A special birthday, a diamond anniversary and a west coast adventure COMPLETED - Page 21 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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So glad that you were able to get indoor seating for lunch and your sandwiches looked delicious! Sorry the service was lacking but at least you were in air conditioning. Enjoyed all your pictures of the JC and Main Street.
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I have only visited Disneyland three times. Once in October, one in January and once in May.
Two out of three times the weather was perfect-warm but not hot and dry. I loved all the outdoor queues. I cannot imagine it in that heat. In May, I froze and had to buy a sweatshirt and was still freezing. I would love to go back ( I actually like the parks better) but it's a 5 hour flight v a 3 hour one to WDW and pushes my limit for sitting on a plane.
I can understand that.... I guess a jump across the pond won't be happening anytime soon then?
It's a shame you said that, as I was going to say we'll have to coincide our visits next time, as you obviously have the luck with the weather at Disneyland that we just don't have.
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I was disappointed by the Diamond anniversary stuff too. Nothing that really jumped out at me, which was a shame because it would have been neat to have something. Something that didn't break the bank.
I think the problem was, if I'm being honest, is that Disney just got a bit too greedy with the merchandise for this celebration.
So sorry to hear about the oppressive heat! It would have made your day much more enjoyable without it. Probably, why I have always avoided WDW from June-September as it would be quite unbearable!
You covered a lot in the parks with RSR, JC and a nice lunch at Cafe Orleans with so many great photos!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Great photos as you all traveled through Downtown Disney District, but bummer that so little of the merchandise appealed to you all. We were not wowed by the 60th anniversary stuff either. I don't remember seeing that $99 top.
So sorry to hear about the oppressive heat! It would have made your day much more enjoyable without it. Probably, why I have always avoided WDW from June-September as it would be quite unbearable!
Yep, that's my biggest fear about our September visit there this year. I am dreading the heat, that is not going to be fun.
Great photos as you all traveled through Downtown Disney District, but bummer that so little of the merchandise appealed to you all. We were not wowed by the 60th anniversary stuff either. I don't remember seeing that $99 top.
Maybe there were people between our visit and yours that thought little of spending $99 and it sold out?
Wednesday 9 September – part ten: getting our parade spots
We headed back to the room for a couple of hours and had some down time, before setting off again just before 6:00pm. It was still really hot, but at least the sun wasn’t shining, so that was something. We made our way over to the Disneyland Park…
… and I was lucky enough to catch the train arriving at the Main Street station.
We got a few Photopass pictures done…
… then we headed inside…
… and got a few more done.
We’d been texting with Karen and Sharon, as we were due to meet them shortly on Main Street. Mark wanted to go and get a Yoda T-shirt, so I waited outside the Emporium. As soon as they arrived, Karen hurried off to find us a great spot for the parade and fireworks. Mark took forever, but I later discovered that it was because he found a T-shirt in the right size, but it turned out to be a kids’ one. He questioned this, and the staff were telling him it was an adults’ and he was saying he doubted that… it turned out he was right.
We found Karen safely guarding our new spots, and she told us to go off and ride something, and she’d keep an eye on our places until we got back, so we headed off with Sharon.
We went through Frontierland…
… and headed off to see this, as it was only showing a 10 minute wait, and it certainly wasn’t anymore than that.
I did try for some photos on the ride, but they were pretty disastrous, so I ended up binning them all. We did comment that this version of the ride is a bit bizarre, as you start off going through skeletons, then it’s like you go back in time to the heyday of the pirates, which is a bit of an odd order to do things in. I think I prefer the order of the scenes in Disney World.
A kids size shirt appeared to be equal to that of an adult size shirt? Wow. How about the price tag, was that the same too?
I never really thought about that regarding the order of things in Pirates in DL. There sure are a lot of skeleton and gold treasure scenes before the story line picks up. Huh. I guess I'm easily distracted!
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Tanya
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Nice photos from DL and that's odd with POTC and the skeletons! Glad it all worked out for Mark and his t-shirt.
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
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Enjoyed all your pictures of the JC and Main Street.
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Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
It would have made your day much more enjoyable without it. Probably, why I have always avoided WDW from June-September as it would be quite unbearable! 
Glad it all worked out for Mark and his t-shirt.
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