Forums Closed
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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
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Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
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04-02-2006, 05:40 PM
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#211
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Community Rank: Navigator 
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Peoria IL
Concierge Level: 1
Posts: 6,423
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Re: Nala and pride \"Here we go again!\" Day 5 part 2 MGM Updated 4/2
Ok, so I suddenly have a fire burning under my backside to get this TR done. Anyone care to guess why? Anyone? [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
After our PR meet and greet, we decided we had plenty of time before lunch and went to check out what other fun things we could do. We headed to Voyage of the Little Mermaid to check out show times only to discover we had just missed the show. Since we had nothing but time on our hands, we headed into the shop in the Animation Courtyard that is a favorite of ours. I just love looking at the cells and keep promising myself that one day I will break down and buy one. And to this day, I still kick myself for not buying the Lilo and Stitch one I saw back in 03. When we walked in the shop I was shocked at how few of the cells were on display. There were some beautiful pieces, that looked like paintings, on one wall and Grumpy stood in front of several of 20,000 Leagues and was flat out drooling over them. Just as I was about to go find a CM to get Grumpy a towel, one approached us. And I can’t remember his name, but the conversation we had about the work in the gallery and the fate of Disney 2-D animators was both fascinating and terribly sad. The CM told us all about the artists who had pieces there and also that he himself was one of the nine remaining animators. Until then, I never really gave any though as to how computer generated animation was actually pushing the art of animation out the door. And ironically, less than 24 hours later, Disney announced they had closed the deal with Pixar.
So that would explain the absence of the animation cells for sale. And for about the 100th time, I kicked myself once again for not buying the Lilo and Stitch one years ago. And while I am a fan of the digital age, the dying breed of talented artists left in it’s path is very sad to me.
After our conversation in the shop I was feeling a bit blue and did the only thing I could think of to lift my mood. Eat. Time to find Mama’s and check in for lunch. So back down NY Street we went. Now, even though we had never been to this restaurant, I was sure I knew where it was, or at least had a general idea. A trip down NY Street proved unsuccessful, as did the trip back up. Ok, consult the map. Still no help. Finally Grumpy (yes, there is a man on the planet who will stop and ask for directions) told me to ask a CM. (Ok, so HE didn’t do it, but he did send me to do it)
Thank goodness we did ask, because I would have never thought to look behind Muppets for Mama’s. Sure enough, there it was, tucked away in a little corner in a place we would have never thought to look. I checked in for our ADR and within a few minutes we were seated at our table. While we had dined at Tony’s the day before, Mama’s had a different feel to it. Still very Italian, but very different. And very cool. Our server greeted us quickly and took our drink and appetizer order. Both arrived in a timely fashion and Grumpy and I were both sucking up the atmosphere of the place. He spotted a movie poster on the wall (which he could only see part of) and asked this question “What movie starred Vivian Leigh and Clark Gable?” And he was serious. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/foreheadslap.gif[/img] I did a quick visual inspection for a second head sprouting on him and answered “You are kidding right? That would be Gone with the Wind. As in one of your wife’s favorites movies and one of the greatest ever made.” Grumpy slid down in the booth to get a better look at the poster and was able to see the graphics on it and the light came on. Guess I shouldn’t case on him too much as on a good day, I would only be able to name about five or six John Wayne or Clint Eastwood westerns.
Just as our great movie debate was getting going, our food arrived. Grumpy had a pizza and it looked wonderful. He offered me a piece but I declined as I was really enjoying my wood fired shrimp and pasta. This stuff was heaven in a big bowl. And while I did my best to conceal one of Kiara’s favorite foods in my bowl, her eagle eye and hound dog nose quickly discovered it was there. She asked for a shrimp and I gave her one of the four out of guilt. I mean, I love my food, as in don’t ever reach for my plate if you value your limb kind of way. But I love my daughter and want to make her happy. So I gave her a shrimp. And since I had already had one and they were so tasty, I hoped one would satisfy her. It did. She happily went back to her pasta and declined my offer for another one. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
And after only five days, Kiara was sick of being my camera's main subject! Sadly, this was a trend that would continue! (now that I look at this picture, it is the same position I found myself in years ago when Grumpy and I rode Dinosaur. Only I wasn't smiling.)
Mama's was a new choice for us, and like Tony’s, Grumpy and I agreed it should be added to the must do list. Boy, that list keeps getting longer and longer!
We finished our lunch and headed back out into the park. While MGM was typically a ½ day park for us, we were not quite ready to leave yet. There were still a thing or two we wanted to do and a few things that we hadn’t planned on that caught our attention. As we had no plans for the rest of the day, we decided to extend our stay at MGM.
Last edited by Nala; 01-06-2008 at 02:47 PM..
