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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 took this trip to preview it for the Decade of Dreams Disneyland portion in Fall 2009 and was amazed at all the wonderful details etc.
Day 1- Arriving in Hollywood. I landed in LAX and was greeted by one of our Adventure Guides, Diana (pronounced - Dee-Anna) holding an ABD sign. The guides gather your luggage and load you into Towncars which drive you to your first Hotel, the Renaissance Hollywood Resort and Spa.The Renaissance Hollywood hotel sits adjacent to the Hollywood & Highland Center and Kodak Theatre, home of the Oscars, the Hollywood walk of fame, and is also across the street from the El Capitan Theatre, Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, and Jimmy Kimmel Live show. Great shopping and food area. This hotel is very comtemporary, with colorful geometric decor throughout, nice outdoor pool and brand new Spa opening May 1st. Here in the lobby we meet our second Guide Quinn who gives us our room keys and welcomes us.
First event is a hotel reception and ice breaker game to meet all the guests. This is fun and gets you moving around and seeing where others are from. We then walk next door our Dinner spot right in Hollywood and Highland, called Trastevere Ristorante. Very nice selection of salads, pastas and tasty food along with Beer and Wine. Again, we play another Ice Breaker type Game Show hosted by Matt who is quite funny. After dinner you are on your own to do whatever, we just walk around the stores and see the Kodak Theatre building etc.
Day 2 - Hollywood
breakfast this morning is across the street at Disney’s Soda Fountain and Studio Store. An old fashioned ice cream parlor, located right next to the El Capitan Theatre and it has a studio store filled with fun studio merchandise. We get a choice of eggs, oatmeal or a Mickey waffle. I opt to stick with the eggs and wait for the waffle until later in the week. The fun surprise here is having our photo taken with Ariel who is set up in the back of the store. Other fun things going on for kids are coloring and mobile making at the counter… OK, I had to jump in and color some since the kids things seem so fun…
Next Stop is a tour of El Capitan Theatre, one of the original old Hollywood theatres built in the 1920s. In 1989 the Walt Disney Co. undertook a two year renovation to take the theatre back to its original state of the 1920s. The only real original pieces still housed here are cast iron light the lower level old “smoking room. One cool fact we learned is that when a Disney movie premieres, even though this is a single screen theatre, the El Capitan makes more money than any other movie theatre in the US. Ed our guides takes us all through the place and tells us lots of history.
From here we head to the Jimmy Kimmel live Studio (right next door). We get to walk through all the rooms, meet Uncle Frank and Guillermo, and go onto the set they film on each night. It is cool to actually see a Green Room and know that Snoop Dog was there ! (the Staff's most memorable guest) They also have a permanent sound stage outside for mini concerts featuring the bands that come on the show.
On to the Jim Henson Studios....former home of the Charlie Chaplin Studios. Lots of history and folklore. Very great studio nicely renovated and yes we did get to tour the studio, creature shop, and meet Muppets and a puppeteer named Michael. Lunch today is served outside of here in the patio, yummy.
Last stop of the day is a surprise and not guaranteed on all of these Backstage Tours but we were taken to "Walt's Barn" in Griffith park and got a chance to see his train collection of memoribilia and ride a mini train around the park.
Back to to the hotel for a night on our own. I dine at Campanile on La Brea, also an old Charlie Chaplin office building. Food is fabulous and setting very nice.
__________________
Michelle Cunningham
Last edited by Michelle Ma-Belle; 04-29-2008 at 09:16 AM..
Reason: need to post more
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DAY 3 - Afternoon
We gathered back onto the bus and headed to Walt Disney Studios in Burbank. As a working studio again they do not really offer tours here and there are not cast members here but studio people. We were walked through the hallway of the art building housing some archives, paintings, sketches, drawings etc. This building has 6 – 8 wings all with outside windows and leveler shades so artists can control their own lighting. This building as a tunnel underneath connecting it to the art building next door. The tunnel is still used in movies today. We headed out and took photos in the courtyard of legends then were given 45 minutes to shop and eat lunch in the Commissary here. Marty Sklar was here also eating lunch with all of us mortals!
Back on the bus now for the drive to Disneyland Resort. As you drive in the bus they play music that is selected specifically for the Adventure. I remember this too from the Southwest Splendors trip I saw. On our trip we are listening to older music from the Hollywood days, 70s tunes, Monorail music and then current Disney tunes. Then you suddenly here the whole bus starts singing as we are driving…so amazing. We have all really bonded, love Disney and just are acting like kids. As Tracy puts it she loves seeing us “all become children again” in our love of Walt and all things Disney.
We check into the Grand Californian and are given Standard View rooms overlooking the Courtyard. Great hotel. Built much like the Wilderness Lodge but instead of being surrounded by a forest and a lake, its surrounded by a Theme Park and Downwtown Disney. We have about 2 hours to relax. And run over to ride Soarin really quick...!!!!
We head over to Disneyland Resort Hotel and got to the Wine Cellar for a little cocktail hour. They have a guitar player hired to play music, have a selection of several wines to try and wonderful Bruschetta, veggies, dips to enhance this. Our host is Carlos who manages the Cellar and Hooks Pointe restaurant.. We head up stairs at 6pm for our dinner. One thing not mentioned before is we are always given tables away from all other guests in areas by ourselves with menus catered for our Group. It adds a nice touch and helps facilitate the bond of the group.
After dinner we walk over to Disneyland Park and all the 1st time guests take a picture before entering. We actually have a lot of guests who have never been here which is so cool. We are walked over to our first Fun Experience in the Park, the Haunted Mansion. We do not wait bur are guided into a back entrance and get right on. The host has several people lay flat on the floor while we are in the elevator which is so cool and they said it really makes for a fun experience.
We check into the Grand Californian and are given Standard View rooms overlooking the Courtyard. Great hotel. Built much like the Wilderness Lodge but instead of being surrounded by a forest and a lake, its surrounded by a Theme Park and Downwtown Disney. We have about 2 hours to relax. And run over to ride Soarin really quick...!!!!
We head over to Disneyland Resort Hotel and got to the Wine Cellar for a little cocktail hour. They have a guitar player hired to play music, have a selection of several wines to try and wonderful Bruschetta, veggies, dips to enhance this. Our host is Carlos who manages the Cellar and Hooks Pointe restaurant..
How wonderful! We plan to stay at the GC next time and love the Wine Cellar and Hooks Pointe. Sounds like the tour group is making it extra special. We've only been back for a couple of days and this is making me miss it so - wanna go back sooner rather than later.
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