Forever Young: A Disneyland Trip 50 Years in the Making COMPLETED 1/16/16 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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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Forever Young: A Disneyland Trip 50 Years in the Making COMPLETED 1/16/16
We are back and I’ve gotten the first day’s photos edited, so it’s time to start this tale. If you are just now joining in and would like more background, you can read my pre-trip report here. http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...d-10-13-a.html
Tuesday, October 6 – Travel Day Part
We made it to bed a little before 10:30 on Monday night. I woke up a couple of times but basically slept well. I actually woke up about ten minutes before the alarm and lay in bed ticking off a list of what needed to be done in order for us to leave on time. At 3:45, I started getting ready. Luke got up shortly after I got in the shower. I revised our packing, adding a second carryon and shuffled some stuff around. We were both ready by 5:00, checked the house one last time, and took out the final bag of trash to the toter. Luke packed the Edge and set the GPS for the Crowne Plaza in Louisville where we’d be parking the car for the week. This hotel is located near the airport and offers a free shuttle if you pay to park.
We made our first stop, a tradition for us, at McDonald’s for two large Cokes for the road. Officially, we were on the road by 5:25. It was very dark still. Sunrise began somewhere in the Hoosier National Forest. So beautiful! Luke and I don’t usually get to see sunrises as we not morning people. It was also a bit foggy this morning. As I pulled the camera out to get a few photos, I realized I had forgotten to charge the camera battery. The meter was showing 19% power left. Don’t worry. I still managed 100+ photos this day.
About a half hour out of Louisville, we needed a bio break, so we stopped in Corydon where we also purchased a couple of Snickers bars. The GPS got us to Crowne Plaza, and since we’d already prepaid online for parking,
Luke pulled into an open spot in front of the hotel. He went inside per the directions on the website. While he was taking care of the reservation and getting a parking tag, I repacked my Kindle, the camera, and our travel docs. I also noticed a shuttle pull up to the portico and soon the driver was helping us with our bags, and then we were off to the airport, a very short drive of less than five minutes. We were dropped off at SWA and rolled our way to bag check, which was very quick with only to checked bags.
Each of us toted one carryon until we reached security where we went separate ways. Luke headed into the regular line and I walked ahead to the TSA Pe-check. No one was in front of me until I got to the scanners. The gentleman in front of me was confused and the TSA agent had to repeat directions several times. As soon as his bags went through, I sent both of ours on through. But the poor gentleman tried to walk through the scanner with a fanny pack still on. Oops! Of course, he was sent back. Fortunate for me, the TSA agent called for me to move on through the scanner. That did mean though that I had to move his other bags out of the way in order to reach my own. Honestly, I felt sorry for this gentleman as he was trying, but I think there might have been a language barrier. Thank goodness Louisville’s airport is not huge and there were only three of us now in pre-check.
I found a bench for the bags and waited for Luke. It took him another five to ten minutes to join me. While he put his shoes back on, I went to the restroom. Then we searched for some breakfast on the way to our gate. First, we stopped at a Starbucks, but this one had very little in food options, so we moved on to gate B17. I explored the shop nearby, but nothing appealed to me or was crazy expensive (e.g. a breakfast bar for $5.99). Luke had seen a Quizno’s, so I walked back a little further. When I saw acceptable breakfast items, I called him for his order. He got a bacon, egg, and cheddar flatbread. I got the same only as a wheat sub. I also grabbed a bottle of Coke. Both sandwiches were delicious, though mine was a little more than I could finish. Luke took care of the last couple of bites for me. With an hour before our flight, we kept busy with e-mails, Facebook, and chatting. About 20 minutes before boarding was to begin, I made another restroom stop. Luke waited until five minutes prior, so when he came back out, I was already in line at A38 and A39.
