DrDolphin's Great California Adventure *COMPLETED* - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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The bee-you-ti-ful thing about the pitcher photo is the no-hands while drinking the last of the margarita part. It is a thing of beauty oh margarita master! I cracked up at the Tips sign ON the guitar. Subtle with a b, that one. Great update Terri!
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Karen, aka Zack's Mom - Lover of all Things Disney and the San Francisco Giants!
Wait...that restaurant looks familiar in Old Town. Where were you guys at?
Old Town Mexican Cafe . . . on San Diego Ave. across the street from the Whaley House *shudder*
Also, the thing about Crystal and the pitcher is that she just set it up there on her head and it balanced. It's like she had done it before or something . . .
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Day 2 - Part 1
Day 2 (how can it only be day 2???)
The wake up call came… well I don’t remember when it came. But I do remember it was courtesy of Crystal… the night before we all thought the 3 girl room would wake up first – NOPE! It was Doug and Crystal. They woke us up and we agreed to meet them for breakfast once we got up and out the door (I think it took us another 30-40 minutes) and eventually we did make it down to breakfast – but Doug and Crystal were gone. I called her and she said they had finished breakfast and headed back up to their room, but would join us presently (don’t ask me why I used that word – I just like the way it sounds).
We had a typical round of Hampton Inn’s free breakfast with Emilie taking photos as we ate and Sarah talked to DH Mike on the phone.
Today was ZOO DAY!! San Diego zoo. A dream comes true!! As a biologist – I love animals – all kinds. And I enjoy zoos – esp those that do their best to recreate environmental conditions for the animals and strive to keep things interesting with diversity of enrichment, etc. And San Diego is one of the best!! We loaded up in the VanUV and with Sarah in the front giving driving directions, Doug and I in the middle and Emilie in the back – we headed out toward the zoo.
It only took like 15 minutes to drive there and we quickly got oriented and headed for the entrance.
Good thing for the sunglasses! It was a bright shiny morning!
Since we already had tickets and those tickets included the zoo bus – we thought that would be the best thing to start with – an orientation overview if you will. So we entered the queue for the top of the bus, and it took about 10 minutes until we boarded – With Emilie and I right in the front seat, Sarah behind us and Doug and Crystal behind her. We rode around and I took lots of pictures. This was such a GREAT way to see the zoo in the beginning – and that zoo is a BIG place with BIG hills – as we would later discover.
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After the bus, we headed over to the Skyfari and took the skyway to the back of the zoo so that I could see the polar bears!!!
Skyfari adventures!
I polar bears. We only saw one – but she/he seemed very very interested in an orange traffic cone. She picked it up with her paws, sticking her head in it, diving to the bottom, etc. It was fun to watch her have such a good time.
After the polar bears – we started to discuss lunch and the great hot dog search began – see Sarah’s report for details (and video!!). We eventually headed to the Tree House for lunch – and they had a 10% AAA discount. I went to find us a table with Doug and left my AAA card with Sarah, Emilie and Crystal. Doug and I quickly found a table, and the girls joined us with our lunches. Sarah mentioned that she’d forgotten to use the AAA card – oh well, it would get used later.
After lunch we headed to the Pandas – via the aviary – where we all got a lesson in ducky reproduction!! Pandas, Pandas!! Oh how was that!!! It was really nice! I wish the babies had been out – oh well. Sarah hit the nail on the head – I wish I could be a panda (or a kwola) they both eat 10 hours a day, sleep 14 hours a day – what a life!!
After pandas – the hiked back up to the skyfari (why oh why did WDW remove the skyride?? That was just so cool! Could you imagine the views around MK from that?) and headed to the children’s zoo.
I sort of wandered away from the group for awhile and took pics of the macaws, some cats (serel?) and even petted the goats.
Last stop of the day (besides SHOPPING ) was the kwolas. I kwolas!! They are just so dang cute!!! I SO need to go to Australia – yes I do.
We did a little shopping near the kwola enclosure and then in the main zoo store. I found a beautiful sea turtle sculpture made of some wood (I wish I could remember) that now graces the bookcase in my office and t-shirts for Jolene and Kevin (which I need to give to grandma to take back to Portland after Kevin’s wdw trip).
As we were leaving – I was holding Emilie’s hand – and I asked her where her bucket was. She said she didn’t know – so we flagged down mom and they headed back into the park to reclaim the wayward bucket. Back to the camel parking lot and then we headed off for a drive through Balboa Park – where I turned my camera over to Sarah (so I really have no idea what these pretty bldgs are!).
Awesome animal pictures! I, too, love pandas and koalas! Did that panda have some serious backfat, or what? Now I feel better about how I looked when I tried on my swimsuit last week!
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I cracked up at the Tips sign ON the guitar. Subtle with a b, that one. Great update Terri!
Can't wait for more!
bears!!
was that!!! It was really nice! I wish the babies had been out – oh well. Sarah hit the nail on the head – I wish I could be a panda (or a kwola) they both eat 10 hours a day, sleep 14 hours a day – what a life!!
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