A very personal Decade of Dreams tour! UPDATED 6/5 - Page 37 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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Well, I'm glad you made it back on the non-express train without incident! The pot pies looked pretty big, at least till you took the top off. The strawberry dessert looked divine (except it needed more whipped cream)!
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What a lovely time you two are having. And all your photos make me feel like I'm right along with you. It's really making me want to visit Japan more and more!
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
All caught up now! Your pictures of Nikko were absolutely stunning. I'm glad you avoided the rain . Wonderful report. Can't wait to read the next installment!
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Enjoying Tokyo DisneySea with my Buzz & Woody...
I know'd I made a good choice! DVC - Saratoga Springs Resort
Even more great pictures. Your meal looked delcious, however when you showed the picture of Mark's Pot Pie, it didn't look like much meat in it (as you described it how you didn't think it filled Mark up, it wouldn't have filled Erick up either). Both of your desserts look delicious, especially your's with the strawberries (yum).
Omg.. I just found your trip report Cheryl. I am blown away. So envious over here. I haven't quite read it all yet.. But needed to post so I could find it tomorrow. My sleep is calling me. I just love your reports.
Today we needed the wakeup call, as we had a full day tour out to Mount Fuji and Hakone to look forward to. We were awake just before the wake-up call, but my goodness, when it comes, it’s still a shock to the system.
We were downstairs a few minutes before our bus was due and I will be honest, I did start to get a bit worried when it got to dot on 7.50 and the bus wasn’t there. Anywhere else in the world that wouldn’t bother me, but I think I was getting too used to Japanese efficiency. Fortunately, the bus was only a couple of minutes late and then we hopped aboard with a few others from our hotel.
We had two more stops to make, both out in Roppongi. One was the Ritz-Carlton and very it was too. My goodness, I can see why they charge as much as they do for this place, as this kept coming up as one of the options on Expedia, when I was looking for hotels, so I know how much it costs per night. Try about £400 (c. $550) a night!
At least I was able to get some day time shots of Roppongi, which was nice. It’s very different in the light and it was a beautiful day. The sky was perfectly blue. What a great day to be going out to see Mount Fuji.
We got to the bus terminal about an hour after being picked up and turned in our tickets for our tour. Everyone was allocated sets on the bus and we were just behind the guide, which was great.
We set off just after 9.00 and went through western Tokyo. On the way, our tour guide Take gave us almost a guided tour of the city, explaining about the Imperial Palace, Meiji Shrine and the Shinjuku area of the city, all of which we passed by. Apparently, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices that we had been in a couple of days earlier, are known as the tax towers, as they cost something like 135 billion Yen to build! No wonder they offer a free observation deck for that place. By the way, the photos from the bus are blue, as the windows were tinted…
On the way, we also heard about the Japanese obsession with golf and their indoor and outdoor practice ranges. You can see huge nets everywhere and these are the outdoor practice ranges. As we left Tokyo this morning, we saw a lot of indoor ones too.
We learnt about Karaoke as well, another Japanese obsession and how if you got with colleagues from work, the subordinates have to listen to their bosses and then be very enthusiastic with their applause afterwards. Then there was the story about Krispy Kremes doughnuts, which have only just arrived in Japan and how Take had waited in line for two and a half hours the previous summer to get some doughnuts. He was full of great stories.
Eventually, after about half an hour of driving, we left Tokyo behind. Once again, it really is amazing how far it sprawls for. And the traffic heading into the city was just at a standstill for miles. I guess maybe the fact that so far we’ve thought the traffic wasn’t too bad in the middle of the city may be balanced out by the fact that it’s so awful to get into the city itself.
The further we got, the more we could see of Mount Fuji. It really is a stunning sight and even our guide sounded impressed when he said that usually you can’t see it from that far away usually, so I guess we picked a really good day to come out here.
Yes, that is an amusement park in front of Mount Fuji
Cheryl, even more breathtaking views in your pictures (even if they were blue from the tinted windows). How ironic that there was the Amusement Park in front of Mt. Fuji. Interesting stories about the Karaoke and Krispy Kreme Donuts.
Right, I'm finally all caught up. I reasoned that if I'm going to meet up with you both this weekend then I needed to bring myself up to date with your Japan trip.
All I can say is WOW!!!!
You've surpassed yourself with your photography skills, Cheryl.
A fascinating trip report about what was clearly a fascinating trip.
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Disney Magic - Oct 2015
All caught up now! Your pictures of Nikko were absolutely stunning. I'm glad you avoided the rain 
. Wonderful report. Can't wait to read the next installment!
Teresa
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