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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 heard how amazing Disney Sea is compared to the other Disney parks. I do hope that one day I would get to see this park. Love the photos, keep them coming.
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I had no idea that there was an Italian theme to DisneySea - I thought it was just sea themed. Looks really beautiful. What was in all of those buildings? Were they just facades?
More please.
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I had no idea that there was an Italian theme to DisneySea - I thought it was just sea themed. Looks really beautiful. What was in all of those buildings? Were they just facades?
The buildings are the Hotel MiraCosta. In one of those shots, although I don't know which one was our room - you will see a shot of that in a later installment.
Love the pictures of the fountain. The whole park is so very different from what I expected it would be (in a good way, that is). Interesting b-fast buffet....
Wow, that park (at least from what we've seen so far) is Gorgeous!! And the globe fountain is amazing. Yes...I would love to get there one day. Of course I'd love to get to all of the Disney parks one day.
I just got caught up, and I love everything about your trip! I wished I had been able to go there while a friend of mine had been living in Japan.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Next, it was into the monorail station and this has to be the best monorail station in the world. It’s just gleaming and huge. Only the Japanese could have a monorail station this lovely and the Americans could definitely learn from them on this. The Hong Kong and Tokyo systems are much, much better than the ones in Orlando and California.
I didn't see anyone mention, but the Tokyo DL monorail system had to be manufactured to Japan's mass transit standards. That's also why there's no train going around the perimeter of the park, as that would have had to meet those standards too.
And, I didn't see you mention, but the Men's room have those toilets, too (at least, that's what my friend said, and he had the same feelings toward them -- eeewwww).
Can't wait to see the wrap up! This would be my dream trip too. Although, I didn't see, the Sony store you visited earler, do you know if that was in Akihabara?
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And, I didn't see you mention, but the Men's room have those toilets, too (at least, that's what my friend said, and he had the same feelings toward them -- eeewwww).
Can't wait to see the wrap up! This would be my dream trip too. Although, I didn't see, the Sony store you visited earler, do you know if that was in Akihabara?
Not something Mark even mentioned to me... :
The Sony store was in Ginza in the centre of Tokyo. Akiharbara is to the north of the city and is home to lots of electrical places. We didn't make it there, as we ran out of time.
Thursday 9 April – part two: don’t knock the popcorn until you’ve tried it!
Then it was off the next land, which is American Waterfront. From what we could see, it was based on a turn of the century American city.
The entrance to the Tower of Terror The characters come out
Once here, we had to decide what to do next. We had about 30 minutes before we were due to meet Donna, Frank, Luke and Liam, so we decided to take the DisneySea Electric Railway, essentially an overhead train system. It’s a bit like the El in Chicago and we were on in a couple of minutes, although sadly we were facing outwards and didn’t get such a great view of the park. There were some nice adverts in the waiting area though:
We went up to Port Discovery, as it’s a one way trip and, just as we got there, we saw what seemed like fun, little machines whizzing around on a lake, as if they were floating. That was it, we were sold and headed straight there. It’s called Aquatopia and they run on a motor system, although the computer picks out where you go, as we realised as soon as we started out and took a totally different path to the one in front of us. You go backwards, forwards and spin around and it’s a lot of fun, so much so that we both came off saying that we had to get the others on this.
We walked round to American Waterfront through Cape Cod to meet up with Donna and her family.
We finally found some of the chocolate popcorn that I’ve been desperate to try.
Just as we bought that, Mark spotted Frank coming over the bridge towards us. We walked into the American Waterfront with him, taking photos on the way:
It turned out they’d just brought black pepper popcorn, which they were enjoying and we soon added to the collection with some strawberry popcorn from the cart nearby. I tell you, we may have laughed at those mad Japanese and their funny popcorn flavours, but don’t knock something until you’ve tried it, as it’s actually pretty good.
Tummies were still rumbling in Donna’s family, so it was time for a hot dog, once the popcorn was finished!
While they ate, we photographed:
Next: I guess Indy hasn’t explored Japan recently!
Awesome pictures, as always! The Tower of Terror looks so pretty at Tokyo DisneySea Of course, that means that it looks less scary, too It appears to be bigger even, although I assume it's the same size as the other ToTs around the world.
The Port Discovery part of the park reminds me a lot of Discoveryland at Disneyland Paris - did you notice that by any chance while you were there?
As the huge America fan that I am, I gotta admit that the Cape Cod section of Tokyo DisneySea is my favorite so far I adore the look of the houses!
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Of course, that means that it looks less scary, too 
I adore the look of the houses!
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