An Animal Kingdom State of Being with Cam and Fam COMPLETED 9/18 - Page 87 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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Wow, I got a bit behind again! Loved your conclusion to the safari! You got some absolutely magical pictures of the animals! What a wonderful experience! Breakfast looked wonderful as well, and it's great that you all got to spend some time with Erich! He sounds like a very special CM!
Great character interactions as well! My favorite was with Donald...so cute that you all sang to him and and got big hugs! I love the pictures too! (Sorry about Goofy, but I guess that happens once in a while? ) And congrats on getting to be in the parade!!! Can't wait to hear all about it! I would have reacted the exact same way!
Great pictures of around AK as well. Love that park! Can't wait to hear more!
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Amanda =)
Living out a childhood dream during my summer 2015 trip to WDW. Is it time to go back yet?
“All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them." –Walt Disney
Love yall character pics, sorry the monkeys did not do any of the tumblein. I love ITTBAB and I always take pics of the tree and walk around to look for all the animals.
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Me and Cole in the Sears Tower Skydeck, 103 floors up, in a glass box hanging off the side!
Wow, I got a bit behind again! Loved your conclusion to the safari! You got some absolutely magical pictures of the animals! What a wonderful experience! Breakfast looked wonderful as well, and it's great that you all got to spend some time with Erich! He sounds like a very special CM!
Great character interactions as well! My favorite was with Donald...so cute that you all sang to him and and got big hugs! I love the pictures too! (Sorry about Goofy, but I guess that happens once in a while? ) And congrats on getting to be in the parade!!! Can't wait to hear all about it! I would have reacted the exact same way!
Great pictures of around AK as well. Love that park! Can't wait to hear more!
__________________
Amanda =)
Living out a childhood dream during my summer 2015 trip to WDW. Is it time to go back yet?
“All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them." –Walt Disney
We had a weird experience with the Goofy at Camp Minnie Mickey as well. He put his arm around me for the picture and proceded to tickle me under the arm!
It was a little creepy.
Off topic...there are some posts in this thread (and others too I guess) that appear two or even three times. Do others see it that way as well?
Wow, I got a bit behind again! Loved your conclusion to the safari! You got some absolutely magical pictures of the animals! What a wonderful experience! Breakfast looked wonderful as well, and it's great that you all got to spend some time with Erich! He sounds like a very special CM!
Great character interactions as well! My favorite was with Donald...so cute that you all sang to him and and got big hugs! I love the pictures too! (Sorry about Goofy, but I guess that happens once in a while? ) And congrats on getting to be in the parade!!! Can't wait to hear all about it! I would have reacted the exact same way!
Great pictures of around AK as well. Love that park! Can't wait to hear more!
I've now ordered some of my animal photos for framing. We really had a great time with Donald!
Quote:
Originally Posted by debrabrown
Trying yet again to catch up. great AK pictures. Too bad about Goofy. I love the bat picture!
Quote:
Originally Posted by OCEANGRLLG
Love yall character pics, sorry the monkeys did not do any of the tumblein. I love ITTBAB and I always take pics of the tree and walk around to look for all the animals.
We'll be walking around that tree more frequently now as we loved looking at the tree plus all the peace and quiet here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
More great character pictures. Sorry Goofy was very unGoofy like. And sorry about the tumbling monkey's! Great pictures of the Tree of Life!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by tdhc
Great update. I can't believe Goofy wasn't goofy!!!! I can't wait to hear about the parade!!
We've never had an unGoofy Goofy until this one. But I guess it's bound to happen some times.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DMA
We had a weird experience with the Goofy at Camp Minnie Mickey as well. He put his arm around me for the picture and proceded to tickle me under the arm!
It was a little creepy.
Off topic...there are some posts in this thread (and others too I guess) that appear two or even three times. Do others see it that way as well?
I've noticed quite a few double or triple posts. Not sure what is causing it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ilovedisney247
I was thinking about your lazy male lion the other day, and I meant to post this for you but I got side tracked:
I was a bit jealous when I saw that you had seen the lion up and roaring. Great picture!
Love all the pictures with the characters-you can see the joy on her face! I was thinking how fun it must be to have someone like Stefanie to go to WDW with! My boys are party poopers when it comes to taking pictures - especially with characters, etc., but really pictures in general. I'm sure her enthusiasm and fun-loving spirit makes your vacations even more magical!!! I really love the tree pictures and I hope to get a better look at the tree when we go back...awesome!
Love all the pictures with the characters-you can see the joy on her face! I was thinking how fun it must be to have someone like Stefanie to go to WDW with! My boys are party poopers when it comes to taking pictures - especially with characters, etc., but really pictures in general. I'm sure her enthusiasm and fun-loving spirit makes your vacations even more magical!!! I really love the tree pictures and I hope to get a better look at the tree when we go back...awesome!
