The Overtakers are in Qahoots. FIRST WILD RIDE 15SEP2011-18SEP2011 - 01DEC2011 Updated - Page 10 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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Thanks...I would have posted this morning...but I need to upload to photobucket the pics off my Iphone for the beginning of the trip report and give WH time to get his photos all together. He is by far the best photographer of the group and you will all want to see his photo captures...especially the fireworks show.
As soon as I have Cheeser's pics and video I'll get her a DVD of all the shots from the trip. The photopass shots might take a bit though as the photopass site does not have any of the halloween borders up yet. Gonna have to give them a call tomorrow and see what's up.
If I am feeling nice I might put the better shots in their own folder so Cheeser doesn't have to sort through the 1000+ or so shots I took this trip . (you get a lot of shots when you try to shoot shows and fireworks . Of course that is also the beauty of digital, with a 16gb card I can get around 3500 shots before I have to switch cards on my Canon T1i ).
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Well…we arrived safely home and now it is time to start our actual Trip Report.
Just some quick points:
-It was hot
-It was fun
-It could be painful at times
Thursday, 15 September 2011
5:40AM Well that alarm clock sure seemed to go off awfully early in the morning. I’m always exhausted…because usually the excitement has made me wakeup randomly throughout the night and check the time. This time it was no different. So…we laid in bed for about 5 minutes…just trying to wake ourselves up and stretch a little bit.
Finally we rolled out of bed…and I headed to the shower. I quickly got ready and DH aka Dew…was getting ready right behind me. We quickly showered and got our last toiletries packed…to make room for our dog/house sitter to have time to get ready to leave for work also.
Before we knew it…we were saying goodbye to our pups and heading out the door. Now I should point out…I plan everything down to the minute…I kept telling myself…you are forgetting something…you are forgetting something. But I’d brush off the anxiety as all overplanners/people with slight OCD tendencies will tend to overreact and overstress the process. I couldn’t have forgotten anything important right???
Now a 5 minute car-ride to pick up our fellow travellers.
So…we pull up in front of Wolfhunt(WH)/Puzzlewoman(PW)’s house and text them that we are outside and ready. Pretty soon they come out the door and DH helps WH pack the luggage into the back of the van. Next stop…another 7 minute car ride to our airport driver’s house to pick her up.
We arrive quickly and my Best Friend…is locking her door and hopping into the front seat of the van to ride with us to the airport. She is going to drive the van back to her house and keep it for our vacation at her house and then pick us up on Sunday night at the airport. One friend to dog/house sit…another is the delivery driver…I am one lucky girl!!!
So…then commences the long 40 minute drive to the airport…and it seems forever long as we pass lots of construction heading the other direction and the car is kind of quiet…as it is so early…just after 7am on Thursday morning.
I try to engage a little conversation…but it quicky becomes evident…that we are all feeling a little bit of grumpy early morning bug. Don’t get me wrong…the 4 of us were excited about getting to leave for Disney…but still…it just felt so early…and it was cold…like 50 degrees in Cincinnati. We were all wearing shortsleeve shirts and prepped for Florida weather…but had to make it through the early morning cold and frost in Cincinnati before we could land in Orlando.
Fortunately traffic wasn’t bad yet…and we were quickly pulling up in front of the airport.
So…we hall our bags in…we check our luggage in at the desk. WH printed boarding passes for the 3 of us and he had his on his Iphone. WH had put our airline tickets on his delta charge…so we were lucky to each get a free bag checked. That saves us 50 bucks a piece…which makes all of us happy
Wolfhunt
Then we slowly head downstairs and through security. WH tries out his cool Delta phone app and security tells him that they prefer those electronic barcodes to the paper that they have to review. Now…here is the funny part. WH gets waved through…but PW, DH, and I all have to get body scanned.
Now…I’m not saying they are profiling…but it’s awfully funny…that the really skinny guy gets waved through…but the rest of us…have to get body scanned. It seems that profiling now…at the airport…might have to do with SIZE people…they think the fact that I’m fat…means I’m probably hiding something like an AK47 in my fat roll…seriously. My clothes nor my skin could contain any extras…WH has room to grow, I don’t!!! But…we kind of laugh it off…and then board our first monorail ride…to Terminal 3.
We quickly get to the terminal and head right to Max and Erma’s for breakfast. It looks like we have plenty of time. We sit down and have a nice breakfast..all of us have made it safely through security…and now we seem to have awakened also…so we start chatting and cutting up as usual.
Before you know it…it is time to head to the gate…so we all pay for our breakfasts and head out the long terminal to the gate. We get about half way there and realize…they’ve switched our gate…and we have to head back to almost Max and Erma’s to get to the gate.
We quickly scout out some great seats at the gate…the plane hasn’t arrived yet. Now this is where the fun of the trip really starts to commence. You can feel the excitement in the terminal. You see lots of kids starting to drive their parents crazy…and all the people with Disney shirts or gear on and you know…that the majority of people boarding that flight for Orlando are just the same as you and going on vacation. Our crew spends this time to play with our Frogs, Tiny Towers and update Facebook statuses...what can I say...we are all Iphone 4 junkies.
The plane finally arrives and we watch the passengers de-board and the excitement starts to build. People start bouncing around in their seat. They start putting their books or electronics away. You can hear throughout the airport, “Don’t forget to turn off your cellphones!!!” or “Who needs their last potty break”.
It seems like forever…before they start boarding the 1st Class Passengers and Sky Priority club members. Then here it comes, Zone 1….fortunately for us…we get up in line and head onto the plane. Wolfhunt on that Delta charge card again.
So we board…and before you know it we are taxi-ing down the runway and lifting off into that bright blue sky!!!
Up next….what could Cheeser have forgotten???and is it important???
So looking forward to reading this! I love your style of writing and this trip should be very interesting. It sounds like the four of you really know how to enjoy life.
So looking forward to reading this! I love your style of writing and this trip should be very interesting. It sounds like the four of you really know how to enjoy life.
Thanks! We sure seem to...wait until you see all the stuff we squeezed into such a little time. Kind of like me squeezing into the plane seat.
The scanning wasn't so bad...but she even inspected my watch.
Great Start! I had to go through the scanner too this summer. That wasn't the bad part, except that no one told me what I was suppose to do. Then when it was done I started walking away and the TSA agent hauled me back, just to look at my watch!