DawnDenise Does Disney: Final Thoughts **Updated 11/10** COMPLETE - Page 8 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Welcome back! So excited you've started your TR. How great was that - getting your own row on the plane. Glad the trip down was uneventful and I just love your room. Can't wait to hear more about the party and the rest of your trip.
Yay! You've started! What a great room. I, too, meeting the characters. I can't pass by one without having to see him. So, I can't wait to see how many characters you meet.
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I arrived at the MK and entered easily enough. I stood there on Main Street for a brief moment just living the surreal moment that I was truly here. I will admit a slight sniffle not related to my cold emerged. After my little moment, I immediately started taking pictures of the decorations for the party. There were some CMs in the process of doing some of the decorations.
My tummy was definitely being vocal and I headed over to Casey’s to grab a dog and some fries. I don’t know what it is with hot dogs in WDW (or at baseball game), but I them. I rarely eat them at home, but I have to get one at either place. I people watched while eating. Most of the families were deep in conversation about their plan of attack. I did have a couple of the local duck residents come and beg for some fries. I finished up and headed over to the Castle hub as the last Dream Along with Mickey show was going to be starting soon. Since I have never seen this show in completion, I made a point to stay and enjoy.
I am glad I took the time to see it but there were more important things that needed to be accomplished. I headed over into Tomorrowland to see what trouble I could get into. Along the way, I grabbed some pics of the decorations.
I was amazed at the lack of people. I know this was an early MNSSHP but wow. With crowds like this, I knew I would be able to get some rides in despite my quest characters. I immediately grabbed a XP-37 and helped save the galaxy against Zurg. Literally just walked right on. I got a pitiful score of 85,700. I blame it on not being able to master the driving and shooting aspect. Yeah, that’s the excuse. After that, I headed to Space Mountain. I practically walked on. All I had to do was wait for the next train of cars. After zipping through the galaxy, I headed over to TTA. There were maybe 3 people ahead of me but do the lack of crowds, the CM was giving each group their own group of cars.
Gotta love self-portraits!
In front of me!
In back of me!
During my trip through Tomorrowland, I spotted my first character and made that my next destination. I went through the candy station first and then stood in line for Buzz Lightyear. The CM handler graciously took a picture of me and Buzz with my camera.
My next plan of attack was to hit the Alice in Wonderland Trick or Treat Trail as there are always characters throughout as well as like 5 candy stations. (I promised Chuck that I would hand over my candy bag when I got home.) And this is where I took the long way to get there just to end up back in Tomorrowland. I went and got my picture taken by the entrance to the Rose Garden by the PP guys.
I then took the path by the Castle to head into Fantasyland by the Mad Tea Cups to go into Mickey’s Toontown. I saw the Snow White clan out for pictures by bypassed it as the line was atrocious. I then saw Minnie in her new Halloween outfit but that line was huge too. I decided to check back later in the night and head straight for the trail.
Right at the entrance to the trail, Mr. Walrus was greeting everyone. I was amazed that everyone else just kind of ignored him. Well, I could not let the guy go unappreciated. I grabbed my picture with him and headed on down the trail. I love how they have this set up where if you just want candy you go to one side and if you want to meet the character, you go to the other side. I, being the character junkie that I am, always chose the character side. I met up with the White Rabbit and the Mad Hatter along the way.
Since I was back in Tomorrowland, I grabbed one more ride on Buzz and grabbed a bottled water as I made my way over to Adventureland. As I crossed the bridge over into Adventureland, it was eerily quiet. I heard no other voices only the sounds of the drums beating. A CM called me over to the trick or treat set up where there was absolutely no one in line for the characters or the candy. I had some good one on one time with Rafiki, Baloo, Terk, and Jane. Baloo was awesome because after I got my picture with him and went to Terk and Jane, he kept coming over and giving me leaves that had fallen off plants. Then Terk would take them away from me and start shooing him off. Jane got me to get in a gorilla pose (like she does in the movie) to make Terk feel at home. Unfortunately, I hadn’t handed off my camera yet to the CM so there were no pictures. Definitely not one of my finer moments (being a gorilla that is) but I loved the interaction.
I was headed into Agrabah in hopes of catching some of the Aladdin crew but got side tracked and went on POTC. I was in a boat with about 4 other people. I’m telling ya, the Magic Kingdom was not at all busy. Once I cruised the seas with Capt. Jack, I made it over to find the Genie and Abu out for a meet and greet. This was one of the two lines I encountered for characters but it still was not too long. As I approached, Abu made me do a hive five then the Genie felt left out and wanted one too.
