A special birthday, a diamond anniversary and a west coast adventure COMPLETED - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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.
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?
Oh my goodness, you've completely summed up my thoughts of what it was like before.
Wednesday 9 September – part four: getting our Photopass account going
When we got outside, we were by the park entrance, and there must’ve been about 20 Cast Members lining both sides of Buena Vista Street, all welcoming guests. While it was very neat, I can honestly say I have never seen anything like it before in any Disney park, so it was also a little surreal…
Karen went to check to see if Oswald was out doing meet and greets, but apparently he’d already missed his 10:00am slot. Instead, we ducked back inside some air conditioning to explore some of the shops….
We came out by Carthay Circle, and straight away found a Photopass photographer to get our account going.
We then spotted Minnie coming out to do a meet and greet, all decked out in her 1920s finery, and we were about the third in line to see her. Honestly, she was so cute. Not only did she look absolutely adorable, but she was even doing the Charleston at one point!
We walked along Hollywood Boulevard, and ducked into another shop….
… then carried on walking along…
We found this, which I thought was such a nice touch. I hope Walt Disney World will soon start doing this as well. We did suggest to Mark that he might like to draw Piglet, but for some reason, he didn’t seem too keen. I can’t think why…
I was annoyed to see Winnie, Tigger and Piglet on there, but no sign of Eeyore, so I asked the Cast Member, and apparently you can’t draw the donkey in under 15 minutes, which is how long they set for each class. Ok, so I guess my donkey boy has a few complications then…
Next: a moment of silence for Luigi’s Flying Tires.
Photopass pictures are great, despite the heat! Especially the Minnie ones, I've never seen that outfit before!
I always wished at WDW they would have put the upcoming characters out for the drawing class too.... but I think the animator would usually have the crowd vote on a character to draw? They must not do that in Cali. No matter, the drawing class is gone from WDW now. I did draw Eeyore once though. Really rushed through it so it wasn't too great, yeah I guess it takes a longer time than other characters!
__________________
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Photopass pictures are great, despite the heat! Especially the Minnie ones, I've never seen that outfit before!
Neither have I. She looks wonderful.
Quote:
I always wished at WDW they would have put the upcoming characters out for the drawing class too.... but I think the animator would usually have the crowd vote on a character to draw?
That's right - they do. I remember now!
Quote:
They must not do that in Cali. No matter, the drawing class is gone from WDW now. I did draw Eeyore once though. Really rushed through it so it wasn't too great, yeah I guess it takes a longer time than other characters!
My understanding is it's only gone temporarily and will be returning eventually. I certainly hope so.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
My understanding is it's only gone temporarily and will be returning eventually. I certainly hope so.
I'm hoping for that to be true!! And I'm hoping they change the room and make it bigger. In the meantime, you can still draw over at Art of Animation Resort 3 times per day. But it's not the same.
__________________
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
I'm hoping for that to be true!! And I'm hoping they change the room and make it bigger. In the meantime, you can still draw over at Art of Animation Resort 3 times per day. But it's not the same.
You all got your PhotoPass account going in great fashion, especially the ones with Minnie in her 1920s outfit. I really liked the 60th anniversary borders that were offered, too.
You all got your PhotoPass account going in great fashion, especially the ones with Minnie in her 1920s outfit. I really liked the 60th anniversary borders that were offered, too.
Wednesday 9 September – part five: a moment of silence for Luigi’s Flying Tires.
We headed up past the Hyperion Theatre and the Tower of Terror…
… and made our way through A Bug’s Land…
As we headed over to Cars Land, we saw a star racer make his appearance!
A moment later, I held a moment of silence for the demise of my beloved Luigi’s Flying Tires.
Now I had heard that this may have gone to make way for Star Wars Land, as no-one seems to be 100% sure where it’s going to go at Disneyland, but as we walked around, with A Bug’s Land and Cars Land right next door, it just didn’t feel to us anyway like the right place to put it, but heck, what do we know?
If you got the impression that we were killing time, you’d be right. Our Fastpass for Radiator Springs Racers was due in about 20 minutes, so we did a bit more air conditioned shopping.
I commiserated again over the sad loss of Luigi’s Flying Tires…
… while Mark found another cone hat!
Then there was this one…
Karen found a T-shirt that looked really cool, but let’s just say it was labelled as 3X. When you looked at it, it looked more like a medium. We were already finding the same thing in Disneyland as we’d found on the cruise – i.e. the sizes seem to be totally out of kilter, and often you have to buy much bigger than you usually would. I think it was Karen who said, quite rightly, things like that do not help anyone who’s got an issue with their body.
We still had a few minutes to kill, so we headed over to Flo’s V8 café just to get some water, as we didn’t want to dehydrate in the stifling conditions. I’ve never been in here before, and it’s really neat.
We found Red, so figured we may as well get another Photopass to add to the collection…
About This Page: 
PassPorter Guide Author
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Instead, we ducked back inside some air conditioning to explore some of the shops…. 
Not only did she look absolutely adorable, but she was even doing the Charleston at one point! 
Linear Mode
