OUR VERY NAUTICAL NEW YEAR - Updated 1/16/07 - Page 4 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Wake up . . . whenever
Grab something to eat and hit Animal Kingdom
See 8:30 Wishes
Eat Dinner at Citricos (9:20 ADR)
Midnight Wishes Cruise
Ring in the New Year
What Really Happened:
Scott and I both figured that Epcot and Magic Kingdom would be packed on New Years Eve. We have heard the horror stories about the crowds, and we desperately wanted to avoid them if possible. Our thought was that, if we went to Animal Kingdom, we might avoid the crowds because fewer people might go there, in part because it closed early.
We woke up between 8-9, got ready and went out the door. Before doing so, we made a quick addition to our plans for the night. We called dining and had them add a bottle of champagne and some chocolate covered strawberries for our midnight wishes cruise. Around 10, we hit the Sassagoula Food Court for some quick breakfast. I had Scott get in line for food. We split 3 beignets (yummy, but nearly joked on the powdered sugar!) and we split an OJ.
While Scott was in line for food, I ran to the Concierge desk. Scott’s parents have never been to Disney, but we peaked their curiosity enough that they have agreed to go with us later in 2007. I had initially tried to use a TA, but, because I was trying to lock in 2006 rates for it, I wanted to at least get something booked today. Unfortunately, the concierge could not help me, and I would have to call reservations to do that. We jumped on the bus to AK. After arriving, we took some pictures of the beautiful Christmas tree that they had outside and then cleared security a little before 11. After looking at some of the beautiful birds and other animals in the Oasis, we proceeded to Kilimanjaro Safari, which is one of our favorite rides at AK. I sent Scott ahead with my AP (he walks faster) to get a FP, but he called me on my phone and told me that the wait was only about 20 minutes, so we went into the stand-by line. The ride was great, and we saw some nice animals (I still maintain that those animals know to pose for you). One of the highlights was seeing the baby giraffe which had not yet been born when I was there in September with my mom. After getting off of the safari, we took the train to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. Once there, we got photos and signatures from Rafaki, Jiminy Cricket and Pocahontas (we again used the great autograph books that Caldercup had made for us; thanks again!). After taking the train back, we split up briefly. Scott went to see if he could get FPs for EE. However, they were all sold out (this was around 1 p.m.) and the stand-by line had a 2 hour wait. He decided that we would catch it next time we come to Disney (we had ridden it before, so no biggie). I went to Tusker House, which is one of our favorite places to eat at AK (at the resort, we love Jiko). When Scott came back, I already had a table and the meal (to split) which was a half of rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes, veggies and cheesecake and coke to wash it down. Excellent as usual.
After eating, we browsed around the gift shopped where I bought a couple of t-shirts with zebra/tiger Mickeys on them (one for me and one for a friend). We then went over to Discovery Island to casually view some of the animals. This was one of the more humorous parts of our trip. In one of the areas, they had kangaroos, flamingos and a condor. Scott and I have never seen a kangaroo in person (we do not get a lot of them in the outback of Philadelphia). One came within viewing distance but was standing behind a tree stump and would pick its head up periodically. Scott kept trying to get a picture of it, but when he would put the camera up, the kangaroo would duck its head down. This happened several times, but it was clear that a battle of wills was brewing between the kangaroo and Scott. After about 6 pictures, Scott reluctantly gave up and left the area. However, we walked around a corner and another kangaroo walked right out into the open (and much closer) and Scott got his picture.
Day 3 - Nanimal Kingdom and New Years Eve - continued . . . finally!
After our animal encounter, we went to see the new Finding Nemo: the Musical show. There was a little line, but we made it into the 3 p.m. show. We both enjoyed it. After seeing the musical, we headed for the exit. We still had a big night ahead of us, and we needed to get rested and ready. On our way out, we stopped and listened to a steel drum band play Christmas carols, which was really cool. In addition, closer to the exit, Scott tried to take some pictures of a wild boar, but the kangaroo must have clued the boar into how to have some fun with Scott, because the boar would run to the back of his pen when Scott put him camera up, and then come to the front when it was down, only to run to the back again if Scott tried to photograph him. Hopefully, if nothing else, the boar had a fun time. On the way out of the park we saw a sign informing visitors that MK was at capacity, but that Epcot was still allowing people in to the park. We concluded that we made a smart choice by going to AK. At the exit to the park, we took some more pictures of the Christmas tree and headed to our bus.
