Oh the Places We Go, The People We See Updated 11/03/2013 - Page 10 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Looks like a great Christmas was had by all! I think photo books are a wonderful present. What did YOU get?
I got some gift cards and a magnet board I wanted to hang near my desk with all my new vacation magnets. Skip got me a necklace and I was shocked. It had Pluto on it.
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Originally Posted by chezp
What great Christmas photos!
Thanks
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Originally Posted by mushu22
Great presents and
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Originally Posted by OhToodles!
I gave my MiL a photobook from our September trip. She asked for it and I was happy to make it. I love making them!
Glad you had a nice Christmas!
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After our failure at trying to get the sword out of the stone, we moved on.
I did a quick check to see if we could get into the new Fantasyland, but it was still a no.
I did ask them for a shot though, as they had the cutest outfits on.
So we headed off to Storybook Circus.
We had been lucky to already visit parts of this last spring when we spent the day here on our Universal trip, but more has been added since then. Only 1 Dumbo was running and Barnstormer was up and going then as well. This time around it was pretty much completed, though I suspect that more may be added or enhanced in the next year or two.
We got in line for Dumbo. The wait wasn’t too long.
This was the first time we went into the tent with the interactive stuff, which we passed by and just glanced at.
I still haven’t gotten the gist of how this works. I guess you can ask to play and then you get a pager when it’s your turn to ride? Correct me if you know how this works exactly. Anyways, just passing by this play area, it was unimpressive to us. The first thing Claire said was that it looked like it was for babies. And I have to agree. It really seemed to be more geared towards younger children, not for the very mature 7 year old with me! LOL But again, we only glanced in and we might have missed something good.
The longest part of our wait was actually back outside, so in all the wait time in whole was not bad at all.
And then it was our turn.
Claire gave me strict instructions! She would be controlling the flying and I was not allowed to touch it at all. I told her she better get us up high, as I wanted to take pictures. She failed!
For some reason she just wasn’t getting us very high. I did find out one disturbing thing. They planted trees all around this ride. TALL trees!!!! It’s impossible to get any shots of the rest of the park with trees in the way. I gave up on that idea real soon.
When we got off we walked over near the new splash train.
I am not impressed with this either. Now on a very hot summer day, I am sure Claire would like it, but for the rest of the year, I could see her getting wet and then complaining all day long about being wet. If you plan to visit this area, bring along another outfit to change into as kids appeared to be getting soaked!
Claire wanted to ride Barnstormer next. I don’t remember the posted time, but I do remember the line looked longer than I cared for, but we still jumped in.
The theming in the queue is very cute.
We stalled out for a few minutes so I looked back and took another shot of the train.
And we got moving again.
These would provide shade on a hot sunny day ….though not much.
I believe at some point in time I texted Carey and asked if they wanted to sit together and watch the late parade and she said sure. Also another co-worker of mine, Stephanie, was at the World this week as well. She had spent the day at Epcot with her son and some friends. She was coming over for the party and had just arrived. So we were sending texts back and forth as well. We planned to meet up at some point too. We had never officially met in real life yet, as we both do our jobs from home and online, so though we talk daily, we have never seen each other face to face.
More theming.
And finally it was our turn.
I tried to get a few shots as we were rolling all around.
It’s fun, it’s fast, and it’s way too short.
As we walked off I got this shot of a car going up. I thought it was neat and I had a poser in there …see the guy smiling for me!
I am still kind of curious what they will end up doing with this area.
Right now it has fast pass machines for Dumbo and Barnstormer. But it’s a big area for just that. And when the new system takes over I am not sure if it will be needed for that anymore either.
We headed towards Pete’s Silly Sideshow and for a moment I had a brain freeze and couldn’t remember what this area was for. Then it dawned on me …character meets!
So Claire is a 7 year old adult when it comes to Dumbo. Loved your visit to "NEW" Fantasyland. Looking forward to seeing all of the changes in March. When we were there in September, I tried to get pix while on Dumbo as well. Not much luck.
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So Claire is a 7 year old adult when it comes to Dumbo. Loved your visit to "NEW" Fantasyland. Looking forward to seeing all of the changes in March. When we were there in September, I tried to get pix while on Dumbo as well. Not much luck.
I do get to see more "new" Fantasyland too through out the trip. Always in the dark though.
Claire is so much more mature now than a few months ago too. LOL. She is now 8!
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Originally Posted by pamcarey
Great pictures from the new circus area. What a shame that they planted tall trees all around Dumbo!
I was bummed about the trees, especially after they grow and fill out more.
