Dreaming of a Disney spring break! THIS SECTION COMPLETED - Page 49 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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The slide at the pool at Ft. Wilderness really reminds me of the slide at the HHI pool (the one at the main resort). Anyone else think it's the same? (Too lazy to look at side by side pictures!).
Can't wait until tomorrow's update - anxious to hear about this Segway tour! I am mad that I didn't try the Segway at FW/Epcot on our last trip. You could do them in Innoventions, but since neither of the kids was old enough, I figured they'd pout if I did them. Should have just said it was time for me to do something I wanted to do! I am so interested in trying a Segway. Next time. Till then, I'll read all about your tour!
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I love your early morning pictures! Everything seems so peaceful. It almost makes me wish I had to take jet-lag-inducing flights, too! (No, I know jet lag is no fun...but I am so NOT a morning person, that the thought of being fully awake that early seems oddly appealing. )
You want jetlag? You can always come over here for a visit...
Great pictures! Now, what exactly is the deal with the pumpkin/non-pumkin chairs? Did they replace the chairs? Any pics of what the chairs use to look like, like pumpkins I'm guessing?
They basically had horrible orange backs to them. I found a photo of them that I took in the PassPorter photo archive. Whether they're new chairs or the same, I'm not sure. I'm guessing the same, as they look like a similar design. Perhaps the backs were just recovered?
All caught up. Sorry about those kids on the plane. How about asking the pilot if they can find some turbulence? Give the kids a fright and maybe they'd behave a little better.
Wonderful updates and resort photos. Looking forward to more especially AKL but I don't think you'll get there before our trip.
Like everyone else, I was thinking about you this past Friday at 4 am. I knew with out a doubt that you wouldn't be in the middle of all those people. It was very nice to watch on the TV in the comfort of my home while still in my pj's. A group of us even had a virtual party on FB during all the festivities. I saw that WDW showed the wedding at the wedding pavilion. Now that would have been
I definitely won't get to AKL before you guys head out.
Seeing the wedding at the wedding pavilion would've been neat - much neater than being in those crowds in London I think!
The slide at the pool at Ft. Wilderness really reminds me of the slide at the HHI pool (the one at the main resort). Anyone else think it's the same? (Too lazy to look at side by side pictures!).
Can't wait until tomorrow's update - anxious to hear about this Segway tour! I am mad that I didn't try the Segway at FW/Epcot on our last trip. You could do them in Innoventions, but since neither of the kids was old enough, I figured they'd pout if I did them. Should have just said it was time for me to do something I wanted to do! I am so interested in trying a Segway. Next time. Till then, I'll read all about your tour!
Do you know what? I was thinking that it looked like something I'd seen before and I couldn't place it - you're right!
Friday 8 April – part two: the computers go down and “Ben the troublemaker”!
We quickly found the Bike Barn and saw one of the Cast Members who would be our guides for the tour, Ron, already getting the Segways out. He told us that we were a bit early, so we took some photographs....
... then we headed over to the Meadows Trading Post, as Ben wanted to use up some snack credits for breakfast. We were very surprised that this didn’t open until 8am and we sat there patiently until then. Around 8.05am, someone rattled the door, as we were all starting to get a bit annoyed at the fact that there was no sign of life yet. An older woman opened the door and told us in a very irate voice that they couldn’t open up, as the computers were down. She closed the door again and we were left sitting there.
We finally got in just after 8.10am and the computers were still down. They managed to get just one register working and had to note down everything that they sold in writing. It was painful. It took Ben forever to find a snack credit, and again the older woman wasn’t exactly helpful. The signs weren’t clear about what classed as a snack credit at all, which is why I asked, but she just jumped down my throat and told me that it was single servings only. Well, I guess it depends on your appetite as to what you class as that!
Trying on another wacky hat!
We left Ben in line to pay for his snack and he was about fourth in line. We figured we’d go over to the tour and explain that he was on his way. It’s just as well we did, as it took him another 10 minutes to get the bits and join us. By then, we’d signed the waiver forms and had been equipped with our safety helmets and also a receiver, so that we could hear our guide as we went on our four and a half mile tour. I was really surprised when they told us how long it would be, but I guess that’s about right for a two hour tour, if the fastest these things can go is six miles an hour. Finally, Ben made it over and signed the forms and we all headed out into the training ground.
