TR: Thingamabobs, Zebra & Giraffes, Oh My! Completed 3/25/15 - Page 28 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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 dinner at Bongos and the show and fireworks looks like a fun way to wrap up your Frozen day! How cool that Emily got to be on the big screen with Olaf!
Breakfast with the Princesses was a great way to kick off your day at Epcot. I love the potatoes there too! Love the Mickey necklace you got!
Great day at Epcot! Love all the pictures! Breakfast looked fun (the potatoes are my favorite as well)! Sounds like you found some great shopping finds too!
That was a productive shopping spree! Good use of the 20% off coupon!
Thanks! Darn those coupons
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tara O'Hara
What a great day at Epcot! We are trying Akershus for the first time ever this trip and I am really excited about it it! You guys had plenty of great character interaction today as well as great shopping! . How fun! Scott on that necklace!
Tara
Thanks! We really enjoy Akershus..........more than CRT
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
Great day at Epcot! I love shopping at Mouse Gears too!
PS: I do prepare fried plantains, among other goodies.
Thanks! yum!!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coop
Ok - love the retail therapy! Scott's a keeper! And then Duffy on top of it all?! Yeah - the day is already shaping up as near perfect!
Thanks! Yeah - thought you would appreciate Duffy
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
We ate at Bongo's last May and really like it, too. The Frozen fireworks look neat. Nice start to your day at Epcot as it looks so quiet before your breakfast.
Thanks! I love walking through Epcot so early!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
The early-morning breakfast at any park are so worth it just for the walk through an empty park to get there. Love it! A great time seeking out characters. Especially love the Jasmine, Aladdin, Emily photos.
Thanks! Yes, they are!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
You certainly packed in a lot at Epcot!
Thanks! We try
Quote:
Originally Posted by shazza
Beautiful necklace, and how sweet of Scott. It looked like a fun character-filled morning, with some nice snacks too.
Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
Great dinner at Bongos and the show and fireworks looks like a fun way to wrap up your Frozen day! How cool that Emily got to be on the big screen with Olaf!
Breakfast with the Princesses was a great way to kick off your day at Epcot. I love the potatoes there too! Love the Mickey necklace you got!
Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by xwewhisper
Ohhhh the necklace! looks like such a fun morning!
Thanks! See, that's why I got excited when I saw your post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great day at Epcot! Love all the pictures! Breakfast looked fun (the potatoes are my favorite as well)! Sounds like you found some great shopping finds too!
Thanks! I love me some shopping therapy
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
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We made it back to the resort and changed into swim suits and headed down to the pool, even though the sky was looking a bit iffy.
We managed to get some relaxing; cooling off time – although Emily did not actually get into the pool today – she did not want to get her hair wet! Are you kidding me??? Whatever, I didn’t care!
I even managed to get another one of those lovely skinny coconut mojito and enjoy while relaxing on a lounger while talking to another DVC member next to me. They had been here the same amount of time we had, and come same time every year as well and couldn’t believe how much rain we had gotten. This was way more than the usual 3pm rain showers. Anyway, we were enjoying each other’s company and the lack of rain at the present moment.
Scott did manage some hot tub time for his back! Cooled off and relaxed we headed back to the room, as the sky was getting darker.
We hung out on the balcony for a bit……..I do have to say, of all the resorts – this is the one that we have spent the most time on the balcony! There is something so peaceful and relaxing about that atmosphere! I could honestly just live there!
We decided to head back to DHS tonight as Emily really wanted to try to meet Mike & Sulley. They were on the schedule to be out for a bit longer, so we got dressed and headed to the bus.
We entered DHS and got a photopass photo!
Then we headed straight back to Mike & Sulley’s area. We made it just in time – they were just getting ready to close the line – we were the last family to meet them for the evening!
We love all the décor and signs here! Emily found her locker!!!
We had fun with Mike & Sulley and even got a group hug!!!
Next we headed up to Animation building in hopes that some characters would still be in there – we were able to meet Sorcerer Mickey!
We had managed to grab a fastpass for Toy Story Mania, and that was ripe now, so that is where we headed next! I rode with Emily, and I got best score of the two of us – but Scott got best score for the car!
We had not made any ADR’s for this evening (I usually try to leave an open evening towards the end of trips to allow for flexibility) and we were starting to get hungry so we went to Toy Story Pizza Planet.
Scott had the Meatball sub with a Yuengling beer, both Emily and I had the cheese pizzas with salads, I had a diet coke – she had a root beer.
Now, all evening, it had been raining lightly on and off – now it was like a monsoon out there!!! We literally just sat at the table watching the rain for probably an hour waiting for a break to be able to get out of there!
It finally let up just a little, and we made our way over to Muppets Vision 3D. We all enjoy this show. And I finally got daring enough to try for some photos – using just my phone with no flash – as it does not produce any light at all (my DSLR even with no flash will sometimes have a back light). I was happy to get some pics of Animal!
We were done with this rain nonsense now and just wanted to head back to the resort, but first I had another snack to check off my list – so we stopped at the Writers Stop to purchase a Carrot Cake cookie! I had it wrapped up to enjoy in our room later!
We managed to get back to the resort not completely drenched, but wet enough. We did stop in the gift shop as we realized that we had not purchased the DVC pins yet this trip – so we got those and also the new DVC vinylmation. Scott had also ran back to the room and came back to the shop to return a Frozen Pin set that Emily had gotten earlier in the trip, but had since found other Frozen pins that she liked much better. It was no problem returning them here.
Then we headed back to the room – and of course I poured a glass of wine, and I had a date with my tub!
Total Miles Walked today: 14.21
Total Spent on Food & Beverages: $214.29
Total Spent on Souvenirs, Activities, Misc.: $523.52
Total TIW Discount savings: $25.19
Total Annual Pass Discount Savings: $8.77
Total 20% CS Coupon Discount savings: $110.83
Total credit for return: $19.55
Up Next: What in the world in wrong with him???
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
Great update, Lisa! Sorry about the rain. It still sounds like a fun afternoon/evening for you guys and I really love your pictures! AKL is simply my favorite WDW resort. That view of the savannah cannot be beat! I can't wait to go back there in December!!
Great update, Lisa! Sorry about the rain. It still sounds like a fun afternoon/evening for you guys and I really love your pictures! AKL is simply my favorite WDW resort. That view of the savannah cannot be beat! I can't wait to go back there in December!!
Tara
thanks! We really love AKL and will miss it this next trip, but there's always another time!
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
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Great afternoon! Although, the pics you posted were of SweetUms, not Animal. Animal is the pink haired crazy drummer. Still - it's a show we have yet to see.
Glad the rain held off during your pool time, which looked very relaxing. We love Pizza Planet. Bummer that the rain came in so heavily during your meal though.
A day well spent at WDW with so much done at Epcot and Studios and you got so many attractions and character meets in with so much fun! Your breakfast at Akershus looked very good!
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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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. How fun! 
out there!!! We literally just sat at the table watching the rain for probably an hour waiting for a break to be able to get out of there!
That view of the savannah cannot be beat! I can't wait to go back there in December!!
Bummer that the rain came in so heavily during your meal though. 
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