Make Mine A BLT with Some MVMCP, MK, AK & More - A Short Solo Trip - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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Looks like you had a lovely PPer meet, and I'm sure Laurie was just as sweet in person and she is on here. I actually saw the photo she took of that pineapple over on her TR...to funny. Once again, your photos are beautiful, and it almost makes me ashamed to say it, but I didn't a chance to practice with mine as much as I would have liked. The whole chore of changing lenses was too much while trying to tour Disney with a toddler.
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So glad you got to meet up with Laurie - and I hope we can work something out so that we can get together in a couple of weeks' time!
Got your schedule - something should work out!
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Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great pictures from the start of your trip!
Thanks, Marnie.
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Originally Posted by lauriep
Great photos! I enjoyed our meeting so much, Sharon. I'm glad we both overcame our inclinations and decided to get together. You beat me to posting your updates!
It was fun, Laurie! Ha - I beat you because I went back and rested, while you shopped like a mad woman!
Quote:
Originally Posted by rlb38
Glad you were able to meet up with Laurie. Love the monorail shot. I can't wait to see the FLE for myself!
Meeting Laurie was fun, and very relaxing. I think you'll enjoy the FLE.
Quote:
Originally Posted by honeybee723
Looks like you had a lovely PPer meet, and I'm sure Laurie was just as sweet in person and she is on here. I actually saw the photo she took of that pineapple over on her TR...to funny. Once again, your photos are beautiful, and it almost makes me ashamed to say it, but I didn't a chance to practice with mine as much as I would have liked. The whole chore of changing lenses was too much while trying to tour Disney with a toddler.
Don't beat yourself up - it's hard to change lenses without a toddler. And, too much concentration on photography takes away from the vacation with family fun.
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Originally Posted by MayraLR
Awesome photos of Main St!
Thanks, Mayra.
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Originally Posted by JKnott17
You got some great pictures of the parade and Main Street!
Thanks! I actually like the night time parade photos better - coming up in a day or two.
Ready for another update - cause here comes one. I have to warn folks - this TR is photo heavy. That was my main reason for going on this trip, and I may have shot til I dropped.
Real Life Update: Went to Hollywood Studios for a short time this morning, left about 11am and drove home. Made it home safe and sound at 2:00pm. Very tired - doing this trip with only one day's rest from the drive home from Maine was not ideal. But, glad I went.
Day 1, Part 2
Spoiler Alert: While I don't show a step by step walk through of the Fantasy Land Expansion, you may want to skip this post and the next if you don't want to get any sneak previews. My feelings won't be hurt
After lunch, I walked over to - you guessed it - the new Fantasy Land Expansion. This area was not too crowded, except for the line at Be Our Guest.
Before entering the actual new part, there were a couple of the new Royal Performers dancing around in the old Fantasy Land area and entertaining guests. She seemed to know what she was doing - he was a tad unsure of himself, never seeming to look up during any part of their dance
I didn't even inquire how long to lunch at Be Our Guest, since I want to save that for our future trip where we have dinner reservations. Oh, and I'd just had corn dog nuggets
Before getting to BOG, I walked by the entrance to Storytime with Belle. There was only a 20 minute wait, but I didn't want to go through this one without the grand kids. When I walked by later, it was even less crowded - this is a photo of the que:
If you continue walking past the Belle attraction, you come to Gaston's Tavern. While it looked busy from the outside, there was almost no one in line or dining. Most people were popping in and having a look, then coming back out.
Picture taking at Gaston's Fountain is going to be a popular activity. Next to the Tavern is Belle's Gift shop (with restrooms in between). Can't think why I didn't take a photo of that. I continued on to the Under the Sea ride.
The CM was studying while he waited for someone to enter the line
In the next post, we'll take a ride Under the Sea on our very own pink clam shell.
Love your shots of Fantasy Land, especially the ones of the exterior of the Mermaid ride. Your arm muscles are getting a workout with all that photography with the heavy camera!
Love your shots of Fantasy Land, especially the ones of the exterior of the Mermaid ride. Your arm muscles are getting a workout with all that photography with the heavy camera!
Fortunately, I didn't use the large lens much the first day.
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Originally Posted by rlb38
I HATED to do it but I skipped by the photos. I'm trying to be surprised for my trip. I will have your photos to look forward to when I return
That's exactly why I gave the warning - will try to get all the FLE posts out of the way in this next update.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Oh wow, the new Fantasyland is just spectacular - I am so excited to see this for myself real soon!
Spoiler Alert - This post contains pics of the Under the Sea ride in the new Fantasy Land. My understanding is that the ride is similar to the one in Disney Land. Please feel free to skip if you don't want to see it before you visit. From the next post on, this TR will be Fantasy Land Expansion - free
Day 1, Part 3Under the Sea with Ariel and Friends
This ride was a walk on when I was there around 2:30 pm. The que is cute, and there are some interactive parts as well. In the future, I'd like to go back and take some better photos of the waterfalls and pools.
Keeping abreast in the que
These next four photos were taken in the evening, before the Parade, but I will include them here just to get all the New Fantasy Land pics out of the way.
This Happy CM asked to pose for me, when he saw me taking photos. I didn't think to ask him if was related to Gaston
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Oh, how beautiful! I guess the interior of the ride does look similar to the one at DL, but the exterior of the ride building and the queue are MUCH better!
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I actually saw the photo she took of that pineapple over on her TR...to funny. Once again, your photos are beautiful, and it almost makes me ashamed to say it, but I didn't a chance to practice with mine as much as I would have liked. The whole chore of changing lenses was too much while trying to tour Disney with a toddler. 
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