Brent and Liz's Valentine's day/Anniversary TR: Slippers, Satchels, Special Cinderellas, Surprises, Friends...and Ducks? - UPDATED 3/24 COMPLETE! - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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!
Brent and Liz's Valentine's day/Anniversary TR: Slippers, Satchels, Special Cinderellas, Surprises, Friends...and Ducks? - UPDATED 3/24 COMPLETE!
About This Page:
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.
Thanks to all of you for joining in. I know Liz appreciates all the compliments and she deserves every one. She truly is amazing. Glad you all approve of the necklace.
Thanks Southerngirll for sharing your FGM story. We did count ourselves fortunate to catch her at 1900. You all know what Cinderella means to us. It was nice to share that with the Godmother when she came by.
Cassie:
The food at 1900 is good, certainly. But the hijinx we get into and the history we have there make that a must do for us several times a trip. Just wait til you hear what happens on Valentines day!
Sorry to all another update hasn't happened yet. Been a long week with the kids and I haven't had much free time to devote to all my Passporter friends. Hoping that will change soon and I hope to have another one out this weekend as well as Liz's side of the story. Won't be today though. Liz and I are having date night tonight and going to see a Disney show. They are going to tell three classic stories and act them out.
It was nice to meet you both too! I'll admit it was your shirt that I recognized . If you had been in any plain shirt - I probably wouldn't have known who you were.....LOL.
BTW, my name is Kelly - I should have introduced myself as that and not jojaymom....my DH said why did you said that and not your real name?
A very magical 1st day!! I was having terrible foot problems, and we were stopped for a "foot" rest and y'all passed us by again - I could tell you and Liz were in y'alls HAPPY PLACE Can't wait to hear more!!!
It was nice to meet you both too! I'll admit it was your shirt that I recognized . If you had been in any plain shirt - I probably wouldn't have known who you were.....LOL.
BTW, my name is Kelly - I should have introduced myself as that and not jojaymom....my DH said why did you said that and not your real name?
A very magical 1st day!! I was having terrible foot problems, and we were stopped for a "foot" rest and y'all passed us by again - I could tell you and Liz were in y'alls HAPPY PLACE Can't wait to hear more!!!
Where did we pass by you again? I wish you woudve flagged us down so we couldve chatted. Was still nice to pass by you in line. Tell me, what were we doing that told you we were in our happy place? Cuz we most certainly were!
Monday Feb 6 Akershus, Super Bowl Parades and a hungry Goofy!
Even though we pretty well closed the Magic Kingdom down last night for EMH, we were still up and around for an 8:15 breakfast at Akershus. I am a natural early riser so I was all set. Liz was doing much better with her sinus infection, but now her voice had definitely taken on a ‘Mickey Mouse’ type tonal quality. I assure you I did NOT take advantage of the situation by poking any fun at her because of this. So we got up and around and drove our trusty blue rented Yaris to Epcot and got in well before the general public. It is really cool walking into the parks with noone else around. MK is the best for this, but Epcot is also pretty surreal. We arrived at Norway well ahead of schedule and got in line to check in. Now for a bit of “Funny things heard at Disney”. A gentlemen in line started talking to us remarking. “It sure is great walking in the parks before it opens, isn’t it?” I enthusiastically replied yes!, Thinking I had met someone who shared my same joy of rising early and enjoying the parks with noone else around. This well meaning gentlemen promptly dashed my hopes when he replied “Yea. We did it yesterday too! We got in the Magic Kingdom early and had breakfast at Hollywoood and Vine!”. Ummmmm, ok. I didn’t know they opened up a Hollywood and Vine at the Magic Kingdom as well as at the Studios! Must be a popular place. Oh well, on to Breakfast and Bell awaits!
We had a nice meeting with her and were promptly seated. It should be noted Liz has a football Jersey on. Her gift to me on this trip was these football jerseys as we were going to be here during the MVP parade the day after the Superbowl. You know the one, when the MVP says “I’m going to Disney World!” We are going to see this at the MK later today, Liz has her Jersey on already, I will have mine on later and you’ll get a better look at them then. You’ll love em! First up at the table was Aurora. Very nice young lady, a bit friendly bordering on flirty. She gave us a knowing glance, perhaps she’s heard of us?
I should also say we are having these Princesses sign the wall hangings I made before we left home:
Next was Snow White, very gracious and beautiful.
I love this picture of Liz and her.
