A 40th celebration to end the world! THREAD 1 COMPLETED 2/16 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Great in flight shots! Is premium like "business class"? Sounds like. Not exactly 1st class but not coach. That's the way to go!
Not exactly. You're right in that Premium Economy is between business class and economy, but some airlines have business and first class and business class, as I understand it, is still better than Premium Economy.. In a few months' time you'll see Virgin's Upper Class, which is their first class, as that's what we flew back in.
Just found this and was able to quickly catch up!!! Great pics in and around the airport!!! It looks HUGE!!! We always try to stay at the airport if we have an early flight too.
I hate to say this, but this is London's smaller airport. Gatwick only has two terminals, while Heathrow, the main hub, has five.
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they serve beverages before you even leave the ground on your flight???? Very cool!!! We always have to wait until the flight is up and it is safe for them to be about.
They do, but only in Upper Class and Premium Economy. They don't do it in Economy. I think that's the reason they can do it before you take off, as they've only got a limited number of people to deal with.
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What a bummer about the choices of meals for you And I have to ask.....cheese and onion sandwich??? That must be an english thing??? Never heard of such combination!! I love to hear of what others around the world eat!
it's fairly common over here. I love it, but cheese and onion crisps (chips to you guys) - thank you! I can't stand those....
Beautiful pictures from the plane! You're so lucky to fly Virgin Atlantic as their planes seem so new and beautiful. I flew across country last August from New Jersey to Seattle which is a six hour flight and the plane (United Airlines) seemed like it was from the 1970's
A lot of Virgin's fleet is brand new or at least completely refurbed. They've put a lot of investment into that side of the business in the last couple of years.
After our dinner last week, as I was driving out of the parking lot, the Disneyland fireworks started! I'm always worried when I drive by DLR during the fireworks...I'm amazed there aren't more car accidents when it happens!
I'm surprised too - how neat you got to see that!
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Loving all your pics so far! I really want to try flying Virgin someday soon. I'm just not very impressed with the American airlines we have...aside from Southwest.
I like Southwest, although we did have a not-so-great flight with them on this trip, which was a shame. I'm hoping Hawaiian Airlines are pretty good for our trip to Hawaii, as I'd prefer a direct flight with them, rather than having to split flights with other operators....
Thursday 6 December – part four: thank goodness we were at the front!
When we got to the gate, I had to get a photo of this…
… and the Virgin Atlantic ground staff wanted to pose for a second shot!
It took a few attempts to line everything up before we could finally get off the plane, but when we did, I was very glad that we were one of the first few off, as they only had one agent working on immigration, which I thought was crazy, given a couple of hundred Brits had just piled off the plane. We were about sixth in line, so only had a few minutes’ wait, but all the time we stood there, more and more people were piling off. There were other gate agents, but they appeared to be on their break, and a guy, who seemed to a supervisor, did not look at all impressed by the whole thing, and I’m not surprised. It really wasn’t good PR for them, and I dread to think how long some of the people had to wait.
Once we cleared immigration, the suitcases came off quickly enough, and we headed out clearing customs, and then upstairs to the monorail. They’ve changed this totally, so that you come off the escalator right into the monorail terminal, which is much better.
There were only three couples on board the thing, which was very unusual for us, and a nice change.
I always feel you know you’re in Florida when you see palm trees!
Once we got to the other end, we headed downstairs to the car rental level and were seen immediately by Dollar. I wasn’t sure what they’d be like, given they were much cheaper than anyone else, but they were fine. The guy asked if we wanted GPS, but we have our own, so we didn’t, and that was about it. Just as well, as I was busy trying to work out the new cell phone Wendy got us for the States and started texting people…
A definite plus point of Dollar is that their cars are on the ground level, so you literally only need to walk over to the garage and you’re on the right level. That’s a plus over the likes of Avis, where you have to take another elevator up to find their cars. We were told to pick any car in the standard section with its trunk open, and we found a rather natty red Mitsubishi.
In we got, and headed off. We were so, so glad to get the air conditioning going, as it was in the high 70s, and while it was lovely, it was a shock to our system, after the cold weather we’d left behind this morning.
The drive to Disney was absolutely fine, and in between texting, I managed to grab some snaps on the way….
This turned out to be the coolest shot – and I had no idea until I saw it later in the evening. I just pointed it at the sun and this is what happened. A bit surreal to see this joining the toll road… Nearly there! Characters in Flight was in the air… …. as was a helicopter!
Soon we were nearing that famous entrance sign!
Then we spotted the new DVC sign…
… and soon we were arriving at our second home!
The security guard looked up our reservation and asked whose birthday it was. Oh cool – I’d forgotten I’d noted that down. I was wished a and we headed up to the resort.
I headed inside to check in and the first thing that hit me was the overwhelming smell of cinnamon. Usually you get a hint of a scent, but this year, it absolutely smacks you in the face. I’d say they’ve overdone it just a little bit, and I personally like the smell.
