Mad as a Hatter or Fidel Goes to Disney Trip Report Complete 9/27/10 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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"Take care of the sense, and the sounds will take care of themselves."
Okay I've done the food fun down--so now the activities run down!
(Feel free to skip over this if you find itineraries "boring")
(working from a print out of The Spreadsheet)
Thursday: July 22
6am Leave for airport (note to self to prepay for parking--saves a bundle driving to the airport is much cheaper than three of us taking a cab $47 vs $36 each way)
I still have to decide if I'm going to check our bags and travel light or just do carry on, which is what I usually do. I'm thinking our room won't be ready and i might be easier to just let Disney handle the bags rather than check them with bell services.
7:55 Flight
10:40 Arrival (we lose an hour)
12 Hotel Arrival
12:40 Grocery Delivery and Lunch
1-5ish No plans yet . . . Will be checking Lines to see what the waits look like at DHS and Epcot or swimming /relaxing
5pm World Showcase Wander and first of many FABs, may try to catch Impressions of France before dinner
7:10 Dinner at Chefs de France
9pm Illuminations
10pm Evening Extra Magic Hours with plans to ride Spaceship Earth, Mission Space and Test Track before heading back through the IG to the BCV.
All of my days look somewhat similar--vague open spaces because we've been a fair number of times and don't mind skipping stuff if its busy, but some very sepcific must dos because Blake has NEVER been to WDW. (How do you get to be 18 and not have visited WDW--so sad.)
*Pause mini dance party--please play Work That by Mary J Blige if its in your music collection, and then you can dance with me while you read the rest of this-- every strong independent woman's theme song! Pause over*
Somewhat appropriately my computer chose to play We Go On next! We can see a new horizon . . .
Friday Day 2 July 23
How does entering the IG first thing in the morning work? Can you walk through World Showcase before 9am?
9am To the Land Pavilion for Soarin--ride first then FP
Try to accomplish: Living with the Land, The Seas with Nemo and Captain EO before lunch at 11:45 at Le Cellier
I really want to see OCanada if the boys will let me after lunch. This will be rewarded with more FABs . . . after that its probably:
NAP TIME/Pool Time! Yup grownups need naps too in the July heat!
Then around 5pm we'll head back through Epcot to the monorail and transfer to the resort rail and hop off at the Poly, where we'll have drinks before dinner if we're early at the Tambu Lounge then dinner at Kona.
(Boy my computer is on a kick--Take Me As I Am just came on--must be a the effect of this weekend's Essence Fest--more Mary J Blige)
We'll head over to the Magic Kingdom after dinner to catch the Main Street Electrical Parade and Summer Nightastic Fireworks followed by Evening Extra Magic Hours!
I hope to accomplish: Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Big Thunder, and Splash Mountain before calling it a night. Four rides in 3 hours isn't too much to ask is it? Is it?
If we're getting tired we may call it a night earlier--we HAVE to be up in the morning early.
Day 3 Saturday July 24 BIRTHDAY!!!
I want to be waiting at the MK bus stop no later than 7:15
8:10 Crystal Palace Reservation
9am MK opens
Aquire FP for Space Mountain
Then I hope to accomplish: Buzz Lightyear, Peter Pan, Small World, Philharmagic, Jungle Cruise and the Tiki Birds before heading back to Tomorrowland to ride Space Mountain and see the Carousel of Progress.
I'm leaving out most of the Fantasyland Attractions, I just think Brandon has been dragged on all of them except Dumbo and I don't think Blake will really appreciate most of them. I do want to take a last walk through Toon Town before Nap Time!
I have a 4 pm Massage Appointment at the Ship Shape Massage and Fitness Center. I actually need to see if I can move it to 3pm or we're not going to make our dinner reservation, which is at 5:30. We'll probably take a cab from the Beach Club to the Grand Floridian because we're going to be short on time.
From dinner at Citricos we're off to the Studios to meet Sharon and anyone else who would like to join us for a drink at the Tune in Lounge and DHS Evening Extra Magic Hours. I'm sure this will involve a drop on TOT, a visit with Aerosmith and I'm hoping to get in Star Tours and get in The Line for Toy Story Midway Madness before the closing time!
This is getting LONG . . . continued in next post!
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