Snow has become Liz’s favorite. While I have warmed up to Snow more and more (get it? Warm up to snow? Ha!), Cinderella will always be my one and only favorite. Next was Mulan. She gave us a familiar glance too. Good to see her again!
Last up was Ariel. She came up to our table with a decidedly agitated demeanor, and looked at my shirt. She said something about “My friend Princess Aurora told me about you!” But then smiled and said “I see your girl’s not here today!”
Then I babbled something about my daughter because her favorite is Ariel, then Ariel said No No! I’m talking about the girl on your shirt!. Then it all made sense! She was talking about Cinderella and she wasn’t here for breakfast today! Those of you who have followed us from trips past know we have encountered a Princess Aurora here on occasion that is a bit playfully jealous of my adoration of Cinderella. On one occasion she even tried to win me over to her side. Hmmm this Ariel and Aurora must have talked quite closely! She was a great Ariel and even commented on Liz’s voice. “It seems like you met up with Ursula too, she’s trying to take your voice and put in a shell.” I picked right up on it and commented, don’t worry, I think she can get her Prince to ‘kiss girl’ her and break the spell. It was just a fantastic meeting. Then we made fish faces:
Well, breakfast was over and we headed out to take in a few future world attractions then made our way over to hop the Monorail to MK for the Super Bowl parade with Eli Manning! (I was hoping to see Tom Brady, but Liz is a Manning girl and I was happy she got to see one of her boys, it’s all good.) We left our vehicle at Epcot because we would be returning there late for dinner. We did arrive at the Magic Kingdom in time to see the Princesses though. And we had a big surprise. Those of us who followed our TR from last August know we encountered a Cinderella at Akershus that remembered us from a previous trip and called us by name. We encountered that same Cinderella at 1900 Park Faire a few more times that trip and she just made us feel very special each time. She is actually in one of my signature picture. That’s her and I holding hands.
Well, we went into the room and it was her! She recognized us immediately and called us by name. It was totally unreal. She was happy to see us, asked us how we had been and asked us when we were going to have dinner at 1900 Park Faire. We told her tomorrow night. She looked at us and smiled “Is that a for sure thing?” I replied “yes” and she said “I’ll see you tomorrow night, then” She loved our Jerseys. The back of mine says Cinderella and the back of Liz’ s says Tinker Bell. She posed with us:
We were ecstatic at meeting our Special Cindy, but there were more Princesses to meet:
And more fairies to meet! Love this picture with Rosetta:
Tink loved our Jerseys:
Then it was on to see Eli in the parade. We were right there in the front row and got a good couple of pictures as he went by. I thought it was great to see this parade. It was a pretty unique opportunity.
We followed it all the way up Main Street, then headed for the bus stops to go back to the resort for a quick pool break, lunch, and rest. Then we hopped the bus back to Epcot and made our way back to World Showcase to walk to the Swan and Garden Grove for dinner. This was a new place to eat for both of us. I also had never made this walk through the boardwalk to the Swan. It is a very nice path. We arrived at the Garden Grove right on time and helped ourselves to the buffet. Pluto came up to see us and was his usual Pluto self:
Then Goofy came by, and looked longingly at my plate full of tasty food. He then promptly pulled up a chair and joined us:
Well, he actually helped himself to MY plate.
I guess I could always go get more. He smeared ribs on his mouth and everything. It was great. Pluto came back later on tried to play a joke on the waiter. My back was to him and it was a few tables away, but I heard the waiter yell out “Son of a. . . .. “ and then I heard a big crash, then turned around just in time to see Pluto running away with arms wildly flailing. Liz and I looked at each other and decided it was time to go.
We made our way back to Epcot via the boat, and had a chance for a nighttime meeting with Princess Aurora:
And Snow White:
Then we got a few drinks, strolled around the world, rode Maelstrom, and Spaceship Earth, then headed out home for a good night’s sleep. Liz found a new boyfriend at Maelstrom:
Think I've got competition??
Tomorrow: We search for our ‘Someday home’ (we WILL move here someday) and have a very special dinner at 1900 Park Faire. Will we see our Special Cindy there? And later. When do Satchels, slippers, and ducks start to come into play? After all they are in the title! Rest assured they are coming up!
Sounds like a couple of "rogue" characters. Pretty And how wonderful to find "your" Cinderella, although I'm not surprised that she remembers you both and your names! You've got to be her favorite couple in all the land!
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.