Disneyland by Surprise TR -- February 10-12, 2012 - Page 3 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
Wow, you're getting things done so easily! Makes a big difference when you don't have to walk long distances between rides. So nice to be able to walk from the hotel right to the park, too. I'm nervous now about the aftermath of the teacups!
Oh boy, not a good ending to this installment! My goodness though, you've certainly managed to achieve a lot already!
Yes, I was very happy with how much we were able to get done. That extra hour in the morning made a big difference for us!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Boy you've gotten a lot done at DL this morning! Love the pictures!
Just wait for the rest of the day!
Quote:
Originally Posted by PrincessSharon
Uh oh! Hope that burrito doesn't make a reappearance!
You'll find out shortly!
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
The morning started off well, until the teacups! Hope breakfast doesn't make another appearance!
I don't know what David was thinking!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
Wow, you're getting things done so easily! Makes a big difference when you don't have to walk long distances between rides. So nice to be able to walk from the hotel right to the park, too. I'm nervous now about the aftermath of the teacups!
That is one thing we just love about DLR -- everything is right there! No buses, no boats, no monorails (well, unless you want to, but it's not necessary for anything).
Quote:
Originally Posted by ilovedisney247
Wow! I would definitely decline on the tea cups right after eating!
Yeah, it was an interesting choice for the first ride after breakfast! Short line or not, it was NOT a good idea!
It is now just after 9:00 a.m. and we have ridden Star Tours x3, Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, Finding Nemo Submarines, Autopia, and Mad Hatter's Teacups, plus we stopped for breakfast. We're getting a lot done!
But, whoa, I was feeling that ride on the teacups. I don't think I would have felt quite so terrible if I had not been snapping photos the whole time. But by the time the ride was over, my equilibrium was completely thrown off and I was really dizzy. I mean, dizzy to the point that when I stepped out of the tea cup, I couldn't walk in a straight line (and no, there was nothing in my coffee but cream and sugar )! I stumbled my way to the ride exit, hoping all the while that I would not decorate the entire area with the remnants of my breakfast burrito. Thankfully, the dizziness passed rather quickly and the nausea went away. Whew--disaster averted!
We decided to spend the next part of the morning in Fantasyland. David and I realized that the kids had never ridden Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, so we headed there next. I rode with Jacob, who was completely offended that we ended up in hell. For the rest of the trip, any time anyone mentioned Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Jacob would say, "It's unholy."
Glass toad in the boarding area
From there, we headed to Snow White's Scary Adventures. I was disappointed we hadn't had time to ride it during our trip to WDW in December, as I wanted one last ride before it goes away. I was glad we got a chance to ride it on this trip. Jacob wanted to take a photo of me in the queue. He told me to look scared since "Scary" was in the title of the attraction.
Eeeek!
After that, we tried to ride Pinocchio, but it had just broken down and they weren't letting anyone in the queue.
By now, the kids had asked about 75,000 times (give or take a few) if it was warm enough to ride Splash Mountain. The sun had broken through the clouds and it was starting to warm up a bit, so we said yes. Jacob, who loves flume rides and loves getting soaked, sat in front, followed by Peter, then me, then David. There was no line and we saw lots of empty logs going down the drop, so we almost felt like we had the whole thing to ourselves! Jacob got wet and he was happy as a clam.
Finally, we headed over to Indiana Jones, one of David's favorite rides in Disneyland. I don't mind it, but I absolutely hate the queue. I am claustrophobic and parts of that queue really freak me out. The wait was about 30 minutes, so we decided to cash in one of our "Super FPs" to be able to get into the FP line immediately. Thankfully, then, we were able to quickly pass through the parts of the queue that bother me. After about a 10 minute wait, we were in our ride vehicle bumping and twisting along.
On the way, I snapped a photo of the Sailing Ship Columbia, which is currently undergoing refurb/repair.
Sign outside the Sailing Ship Columbia
By now, it was around 10:30 and we decided to head over to DCA. We felt like we had hit most of the major stuff we wanted to see in Disneyland Park. There's always stuff still on my to do list, but we had accomplished a lot and wanted to head to DCA before it got too crowded.
Up next: Would our time at DCA be as productive as our morning in Disneyland?
Somehow I missed this TR! Glad I finally saw it though! Love the video of the reveal! Looked a little familiar. I am not quite finished reading yet but I will catch up!
Unbelievable how much you got done by 10:30am! Jacob is too funny about Mr Toad! So glad the dizziness from Teacups went away pretty quickly. What an awful feeling.
(I'm not seeing the photos, either-- I'll check back again later)
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Somehow I missed this TR! Glad I finally saw it though! Love the video of the reveal! Looked a little familiar. I am not quite finished reading yet but I will catch up!
Thanks for reading, Tabitha!
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
Glad you didn't see breakfast again! Sounds like you are continuing to have a great morning in DL. I can't see your pictures though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
Unbelievable how much you got done by 10:30am! Jacob is too funny about Mr Toad! So glad the dizziness from Teacups went away pretty quickly. What an awful feeling.
(I'm not seeing the photos, either-- I'll check back again later)
Hmmmm, I'm not sure what's going on with the photos. I can see them, but I noticed that my post doesn't show the "attached photos" at the bottom like it normally does.