At this point the first parade was starting and I wandered over to Frontierland to see glimpses of it. I wasn’t planning on staying to watch it but I saw a familiar face in the crowd. I went up behind two fellow PassPorters and said hello. It was Janine (FanofMickey) and Sheila (wheatenwalker). Hugs were exchanged and then Janine filled me in on the fact that I had given her the wrong phone number. I apparently gave her my home phone number instead of my cell. Well, she was a little surprised to hear chuck on the other end. :headslap: We got it corrected (or so we thought) and watched the rest of the parade. We were right outside the Diamond Horseshoe Saloon and Woody and Bullseye were mingling in the crowd. At one point Woody was bouncing along to the music of the parade with us. I didn’t have my DSLR with me so I didn’t take any pictures of the parade. After the parade was over, Janine and Sheila were going on some rides while I went in search of a gloomy guy in his Halloween costume. We made plans to meet at the tip board for Hallowishes.
I headed over to the Pooh Playground where a CM had told me to find the Pooh gang. I immediately went into the line even though it was Tigger and Piglet. The CM was making the announcement that Pooh and Eeyore would be out in about 10 minutes so I figured my place in the long line was a good one. Well, people were going rather quickly and before I knew it I was two away with no Pooh or Eeyore in sight. I started ushering people behind me in line in front of me. I was getting some weird looks but I was here to see Eeyore. Nothing against Tigger and Piglet, but I only had enough time to catch one pair before the fireworks. I do have my priorities. After about 10 more minutes the other pair arrived and I stopped letting people in front of me. One family offered to give me my spot back but I told them I was good and to go ahead. Once it was my turn, I asked the PhotoPass guy to get me with both and then with just Eeyore. He was more than happy to oblige and the CM took pictures with my camera as well.
We grabbed the shot of the three of us and when the photographer told Pooh that I only wanted one with Eeyore, he got a little dejected. I told him not to take it personally. Once he saw my shirt, he gave me a hug and stood aside.
Once I said good-bye to the duo, I immediately made a dash through Fantasyland only to forget that they rope it off prior to the fireworks. So I took the long way around to Liberty Square to the short cut to Adventureland and made it to the tip board about a minute late. Janine and Sheila were waiting for me and we took a spot in the middle of Main Street. Now here is where I knew it was not crowded. Normally, when I am watching the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom, Main Street is packed with wall to wall bodies, whether it was a party night or just regular Wishes. The three of us had absolutely no one around us with at least 20 feet behind us with no one there. We were amazed. Once again, no DSLR meant no firework pictures but it was nice to just sit back and enjoy them not through the lens of a camera.
Once the fireworks were over, I had the three of us pose for a picture in front of the Castle. The photographer had us do a scary pose as well. The regular one turned out fine but the one of us acting scared, I literally look like a ghost. [/font]
Janine and Sheila went off to do more rides I think. I headed to the Castle forecourt for the Villains Mix and Mingle. I missed this show the last time I was at the party. Definitely a great show, especially for the villains fan. I stuck around and got in some of the lines for the characters as they mingled. Just like last time, you could only take a picture of Malefcient; you couldn’t be in the picture. Weird. I was able to get Frollo, Cruella, Jafar and Capt. Hook. The CMs took pictures with my camera for me. The one of Hook didn’t come out at all. Jafar was especially mean in his villain sort of way. Totally played the part and brushed me away when the picture was taken.
I headed back into Liberty Square to grab a ride on the Haunted Mansion. Unfortunately all the Photopass photographers were gone from the area when I exited. I then went back through Frontierland and saw Jessie and Bullseye out for pictures. Well, I could not pass them up and stopped to grab a picture. The CMs weren’t paying much attention so the family behind me offered to take my picture and then I returned the favor.
At this point, I was getting pretty tired and decided to head back to CBR, but not without a stop through the Emporium. I had seen some Halloween Mickey ears that I had to have and decided to pick up a pin from the party as well. I quickly made my purchase and headed out of the park. I did stop to get the other scarecrows on the other side of the hub as I made way out.
I went to the bus top for CR and was amazed that no one was in line. Lots of other bus stops were full so I figured I just missed a bus. Within five minutes, a bus pulled up and I climbed on. We waited about 7-10 minutes and no one showed up for CBR. The bus driver turned around and said it’s just the two of us and shut off the lights and off we went. He took me directly to Jamaica and I thanked him for the ride. I kind of got turned around trying to get to building 45 but eventually walked my way around to the correct area. A shower and call home later, I fell asleep quite quickly.
Coming up: My time @ DHS and Appearance of an PassPorter
Wow Dawn, what a great time at the party!! Love all your pictures!! How great to meet up with Janine and Sheila!! And to have the park all to yourselves
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Oh Dawn - I just love your pictures - all of them.
To go back to the beginning, when you first walked into your room.....isn't that just the best feeling!!! I so love that first day!
Your time at the MK and at the party sounds great! You did so well getting to see so many of the characters! that picture of you and Eeyore!!!!
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I am so looking forward to reading your TR as I will be going on my first solo trip in November! More please!!!
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I, too, 
meeting the characters. I can't pass by one without having to see him. So, I can't wait to see how many characters you meet.
I went and got my picture taken by the entrance to the Rose Garden by the PP guys. 
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