Our First Christmas in the World - COMPLETED 3/26 - Page 6 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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After a rest in our room, we left to head back to Epcot about 5:30. When we arrived we decided to check out the temporary Character Spot area. Earlier in the day we’d seen a CM in the old spot directing people around to the temporary area, but later there was no one there to tell people where to go. So when we got around to the temporary area, there was literally no one in line! The CMs were begging people to come in for photos with Mickey, Minnie and Pluto!
Then we made our way to WS and stopped for a few more Holiday Storytellers. Father Christmas in UK and Helga (and the nutcracker) in Germany.
We also stopped into the American Pavilion to look around for a bit. We have never taken the time to stop and look at all the paintings and memorabilia in here. I’d read quite a bit about it in the Hidden Magic book and so a stop here was in order.
We had dinner ADRs at Via Napoli and at first we waited in a long line that was outside, but then we were told that was the line for folks who did not have reservations. Ahh that explains it! We went inside and only waited about 5 minutes for a table. Luca was our server. After much deliberation, we decided to split one individual signature pizza (The Capriocossa), and get the salad for two. I wasn’t sure if we could get the salad for two since we were only ordering one entrée, but Luca said that was allowed. The pizza was the one with eggplant, and I was expecting thin slices or chopped pieces of eggplant. Instead there were two huge slabs of eggplant. It wasn’t that appealing to me, but I just ate around the eggplant. The salad was delicious, but didn’t seem worth the $14 we paid for it.
We had tiramisu for dessert, but forgot to take a photo before we dug in!
Total bill, including 2 sodas and with the TiW discount was $49.54.
Here are some photopass pictures from the evening.
We left about 9:00 and headed for the exit. When we got back to BLT it was just about 10:15, so we went down to the beach to watch the Electrical Water Pageant. Then back to the room and bed by 11:00.
Weather today was: Cool in the am but warm and sunny in the afternoon
The best thing today was: Segway Tour
The funniest thing today was: World Showcase Players
The most magical moment today was: Meeting Mickey, Minnie and Pluto with no line at the Character Spot
Great find at Contemporary with no lines to meet the gang. Have to agree with JKNOTT about your photopass pic in front of topiary. You should remember if want GOOD pizza you have to go to NYC
The character photos are wonderful, and how great to have no line! I love World Showcase at Christmas-time. Walking from country-to-country listening to the storytellers. The costumes, scripts and presentation for all of them are great.
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You got some great photopass pictures, I especially like the one of the two of you sitting in front of the Mickey and Minnie topiaries!
It was funny because the groups in front of us were all sitting on the curb for the shot, so we decided to do the same thing. And I really like how it turned out!
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The character photos are wonderful, and how great to have no line! I love World Showcase at Christmas-time. Walking from country-to-country listening to the storytellers. The costumes, scripts and presentation for all of them are great.
Lovely pictures! We have only been once over the holidays and it was the 9th or 10th of January when we arrived so we caught the Christmas trees still up but most of the decoratio ns were either going or gone, your TR is making me excited to go before Christmas and catch it in full swing. All the storytellers in FW look great, too. It doesn't seem overly crowded in your pictures - how was it for the most part?
Lovely pictures! We have only been once over the holidays and it was the 9th or 10th of January when we arrived so we caught the Christmas trees still up but most of the decoratio ns were either going or gone, your TR is making me excited to go before Christmas and catch it in full swing. All the storytellers in FW look great, too. It doesn't seem overly crowded in your pictures - how was it for the most part?
The crowds were not bad at all. Late November/early December is a good time to see the decorations when it's not too crowded.
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then you would have loved the eggplant.
Guess where we were headed??
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