Four Days Off Christmas Edition Complete 1/13/11 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Thanks for reading everyone! I'm actually really enjoying writing this one! For those of you who were impressed with how much I got done: an interesting fact: the average family only sees 9 attractions in the Magic Kingdom on a regular touring day. Nine out of more than 50! At about 11 am I had done 6 attractions and 3 character meet and greets. I was on a roll!
After my meeting with my New Orleans "peeps" I headed back to Fantasy land, but I think I went the long way and got a Jungle Cruise FP. I took my first ride of the day on its a small world. This is one of my favorite rides to take photographs of. I know I used several different settings on the camera including auto, low light, vibrant, and in the white room I tried out the snow setting.
I'm not going to post all of them--as I just scrolled through and there are many many many--and I took a second ride later in the day to try something else!
I headed back out into the masses in Fantasyland and THIS is actually when I rode Prince Charming's fancy new ride:
I really like this one!
I think this one came out rather well too!
My horse!
I needed a bio break so I headed to the ladies and spotted these guys playing jazz, which I thought was a really neat touch on a busy day!
Next I used my FP for Philharmagic, which i didn't need, but saved me from walking through the long windy queue. I just love this show--seeing the clips from all the films is soo cool. I really love Fantasia as well!
My next stop was back to Adventureland, where I walked right into Enchanted Tiki Room: under new management. I still miss the original and listen to it in the car all the time on my 50th anniversary of DL CD.
I used my Jungle Cruise FP next and didn't take any photos, but I can't remember why???
Then I broke the rules . . headed to lunch I got in line for Pirates again . . . a Looooong line for pirates. The sign outside said 35 minutes, even though both sides appeared to be operating at max capacity. I think it was about 40 before I actually got on a boat.
It was now just about the time that they were allowing the use of the 30% off coupon at certain dining locations, so I headed around the corner to Pecos Bills and accidentally went in the wrong entrance (ok it wasn't an accident I was avoiding the beginning of the Christmas Parade.)
I had a burger. I keep swearing that I'm not going to eat any more yucky counter service burgers, but about once a trip I cave and do it anyway. Fortunately Pecos Bills have enough stuff on the fixins bar that the burger starts to disappear and all you can taste is what you put on it! I know my burger that day got doused with ketchup and mayo, tomatoes, pickles, and sauteed mushrooms. I really love the french fries . . . its my downfall . . . covered in pepper, dipped in ketchup and mayo and wonderful cheese sauce. My understanding is that the best thing to do at PB is make ultimate fries using ALL the fixins from the bar . . . I'm going to try it eventually.
Up next, thankfully my ordering and finding a table ordeal had taken long enough that the parade was completely past my area, was BTMRR! I ended up in the very front car. Big greasy burger and fries plus the front row at BTMRR sounds like a winner doesn't it folks?
After my wild ride in the wilderness, I checked on Splash Mountain, thinking I'd pick up a FP for later, but the ride was down and I didn't want to be wet late at night, as everyone was being directed to get a FP.
I headed . . . back to Fantasyland . . . yes I know I'm doing a ton of walking, but what I'm not doing is waiting fruitlessly in long lines. Besides, Brandon is not a fan of a single ride in Fantasyland, we didn't even go to MK in October. I love Fantasyland! So I spent a lot of time there this trip!
I used my FP for Peter Pan and took a couple of cool photos before boarding:
I spotted a Hidden Mickey on my first ride through in the morning and I tried to grab a photo on this ride, but I just wasn't fast enough. Right as your flying pirate ship is taking off the cookies set out in the tea party form a hidden mickey!
Next I did some Fantasyland shopping, but didn't buy anything--I am regretting not picking up the E-A ticket ride coupon magnets they had out already for the 40th anniversary.
Then I went back to its a small world to try something interesting . . . black and white!
The line was really long . . . I was breaking the rules again, but I really wanted to try this on this trip!
I love Don Quixote -- I was forced to read the entire thing in Spanish in high school . . . in Spanish. It was the only thing that really improved my skills in 6 years worth of classes, because I wanted to know what was actually going on in the book.
Some of them came out good, some of them not so good. This is going to require more practice. Its hard to take well framed shots from a moving vehicle.
Last, but not least, I headed over to Tomorrowland for my last ride of the day.
I still have mixed feelings about Space Mountain. I like the new music and the ride does seem a little smoother, but its still very jerky. I came off feeling a little bit nauseated.
Up next . . . dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern and Holiday Wishes! Boy this was a long day . . .
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