A special birthday, a diamond anniversary and a west coast adventure TRIP REPORT COMPLETED IN THIS FORUM - Page 18 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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The meals that they serve on Virgin are very impressive. We only fly on United and it's almost always economy these days. Your pictures show how upscale your travel is as we barely have room to breathe in our seats, we get a beverage on a flight and we must also buy food to bring on the plane even for long flights!
I know, it was like that for us on the internal flights we took this trip - it's such a difference and it's not a good one.
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The landscape is so amazing flying to California - that's why I always want to have the window seat and my DH doesn't mind I'm really enjoying your TR Cheryl!
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Gosh how I love the window seat! But I think I love the bar more.... That is so cool!!! And afternoon tea? Wow. Oh was it - did it feel more like evening tea for you, on British time?
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What great views you got from the window! I'm usually not sitting at the window seat so I can't look out. But then again, I fly from Puerto Rico to Orlando so all there is to see is the ocean for most part of the trip.
What great views you got from the window! I'm usually not sitting at the window seat so I can't look out. But then again, I fly from Puerto Rico to Orlando so all there is to see is the ocean for most part of the trip.
Well, in fairness, when we travel to Orlando, there's usually only ocean to see for a lot of our trip too....
What great pictures you got on your flight! The picture of Windsor Castle is incredible! The pictures while crossing the U.S. really show what a diverse landscape this country has.
I've been reading along every day, just haven't had time to comment. The food on your flight is really unbelievable! And your pictures of the scenery below are beautiful!
What great pictures you got on your flight! The picture of Windsor Castle is incredible! The pictures while crossing the U.S. really show what a diverse landscape this country has.
It certainly does. From the air, it looks like several countries, all into one...
I've been reading along every day, just haven't had time to comment. The food on your flight is really unbelievable! And your pictures of the scenery below are beautiful!
Saturday 29 August – part eight: how long is the wait for immigration going to be…
Then we were flying over San Francisco, or actually to be totally correct, I think this is Oakland, from what I could work out from the map…
Soon we were flying over the bay, and we were both fascinated by this road bridge – look at the length of it!
In the distance, we could just make out the skyline of San Francisco. I’m really pleased with these shots, as they were taken on a massive zoom through the window of the guy sitting next to me, so not easy to get at all!
Then we were coming straight into land…
We got down, came off the runway, and literally sat there for five minutes, which was a bit surreal, as we were in between runways, seeing planes coming in and going out. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that before.
We then trundled around the airport perimeter, going past all the Virgin America planes, which was a bit weird, as I figured we’d be stopping there, but In hindsight, I suspect it’s because they were domestic, and we were an international flight.
On the way over, we found this wonderful plane, which I’ve heard so much about, but never seen myself!
In the end, we came to a stop next to this big beast…
It should have given us an indication of what was to come. Even though we were amongst the first 10 people off the plane, we were greeted by massive lines at immigration, because they were working their way through that Emirates flight. The line snaked round and round, and sadly there wasn’t a faster way through like they do in Orlando now for frequent travellers. Despite the look of the lines, we were actually through in half an hour, which I didn’t think was too bad. We were greeted by the most miserable guy going. Honestly, he didn’t exactly welcome you to America, shall we say…
As someone else had said to us, at least when you have a wait for immigration, it means you don’t have to wait for your luggage, and that was definitely the case. We found one bag already off the carousel, and Mark quickly rounded up the other two, then we headed out through customs, and through the massive family, who were standing around, right in the way of the line to clear customs. What is it with people?
We were sent on our way into the main part of the airport…
… and as soon as I came out, I saw a sign for the internal light rail system they have here. Now I knew that the rental car centre was on this, but I couldn’t see anything about it at all. Thankfully a woman told us I was right, and where to head for. On the way, I got some photos of this really cool display on the floor. I suspect it’s all the places you can fly to from San Francisco, although I don’t know for sure, I have to admit…
We found our way to the elevators up to the BART station, although again people were just standing around, in the way, not easy to negotiate when you have a luggage trolley. People, move and think when you’re at an airport, otherwise, trust me, you will either have an accident or cause one. Ok, off my soapbox now…
When we got up to the station, the platform was empty, as a train had just departed, but in all honesty, when the next one appeared, I think we were about the only people who got on it. It was at this point I heard back from Karen, having texted her to let her know we were through immigration and customs. It wasn’t good news. She’d been diagnosed with strep throat and was still contagious, so wouldn’t be coming to dinner tonight but at least we’d see her when we got to Disneyland, so that’s something.
There were some very cool views from the BART train as we went around the airport, and you could see the freeways beyond…
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I'm really enjoying your TR Cheryl!
That is so cool!!! And afternoon tea? Wow. Oh was it - did it feel more like evening tea for you, on British time? 
And your pictures of the scenery below are beautiful!
I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that before. 
The line snaked round and round, and sadly there wasn’t a faster way through like they do in Orlando now for frequent travellers. Despite the look of the lines, we were actually through in half an hour, which I didn’t think was too bad. 
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