Driving Karen nuts in 10 rides or less **Updated 2/18** COMPLETE - Page 19 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
In fact, when I decided to head back to the room to freshen up before our night at the Studios, I was so loopy that I just started walking, turning down hallways I didn’t recognize and then turning down more and more until I found myself back at the concierge desk again. Oooops… I had forgotten to take the elevator down one floor to our room… then I walked and walked and walked again until I found our hallway. Eeeeep!
Considering how much trouble you had when you were sober, I'm not at all surprised.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Caldercup
Within seconds, we were standing in the pre-show and I was desperately (sans Sharon, who was still with her mom and dad) trying to remember the sequence when the guy in the blue shirt gets boogies wiped on him. I kept saying “here it comes… no wait… now… no wait… um… no wait… HERE!”
OK, maybe it's because you were tipsy that you were so confused, but it's not boogies, it's spit. And it's right after Steven Tyler and the manager lick their thumbs and touch them together (umm, eww). The very next thing Steven does after that is wipe his hand on blue shirt guy's back. My fav thing about the preshow!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Caldercup
BTW, here’s a tip to remember when stepping into the row of seats – DO NOT USE THE SHOULDER HARNESS OF THE SEAT IN FRONT OF YOU AS A HANDHOLD.
I've seen that happen so many times!
Quote:
Up Next: Sharon sets my competitive gene clicking....
Quote:
OK so now that I know how to push your buttons, whoever posts the next update to her TR wins!
__________________
Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
It took me a minute to realize that you were talking about Sunday, December 14th because Sunday, June 14th (where the 14th falls this year) is Zack's 16th birthday. I figured it was a sign that you're going to win the lottery, buy DVC, and join us for our trip this summer!
Quote:
Tonight’s appetizer was duck quesadillas, which were yummy scrummy and very filling.
Donald starts appearing at the character breakfast downstairs at Cape May Cafe and they start serving his cousins upstairs in the concierge lounge. NI-ICE!
Quote:
In fact, when I decided to head back to the room to freshen up before our night at the Studios, I was so loopy that I just started walking, turning down hallways I didn’t recognize and then turning down more and more until I found myself back at the concierge desk again. Oooops… I had forgotten to take the elevator down one floor to our room… then I walked and walked and walked again until I found our hallway. Eeeeep!
You never told me that you made it ALL the way back to the concierge desk! Did anyone see you? Did you have to come up with an explanation about why you were back? (You know, some question that you already know the answer to.) Or was it just head down, frantically push the button on the elevator, and pray no one sees you. I'm loving the visual in my head right now!
Quote:
When the steward stepped off the boat and said he had room for 9 people, this dude behind us suddenly lurches forward with a yelp of “we’re a party of nine.” Before any of us could even formulate a response that this wasn’t a request for a party, just an announcement that only nine would be allowed aboard, this dude pushed through us and dragged his family off.
Maybe not enough time to formulate a response, but it doesn't take long to stick your foot out and trip him!
Quote:
Jeepers… every time… EVERY STINKIN’ TIME… some bozo has to lean against the harness, which sends it permanently down into a lower position, making the people in that row have to stoop and bend funny to get themselves in their own seats. Then try to remember that it’s hard enough for a big girl to get into the limo in the first place, but try doing it when a harness at half mast. Sheesh.
OK, NOW I'm loving the visual in my head even more! Did you have your tongue out while you squeezed your way by 'cause that's the image in my head. BTW, TOTALLY agree on the half-mast annoyance though. Hee!
Quote:
My bladder buddy, Lesley, happily trudged over to the rockin’ bathroom with me. The line was loooooooong, but moved quickly and… ahhhh… relief was mine.
It is funny the things that we've chosen to bond over. The other day I realized that I hadn't gone to the bathroom like all day at work, even though I'd had a couple cups of coffee and 3-4 glasses of water. I'll probably get a bladder infection, but I was thinking how proud Sharon would be! Love the update and can't wait for more!
__________________
Karen, aka Zack's Mom - Lover of all Things Disney and the San Francisco Giants!
