Dreaming of a Disney spring break - part three COMPLETED - Page 50 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Love all the night pictures. I always mean to take some, but by the time evening rolls around, I'm too tired to lift the camera up (mine must be the only camera in the world that weighs 25,000 lbs at the end of the day). Thank goodness people here on the boards are so much more motivated than I am!
Love all the night pictures. I always mean to take some, but by the time evening rolls around, I'm too tired to lift the camera up (mine must be the only camera in the world that weighs 25,000 lbs at the end of the day). Thank goodness people here on the boards are so much more motivated than I am!
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Friday 22 April – part one: I do not believe how long that line is!
We had no alarm set, but were up just before 7.00am and got going as quickly as we could, stopping to get some photos of the hot air balloons above Disney outside:
It still wasn’t quick enough though. I went to check in for concierge, so that we could go to the lounge for breakfast and that took forever. I waited about 10 minutes. There were only three Cast Members out and they really needed some more.
Finally, I had our new gold keys in my hand and we were good to go, so it was back to the room, where I met Gemma and David on the way. It was such a shame that I was in such a rush, as we would’ve loved to have spent more time with them and guys, I’m sorry that I barely had time to say hi, but hopefully when you read this, you’ll understand why...
We called bell services and got a lovely woman, who took all our stuff, including our bottle of Riesloing wine, which she could put in a fridge for us. Works for us!
Then it was up to the sixth floor. You couldn’t miss the concierge lounge, as it’s right in front of you, with some wonderful views over the lobby below. I was very impressed with the breakfast supplies here. As well as pastries, there was fresh fruit and cereal, along with hot drinks, mango, pineapple and orange juices. It was all very civilised and worth all the points that we had paid for it.
Once we were done, we headed out with me saying that there was no way that we would make the 10.00am show of One Ocean at SeaWorld, which was to be the world premiere. We left at about 9.00am and were there by 9.20am, using valet parking again.
That was where the problems started. I cannot begin to tell you how long the lines for those with tickets were. As Mark said, there was less of a line to buy tickets. My heart just fell, looking at that line and I could feel the energy sapping out of me, as I looked at it. To try and describe chronic fatigue to you, sometimes even the prospect of waiting for long periods of time standing is enough to exhaust me. That’s what happened here.
I told Mark to just give up. I didn’t care about the $30 we had paid for valet parking, I just wanted to go, but he insisting on seeing a Cast Member and that was the best thing we could’ve done. We explained the situation and showed him my Guest Assistance Card from Disney and they managed to get us straight in, with no wait. They were so good and I cannot thank them enough. They really did come through for me.
We power walked over to the Shamu Stadium and all I can say is that we were done by the time we got there. It was worth it though. Not only did we get seats but they weren’t bad ones either. We could see all the media already in place and we knew this was going to be something special and so it proved to be.
That started before the show began when the introduction was done by Jack Hanna. I was amazed to see him and of course, suddenly the timing of this all made sense to me. Not only was it Easter, but it was also Earth Day today – a perfect day to launch a new show.
All I can say about this show is wow. It’s so much fun and has been designed for them not to be in the water with the whales, as one of the trainers explained to us after the show. It’s a lot less self indulgent than Believe was and I can’t see how anyone wouldn’t love this show. I must admit that I did wonder how the fact that the trainers weren’t going to be in the water with the whales would work, but actually you really didn’t notice. They added in so many fun interactive elements that more than made up for that.
I'm so glad you were able to get good seats for the show. For the premiere, I'm surprised that there were seat lefts over in the side. We saw the new show in San Diego and really enjoyed it as well. I'm glad the Cast Members were able to help you get past the long lines.
The AKL lounge looks wonderful. It's definitely on my list of places to stay someday!
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Huge Disney Fan...Always Have Been...Always Will Be!
Disneyland 60th Anniversary Celebration TR here!
2013 WDW trip here!
2011 trip to Hawaii here!
Great pictures. We were there for one of the last showings of the other show and it was nice, but just not like the old days when they went in the water. I understand why, but it still is not the same.
How wonderful that they allowed you in ahead of the regular line. You sure did end up with great seats, wow what great pictures of the show! I also noticed that the girls had their hair up in the back - no long ponytails anymore.
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Tanya
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All caught up! I love the night shots you got at Illuminations. I feel like I'm really getting a good dose of AKL club level info between you and Cam, so I cannot wait to go! I'm glad the new show at Sea World lived up to expectations after the tragedy that came before it. I knew they could pull through.
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: I know that feeling too! 
I waited about 10 minutes. There were only three Cast Members out and they really needed some more. 
They were so good and I cannot thank them enough. They really did come through for me. 
but they weren’t bad ones either. We could see all the media already in place and we knew this was going to be something special and so it proved to be. 
It’s so much fun and has been designed for them not to be in the water with the whales, as one of the trainers explained to us after the show. It’s a lot less self indulgent than Believe was and I can’t see how anyone wouldn’t love this show. I must admit that I did wonder how the fact that the trainers weren’t going to be in the water with the whales would work, but actually you really didn’t notice. They added in so many fun interactive elements that more than made up for that. 
Holly: 
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