For the plans they are a changin’ TR - Page 9 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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We checked in for Moonlight Magic in the resort lobby before going to the bus stop. We used the umbrella as we walked along because it was still raining quite hard. There was a large group of people waiting for a bus to DHS, so we assumed it had been a while since the last bus. The board showing arrival times, was blank under DHS, so we had no idea when the next bus would come. Finally a time came up, but it kept changing, adding on a minute or two. Meanwhile, the rain had slowed and eventually stopped so that was one positive thing!
Finally, since we had dinner reservations, we decided that Plan B was in order. We checked the Lyft app and found that a driver was only 2 minutes away, and the fare was under $9. Sold! This was our 3rd change and quite spontaneous, but worth it! We made our way to Kidani entrance for our pick up, and ran into another couple with two little ones who had just called for a Mears van to get them to DHS. It pulled up and they invited us to join them, but we declined, saying we had a ride coming.
Our Lyft driver, Justin, pulled up a minute later and we hopped in. We assumed he drove people around Disney all the time, but he said : he was from Daytona and just in town for the evening because he brought his son to a concert. He figured while he was there, he’d pick up a few fares. He was very pleasant and talkative. Though he wasn’t exactly sure where he was going so he relied on GPS to get around, which wasn’t as accurate as it could have been because of all the construction in the DHS parking lot. He pulled in the parking lot by mistake, and then eventually got us to the bus drop off area. I knew he wasn’t supposed to be there, but we didn’t care – we thanked him for the ride, gave him a tip and hopped out!
There was a big crowd at bag check, but it didn’t take too long. When we got into the park we got a map for the Moonlight Magic events and headed to Hollywood Brown Derby for dinner. We checked in and then went to use the restroom. Then I changed into my flip flops.
We were seated right at 7:30 in a great booth! Our server was Raoul, an older gentleman who was very polite and attentive. Jeff ordered a left-handed stout and I ordered a white sangria. Pictures courtesy of my phone.
As we were making a toast Jeff said “To better days!” and I just burst out laughing! Yes, I had been in a crabby mood for much of the day. And, bless him, Jeff put up with me, knowing it’s best to just stay quiet. Yes, hopefully better days are ahead.
While we waited for out meal we browsed the events for the evening and decided on our plan of action. These were the event highlights:
Complimentary food and beverage – a voucher for a CS meal, which of course we didn’t use because of our HBD dinner.
Complimentary ice cream novelties - Mickey Bars!! We will definitely take advantage of this.
Meet DVC executives – probably not
Batty Bash Dance Party – DJ Steve and some special Disney friends – Nope.
Disney Movie Magic 9:30, 10:30, and 11:30 at Center Stage – Relive your favorite moments in cinema with projections that feature the magic of Disney. This sounds like it’s worth doing.
Fantasmic – Special showing at 10:30 - Sure!
Characters – Seventh Sister, Bolt, Sweetums, Buzz and Jessie, Chewy and Rey, Darth Vader, Captain Phasma and BB-8. We decided to try and hit some of these.
Attractions – not a priority
Back to dinner… Jeff chose the appetizer portion of the Cobb salad and added chicken. I got the pork chop. Both were delicious! And just the right amount of food.
Dinner was very relaxing and a good start for the night.
After dinner we headed outside just in time to see the Star Wars fireworks show! The entrance under the awning was a perfect viewing spot. It was out of the way, but we were still able to see much of the show.
Then we made our way to Star Wars Launch Bay for some character meets. They were to start at 9:00 and it was about 8:50. The line seemed long, but the CM said, once it starts moving (at 9:00) it will go fast, so we hopped in line. The back story here is that neither of us are big Star Wars fans. Yes, we’ve seen most of the movies, but I can’t keep track of all the characters. So, here we are in line for Chewy and Rey. And I whisper to Jeff, “Is Rey a good guy or a bad guy?” He of course has no clue. And I’m trying not to talk too loud because everyone else in line is probably a major fan and I don’t want to appear too stupid! Apparently, I had Rey confused with Kylo Ren, who I knew was a bad guy! Anyway, I end up texting DS at home to say we’re in line to see Chewy and Rey…who is that? Bad guy or good guy? He responds. Rey is a girl and she’s good. I could almost see his eyeroll in the text! Ok, now we got it.
Next up was Darth Vader…yeah, I know who he is!