We arrived back at our resort around 4:30 and stopped for some more beignets and refilled our mug. After we got back to our room, we decided that we would go and relax in the hot tub for a few minutes before getting ready to go out. The hot tub was interesting because there were several children who appeared to be swimming in the hot tub (they had goggles on and were going under water), and Scott was not sure what to make of that. We spent out 20 minutes in the hot tub, and Scott took a detour on the way back and got a pina colada for us to share. It was somewhat amusing because the bartender, Shelly, was needling Scott a little bit about what he was ordering and why he was not running a tab. Shelly was nice and put our drink in two separate glasses with Scott taking the glass that had more. When Shelly questioned why he was not giving me the larger glass, Scott smiled and winked at her and said “You know, Shelly, you are giving me all this grief, but remember, I am the one that leaves the tip.” It was obvious that Shelly got the joke and smiled and wished us a Happy New Year. Once back at the room, I quickly made vacation reservations for Scott’s parents and us for next year at the Wilderness Lodge, did my nails and washed my hair (who says that I can’t multi-task?).
Our plan was to get over to the GF by 8:30 to see Wishes from the dock, then go to Citricos (we had 9:20 reservations, but were hoping that hey could take us earlier). We got out the door a little late. While at the bus stop, we were torn as to what bus to get (if an Epcot bus came first, should be take it an hop the monorail to MK?), but eventually a MK bus came and we took it. We made it to the MK around 8:15 and went to the boat launch for the GF. The 8:30 Wishes went off a little early, but we had a pretty good vantage point from the boat launch to see it. When we got off the boat to the GF, Narcoossee’s looked very busy, however we were pretty happy with our choice for the evening. We checked in to Citricos around 9 p.m. and they asked us to have a seat and that they would seat us as soon as possible, which Scott took to mean, something close to 9:20. However, we barely sat down when someone came out and greeted us and took us to our table, which was a pleasant and unexpected surprise, particularly on NYE. The menu that night was a price fix, but the offerings were really diverse and very yummy. Scott started off with a Blue Glowtini which came with a glowing ice cube which he quickly spooned out of his drink and shut off (he thought it was a bit intense). I had a Citricos Bellini which was tasty. The menu for that night came with a trio of appetizers (all of which were great). Scott and both had the filet which we both enjoyed. For dessert, I had the lemon cheesecake which was very refreshing, and Scott had the apple tart which was big and good. After finishing dinner (about 10:30), Citricos gave us hats and noise makers. We exited the restaurant, and watched some of the party at the GF which was beautiful (they had a life sized gingerbread house that you could walk in). The band was very nice and it looked like a typical, somewhat elegant, NYE party.
A little before 11, we headed down to the marina to meet DisneyBri and his wife Jen, who were going to share the Wishes cruise with us. They were waiting for us, and we were soon on the boat. The cruise was really beautiful and relaxing. It started around 11:30 and went around the lagoon to the Poly and to the Wilderness Lodge and ended around midnight with a great view of MK fireworks (as well as decent views of the fireworks at the other parks). The four of us had some strawberries and toasted the New Year with a glass of champagne. Scott popped the cork, but we did not know where it went. At first, we looked for boats veering to one side, then we looked for splashes in the water. At any rate, if you were in the lagoon and got hit with an errant champagne cork, sorry. We finished the cruise and docked back at the GF at about 12:30.
DisneyBri and Jen were also staying at Port Orleans, so we talked about the best way to get back. Initially, we agreed to split a cab and proceeded to the front of the GF. On the way, we walked through the lobby. It was odd, but at, 12:30, only a ˝ hour into the New Year, they were already packing up the dance floor and calling it a night. Once outside, we stood in a long line of people who had the same idea as us to get a cab out of the GF. However, DisneyBri came up with the idea of getting a bus to one of the resorts, theorizing that it might be easier than getting a cab. Accordingly, we hopped a bus to MGM and got in line for the POFQ bus. We waited a little bit, but busses came and we got on and were on our way back. A note of thanks to DisneyBri for his quick thinking idea; otherwise, Scott and I might still be sitting in line for a cab at the GF. When we got off the bus at POFQ at about 1:30, we thanked the driver for getting us home safely. A tip of the hat to the Disney transportation folks. It looked like they really had their hands full on NYE, but they really seemed to move a lot of people around in a very organized and thoughtful way (and thanks again for getting us home safely). We got to bed around 2 a.m., but we really had a fun day.
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Seriously????
That's it, huh?
Well, I enjoyed the first half and actually got a good feel for the holiday crowd - didn't sound unmanageable. It may take me a minute to pick my jaw up, though
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