Once on the plane, Luke found seats in Row 11 seats D and E with his seat at the window and mine in the middle (another tradition as Stefanie always liked the aisle seat). We were eventually joined by an older, distinguished gentleman who sanitized his whole area, armrests, seatbelt, seat back tray table, etc. Kind of wish I had thought of that. Due to the fog I mentioned earlier, the flight was delayed by 15 minutes. But our pilot assured us we would make it up, and said he even hoped to arrive five minutes early. The flight was uneventful, the best kind. I read and napped. Snacks included toasted crackers and roasted peanuts with orange juice for both of us.
Our pilot was good to his word, and even with heavier fog and cloud cover over Denver, we landed right at 11:27 only two minutes late. I marveled at the beautiful patchwork fields in this area of the country. Since we were connecting through to LAX, we were told to remain in our seats until everyone else had deplaned. In the end only three of us were left for the head count. Shortly, after the head count was taken, a flight attendant told u there had been a change in plans. We were going to deplane and head two gates away to another SWA plane. We kept asking SWA folks if we’d have time for restrooms breaks. The answer each time was shoulder shrugs until the last one told us, “Sure!” So we flew back to the restroom. The men’s restroom was further away due to remodeling, so I beat him to our new gate. The other through passenger let me know we’d board first and that we would need to show our photo ID since we no longer had passes. Until our turn, we enjoyed the humorous antics of the ticket taker at the gate next to ours.
As soon as those in wheelchairs were boarded, we three from the original flight were sent through. We got row 2 seats D and E, sitting in the same spots. Once again we were joined by a gentleman in the aisle seat. Since this flight and the previous one did not have Wifi, I spend the time on board catching up on notes while Luke used his new Bose noise-cancelling headphones I got him last Christmas to listen to music. Same snacks and juices with the addition of one of the Snickers bars which we shared. Off and on there was some mild turbulence, but nothing even mildly scary. I wished we had been able to track our flight so I would have known for sure that we were over the Rocky Mountains and the Grand Canyon. In fact at one point, Luke and I noticed some kind of huge reflective things, but no idea what they were. I didn’t check the time when we landed, but according to our pilot we were on time.
NEXT: Experiencing Los Angeles or What can be seen from LAX
I am glad that you are safely home and already starting your TR!! I can't wait to hear all of your adventures. Sounds like the flight out was nice. Sorry that you weren't able to track your location. Flying over that part of the country does give some wonderful scenery.
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Waiting for our next adventure after enjoying our Alaska cruise. Jenn
I am glad that you are safely home and already starting your TR!! I can't wait to hear all of your adventures. Sounds like the flight out was nice. Sorry that you weren't able to track your location. Flying over that part of the country does give some wonderful scenery.
I think we correctly identify places, but it would have been very nice to have the ability to check.
Welcome Home! Wow, what a beautiful sunrise! I'm so excited to read about your trip as I do the final planning for our DL trip. I know I will get some great ideas esp. with shopping.
I am so glad I caught you have started this now, instead of my usual way when I have to read through ten pages to get caught up! Those sky pictures were gorgeous. Yay for an uneventful flight!
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you've started!! So happy to follow along as I miss DL so much!
Great sunrise shots! See what you can experience if you wake up early!?
The flights sound very easy, as did the airports.
Oh yay! I caught the beginning of your TR! I can't wait to read all about your trip!
I saw some huge solar panel fields near the California/Nevada state line the last time I drove to Vegas. I wonder if that was the reflective section you saw from your plane?
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It was also a bit foggy this morning. As I pulled the camera out to get a few photos, I realized I had forgotten to charge the camera battery. 
The meter was showing 19% power left. Don’t worry. I still managed 100+ photos this day. 
Off and on there was some mild turbulence, but nothing even mildly scary. I wished we had been able to track our flight so I would have known for sure that we were over the Rocky Mountains and the Grand Canyon. In fact at one point, Luke and I noticed some kind of huge reflective things, but no idea what they were. I didn’t check the time when we landed, but according to our pilot we were on time. 
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Waiting for our next adventure after enjoying our Alaska cruise. 
Jenn
PassPorter Guide Author
you've started!! So happy to follow along as I miss DL so much!
Parlor Panther in 'stalking mode'
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