and I were talking to Carl and Russell, Dug went into my backpack and brought my bandaids to me. So, if you have any sort of bag, watch it or Dug will get into it!
They were so precious and so sweet. Russell was a perfect little gentleman. He kissed our hands and escorted each of us to the exit when we were done. Nice little boy!
We then got in line to see Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl. Victoria commented on Elastigirl's groovy hair, and she seemed pleased by the compliment.
Mr. Incredible had been stamping his autograph in everyone's book, but when he saw the drawing Victoria did, he asked for her pen so he could sign his name. I thought that was very cool!
That's all we did in here. We decided to head on over to Epcot. On the way out, we ran into some streetmosphere characters. This one was filming a scene with three men from the crowd.
We left them to their filming and got a PP photographer to take our picture.
Then we ran into Minerva Lipwhistle. If you ever get the chance to meet this lady, please do. She was a hoot. She reminded me very much of Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard. Victoria asked her to sign her book and then she would draw a picture of her. Well, Ms. Minerva couldn't believe that Victoria would sketch her picture! She said that Victoria must come back and show her! She wanted to make sure her signature was perfect and would start to sign then stop and start again and stop. It was hilarious.
Ms. Minerva finally signed her name....on Victoria's hand.
Then, she signed her name on the page. She was a hoot!
She asked what kind of pose Victoria wanted to make, and Victoria said a diva pose. So, Ms. Minerva pulled out a Chinese fan and they struck a pose.
What fun!
We got on a bus back to Pop. Victoria ran to the room to grab Michael, and I got in the line for the Epcot bus in the hot sun. We had to wait at least 20 minutes for a bus, and it was blazing hot.
A bus pulled up to go to DHS. Normally, I don't think anything about the buses or the people getting on. However, this bus was here for a very long time, and it was all due to one person. A man was trying to close his child's stroller. He tried this way, and he tried that way. He tried and tried and tried. It became quite comical. Another bus pulled up to DHS, loaded, and left, and the man was still trying to close the stroller. The bus driver got off to help. Other people got off the bus to help. It was HILARIOUS!!! I should have videoed it. It was really that funny. After the people started getting off the bus to help, I snapped a couple of pictures. I knew I wanted to remember this moment.
I guess they finally got it closed. I don't know. I got on my bus and left.
Great pictures! Those Streetmosphere shows are the best, aren't they? So many people just pass them by. They are a hoot, though. You sure do put up a good front!!!
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Betty Sue
Affiliated with CruisingCo.Com/MouseEarVacations.com
Disney Destination Specialist/ BettySueS@cruisingco.com August '09 Trip
I'v just read your report form the beginning. It is amazing. I was flipping through to show my dd14 your Victoria's sketches...she was floored. She has such talent. Sorry you didn't feel well. Glad u had an awesome time!!!