WOW,, Donald looks good for a duck his age!!!!!!! Really love the pic of the Tree of Life. TheTree is amazing!! I love the Festival of the Lion King too, the tumbling Monkeys are a big part of it. Maybe they are having a hard time finding extra Monkeys for the show!!!!! Looking forward to the next update!!
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Last edited by Roxie2006; 07-28-2011 at 09:10 PM..
Now it was time to travel the Pangani Forest Trail in hopes of seeing Lilly. First, we saw the okapi much better than we had on the safari.
Then we saw some interesting ducks, fish and birds, but not a meerkat was to be seen. Some Thompson gazelles were right behind the meerkats’ home.
Finally, we arrived at the gorillas, but couldn’t see a single one – at first. Then the male, Lilly’s daddy according to the CM, lumbered through on his way to a shady spot.
Next, Lilly’s mom came out and some folks (not me) spotted Lilly behind her in the high grass. But Lilly was too far away for me to make her out well.
Shortly, mom wandered away, too.
With mom gone, we moved around to the other side, hoping to see Lilly.
Almost immediately we were rewarded by the sight of a scampering, playful Lilly pulling up plants and waving them.
Trust me, Lilly is in this picture just after pulling up a branch and starting to run with it. But I didn’t have my big lens on the camera yet.
While Lilly was off running with the branch, Mom began to move down closer to our viewing location.
At first she wouldn’t look at us.
Then I got this shot!
Finally, Lilly decided to join her Mom.
Even though she had come closer she was still a little too far for really good pictures. But then she came running down the hill!
There was a little stream banked by rocks and Lilly came on down for a drink.
One of my very favorites of Lilly! She is so cute and adorable!
Since it was only about 45 – 50 minutes before our parade date, we headed to the store just down from the trail’s end where Stefanie and Cam love to shop. Stefanie found an AK tee in olive and I got an orange tee with a giraffe Mickey on the front, which I’ll wear later for dinner. Eventually, we tired of shopping and Luke’s toes and feet needed rest. We found benches out in front and rested until about 3:00 when we walked up to our parade checkpoint. Once there we met the other 5 families who would also be in the parade. Lots of excitement all around.
Judith lined us up as we would appear on the various floats. We were last as we were riding with Mickey. Then one family was taken back at a time for costuming and putting all our paraphernalia in a locker.
Cam and Stefanie in costume
Then we posed for a PhotoPass photographer.
In a short while each family boarded their respective floats. We walked and talked to all the characters and CMs as we walked back to the final float. Donald was on the float right before Mickey and we yelled “Happy Birthday” up to him and he was very excited again.
Some of the other CMs and characters in the parade.
We climbed a ladder to the very top followed by Ann and Carly. We immediately greeted Mickey who was quite friendly.
Dale came back to see Stefanie and she told him, “You’re my favorite.” Poor Mickey bowed his head, dejected. But Stefanie told him he was her favorite mouse, and he could move to our house and have all our cheese. He perked right up!
We watched as characters and dancers moved in among the floats and then we were off, waving and smiling, waving and smiling for the next 35 minutes.
Our arms did get tired, but it was so much fun! I discovered that my left arm waves rather spastically. I even yelled “Happy Birthday” to several kids to pay forward the magic. The PhotoPass photographer took a few pictures of our float along the way.
This one is priceless!
Doesn’t Carly look adorable in this one! We were all so very excited!
By now it was very hot; the hats made our heads sweaty and our legs stuck to the faux leather seat, but the smiles never left our faces. This was the coolest experience! Best evah! The constant yelling, “Mickey, Mickey!” was totally adorable.
Since we were the last ones back, we were greeted by Judith and the other families as our float returned.
Stefanie asked, “Can we do this next year?” Now wouldn’t that be grand! We had to get one last picture of Judith with Stefanie.
A few mornings later, my buddies were sleeping in and I was playing around on the computer. I decided to check YouTube to see if someone might have posted a video of the Jammin' in the Jungle parade the day we were a part of it. About 30 minutes into my search, I hit the jackpot.
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Loved your conclusion to the safari! You got some absolutely magical pictures of the animals! What a wonderful experience! Breakfast looked wonderful as well, and it's great that you all got to spend some time with Erich! He sounds like a very special CM! 
) And congrats on getting to be in the parade!!! 
Can't wait to hear all about it! I would have reacted the exact same way! 
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Pixie Dust
Deb
I can't wait to hear about the parade!!
I've now ordered some of my animal photos for framing. We really had a great time with Donald! 
Susan
Really love the pic of the Tree of Life. TheTree is amazing!! I love the Festival of the Lion King too, the tumbling Monkeys are a big part of it. Maybe they are having a hard time finding extra Monkeys for the show!!!!!
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