Is It Time Already?! OKW and POR, November 2013 - Page 24 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Here's my attempt at explaining the game. You get a set of cards which includes an activation key. At each station, you are sent to different locations in the area to do battle with the villains. You go to the station and hold up your activation key to start the interaction. You watch a brief "cartoon" of a villain doing something bad, and then you're prompted to use one of your cards to "battle" the villain. You pick one of the cards in your possession (I pulled my cards out to see what I have...Mowgli's Swinging Vine, Tiana's Hot Sauce, Aurora's Rose Petal, etc.), hold it up to the window, and then wait and see if your card was able to defeat the villain. Sometimes you're prompted to try a second card. After you defeat the villain, it prompts you to go to the next location. It's a bit like Agent P but using cards instead of the communicator.
I hope you're having a great time at WDW!
Thanks for explaining! I always say I'm going to try it and then by the time I get to MK blow it off! And thanks it's chilly tonight waiting on the beach for fireworks!!
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How great that Meg set that FP+ up for lunch! To me these new touches they can add, like knowing your name and knowing where you're sitting make the magic bands really MAGIC. I wasn't too happy at first about all the added technology, but am growing to like it. I hope my first experience goes as well as yours!
How great that Meg set that FP+ up for lunch! To me these new touches they can add, like knowing your name and knowing where you're sitting make the magic bands really MAGIC. I wasn't too happy at first about all the added technology, but am growing to like it. I hope my first experience goes as well as yours!
I was a bit unsure about the Magic Bands, but it worked really well for us. I think maybe we were lucky because I've been reading other TRs for trips around the same time, and many of them seemed to run into problems.
I hope everything's working ship shape by the time of your trip...which is soon!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
What a cool use of technology to bring out the food! I remember the suits of armour snoring when we left from dinner - and I loved that!
It was very impressive to see the new technology at work!
__________________
Huge Disney Fan...Always Have Been...Always Will Be!
Disneyland 60th Anniversary Celebration TR here!
2013 WDW trip here!
2011 trip to Hawaii here!
Seems you had a great time at BOG! That was great of your TA Meg to be able to set that up. The use of technology at BOG is quite fascinating!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Good to note about the magic bands. Very interesting stuff! I wonder if we'll get some, since we're not doing any kind of a package. We're booking hotel through a CM and then just doing one park day. I guess we'll see how it goes! I can't wait to try BOG! I didn't know you could do a FP time for it - that's pretty cool. Lunch looked delicious!!
Ok, I figured out when we did Enchanted Tales With Belle...it was later in this day, lol! I remembered what happened this day...because we were expecting rain and cold, I didn't want to be carrying around my DSLR around my neck, so I used my other camera, a point and shoot waterproof camera. I checked those pictures, and the Belle pictures are on there for this day!
Let's get on with the show! Before lunch at BOG, Sophia was on a mission...she really wanted to meet Gaston! We wandered around his tavern and the gift shop next door, but there was no Gaston yet. I found out from a PhotoPass photographer that he was expected back around 3:30pm. Perfect, we'll have lunch first. After lunch, we got a return time for Enchanted Tales and wandered New Fantasyland while we waited for Gaston.
Here's Evan holding our leftovers sideways. He sort of looks like the 8th Dwarf, Silly!
We checked out the Tangled bathrooms but didn't see the frying pans.
Then we walked back to Gaston's Tavern to wait. Being the "uber anal let's make sure we figure out where he will be so we can get in line and not have to wait forever" type of person, I was constantly scanning the area to see where the Meet and Greet would be. Sophia kept asking me what I was looking at, and I told her to wait and see, young grasshopper, and you will learn!
Around 3:30, I noticed some people who had been sitting in the area between the tavern and the gift shop get up and stand to the side. That had to be it! I told Sophia and Evan to quickly follow me, and as we headed over there I saw a CM walking around there. Hurry, kids!
We were the second group of people in line. Just follow me, and great things will happen!
We had fun with Gaston! He was very much in character! Evan is really nervous about meeting characters...sometimes he will walk up to them, other times he doesn't want to get close. This was one of the times he really didn't want to go up to Gaston. That just meant Sophia and I had him to ourselves!
I couldn't hear what he was saying to Sophia.
They had to show me their muscles!
Then it was my turn (I'll post PhotoPass pictures in the pictorial when I get them). Gaston said I must be excited to see him. I told him "of course" and then cracked up!
Ok, I'm going to lose my Disney street cred here...which castle is this one? I can't remember what I was taking a picture of. Beast's castle up on the hill? Prince Eric's castle?
Here's how the mine train ride was looking.
Now it was time for Enchanted Tales With Belle. We showed our DAS card and walked through the FastPass return line. There was still about a 10 minutes wait for the show to begin. Evan was getting fidgety standing there, but the line was fairly wide, so there was room for him to wiggle around.
The show was very cute. There were lots of cute kids (and adults) chosen to participate! Both my kids were shy, and neither one of them wanted to participate.
After Tales, we headed toward Tomorrowland. A few weeks before the trip, the kids watched Lilo & Stitch, and since then Sophia has been on a Stitch kick. She really wanted to go on the Stitch ride. I didn't remember it being anything all that great, but she really wanted to go...and what the heck, maybe I remembered it wrong from 2009!
I was determined to figure out the alien alphabet, so I was snapping pictures all over...until I got in trouble with the CM. Apparently he had told everyone to put away their cameras and phones, but I hadn't heard him!
