Backstage Magic Guinea Pigs - DLR and More! Apr 19-27, 2008 - REPORT COMPLETE!! 5/2 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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
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Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
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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.
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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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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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Well, I was going to wait til we got our final documents/itinerary, but since they keep pushing that back....
Scott and I are going on the first session of the Adventures By Disney: Backstage Magic tour next month! We're celebrating both our 15th wedding anniversary and Scott's 40th birthday this year, so we wanted to do something really special. We're actually flying out to California the weekend before and spending a couple of days at the parks before our tour begins.
During our "preview weekend", we plan on seeing the new Pixar Play parade, visiting the Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island, FINALLY seeing Fantasmic! again (it was 101 on our last trip and too crowded the trip before)and standing in line for however long it takes for the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage!
We'll also visit our favorite only-at-Disneyland attractions such as the Indiana Jones Adventure, Alice in Wonderland, Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, as well as making a trip or two on Space & Big Thunder Mountains and visiting the 999 haunts at Haunted Mansion as well. We have a reservation at the Blue Bayou - I am so looking forward to a Monte Cristo! We'll be staying at the Howard Johnson - a little further down the street than the Tropicana, but hopefully still within walking distance at the end of the day.
Tuesday morning will be an early start, as we'll have to get from the Anaheim area back to LAX in time to turn our rental car back in, then meet the tour folks around noon. I'm very curious as to how this experience is going to work ... we've never done an Adventures by Disney (or any other organized tour) before; considering this being the first session, things could get... interesting.
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3 weeks til our trip and we're still waiting for our travel documents! At least 4 other people have reported getting their goodies -- I have to say I am NOT impressed with Adventures by Disney at this point...
On a more cheerful note, we found a couple of possible activities for our free time in the Hollywood area:
The El Capitan theater is showing The Little Mermaid: 3:00 PM - 5:30 PM - 7:45 PM VIP Balcony = $24/ticket
The Petersen Automotive Museum is running an "Art of Cars" [the Pixar movie] exhibit thru November 2nd, 2008. The museum is located at 6060 Wilshire Blvd.(at Fairfax,) Los Angeles, CA 90036. Admission is $10/adults & $3/children - hours 10a-6m, closed Mondays. Exhibition Information: (323) 930-CARS (2277).
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
i can't remember, did you book through a TA? ABD gives the option of the TA having things sent to alternate addresses (so my stuff goes to me) but I remember someone saying they were going through a TA
i haven't gotten the bag yet but my mail is all messed up.
Up to this point, we've gotten nothing more than the original folder of paperwork & then a second set of papers to sign when our tour dates got bumped. No box, no tags, no bags.
Things are looking brighter, tho - just got an e-mail from our TA that the our Disneyland & AbD paperwork & goodies finally all arrived & she'll be sending our a nice big box to us later today or first thing tomorrow. Whew!
i guess they were waiting for the backpacks to consolidate the shipping. the backpacks were just sent out as you know. turns out mine was delivered yesterday to the store in the building i live in, but they're closed right now so i have to wait until tomorrow.
ETA: nvm, just checked and they re-opened. i got it. opening the box now. i'll post a pic on my ABD blog later if anyone's interested
We got our box of goodies today - the Disneyland paperwork, the Adventures by Disney paperwork and the AbD bags - which are more a messenger-bag style than a backpack. I'll be posting a photo of the swag in a bit...
We also got a gift card from Dream Come True Vacations - thanks, Liz & Joe!
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We'll be staying at the Howard Johnson - a little further down the street than the Tropicana, but hopefully still within walking distance at the end of the day. 
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