Dreaming of a Disney spring break! THIS SECTION COMPLETED - Page 106 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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What a great private tour! Many years ago they had the Segway wheelchair on display in Innoventions (I think it was till called Communicore then). It was an amazing device--could go up and down stairs, raise the rider to a standing height to deal with high counters at banks, etc. I think there are still some people working to develop it, but it was not only very expensive, it was larger than a fully-equipped regular power chair and wouldn't fit on a lot of car lifts. What a life-changing machine it would be if it could be widely distributed.
That was in the video we watched. Sadly there wasn't enough demand for it and it's been discontinued.
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Love the pictures of the deserted Epcot--not something you see too often! How nice of your guides to stop as often as you wanted, and to take pictures of the two of you, too.
How exciting that you got to have the Segway tour all to yourselves It had to have been so much fun to be in the World Showcase with no one else around! Loved all the topiary pics too!
Wednesday 13 April – part two: the “Gary Sinise memorial wall”
Finally, we were back in Future World and headed towards Journey Into Imagination, where we went backstage. As anyone who’s gone backstage knows, the second you get behind those doors, everything changes. There’s no theming whatsoever. It’s just like any other basic place.
We pulled up outside the Soarin’ building and frighteningly, every time the ride mechanism goes up or back down, the transformer outside makes a heck of a noise. Wade told us that it’s always been like that, but I found it quite freaky. We were taken in through what we were told was the VIP entrance, with the “Gary Sinise memorial wall”. Apparently, it was painted black, but after said person face planted himself into it it was then painted blue instead to make it more obvious!
We walked through and were told by Wade, after he spoke to a Cast Member, that we should get in line and pick a row. Not surprisingly, we picked row one, but when the Cast Member came out to load us, he asked us what we were doing there. Apparently, we shouldn’t have gone there without speaking to him! Once we explained what we were doing there, he was Ok with it and on we went.
When the ride was finished, Wade met us at the exit and, once everyone had left (because as Wade said “people are like lemmings and will follow us”, we stepped out of the backstage exit and mounted our Segways again.
From there, we headed for the Land, passing some of the many thousands of flowers that they use to keep the Flower and Garden Festival looking so good. We were also told that the trees in this area can be replanted into the park, if something happens to one of the existing trees. Apparently, they did something similar when Animal Kingdom opened. They had so many for the Magic Kingdom, around the Jungle Cruise, that they just took trees from there over to the new park. The problem was that the trees were so large that they could be seen being moved from the Jungle Cruise. Apparently, one day, Wade was on the Jungle Cruise and saw a tree moving past...
We were supposed to head inside with a guide, but there was no sign of one when we turned up there. While we were waiting, Wade took us to see some of the research going on here. I never realised before, but apparently a lot of those who do research both here and in the Seas are interns, working on specific projects. I had always assumed that they were permanent Cast Members. Obviously not.
Eventually, they found someone, Sarah, and it was fascinating to learn more about the experimental work that’s going on in these greenhouses, although I would say that this element of the tour is probably only of interest if you’re into gardening, as I am. I was surprised to see violas and snapdragons in there. I never realised you could eat both of them.
We learnt about the nutrients that the plants needed, some of which I recognised, and how hydroponics work.
From there, we headed into the next greenhouse, which houses the famous tomato trees, which once had thousands of fruit, and the lettuces that you’ll no doubt have seen planted out in the famous Mickey shape or the Epcot emblem. Apparently, the next crop was due to be harvested in just an hour’s time. Very neat.
This was the greenhouse that Sarah works in and you could tell how proud she was of the work being done in here. She was a very good speaker and we learnt a lot from her. As I say, I found it absolutely fascinating.
Once done, we headed back outside and on to the Segways again, this time heading for the Seas. We got to do a little bit of off road work on the way, which was fun.
It did seem that something wasn’t working 100% about this tour, as when we got here, there was again supposed to be someone showing us around, but with no sign of them, Wade did an admirable job of filling in for them. As he said, he’s spent enough time hearing what they say, so he could explain things to us. He told us that they deliberately found fish that swim at the bottom, in the middle and at the top of the tank, so that they always look busy at every level.
He also explained about why there are now bars in place, so that the dolphins can’t swim through the whole aquarium, as apparently overnight, they would play, but that play led to dead fish, as when dolphins play, they sometimes can’t help but hurt other creatures. At least now, although the fish can still get in with the dolphins, as we witnessed for ourselves, they can escape from a nasty fate!
Again, it was all really interesting to hear about, although I felt a bit sorry for Wade that he was having to do this part of the job, as really it shouldn’t be down to him. :
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I'm really loving this tour so far! Lots of personalization and information. The bit about dolphins playing in the water is fascinating. I never would have thought that a dolphin could injure or kill another fish just by playing. They're pretty powerful, wow!
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It had to have been so much fun to be in the World Showcase with no one else around! Loved all the topiary pics too!
We were taken in through what we were told was the VIP entrance, with the “Gary Sinise memorial wall”. Apparently, it was painted black, but after said person face planted himself into it 
it was then painted blue instead to make it more obvious! 
Once we explained what we were doing there, he was Ok with it and on we went. 
: 
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