A special birthday, a diamond anniversary and a west coast adventure COMPLETED - Page 15 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 don't think it's ever happened to us before and I'm sure it will only ever happen again if we pay for perhaps an exclusive tour that gets you into the park before opening....
So fabulous! I'm so happy you got to experience this. But seeing Mark's birthday cake, well, I'm still disappointed I didn't get that treatment at the Napa Rose Chef's Counter for my birthday last summer even though we told them. Those little touches make it extra special.
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Club 33 is absolutely amazing and looks so worth it from the service, decor, detail and of course the food and wine which are all top notch! I've dined at V&A's several times and I know what you get there!
It's certainly very much on a par with that.
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The bathroom was so stunning with the amazing detailed space with decorative ceilings and all the fixtures. Would love to have bathroom sink like that! This may be odd to say, but I certainly could live in that bathroom!
Can you imagine if you had a bathroom like that? I know I'd be popping in all the time, even if just to enjoy some time relaxing on the chaise lounge in there!
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That was weird with the $10 charge for each of you for the tea. They should have mentioned it to you. I would love to dine there, but I guess you have to know a member to dine here. The fees are quite astounding on top of the food charges!
Yep, the only way to dine here is through a member.
Too bad RS was down when you wanted to ride it! I think Cam had the same problem on on occasion on here recent trip.
Unfortunately, that's something of an occupational hazard with that ride - it seems to go down very regularly still, even after having been open for so long.
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I couldn't believe the park entry lines! I've never seen them like that at WDW before, so wasn't expecting them at DL.
Me neither and not at that time of the year, which I thought would be fairly quiet.
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Glad you got to ride Soarin' and spend some time with Karen and Sharon and enjoy a nice breakfast together and most importantly....out of the heat!
Like the stock photos and can't believe how many of they give you! Loved the reaction Mark gave to riding the Canal Boats and IASW!
I just got all caught up with the DL portion of your TR and what an incredible first day you had at that!!! I loved the pictures that you took in the air flying in to John Wayne Airport. We flew into there on our last trip to DL and loved it.
It's about 100 times better than LAX and I'd definitely fly in there again if I could.
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I enjoyed seeing your room at GC with the ground floor balcony. What can I say about your evening at Club 33 that others haven't already said but what an incredible experience that truly was for you all. I'm usually thrifty about how much I will spend on a meal but for that experience I would have gone all out and splurge!!!
It was well worth the splurge!
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I enjoyed all your pictures of the place and the restroom was quite elegant! It must have seemed surreal walking out of DL at the end of the night with only the CM's out and about!
It was a truly magical experience.
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Also, how wonderful that you got the chance to spend time with Sharon and Karen! Looking forward to hearing more about your day together. I will held over to the Globetrotting Forum to begin reading all about your weekend in Scotland!!! Hope you're having a wonderful time and Happy New Year!!!
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I finally found this leg of your trip report. I'm a little late but welcome to my hometown. I grew up halfway between Disneyland and the beach and my childhood was magical! I remember when John Wayne Airport was really small! It doesn't seem odd at all for the airport to be named John Wayne - both my dad and my uncle think they *are* John Wayne - lol!
Wow! The refurbishment really shows! Too funny about the pants. Reminds me of the old days when a nice restaurant required a jacket or tie and provided one if a guy showed up without one. But pants is a first one for me - lol!
I had no idea they'd do that, but I loved the fact they did and were prepared for any eventuality.
I'm afraid there won't be an update to this report until either tonight or the morning, as I'm still busy catching up with everything on the boards and am rapidly running out of time before I head to work.
oh mygoodness, don't apologize! Whenever you have time, no worries!
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About the retheming of Grizzly Peak. I totally agree! Two years ago I went to DCA for the first time, and I was super not impressed with this area. It seemed cheaply done, like the designers threw up a bunch of corrugated tin and then thought, how can we call this a theme? I didn't have any of that sense this last time around. I still think they could do more with the soarin' building, but it's so much better.
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We had a lovely time.
I've dined at V&A's several times and I know what you get there! 
I think Cam had the same problem on on occasion on here recent trip.
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