The Holi-Canoli! Whirlwind Trip That Wasn't Supposed to Be - Page 21 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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OMG...I am sitting here in tears for you all. And everyone else huggin' and kissin' in the backgrounds of all your photos. And for the soldier in red and his friend... Wow!! I started crying as soon as I saw the picture of the buses. My cousin's oldest and only son is stationed at Ft. Hood since he came back from Iraq. He's 21 and signing up for another tour. Sad and proud of him at the same time.
Wow!! What a cool driving experience. All Dukes of Hazzard climbing out of the car! LOL
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My cousin's oldest and only son is stationed at Ft. Hood since he came back from Iraq. He's 21 and signing up for another tour. Sad and proud of him at the same time.
Who is he attached to? I know Ft. Hood is big, but we know a lot of people. We are thinking we want to stay here instead of move for a few reasons. 1) Our DD is about to be a Junior. We want her to have some stability for her last two years of HS. 2) My DH loves the ministry opportunities that a deployment brings. He would really like to deploy again but this time to Afghanistan. We are praying about it. Wherever we go, we'll be content. We hope they grant our request to stay here until our DD graduates.
ixies: that you are able to stay at Ft. Hood. Another great update. I can totally understand why you were distracted from your note-taking. LOL
No sooner did I mention that we'd like to stay at Hood, my DH tells me there is an opening in ALASKA! We're going to pray about it and talk it over. That could be an interesting move!
oh Laura i kept crying while reading your DH homecoming, it was so touching and moving. what a beautiful homecoming. i can't wait to read your whole TR. a move to Alaska, that would be quite a change from Texas, i mean temperature wise.
SOG is beautiful! I've always wondered what it looked like. Nice day at TL. I only enjoy the way from the outer edges of the pool as it is too strong for me and Stefanie, too.
Now Alaska would be an interesting move, for sure.
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No sooner did I mention that we'd like to stay at Hood, my DH tells me there is an opening in ALASKA! We're going to pray about it and talk it over. That could be an interesting move!
My FIL was stationed in Alaska for a couple of years when my wife was about 5. She still remembers being upset that recess was canceled because a Mama moose and a baby moose wandered onto the playground. hahaha
Glad to see you back, Laura! Michael's homecoming ceremony had me in tears. We can't argue with your excuse for being away from the boards. Glad Michael enjoyed the RPE. And TL is so much fun! The lazy river is my favorite thing (the slides, not so much ).
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
We were up bright and early for our day at DHS. We wanted to make it to rope drop and book it to TSMM for FP. Michael had never ridden it before, and we knew he would love it. We grabbed Fiber One bars, Pop Tarts and fruit for a quick breakfast, and we headed out the door.
We drove to DHS and paid the exorbitant parking fee. Geez! Anyhoo, we had the AAA Diamond Parking pass and parked very near the front gate. We breezed through security and were first in line at one of the ticket booths. We were there really early and had a while to wait so we sat and talked. It was nice simply being together. We could already tell that today was going to be a hot day. We've been this time of year before and don't ever remember it being so hot. Strange.
While we waited, I went to guest services to get a birthday button for Victoria. I asked if they had reunion buttons, but they acted like I didn't know what I was talking about. Oh well. Birthday button in hand, I rejoined my family.
The ticket booths finally let us through and we walked briskly to the rope. We told Michael where TSMM was and that was where we were headed. We gave Victoria our tickets and told her she was in charge of getting our FPs.
The opening ceremony was different than it was in September. They didn't have a family open the park and be whisked away in a car. The director was still there with his assistant. That was it, but I'm not complaining since it made the "show" shorter.
We yelled the magic words, "Hollywood, here we come!" And we were allowed to enter the park albeit as we followed the TSMM CMs.
Victoria is great! She was right behind the CM and was the first one to a FP machine. FPs in hand, we got in line for TSMM. We walked through most of the queue. Score! Then, we stopped. While we were stopped, we were told that there were some technical difficulties and they didn't know how long it would take. We decided to stick it out although others in front of us left. Fine by me! I took pictures while we waited.
We waited maybe five minutes and the line started moving again. Yay! We grabbed our 3D glasses and were escorted to our seats. Victoria rode by herself. It was fantastic! I this ride. I scored higher than Michael, but his score wasn't bad at all for a first time!
Before we entered the park today, Michael said he really wanted to see a Green Army Man. His wish was fulfilled as we left TSMM.
Since our return time to TSMM was at 9:40, we decided to hang out in the vicinity. Michael had never been to One Man's Dream, so we went there next. We took our time walking through and saw the film. It always brings tears to my eyes.
It was about time for our next trip on TSMM so we went back there and hopped in line. Our 9:40 a.m., return FPs....
I rode by myself this time and had a nice score. I, once again, did better than my family. That would not be the case in the future. My score...
We got more FPs for 11:40 a.m. We would get our fill of TSMM!
TOT was next on our list, and it was a walk on. All three of us this ride. RNRC was next up. Once again, we walked straight through and had to wait right outside the recording studio. I took a few pictures as we strolled through. I love that the ceiling looks like a record.
We were quickly escorted to our limo. Michael and I were in the front, and Victoria was behind us. She made the funniest face; I had to take a picture.
We found a PP photographer just waiting for us outside RNRC. I have to say that the whole "rocker" sign with the hands is rather foreign to me. I have to think about what I'm doing to get it right. Victoria always laughs at me. I start with the "I love you" sign and work my way to "rocker." Good grief!
We saw another photographer and snagged him, too. I took as many pictures with the PP people because I preordered the CD, and with two trips so close together, I was able to get BOTH trips on the three discs.
As we walked down Hollywood Boulevard, we came across a hilarious Streetmosphere performance. Rosie was on the loose. They were trying to create a love scene between Rosie and a man from the audience. They found the perfect man. He was a ham! She was Sleeping Beauty, and he was supposed to kiss her to get her to wake up. He did everything they asked of him, so much so I began wondering if he was planted in the audience. Hmmmmm....
He had lipstick all over him!
She then needed help getting off the ground. You could tell he didn't want to touch her anywhere...ahem...inappropriate.
It was HYSTERICAL!!! That man gave her lots of sugar! So, the "princess" awoke, and they rode off into the sunset on his trusty steed.
I'm so glad we stopped to watch it. It was definitely worth it. Victoria said I could play Rosie because I can talk they way she does. It would certainly be fun!
After the street show, we went to see Mickey at the Animation Studio.
Michael had never seen UP!, and had no idea who the characters were, but we told him he had to meet them anyway. Michael and Carl got into a deep discussion.
I was glad Dug was on hand to see.
It was time to ride TSMM again.
I rode with Victoria this time and Michael was alone. Victoria beat me, and she was ecstatic!
We were getting hungry and wanted a bite to eat. We decided to go to Toy Story Pizza Planet. It's only okay to me. As we walked that way, I saw a little fire hydrant spraying water. I told Victoria to turn around and as soon as she did, she got squirted in the butt. Ooops! Hence, the look on her face. Victoria!
We got to Pizza Planet and ordered. Victoria got a pepperoni pizza and some water. Michael and I got a pepperoni pizza and side salad to share along with a cup of water.
Like I said, PP is only okay to me. I'm not impressed with their food. But, we didn't want to eat a lot since Hoop Dee Doo was tonight!
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.