Adventures Down Under take on the World!!!!!!!!! A Pre Trip Report Jan 2008 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Sorry it has been a while between updates. Being 18 weeks pregnant is certaintly taking it's toll on me!!! I hope everyone is well!
love jess
Day 3 January 6th 2008- Blizzard Beach and Epcot
Well after the weather for the previous two days you must think we were crazy to even consider attending a water park. I was going rain hail or snow!!!! Blizzard Beach was going down for refurbishment tomorrow and I was determined that I was going to get there (even though I am scared of big waterslides)…..it is all about the photos!!!
To our surprise, the sun was actually up when I got up this morning and the weather was pretty good. We had an early breakfast at Classic Hall and then managed to arrive at BB by 10am. It was a perfect day for BB as the place was empty. I think most people thought it was to cold to go to a water park so they all kept away which was great for us.
As we were entering the park we bought a refillable drink bottle. The lady who sold me said it was good to use in both parks for unlimited soft drink refills. We considered this to be a good deal so we happily paid the $10.
Murray went on all of the rides including the big ride Summit Plummit. I was scared just watching him. He didn’t really enjoy the ride and said it was very painful. On the whole, he thought the water slides were pretty poor compared to the ones we have on the gold coast. But the actual themeing and details of the park were amazing.
We decided to head back to POP around 1pm when we had completed all the rides. The weather was overcast and we were a little cold. We had lunch at the POP food court and Murray decided to go back to the room for a little rest.. But you know me, I jumped straight onto another bus and went back to MGM. I managed to just get there in time for the Stars and Motor Cars parade which I enjoyed. (I cant seem to find the photos at the moment sorry)
I thought I might add now that after spending 12 days in WDW, Murray managed to miss all PARADES in the 4 theme parks!!!!! He is quite proud of his efforts. I can’t believe I am married to him!!!
Murray joined me around 4pm and we rode Star tour (he is a big star wars fan) and thought the ride was fab. By now the sun had gone down and we headed over to see the Osborne Dancing lights on the Streets of America. It was pretty spectacular.
We headed over to EPCOT for our 8pm dinner with the Princesses at Akershus.
The service and atmosphere was great and we met Mulan, Belle, Ariel, Jasmine and Princess Aurora. The food was pretty good and the dessert plate was delicious. I know Murray had no desire to dine here but he was a real trooper and enjoyed the night.
We decided to make a quick exit as Illuminations was about to finish and we didn’t want to wait ages for a bus but we got side tracked in Mouse Gears and the Art of Disney Stores.
We were in bed by 11:30pm and I was excited for tomorrow.
Up Next: Solo adventures at Downtown Disney, Magic Kingdom and meeting up with a fellow Aussie who I met on the DIS boards at MK.
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