I will say here that the thing I always dread about Segways is getting on and off them, but with one exception during the tour, I found it much easier than the traditional ones. We were soon all zipping around with ease and certainly the training course seemed to be less intensive (we didn’t do the going up hills or pulling your Segway that you do on the Epcot tour) and take less time. Everyone got the grip of it really quickly and much quicker than other tours we’ve been on, despite the fact we were the only ones who’d ever been on them before.
Ben was quickly singled out as a troublemaker and you know? I’m still not sure why, but it was very entertaining! As we got in line to set off, they asked us if we wanted him to join us and we said we were fine either way. I love the way the woman behind Ben said “I’d rather be behind him, so I can keep an eye on him” Yep, they got the measure of him pretty quickly.
We headed off, but literally only a few hundred metres to the nearest restrooms, where I think we were about the only ones not to disappear off and use them. We were able to get a few photos here as well. This is another plus point over the Epcot tours, as you get a lot more photo opportunities with regular stops along the way.
Finally, we were off again and headed out towards the edge of Bay Lake, learning all about Fort Wilderness on the way. We saw so much of the resort that I’ve never seen before and it was all fascinating to get a more thorough glimpse of this place. At Bay Lake, we had another photo opportunity and Ben ended up in a shot with two women in our group! It was only after this that they all introduced themselves to each other. That was perhaps the only odd bit – we didn’t go introductions at the start, which would’ve been nice.
Our next stop was over at the Tri Circle D ranch, which I’ve briefly visited before. Before we explored, after getting off our Segways, there was a great comedy routine with Ron and our other guide Forrest. Ron would tell a story about Walt and his early animation work and then ask us questions, with Forrest holding up the answers behind him!
We entered the stables and were introduced to the calliope, which is a beautiful piece of work and sounded beautiful as well. I never knew this was here! You really do learn something new every day.
Wonderful photos of FW. The Segway tour looks like a lot of fun! Sounds like a lot of the CMs you've encountered so far could use a dose of pixie dust to re-infuse them with the Disney spirit!
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Hi, Cheryl! Just now getting caught up. Things have been a bit hectic since Wednesday for Bob and me. Long story short: the tornadoes that tore through Alabama cut the main feeds and took down the nuclear power plant, so no power at home for 500,000 people. We are fine and our houses, too (I lost some shingles and there are trees down on my lot) but in light of no power, dusk to dawn curfew and long lines for limited food and gas, we talked about it and once again DVC membership is a boon--we evacuated to Walt Disney World. I am sitting in a 1 BR villa at the Wilderness Lodge. Our departure is currently Tuesday.
Sorry your air travel was so painful. I really don't care for long flights. I don't ever sleep for more than about 10 or 15 minutes at a time.
It's great seeing all the pictures of the resort and Ft. Wilderness. I would love to do the Segway tour there. we enjoyed the Epcot tour so much. Bob has actually done it twice.
I have never been to Cape May Cafe, and I must admit that your report isn't encouraging. We ate at Via Napoli last night and Flying Fish the night before and had great food and excellent service booth times.
Hi, Cheryl! Just now getting caught up. Things have been a bit hectic since Wednesday for Bob and me. Long story short: the tornadoes that tore through Alabama cut the main feeds and took down the nuclear power plant, so no power at home for 500,000 people. We are fine and our houses, too (I lost some shingles and there are trees down on my lot) but in light of no power, dusk to dawn curfew and long lines for limited food and gas, we talked about it and once again DVC membership is a boon--we evacuated to Walt Disney World. I am sitting in a 1 BR villa at the Wilderness Lodge. Our departure is currently Tuesday.
Oh wow! Thank goodness you are both OK and you'e definitely done the right thing heading out. I can't think of a better get-away than WDW! : You guys have a magical time! Hope to see you again soon.
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The Segway tour at Ft Wilderness looks very fun. I was wondering how it compared to the EPCOT ones, and now I know. Between you and Sharon -I will be spending a fair amount of $$ on WDW tours this year!
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(No, I know jet lag is no fun...but I am so NOT a morning person, that the thought of being fully awake that early seems oddly appealing. 
)
Thank goodness you are both OK and you'e definitely done the right thing heading out. I can't think of a better get-away than WDW! 
: You guys have a magical time! 
Hope to see you again soon.
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