Check-in was quick, and painless, and I was about to head outside to Mark with the details of our room, when he joined me. I was hoping our luggage could just go straight to the room, but he had a ticket from bell services. The guy checking us in (whose name I can’t remember ) instantly took it off us, and told us he’d take care of it, and the luggage would be with us in a couple of minutes at the room.
We headed off, and found a very full parking lot, and had to drive round a couple of times to find a space. This is a busy time of the year for the DVC after all.
On the way into the Villas, we stopped to look at the family of turtles in the water outside. We’ve watched these guys grow up from babies, so it’s really cool to now see them as adults.
Premium Economy certainly seems to be the way to go. We made a big mistake last time we flew to MCO, we only booked premium economy on the way home thinking it would help us sleep better. When we landed in Orlando the Manchester plane was late and had landed only 10 minutes before us and we were at the back of the plane. We waited 3 hours in the queue for immigration, in fact the next virgin flight had landed and was in the queue before us before we got to the front. Hoping for a much quicker pass through immigration when we fly premium economy in february. We have decided unless it is the difference between going and not going we are going to avoid economy in future.
The pictures of the airport monorail sent shivers down my spine. It is a great feeling to land in that place.
Love the monorail pics! MCO is my favorite airport in the world. I can't believe you guys haven't heard of cheese and onion sandwiches, we eat them all the time in the UK! They are almost compulsory!
This is a great trip report Cheryl, I am really enjoying it. Thank you so much for taking the time to post it. Now I realise where I am going wrong with my trip reports - no photos! Mine seem so dry and wordy compared to yours.
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Ooooh, you're there and all checked in! I always look for the palm trees when I land at MCO, too. We've got temps right now in the teens, so it's nice to remember the Florida sunshine. The long lines at Immigration are ridiculous. They know when planes are schedule to land and should have agents out and ready. Not exactly welcoming.
I think it's fair to say that we don't "stop for tea" as a country the way we used to a few decades ago. So long as I have my cup of tea for breakfast, I'm good. If someone's making at work, then I'll have some, but I won't stop working to do it...
Thank you, that's exactly what I was wondering.
Cute turtles! The Beach Club looks lovely!
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Last edited by dutchdisneyfamily; 01-05-2013 at 09:01 AM..
I think it's fair to say that we don't "stop for tea" as a country the way we used to a few decades ago. So long as I have my cup of tea for breakfast, I'm good. If someone's making at work, then I'll have some, but I won't stop working to do it...
Premium Economy certainly seems to be the way to go. We made a big mistake last time we flew to MCO, we only booked premium economy on the way home thinking it would help us sleep better. When we landed in Orlando the Manchester plane was late and had landed only 10 minutes before us and we were at the back of the plane. We waited 3 hours in the queue for immigration, in fact the next virgin flight had landed and was in the queue before us before we got to the front. Hoping for a much quicker pass through immigration when we fly premium economy in february.
Ugh. Don't tell me that. Virgin have been messing around with their flights for next year to Orlando. The earliest out of Gatwick now gets in at 5:00pm at the earliest (some days it's 6:00pm ) and that's behind the early flight from Heathrow to Manchester to Orlando. you read that right. What the heck they are doing, I do not know....
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We have decided unless it is the difference between going and not going we are going to avoid economy in future.
Love the monorail pics! MCO is my favorite airport in the world. I can't believe you guys haven't heard of cheese and onion sandwiches, we eat them all the time in the UK! They are almost compulsory!
I'm so glad you said that. I was thinking "wow, not heard of cheese and onion sarnies?"
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This is a great trip report Cheryl, I am really enjoying it. Thank you so much for taking the time to post it. Now I realise where I am going wrong with my trip reports - no photos! Mine seem so dry and wordy compared to yours.
I always love seeing photos in trip reports I have to admit. It does add something I think. You can always add some in.
Ooooh, you're there and all checked in! I always look for the palm trees when I land at MCO, too. We've got temps right now in the teens, so it's nice to remember the Florida sunshine.
In the teens?
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The long lines at Immigration are ridiculous. They know when planes are schedule to land and should have agents out and ready. Not exactly welcoming.
It's a shame as well, as they are now desperately trying to show how welcoming they are to visitors... it just doesn't come across when you're waiting for ages to enter the country.
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you'll see Virgin's Upper Class, which is their first class, as that's what we flew back in.
And I have to ask.....cheese and onion sandwich??? That must be an english thing??? 
it's fairly common over here. I love it, but cheese and onion crisps (chips to you guys) - 
thank you! I can't stand those....
We were about sixth in line, so only had a few minutes’ wait, but all the time we stood there, more and more people were piling off. There were other gate agents, but they appeared to be on their break, and a guy, who seemed to a supervisor, did not look at all impressed by the whole thing, and I’m not surprised. It really wasn’t good PR for them, and I dread to think how long some of the people had to wait. 
and started texting people… 
and we headed up to the resort. 
) instantly took it off us, and told us he’d take care of it, and the luggage would be with us in a couple of minutes at the room. 
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