Going Wild Disney Style PTR - April 6-16, 2013 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I'm a little behind as always, just life getting in the way of my Disney planning.
Today's Update:Monday April 8th - Islands of Adventure OR Legoland!
April 8th is the day we are doing something we have not done in a very long time. We are leaving the Disney Bubble! We are also splitting up. Pat and Hunter will be spending some much needed quality time together at Legoland. While Me, Shana and Maya will be spending some much needed wizarding time at Islands of Adventure. Grandma will be spending the day on her own after dropping the girls and I off at Islands of Adventure. Once I find out what she has planned I will let you know. I know she is planning one afternoon at a spa and some time at Epcot and whichever park she will miss with us (I think Animal Kingdom).
Islands of Adventure
Islands of Adventure is new for me and I really don't know what to expect. The girls and I have agreed that our prime focus is WWoHP. If we see everything there we will leave happy, even if we see nothing else in the park. However, I think we will have some time to visit a few other things. Here is our plan:
1. Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey - This is an absolute must-do for us all. I am so excited about this ride and really could probably ride this alone and feel like my day was complete. 2. Dragon Challenge (Chinese Fireball) - I have also wanted to ride these coasters before they were converted for WWoHP, so I will be excited to ride them. I'm sure the girls will be too! 3. Dragon Challenge (Hungarian Horntail) - We all want to try both of them. I have heard the Chinese Fireball is slightly a better ride, but we want to judge for ourselves. 4. Ollivanders - Shana and Maya both desperately want to get a wand at Ollivander's. 5. Frog Choir - Shana loves frogs and singing so this was something she is hoping to catch. It is not a must-do, but we will try to make sure we find time for it. 6. Three Broomsticks for Lunch - We, of course, have to try some butter beer. I think the food looks yummy too! We really just want the whole Harry Potter experience. 7. Poseidon's Fury - We aren't too excited about the shows, but the girls thought this one looked interesting, so we thought we would give it a try. 8. The Incredible Hulk Coaster - Have you figured out that we are coaster junkies? 9. The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man - This ride looks amazing to me, even though I'm not a huge Spider-Man fan. 10. Jurassic Park River Adventure 11. Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls 12. Popeye & Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges - Okay, so the girls decided we have to go on all the water rides. I have a love/hate relationship with water rides. I am the person that no matter where I sit I always get drenched. Couple examples: Shana wanted to ride Kali River Rapids and get soaked, but she decided to sit next to Pat. They were in the section of two seats just next to me. I went down every hill backwards and walked off soaked from head-to-toe. Pat and Shana were barely wet. Shana wanted to ride again because she didn't get wet, she went to sit next to Pat again, and he made her sit with me. Yet again, every hill backwards drenched head-to-toe. Shana was thrilled. Me not so much. Then Shana wanted to ride Splash Mountain and every day of our trip it was down. On the last day Pat and my mom dropped us at MK and they went to Epcot. Shana and I hurried to Splash and it was up. Our row of course got hit with the water cannons. We were drenched. We even had to buy new clothes for the flight home. So, of course, the girls wanted to get me drenched. This is why all three water rides are right before we plan to leave!!
Legoland
We have never been to Legoland in Florida, but we did visit Legoland in CA last February. They look similar so I made plans for Pat and Hunter based on what Hunter liked there. Pat has said that the sole purpose of the trip to Legoland is to make Hunter happy and spend some time with him. So Pat had no choice in any of the ride selections, I only went with Hunter's choices.
1. Lego Mindstorms Registration - This was Hunter's absolute favorite thing the whole time in Legoland CA. It was actually showing as closed for the entire week of our trip and we didn't think he would get to do it. But as we walked in the park I saw a lady with a clipboard outside the Mindstorms building and ran over and signed him up. This is the one thing he wants most, so they will head straight to the registration. 2. Lego Technic Coaster - Hunter may change his mind on this one, it wasn't his favorite in CA, but he is getting a little more adventurous with coasters now. 3. Ford Driving School - He really liked being able to actually drive a car not on a track. He followed all the safety rules and enjoyed this a lot. 4. Flying School - This is an under the track roller coaster, and I am not sure Hunter will actually ride when he sees it, but he likes the youtube videos. Those don't show height and depth perception well. I'll be curious to see if he does this. 5. Coastersaurus - I think he will be okay on this one. He likes Big Thunder Mountain and this looks much more "kiddie" than that. 6. Lost Kingdom Adventure - Anything you get to shoot pretend lasers is alright in his book! 7. Pharaoh's Revenge - I am going to tell Pat to spend a little time playing in here. It may be hard to get Hunter out. 8. The Dragon - Again, a coaster I think Hunter can handle. 9. Merlin's Challenge - Hunter thought this looked fun on youtube. 10. The Forestmen's Hideout - Another play area, that may be tough to get Hunter out of. Pat will know how Hunter' mood is during the day, if he is having a difficult time moving from place to place, he will skip these to avoid a meltdown. Hunter doesn't always handle play areas well, where lots of kids are running around willy-nilly. 11. All the Miniland areas. 12. Lunch - This will be before or after Miniland depending on the time and their hunger. 13. Lego Mindstorms - This will obviously be at whatever time they manage to get signed up for.
The rest of the time they can visit other attractions that Hunter may have seen that he wants to do and then on the way out they will hit the Factory Tour.
All of us will plan to leave IoA or Legoland between 5-6pm. We will meet back at AKV and we have ADR's at Boma at 7:45pm. After dinner we will plan to head to bed as early as possible for an early start for my Birthday celebration day tomorrow!!
Weight Loss Update: I am not doing an official update. I gained an unusual amount of weight in the week (think around 6 lbs!!!), I think I was retaining water and was very bloated on my weigh in day. I didn't even track the weight because I knew it could throw me in the wrong direction. I have lost a good amount of it and seem to be back on track and will weigh in again on Tuesday.
Next Update: Tuesday April 9th - Magic Kingdom and My 40th Birthday!!
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