And then BB-8
Then it was almost 9:30, so we headed to the Center Stage area, in front of the Chinese Theater to see the projection show. By the way, we had seen them pulling the stage away from that area before dinner. Now we knew why. We were right up front for the show which was about 10 minutes long and a montage of Disney films. There were only a handful of people watching, so quite nice.
We took a walk back to TSL after the show and realized that this is where everyone was! The wait for SDD was 55 minutes. We were glad to have had our chance in TSL this morning, because it was a lot more crowded for the DVC event. So we headed back to the Center Stage area.
We found one of the spots where they were handing out the ice cream treats, so we got in line for a Mickey Bar. Then we found a bench where we could sit and eat it. The ice cream was pretty soft and even at 10:00PM, it was still very warm out, so we had to eat it quickly.
Then we walked down Sunset Blvd toward Fantasmic. We had to watch where we were walking because along the path up to the amphitheater there were several gushy Mickey bars on the pavement.
We don’t usually make a point to see Fantasmic, but since it was offered as part of the events this night, we decided to do it. It was very cool because only 2½ sections of the amphitheater were full. It was crazy to see the place so empty!
After Fantasmic we made our way to the buses. It was a LONG walk! And by the time we got back to AKL it was midnight. A long day for sure!
The weather today was – Hot, humid with a rainstorm in the afternoon
The best thing today was – Passholder’s Playtime this morning
The worst thing was – waiting for the DHS bus
The funniest thing today was – CM at Soarin’ who could not remember how many people were in the line.
Today we tried – Lyft
And the result was – a good experience
The most magical moment today was – Seeing Toy Story Land for the first time
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Thank goodness the evening was better, once you were able to get a Lyft over to the Studios anyway. Sounds like the Disney bus service were screwed up that night!
Thank goodness the evening was better, once you were able to get a Lyft over to the Studios anyway. Sounds like the Disney bus service were screwed up that night!
Most of the time we are happy with the bus service, but everyone once in an while...
Yes, the evening was definitely better!
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You are too funny, Donna! I cant believe you didn't know who Rey was!! Iam so glad your son was able to save you!! Did you go up to her and say, "Rey! I've always wanted to meet you!!"
Your pictures with the Star Wars characters are delightful!! Your dinner looked delicious and I am so glad you had a nice evening!!
You are too funny, Donna! I cant believe you didn't know who Rey was!! Iam so glad your son was able to save you!! Did you go up to her and say, "Rey! I've always wanted to meet you!!"
Your pictures with the Star Wars characters are delightful!! Your dinner looked delicious and I am so glad you had a nice evening!!
I know, silly me! Part of the problem is that I really don’t pay attention to people's names when I watch movies. So, yeah, I was glad Tom was able to help us out!
It was a new experience for us to meet the Star Wars characters. I have to say Darth Vader was pretty creepy...pointing his finger at us and telling us we should come to the dark side!
Good time for the evening event at Studios. Your meal looked very good at HBD. I've dined there several times and always enjoyed it. Service can be slow at times. Glad you got to do a lot of good stuff. Good thinking taking advantage of Lyft and a pretty good rate.
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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!
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: he was from Daytona and just in town for the evening because he brought his son to a concert. He figured while he was there, he’d pick up a few fares. He was very pleasant and talkative. Though he wasn’t exactly sure where he was going so he relied on GPS to get around, which wasn’t as accurate as it could have been because of all the construction in the DHS parking lot. He pulled in the parking lot by mistake, and then eventually got us to the bus drop off area. I knew he wasn’t supposed to be there, but we didn’t care – we thanked him for the ride, gave him a tip and hopped out! 
Yes, I had been in a crabby mood for much of the day. And, bless him, Jeff put up with me, knowing it’s best to just stay quiet. Yes, hopefully better days are ahead. 
Apparently, I had Rey confused with Kylo Ren, who I knew was a bad guy! Anyway, I end up texting DS at home to say we’re in line to see Chewy and Rey…who is that? Bad guy or good guy? He responds. Rey is a girl and she’s good. I could almost see his eyeroll in the text! 
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I cant believe you didn't know who Rey was!! Iam so glad your son was able to save you!! Did you go up to her and say, "Rey! I've always wanted to meet you!!" 
Your dinner looked delicious and I am so glad you had a nice evening!! 
So, yeah, I was glad Tom was able to help us out! 
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I've dined there several times and always enjoyed it. Service can be slow at times. Glad you got to do a lot of good stuff. Good thinking taking advantage of Lyft and a pretty good rate.
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