The whole new circus area isn't to my taste at all-- too garish and busy. It's not an area I'll go to often, so it's not a big deal to me, but it does sound strange that they have high trees around Dumbo!
What a shame they put the trees around Dumbo. Like Laurie, this area didn't do much for me. Without kids, I can't see the attraction of visiting here often.
The whole new circus area isn't to my taste at all-- too garish and busy. It's not an area I'll go to often, so it's not a big deal to me, but it does sound strange that they have high trees around Dumbo!
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Originally Posted by chezp
What a shame they put the trees around Dumbo. Like Laurie, this area didn't do much for me. Without kids, I can't see the attraction of visiting here often.
I have to admit, I am still kind of not sure. We like Dumbo and Barnstormer, so we'll go for those, but I am not liking the splash train at all.
I'm glad I'm not the only one that didn't care for Storybook Circus. Even WITH a kid, I was less than impressed. When we were there in September, I felt like it didn't "fit" with everything else and there wasn't enough there to draw me back. I'm hoping it's a work in progress. We'll go back there for Dumbo for as long as Meri loves it, but aside from that... meh. I was disappointed.
Loving your photos - especially those CM's in those cute outfits!! You did get great photos of the area! Wow!
I love the photos of storybook circus. I too don't care for it much, but I haven't seen it live. I just don't get how a circus is supposed to fit in with the rest of the medieval theme of Fantasyland. Seems like it really should be its own land. Guess I can't say too much until I see it for myself.
I'm glad I'm not the only one that didn't care for Storybook Circus. Even WITH a kid, I was less than impressed. When we were there in September, I felt like it didn't "fit" with everything else and there wasn't enough there to draw me back. I'm hoping it's a work in progress. We'll go back there for Dumbo for as long as Meri loves it, but aside from that... meh. I was disappointed.
Loving your photos - especially those CM's in those cute outfits!! You did get great photos of the area! Wow!
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Originally Posted by mommapants
I love the photos of storybook circus. I too don't care for it much, but I haven't seen it live. I just don't get how a circus is supposed to fit in with the rest of the medieval theme of Fantasyland. Seems like it really should be its own land. Guess I can't say too much until I see it for myself.
You guys both touched on what I thought. It really just doesn't "fit" there. It's not bad, just not an area that blends in with the rest of the area....at least in my opionion.
We decided to go in and see Minnie and Daisy. The line wasn’t too long. I texted Stephanie again. We had been texting back and forth about meeting up and I let her know we were making a stop here first.
The line moved pretty fast and soon we were meeting Miss Daisy.
Lighting in here is not too great and it’s hard to get decent pictures.
Daisy has always been a hit with Claire. One year we had to get up extra early to find her at DHS. Claire was not about to leave without seeing her. Luckily we found her first thing that trip.
I have to admit something dumb here. I had thought the characters were already dressed in their Halloween costumes. It was till we went back outside and I saw the signs that I realized they dress this way all the time. Oops!
Next up was Minnie. I like that you can see 2 characters, but only wait in 1 line.
Minnie’s area was even worse for lighting. And many of our photopass pictures came out bad or just a complete blur.
We said goodbye to Minnie and headed out.
Surprise, Surprise! We were let out into a dump shop!
It was really neat in here though!
And this is when I realize that the characters are dressed for a theme and not in a Halloween costume.
Claire had noticed basically no line for Goofy and Donald at all either, so we went back around, and yes you have to go outside to get back in, and got in line ….only to find them gone! But we were told they would be out soon. We also sent out another text to Stephanie to let her know we were seeing more charaters.
Next thing we know, we see Carey, John, and Kadence come walking in. They were only a few people behind us so we chatted a bit while we waiting. Of course Claire and Kadence were both excited to see other and showed it by eyeing each other up and down. LOL
Soon it was time for the Great Goofini and Donaldo! Do you see what I see?
TaDa!!!!
The Great Goofini!
Notice Donald’s giving the thumbs down from behind the curtain in this next picture.
Donaldo was NOT about to be outdone. You know how that duck loves attention.
And then he noticed I had a camera and came over to ham it up.
And then he saw Carey and hammed it up for her.
Don’t believe me? Here’s her shot!
Finally Donaldo settled down and went off to his spot to wait for us humans.
I think it's so strange that several of the meet-and-greet areas have such bad lighting. I mean, they're basically set up for photo-ops, right? And they must know that the lighting is bad with all the photopass pics coming out blurred!
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Like Laurie, this area didn't do much for me. Without kids, I can't see the attraction of visiting here often.
Melanie
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