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04-02-2006, 06:41 PM
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#212
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Community Rank: Explorer 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Columbia, SC
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 7,014
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Re: Nala and pride \"Here we go again!\" Day 5 part 2 MGM Updated 4/2
Glad that you liked Mama's! We certainly enjoyed our meal there last year! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/yuma.gif[/img]
That is so sad [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] about the animators. What beautiful work they do. We've lusted over one or two of those cells ourselves and hope to own one some day.
Jill
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04-02-2006, 06:50 PM
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#213
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Longfellow's "Jewel by the Sea"
Posts: 14,165
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Re: Nala and pride \"Here we go again!\" Day 5 part 2 MGM Updated 4/2
I agree and think we should all be outraged about the extinction of animators! It's like, hellllllllo! Such a shame.
Glad you decided to extend your MGM day!
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04-02-2006, 07:42 PM
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#214
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RED SOX NATION!!
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Connecticut
Concierge Level: 9
Posts: 136,854
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Re: Nala and pride \"Here we go again!\" Day 5 part 2 MGM Updated 4/2
Great update Nala [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zwavin.gif[/img] Lunch sounded yummy [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] Can't wait to hear what else you did at MGM [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
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04-02-2006, 07:51 PM
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#215
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Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ohio Football Hall Of Fame
Posts: 42,304
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Re: Nala and pride \"Here we go again!\" Day 5 part 2 MGM Updated 4/2
Great update Nala!! Glad you enjoyed your lunch! Can't wait to read more!!
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04-02-2006, 09:21 PM
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#216
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Community Rank: Legend 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: North Central Ohio
Posts: 21,629
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Re: Nala and pride \"Here we go again!\" Day 5 part 2 MGM Updated 4/2
A girl after my own heart! Shrimp is one of my favorites! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/yuma.gif[/img] Glad you're having such a great day at MGM! More please!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
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04-02-2006, 09:29 PM
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#217
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 9,547
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Re: Nala and pride \"Here we go again!\" Day 5 part 2 MGM Updated 4/2
I know what you mean about the animation artists. I love digital animation and it's amazing how much work goes into it, but hand-made animation is still an amazing artform. Sadly, I wouldn't be surprised if it was completely extinct within the next 5-years or so [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]
Great update! I also love Gone With the Wind! I liked the book better, but the movie is great, too. My mom thinks it's one of the greatest movies of all time [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img]
I can't wait to hear about the rest of your day at MGM!
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04-03-2006, 11:09 AM
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#218
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Community Rank: Traveler 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Roanoke, VA
Posts: 454
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Re: Nala and pride \"Here we go again!\" Pre trip report 1/20-1/29/06- lodging!!!
I love hearing about your trip!
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04-03-2006, 02:18 PM
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#219
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Community Rank: Legend
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Louisville, KY
Concierge Level: 7
Posts: 18,767
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Re: Nala and pride \"Here we go again!\" Pre trip report 1/20-1/29/06- lodging!!!
Another wonderful two updates Nala!!! Love all the pictures with the Power Rangers and I'm glad to hear you like Mama's as well. It became a favorite for me on my trip in December,
More please! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
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04-06-2006, 11:43 AM
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#220
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: New York
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 7,960
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Re: Nala and pride \"Here we go again!\" Pre trip report 1/20-1/29/06- lodging!!!
Great update! I must try Mama's! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/yuma.gif[/img] Can't wait for more!
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04-07-2006, 10:00 PM
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#221
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Community Rank: Globetrotter 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: NC
Posts: 3,536
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Re: Nala and pride \"Here we go again!\" Pre trip report 1/20-1/29/06- lodging!!!
Mama's sounded really good!!
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04-08-2006, 10:44 PM
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#222
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 7,386
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Re: Nala and pride \"Here we go again!\" Day 5 part 2 MGM Updated 4/2
Nala, I'm thoroughly enjoying your trip report. And I can totally relate to the difficulties you had in locating Mama Melrose's. We wandered around in circles for ages before finally asking a CM and even then we still walked past it a few times before realizing it was there. It needs better signage.
Joy
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04-09-2006, 08:23 AM
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#223
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Community Rank: Adventurer 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: knoxville t.n. GO BIG ORANGE!
Posts: 564
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Re: Nala and pride \"Here we go again!\" Day 5 part 2 MGM Updated 4/2
Enjoying your trip report and I love the pictures!
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04-10-2006, 09:53 AM
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#224
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Community Rank: Scout 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Lansing, Michigan
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 4,890
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Re: Nala and pride \"Here we go again!\" Day 5 part 2 MGM Updated 4/2
[ QUOTE ]
Ok, so I suddenly have a fire burning under my backside to get this TR done. Anyone care to guess why? Anyone?
[/ QUOTE ]
Oh, gee...I don't know....could it be that you have another trip coming up??? Maybe??? [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img]
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04-18-2006, 04:25 PM
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#225
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Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: SW MO
Concierge Level: 1
Posts: 10,461
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Re: Nala and pride \"Here we go again!\" Day 5 part 2 MGM Updated 4/2
Hurry back! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/whistling2.gif[/img]
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