Thanks to the PCRU, We Get to Go to DLR Too! **COMPLETE 8/21/2010** - Page 11 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Just had the opportunity to catch up and what a great trip! That fantastmic Dessert party and seating look fantastic and so glad that Izzy could enjoy that hotdog! No flames from me on the Tiki Room Iago is annoying I wish they would bring back the original.
Can't wait to read more! Since I won't get to DL for quite some time I am living vicariously through you!
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All caught up again Danielle. You certainly are having a fantastic day. Your lunch looks delicious and how wonderful there was a hot dog on the menu for Izzy to enjoy. That soup looks delicious. Looking forward to hearing all
about your evening. More please.
After an earlier than usual rest, we headed back out to DCA. I have to take a moment again to marvel at how incredibly wonderful it is to walk out of our room and be inside DCA in less than five minutes…astounding, simply astounding.
We still had a 101 Fastpasses so my crew headed onto Soarin’. Even with the FP, it still was a good 20 minutes before they exited and I passed the time by sitting on my posterior enjoying the wonderful SoCal weather!
We went to check out the Muppets next; we knew the show was the same but the queue was different and we wanted to check that out, too.
Afterwards, we didn’t have a huge amount of time but enough to go back to the Animation Academy for a drawing lesson. This class seems way more popular at DCA than at DHS; they have classes every 30 minutes and keep a listing of which characters are being drawn when. We definitely saw our share of groupies who were waiting for certain characters. The animation room itself is huge with stadium style seating but no desks; everyone has a lap board. We had some form of priority entry with our package so we were shown in first and snagged seats front and center.
Ta-da….here is my masterpiece! Take that art teacher who gave me my first and only C….I am not a hopeless case!
We had an early ADR at Ariel’s Grotto as part of the World of Color Dining Package. We checked in and were told to expect our meal to take an hour….I think they wanted to ensure a good flow on people in and out so they didn’t get too behind schedule. Chef Jeremiah was wonderful and kind and offered some nice alternatives for Izzy.
Apps:
Shared by the table….Antipasti Plates
Izzy’s Fruit Plate
Entrees:
Mafalde Pasta with Sausage
Herb Crusted Chicken Breast
Santa Maria Tri-Tip
Desserts:
Dessert Platter
Izzy's Sorbet
The meal here was pleasant, nothing special but more than decent. The main reason we chose to eat here was to snag the preferred standing section for WoC. Keep in mind; we were seeing it on the third or fourth day of opening week!
From what little research I was able to find, I knew the procedure for WoC was still chaotic and there was certainly plenty of confusion between CMs and guests. Since this was our one and only chance to view WoC, I wanted to try to get optimal pavement. We were hanging around with a couple of hundred other folks waiting to be let into the general area. We were told this would happen at 7:30 but at about 6:50 they started letting all of us in and directing guests to the next staging area. I guess we had a lot of pixie dust floating around us because most of the guests were going to a color coded section, not preferred. Once we found our nest line, there were only two families ahead of us! This was really serendipitous as about 5 minutes later, we were led into the actual viewing area and we easily snagged space at the rail. The ‘wet’ section in front of us was below us and we had pretty much an unobstructed center view of the main screen.
We sat down, stretched out a bit and got to know our neighbors!
At 8pm, they announced everyone would have to stand up which was a bit of a drag….the pre-show wasn’t even starting for another 30-45 minutes. Luckily, our section was, by no means, packed, so that you could sort of stand and shift around a bit, too.
I will say right here, I didn’t snap any pics as I was too busy watching WoC. Plus, there are loads of much higher quality pics and video than I would ever be capable of capturing!
As far as the show itself…Meh…I wasn’t blown away. Now, before I get flamed, let me explain. The whole process of lining up and waiting and standing is ridiculous; I think Disney really missed the mark on this one. The amount of time one has to spend on their feet for this show is excessive. And even so, if you are short like me, you better have a front row space or else forget it; you won’t be able to get the full effect. And with the front row, you have to cross your fingers no one has their kids on their shoulders or is holding their camera high above their head taking photos/video. I saw both in the sections around us and the CMs were not enforcing the no kids on shoulders rule….
In terms of the show itself? Well, there are some cool effects but I really didn’t feel like there was a story woven through. To me, it seemed like a lot of Disney/Pixar scenes cut and pasted and set to some music.
Will I see it again? Probably, once the hype wears down and the process is more streamlined and organized.
That being said, it is just my humble opinion. I much preferred Fantasmic the night before. However, I am in the minority of my family and probably the rest of the world, too.
Danielle
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~Shoot for the moon, if you miss, you will land among the stars~
Thanks for the honest review of World of Color. If they're going to keep people standing like that, that's good to know, as I won't be able to do that with my chronic fatigue and may have to see if they can make any provision for me...
Thanks for your review Danielle! I feel exactly the same way! We weren't enthralled by it either, plus the amount of time waiting for it was ridiculous (and I won't even get started on Fantasmic at DL )! They definitely need to improve things seating wise, and the show itself was nothing spectacular.
That meal looks like it was pretty darn good. Glad to hear you were able to get in a drawing class and your Jack turned out wonderful. So good, I think it should go in a frame and be on a wall.
Sorry WOC was a let down, but I agree that standing all that time wouldn't be any fun. Perhaps as the hype dies down, things will get better.
I think your drawing of Jack was great! Maybe this is the beginning of a new career?
The dessert platter looked yumm-o! Was it as tasty as it looked?
Sorry about WoC being such a hassle and underwhelming. If we ever get to DLR, we'll have to see if they've improved the logistics before we'd give it a try. Thanks for the review!
Thanks for the honest review of World of Color. If they're going to keep people standing like that, that's good to know, as I won't be able to do that with my chronic fatigue and may have to see if they can make any provision for me...
I agree, Cheryl though I don't know how accomodating it will be. There are a few benches in the disabled section but they are on the third tier and I think the view is probably fairly obstructed. I am hoping they work out the kinks and WoC will be easily accesible to everyone.
danielle
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~Shoot for the moon, if you miss, you will land among the stars~
Thanks for your review Danielle! I feel exactly the same way! We weren't enthralled by it either, plus the amount of time waiting for it was ridiculous (and I won't even get started on Fantasmic at DL )! They definitely need to improve things seating wise, and the show itself was nothing spectacular.
I think us shorties are definitely at a distinct disadvantage! I am sorry you had a rough go of it at F!; we opted to spend a small fortune for the dessert party but it was worth it to not hve to stake out concrete hours before.
danielle
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~Shoot for the moon, if you miss, you will land among the stars~