Well, the ride was cute. It was a little better than I had remembered, but it probably won't be a must-do for me.
If you look through the outdoor pictures so far, you'll notice that it had gotten cloudier as the day went on. We hadn't planned on being able to spend the entire day at the parks, so we were trying to squeeze in everything we could before the threat of rain got too big!
Next up was the Tomorrowland Speedway.
Here's a blurry picture of my future speed demon!
I love the look of joy in his face!
Here's how the clouds were looking while we were on the speedway.
While we were in Tomorrowland, we HAD to go on Carousel of Progress again! I love this attraction!
By now it was getting dark, and still no rain yet! We headed to Adventureland, where Sophia really wanted to meet Peter Pan, but the line was very long. She was suddenly very into Meet and Greets! Oh, my big girl is still a kid! Hooray!!!
She asked me to please pick a bunch of Meet and Greets for tomorrow, our last park day. I was able to get on MDE on my phone and pick Mickey, Princesses, and Ariel for the next afternoon/evening. Cool!
It was dark and quite cold now, so we went to the lockers to get our stuff...all 100 pounds of it, lol! We headed to the bus stops where we got on the bus for...Port Orleans Riverside! We were headed to our new resort! I think it was about 8 by the time we arrived at our new resort.
__________________
Huge Disney Fan...Always Have Been...Always Will Be!
Disneyland 60th Anniversary Celebration TR here!
2013 WDW trip here!
2011 trip to Hawaii here!
Seems you had a great time at BOG! That was great of your TA Meg to be able to set that up. The use of technology at BOG is quite fascinating!
Isn't the technology cool? Meg was awesome! She's what a TA is supposed to be, and then some!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Principessa_di_Fata
Good to note about the magic bands. Very interesting stuff! I wonder if we'll get some, since we're not doing any kind of a package. We're booking hotel through a CM and then just doing one park day. I guess we'll see how it goes! I can't wait to try BOG! I didn't know you could do a FP time for it - that's pretty cool. Lunch looked delicious!!
Did you get a reservation number from your friends? I wonder if you can add it on to MDE. If not, you should still get bands when you get in, but they'll be gray and not personalized.
Meg can tell you better how the FP for BOG works. I'm not sure if she was part of a testing phase or if it's something everyone can do, but either way it was awesome! I seem to recall reading about people being able to do the FP online now, but I'm not positive about that.
__________________
Huge Disney Fan...Always Have Been...Always Will Be!
Disneyland 60th Anniversary Celebration TR here!
2013 WDW trip here!
2011 trip to Hawaii here!
More great times at the MK with the attractions and the photos with Gaston! He's a big boy and definitely ate his Wheaties!
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
You all do look like you had a blast on Splash! How sweet of Meg to get you the BOG FP+. All your food looks so delicious that I'm glad our supper is in the oven right now. You've made me hungry. You all managed to get in lots of fun before heading out to the new resort. You even managed to miss any rain.
More great times at the MK with the attractions and the photos with Gaston! He's a big boy and definitely ate his Wheaties!
Gaston was a hoot! I'm glad we were able to tweak or plans to see him!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
You all do look like you had a blast on Splash! How sweet of Meg to get you the BOG FP+. All your food looks so delicious that I'm glad our supper is in the oven right now. You've made me hungry. You all managed to get in lots of fun before heading out to the new resort. You even managed to miss any rain.
I wasn't expecting to experience BOG on this trip, but Meg made it happen!
We were SO lucky with the rain this trip. The only day that the rain affected us was that one day early in the trip when we got rained on in Epcot, and even on that day we made it until about 6 or 6:30 until we gave up, and that was already most of the day.
We thought we were going to lose most of this day to bad weather, but it held off!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nemo125
Just read through this whole TR! Fun fun fun! Can't wait for more!
Welcome! There's still more to come!
__________________
Huge Disney Fan...Always Have Been...Always Will Be!
Disneyland 60th Anniversary Celebration TR here!
2013 WDW trip here!
2011 trip to Hawaii here!
Meeting Gaston is so much fun! I'm glad you got to do this, even if it did mean hanging around the area for a while. The photos of Evan on the speedway are adorable. Watch out-- He enjoys driving way too much! I think carrying around the ponchos made the rain hold off for you. Can't wait to see the resort.
Meeting Gaston is so much fun! I'm glad you got to do this, even if it did mean hanging around the area for a while. The photos of Evan on the speedway are adorable. Watch out-- He enjoys driving way too much! I think carrying around the ponchos made the rain hold off for you. Can't wait to see the resort.
Quote:
Originally Posted by xwewhisper
Love gaston! And so glad the rain held off for you guys
I actually carried those ponchos on several days! One of the days as I was packing my backpack for the day, I commented on the extra weight of carrying the ponchos, and Sophia told me to just leave them in the room. I told her I had to bring them with us. If I left them in the room, it would rain. If I carried them all day, it wouldn't rain. It worked!
__________________
Huge Disney Fan...Always Have Been...Always Will Be!
Disneyland 60th Anniversary Celebration TR here!
2013 WDW trip here!
2011 trip to Hawaii here!
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it's chilly tonight waiting on the beach for fireworks!!
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I remember the suits of armour snoring when we left from dinner - and I loved that! 
Just follow me, and great things will happen! 
I can't remember what I was taking a picture of. Beast's castle up on the hill? Prince Eric's castle?
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