“Can We Go Home Yet??” - A Day Trip into NYC! - COMPLETE! - UPDATED 10/27 - Page 4 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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What a great day in NYC, except for the jerk in the SUV. Brings back memories of when my Mother and I would go, we would always go to St. Patricks and to Radio City for the Christmas Show. I always liked going to original Macy's .
When I read the title to your thread, I was worried! I thought maybe you had a terrible time but it sounds like everything went pretty well! The next time you go, PM me ahead of time... I love to take the kids to the city and I could meet a fellow passporter! Its too bad and I'm not working for the comedy club anymore, we used to exchange tickets for free passes to the top of the ESB!!! If I had known, I might have been able to get a favor and gotten you to the top for free (and you could have spent more money at the Disney Store )
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That is so funny! Poor Colin. He looks like he is bored stiff.
Marnie, we went to the tippy top...your pictures are just as fabulous. The only thing about the very top is that it was WAY less crowded. And, the original An Affair to Remember was filmed there. We watched it recently and said, "We were there!"
I am just now starting to read your now completed TR. I just had to comment now before I forgot.
the Toys R Us shop in Times Square. Our first visit there was when it had only been opened a month. Talk about lines for the ferris wheel! But, it was worth the wait. And isn't the Lego section incredible? There are some talented people out there.
We haven't been to the Hard Rock. We always like Planet Hollywood and Hello Deli. Why I get stuck in a rut when I go places, I'll never know.
What a fun day you guys had! We actually make sure we always buy a day subway pass. That way, when we have to go 30 blocks somewhere, we take the subway. Plus, Victoria loves the subway. On our last trip to NYC (September), we didn't get the day pass. What a mistake! It would have been different if it had been just my family, but my sister and her FOUR kids were with us, too. OHMYGOSH! We thought our legs would fall off from all of the walking. My sister had never taken her kids to NYC and wanted to do so much in just one day. I'll have to post that as a TR. You guys won't believe it.
Thanks for the comments Laura I was more than happy to take the subway. Especially since I was in the city about 2 weeks before the trip and did just that. DH on the other hand
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Hi Marnie! Just found this TR and I must say, you accomplished quite a lot in one day, especially with 2 young kids. I've done pretty much everything you did, but not all in the same day! I did the ESB and then walked up to Rockefeller Center and did the NBC tour before walking back to Times Square one day, and then another day, I walked from Penn Station to Times Square, met some PP'ers, ate lunch and then walked to The Disney Store. The first trip was on a bitterly cold day in March and the second was on a blisteringly hot day in August! My legs suffered both trips, but I just don't feel like I know the subway system enough yet to take it alone, and I'm not comfortable in a cab; I have this irrational fear that they'll see "tourist" across my forehead and take me the long way, or in the completely opposite direction from where I want to go.
As for the ESB, I did virtually the same thing you did, only I rode the SkyRide virtual reality ride which is a helicoptor tour over NYC as well. Pretty I was amazed at the "Disnification" of the ESB, too. I thought you just went in and took the elevator upstairs, silly me! You were smart to purchase your tickets in advance online, and I'd highly recommend everyone do that if they know they're going. I seem to remember having to go into the basement first to buy tickets BEFORE being herded to the second floor. Lots of waiting in lines here. It took me a good 90 minutes here, including the SkyRide.
Oh, and one hint, re: bathrooms. Most big hotels have public restrooms, although they may not be on street level. The Marriott Marquis in Times Square has some VERY nice, ALWAYS CLEAN bathrooms on the 8th floor. Barnes & Noble has some pretty decent ones and most Starbucks do, although you may have to buy something to use it.
If you go again, may I suggest taking the kids to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum? I'm sure they'd love posing with the stars. Lots of celebs, world leaders and sports figures. Very Disnified, in that you can't turn around and go out the way you came in, though; you have to go through all the exhibits to exit. AAA members also get a discount on admission here. Warning though, this also has "photopass" type pictures (I passed on one w/ The Hulk ). I'm sure Colin would also like seeing the dinosaurs at the American Museum of Natural History. That's next on my own NYC Touristy Things To Do List.
Thanks for sharing your day in the Big Apple with us!
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-Lisa
The World is a book. Those who do not travel read only a page." - Augustine
Your kids are so cute, Marnie! I'm glad I found this TR, especially now that I have a plan to visit NYC in the works. Thanks for sharing your day with us. Your pictures were great. I especially liked the one of St. Patrick's cathedral- interesting juxtaposition of old cathedral and modern skyscraper.
Just finding your TR now, Marnie! Sounds like you got a lot accomplished in one day! DH & I were talking the other day how we really need to get back there.....last time we were there was for my brother's colon cancer surgery....not exactly a pleasure visit. for sharing your TR!!
Hi Marnie
Just came across your TR. Thanks for sharing your TR with such great photos! Had to laugh since we also took our kids to NYC last August for my DS's 8th birthday. He wanted to go to the ESB and we also bought our tix online. We also found out too late about the bathrooms and having to go through security again - NOT! Instead we ran across the street to the McDonald's.
Earlier we took the kids to see The Gazillion Bubble Show which was amazing and then we had DS's birthday lunch at Mars 2110. My DS's favorite part of his trip? Riding the subway!!!!
Being native New Yorkers, I've brainwashed my kids that NYC is the GREATEST CITY IN THE WORLD! I miss it a lot. Planning to take them back again this summer.
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