My memory is fuzzy (darned heavy-handed ELC President!), but I think we left RnR and returned to TOT for our FP ride. We met up with Bob and Larry, but they didn’t have FPs so said they’d wait for us at the exit. We entered the FP line and that’s when I first checked out the FP itself and realized that we were about 5 minutes early!! Yipes – why did the CM let us into the line?! Luckily, the next CM just took the FP and waived us in. We got front row seats this time and had a blast – lots of good, long drops! And Jill came off still happy with this ride!
We decided it was about time to mosey over to the lights and see what FABs were available. I texted Sharon to see if she and her Mom would be joining us soon and she replied that she was heading to the Studios now. We decided to join up at the Lights and the next text I get is “Race ya!”
Well… seeing as how she had just said that she was on her way to the Studios, I figured I had a head start.
Also, I had been on that treadmill pretty religiously for the past 3 months.
And… the competitiveness of a certain California friend has managed to rub off on me quite more than I expected.
Suddenly, I left my little group in the dust and was BOOKING IT over past Gertie the dino with Heather pumping her arms to keep up. (The rest of the gang was left in my wake, holding their sides and yelling “uncle.” )
I hit the Lights area and immediately started looking around for Sharon. When I didn’t see her anywhere, I did a little dance of joy and wallowed in a wonderful moment of pure self-congratulation.
Then… feeling cocky… I challenged the gang to a race to find where the Halloween cat was hiding amongst the Christmas lights – winner gets treated to an FAB by the losers.
YaaaaHOOOOO! I found it, lurking in a little alleyway behind a hot chocolate vendor. Yesss! (If I’d had an imaginary football, I would’ve spiked it.)
Still no Sharon! Hmmmmmm…. Maybe she decided to ditch us now that she’d lost the bet.
We wandered around and enjoyed the lights, the music, the snow and the “spectacles” for quite a while, even stopping to take some PhotoPass pics.
Still no Sharon.
She eventually texted to tell me she was at the lights and, get this, now she is trying to spread the rumor that she’d been there all along. Yeah… riiiiiiiiight!
We tasked Jill with finding us a good FAB and we came up empty – zip, nada, zilch. Sheesh… had we arrived on Prohibition Night?
We settled for trying to catch Toy Story Midway Mania before our legs completely collapsed beneath us and got into an incredibly looooooong stand-by line. There’s so much to see that I didn’t mind, plus it gave me an opportunity to enjoy Mr. Potato Head when he wasn’t suffering from caffeine deprivation.
I think the wait was about 40 minutes, but what really steamed me was the fact that they’d closed the single rider line that I’d enjoyed so much in June. Heather and I watched the loading zone for the entire time it was in view and counted at least a dozen cars that were sent into the ride with an empty seat. Sheeeesh! That coulda been **us!**
It was a great ride, as always and I think I did fairly well – somewhere in the black cat range… heading towards the next level.
As soon as the ride was over, I think we were all toast. We trudged out of the park and over to the boat, glad to have an opportunity to sit on the outside bench – such a great view.
It was a long day, but a good one.
We said our goodbyes to our buddies and started packing up our stuff – taking special care to put together all the items we wanted to include in the box for Karen. I had a printout of our ADR from Artist’s Point and carefully folded it to act as a backing to the pin, wrapped it up in tissue paper and gave it place of honor in the center of the box. (Karen called me when the box arrived at her house and she was so thrilled, I think she may have shed a tear or two! )
Once all of our stuff was in the final stages of being packed, we climbed into bed and crashed for the night.
Up next: we meet Mabel and Ed and say goodbye to friends.
Last edited by Caldercup; 01-26-2009 at 08:17 PM..
In your last post you said, I think the wait was about 40 minutes, but what really steamed me was the fact that they’d closed the single rider line that I’d enjoyed so much in June. Heather and I watched the loading zone for the entire time it was in view and counted at least a dozen cars that were sent into the ride with an empty seat. Sheeeesh! That coulda been **us!**
I know what you mean. My DW, DGD and I were able to ride as singles when we were there in August. The standby line was very long.
I had such a great time that night! I loved seeing the lights with you guys and the wait at TSMM was not awful . . . at least we got to spend it chatting with friends! As for the lack of AFB I'll buy you one in May! (for finding the cat of course!)
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Eileen, dear, if you'd like to believe that I made it up about already being there, thus being a dirty cheaterjust so you can think you really won, Karen's competitive streak has nothing on yours! You won! OK?
__________________
Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.