Grand Duo Birthday Trip: COMPLETE 2/5/09 - Page 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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Great update, Dawn!! Sounds like a wonderful time at 1900 Park Fare despite the poor location of your table. the Photopass photos! Looking forward to more
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Breakfast sounds like a great time! the Mad Hatter! And score one for you getting front row on RnRC! I don't care how long I have to wait, I have to ride in the front. It's not the same riding anywhere else. More please
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what a great breakfast
we love breakfast there and Juan is like Chuck with the whole buffet thing
sorry about your snotty waitress
those pics are great
glad you got so many drops and coaster time in
hurry back with more please
Dawn the TR....what a great Bday trip! All the pics are great!! Hope I can figure out my camera so I can finally get some great fireworks/night/SpectroMagic pics like you have.
What a great breakfast!!! I personally think that is the best character breakfast and the food is always good too!! Love the photos!! You and Chuck make such a cute couple!
Day 4, Part 2: An Unexpected PP Meet, Characters Everywhere, Block Party Bash
An Unexpected PP Meet, Characters Everywhere, Block Party Bash
OK, so we headed through the gift shop into the Magic of Disney Animation. From talking to Tiff earlier in the week, she told me that the characters were out for the new animated feature, Bolt. She and Eric got to see both Bolt and Mittens. When we entered the area, the line was practically non-existent so we went there directly. I took some photos of the queue showing scenes from the movie. As we were standing there, I heard someone say my name that wasn’t Chuck. I turned around and there was Rebecca (Tink and co), a fellow PP Guide, headed my way. I had no idea she was going to be in the World (yeah…need to pay more attention at times). It was a last minute trip and it was so great to finally meet her. Hugs were exchanged and due to my excitement, I unfortunately forgot to take a picture.
Second on the agenda was drawing a character. This has become a trip tradition, and we get so serious when we start drawing. For Chuck and me, it has become a competition. We had about 10 minutes before the next class began and we watched some CMs decorated a dry erase board for Mickey’s birthday. As I was taking a picture of the sign, the CM noticed my birthday button and asked if it was birthday. I told the truth and said no but they said it was okay to celebrate for the week. We entered the “classroom” and got ready to draw. The CM teaching told us we weren’t going to draw Mickey but Minnie. This was a first for me (Chuck too) so we went to town with arms around our papers until the final result.
The first one is mine and the second is Chuck’s. You can be the judge.
Sorcerer Mickey was just waiting for me to come and visit. There were only 5 people ahead us. When it was our turn, the photographer made sure to tell Mickey that it was my birthday, the same as him. Mickey made sure to give me some extra attention since it was his birthday too, so I didn’t spoil it and tell Mickey it wasn’t my birthday. I had to admit that I was feeling a little guilt for not telling Mickey the truth.
So after Mickey, I saw that Mr. and Mrs. Incredible were out for a meet and greet. Well, I could not go without saying hi to my “man”. There was no one in line so it was a matter of just walking up and saying hi. As you can see, Mr. Incredible pulled me in close to him while Chuck was reaching for me. It was fun as always.
We left the Magic of Disney Animation with a short tour of the gift shop. I say this every trip and it never changes. I want it ALL!!!! <sigh> Anywho, we headed over to One Man’s Dream. This was another first for Chuck and I never tie of this exhibit. This exhibit is just full of Disney history and Chuck even agreed to stay for the film afterwards. As we were walking around, I could just see his love for Disney grow even more. He’ll never admit but I know it is there. Of course, lots of pictures taken for scrapbooking purposes.
By the time we were finished with the movie, we were getting close to our FP time for TSM. We headed over to Pixar Place with a goal to see Buzz and Woody. As we were walking up to the area, I looked over and saw that the stand-by time for TSM was 10 minutes. Huh??? We weren’t about to pass up an opportunity to ride with such a short wait. We walked right in and were up the stairs immediately. The line kind of hit a stand-still but we didn’t wait more than 10 minutes before we off shooting again. Chuck still beat me but at least I made it a little closer. OK, I still got the rabbit. After we exited, we headed over to the “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” meet and greet area. The line wasn’t all that long and it has some fun props for photo opportunities. Of course, Chuck and I did them all.
Chuck in a Buzz Lightyear box and getting picked up by the claw. I am trapped in a crate with a toolbox on top.
Me Strapped to a rocket, Chuck getting shot by Zurg, and Chuck “New in Box”.
Once we were the next in line, I got to talking to the CM and was pretty oblivious to my surroundings. Yep, a good soldier I would never be. All of the sudden, I saw a flash of green in my vision and I turned my head to find a Green Army Man with his head practically propped up on my shoulder. I let out a little scream and Buzz came over to my rescue. Woody gave the Army Guy a strict “talking to” and then came over and gave me a hug. I love how the room is supposed to look like we are on the top of Andy’s bed.
Once we finished up, we went outside and the Green Army Man that scared me was waiting and wanted to apologize. We got another picture, and then he ran off to play with the other Army men. I had to get a picture of another one of them because he was trying to camouflage himself with two branches and a very small tree.
We took another spin on TSM since our FP time opened up and Chuck ruled again. Oh well. I’ll get some more practice in February. After our third ride on TSM, we headed over to the Streets of America. Even though they were not showing the Osbourne Lights, I wanted Chuck to see the set up. He was just amazed and wished he could see it in person all lit up. I remembered they moved the Monsters Inc. meet and greet area to this area, so we headed over in that direction. There wasn’t a line to speak of, so Mike and Sulley greeted us pretty quickly. Sulley has fun not letting my face be seen in the picture.
As we took a look at the time, we realized we needed to begin to head over near the parade route so we could find a spot for Block Party Bash. We were headed toward the ABC Commissary for a potty break when we ran across Lightening McQueen and Mater. Once again, the line only had two other people so we went and got in line. I rarely pass up an opportunity. Within five minutes, we were getting our picture taken and I was getting Mater to rev his engine.
Chuck and I then made a beeline for the restrooms and finally made our way over near Gertie the Dinosaur for our spots for the parade. By this time I was getting hungry and thirsty, so Chuck saved our spots while I ran to get some snacks. Although popcorn was tempting, I ended up getting two pretzels and two drinks. We snacked and waited for the parade to begin.
Coming Up: OK, Block Party Bash for Real and A Forced Audible
Great pictures with the characters!! Umm, I can't see your hand in the Mr. Incredible picture!! Sounds like a really fun time! Glad the crowds were non-existent!! Great drawings of Minnie Mouse too!!
Great update, Dawn! How neat that you ran into Rebecca! More wonderful PhotoPass photos! And, I think I was channeling Marnie while I was reading this....I was looking for your hand when you were with Mr. Incredible too! You look just a tad bit michievous in that one! Can't wait to hear more
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the Photopass photos! Looking forward to more
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More please!!
Umm, I can't see your hand in the Mr. Incredible picture!! 
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