Dreaming of a Disney spring break! THIS SECTION COMPLETED - Page 71 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Wow! Sorry it took so long for you guys to be seated . . . hmm doesn't that repeat itself later in the day? It looks like the character interaction was great! I do have a question: did they charge you for lunch or breakfast as you had the chance to sample both?
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So glad you had a chance to spend a little time with your donkey! You got so many great pictures with the characters...it looks like you all had a great time (apart from Mark with Piglet...I thought it looked like he was biting his tongue. His level of restraint is impressive!)
In fairness, he is very good at restraining himself with the characters, especially when children are around...
Wow! Sorry it took so long for you guys to be seated . . . hmm doesn't that repeat itself later in the day? It looks like the character interaction was great! I do have a question: did they charge you for lunch or breakfast as you had the chance to sample both?
Yes, it did.
I must admit I didn't double check the charge, but I'm pretty sure it was breakfast, as it goes on when you're seated.
When we headed outside, the heat hit us again and we instantly thought about where we could go that was cold and inside. I knew Wendy hadn’t seen her beloved Country Bears yet, so we headed that way and in we went.
There was a bit of a wait, so I took some photos to pass the time...
Can you get all of them smiling at the same time? Of course not!
This show was a lot of fun, and to be honest, not exactly as I remembered it. I don’t think we’ve seen this in a few years, so they probably have changed it.
We were so relieved that Ciaran made it through OK, so he’d done very few attractions to date, as he’s got a thing about the dark. Sadly, Sean and Sharon took him on the Jungle Cruise, figuring that would be OK and of course, there’s a tunnel in there, so since then, he doesn’t believe them when they say it’s not dark. He seemed to enjoy it well enough.
However, when we got outside and we were all talking about going on Splash Mountain, the fear on his face was immediate. We quickly told him that it was fine, he wouldn’t have to go on it, but we would. We said goodbye to him and Sean and Sharon, who we’d be seeing later for dinner at Chef Mickey’s and off we went, picking up two stragglers on the way, Bob and Larry, who arrived just as we came out of the show.
My goodness, was I once again glad of the Guest Assistance Card. The wait was over an hour and people looked thoroughly miserable, waiting in line. It was lovely to be able to walk straight through, as there is just no way that I could physically have waited that long.
Wendy decided that she wanted to ride with me, which was fine, so long as we weren’t in the front. Michael immediately said he’d go in the front, but I was smart enough to ensure that we had adults in front of us to deal with any water coming over the front. Off we went, although we had to wave goodbye to Larry and Mark, who couldn’t fit in our log.
I really lucked out, just getting nicely wet – enough to take the edge off the temperatures, but not getting soaked. I think Wendy and I chatted almost the whole way round, except for the final drop. I did try to keep my eyes open for that final drop, but couldn’t quite do it. Mark did try to get guerrilla shots of the ride photos, but sadly neither came out.
After a quick bathroom break, we headed for Adventureland. My goodness, it was fun getting out of the Splash Mountain area. Disney really needs to think about introducing an entrance and exit into this part of the park to ease traffic, as it was pretty insane.
Our next stop was Pirates of the Caribbean and this proved to be interesting. We showed our Guest Assistance Card and were told to go around the corner and wait by the brown gate. We weren’t sure if we were in the right place, but were assured that we were. To pass the time, we took some photos.
I have to explain this one. Mark, who was taking the photo, told us to “face the wall”, so we did as we were told!
The guys together
Just after we took the last of the photos, a Cast Member came to open the brown gate and we were escorted through. As well as the ten of us, there were probably another 10 or 15 people coming through. We got taken through a backstage area and then entered through a door into the queue area. My goodness, it’s just as well there were no stairs in front of us, as we were all blind, going into total darkness from the sunshine outside.
We boarded almost immediately, but this has to be one of the most disappointing rides we’ve ever had. No Davy Jones effect and there were some very dark sections, where things were missing. All in all, it felt like the attraction was in a bit of a sorry state today and you certainly didn’t get the full effect of it. First timers probably wouldn’t notice anything, but trust me, if you know this ride, they’re definitely obvious things.
Isn’t this a cool shirt?
Next: I think we’re the only English speakers on this!
Oh those are classic rides! I love the Country Bears too and Pirates is one of my favorites--I'm so sorry that some of the effects were down for your ride!
I wonder what's going on with Pirates. Hope it was somehow a temporary situation. I agree that they really need to redesign the area around Splash Mountain. Even on slow days, it's just a mess. I love all the pics of your group. "Face the Wall"!
me some Bears!!! You got some great photos in there and I'm glad I went all the way down to the front like I did. It hasn't changed at all, except I think they put in a better sound system. The script itself is the same as it was in 1980. My all time favorite at Walt Disney World. I actually had the 33 when I was growing up and now I have the CD and in my iTunes.
We were only charged for breakfast at Crystal Palace.
Sounds like a fun time on all the attractions! Sorry to hear Pirates didn't have all their special effects going on though - it really adds something special to that ride! Love all the pictures
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His level of restraint is impressive!)
Off we went, although we had to wave goodbye to Larry and Mark, who couldn’t fit in our log. 
My all time favorite at Walt Disney World. I actually had the 33 when I was growing up and now I have the CD and in my iTunes. 
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