Don't Stop - part one of Disney trip COMPLETED - Page 25 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Just got caught up with your TR! I loved all your pics Cheryl The GF tea looked so lovely but it's too bad that it was so cold in the restaurant! That can really put a damper on the ambiance. Sorry about the rude guest that Mark encountered in Guest Services. It always amazes me that people can be in a bad mood or rude while vacationing in the happiest place on earth! I really loved the borders that you put around some of your photopass pics! Can't wait for more.
Great updates. It was great to do the tea with everyone! I had my first experience with the tea in Sept when DD and I had our first Mother/Daughter trip. When the meet was announced I was all for it. So glad DH loved it too!
Love your PP pics, waiting on my CD to arrive. It was fun putting the holiday borders on them.
Thanks so much for posting those Photopass pics, Cheryl! They are beautiful, with all the holiday decorations in the background and those pretty borders on the photos
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Friday 11 December – part seven: candy time at the tip board!
We headed off next to see Tweedledum and Tweedledee, as Mark hadn’t seen them out for years. The Cast Member there with them confirmed that they don’t usually come out anymore during the day, which is a shame. They were a special for the party. Mark had fun with them and, as you can see, they loved his hat!
We had heard that the Queen of Hearts would be next out, so Mark hopped straight back in line and was about the third person to see her. She didn’t have a very fun attitude, which was a shame, although Mark did try with her.
The Cast Member there also told me that it was worth going to Toontown to see the princesses, as tonight they had their princes with them, so off we went, expecting a huge line, but we were told it would be about a 10 minute wait, 15 minutes at the most and she was right.
Inside was Princess Aurora and Prince Philip, who looked like fetching in his leggings and Cinderella and Prince Charming. Prince Philip seemed very taken with Mark’s Grumpy top and Mark was actually lose for words after Prince Philip told him that he was an optimistic type of person and didn’t get being Grumpy....
I got a couple of shots in the shop on the way out:
We came out of there and were planning to head back towards Main Street to do some shopping, but I said Minnie outside her house, greeting people and she was in her Christmas finery and looked beautiful, so I had to go and see her. As we stood there, waiting for her, it started to rain. At first, it was jut a few drops, then it got heavier. That was important, as that meant that I wouldn’t be watching the second parade after the fireworks, as to do that, I would need to sit down for it, as there was no way I could stand for it. Of course, if everything was wet, I couldn’t sit down.
Minnie was just as beautiful as I had hoped and I’m so glad that we waited to see her.
We got the coats out when we came out of seeing her, as the rain was fairly heavy by now and the sidewalks were all soaked. I have to say it was also quite a cool night and walking around in winter coats did not feel out of place, as it was probably in the low 50s tonight.
We were again going to Main Street, although we knew it would be a zoo, with the first parade on. As we walked along, Mark asked if I was hungry and I was, so we stopped off at Cosmic Ray’s. We have always enjoyed the food from this place, but not tonight. We both said that respective burgers, veggie for me and meat for Mark, just weren’t as good as previously, which was a real shame. It’s not a place I would now rush back to again, based on our experience there tonight.
Cosmic Ray’s
Food 6 5
Atmosphere 7 7½
Value for money 7½ 5
Average score: 6.33
When we came out of there, it was almost time for the Wishes meet, so we headed that way, getting a beautiful view of the castle on the way:
We headed for the tip board and there was already a big group of PassPorters that just continued to grow over the next few minutes. It ended up being a really nice sized group of us, allowing us all to talk to most people. We were especially happy to see Joan, as we hadn’t seen her for four long years. Hopefully it won’t be that long next time... :
Not sure why Mark’s got this look on his face... Don’t Barb and Bob make a great couple? [IMG]http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t320/chezp/2009%20America%20trip%20day%202/DSC0 1988.jpg[/IMG] With Lorie Yes, that is another hat! Handing out British candy With Jennifer The mad trio on a quiet moment between riding everything in the Magic Kingdom With Lesley Lesley, Jennifer and Don Karen poses happily with Mark and his candy.... ... and here she is desperately begging for some! With Joan After handing out candy to these guys, Mark became their best friend! Do you think she’s enjoying it?
What an awesome idea to bring along British candy for everyone!!! You guys are the best! Love all the character pics, especially the ones with Minnie - she looks so cute in her holiday outfit.
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Wonderful times at MVMCP! Your pictures are fabulous as always. I love the ones of you all with Minnie. That is so neat that the princes are included for the party. Stefanie would love that.