Don't Stop - part one of Disney trip COMPLETED - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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I wonder if there's something like that to fly to Tokyo from the US. Might make it easier for me for my first trip across the ocean.
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Oct '99: CSR ~ May '02: CR ~ Nov '04: SOG ~ May '06: SOG ~ Dec '07: Solo @ Pop ~ May '08: Pop w/friends ~ Oct '08: SOG ~ Dec '09: Pop w/LeAnn ~ Sept '10: Solo @ Pop ~ Spring '11: AKL ~ Jan '12: Pop for 1/2 Marathon ~ Sept '12: 1st trip for DL 1/2 Marathon? ~ Feb '13: Pop w/pals? ~ Mar '13: Tokyo Disney w/PP's?
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I wonder if there's something like that to fly to Tokyo from the US. Might make it easier for me for my first trip across the ocean.
I don't know much about Virgin Blue - could be worth looking at them. Of course, you could always fly to London, spend a few days here, then join us on the Virgin Atlantic flight there...
If I could fly First Class, I'd fly more often. Now that's the way to travel.
The one problem with the Contemporary is it's ALWAYS the last stop (and the first to pick up when you go home). With all the starts and stops, Jimmy's stomach gets queasy. (so maybe next time one of us will get off at the first stop with Jimmy and other will stay on. Brilliant idea! If first stop is WL, take the boat to the Contemporary. If first stop is Poly, take the monorail. Why didn't I think of this back in September???)
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Thursday 10 December – part five: wow, what a view!
No sign of bell services when we got there, so we sorted out our own luggage and went to the online check-in area, only there was an old couple there, just asking lots of questions. Eventually, someone else called us over and sorted us out with our room keys for room 8108 on the 11th floor of Bay Lake Tower.
We ended up taking out cases there ourselves and I think knocking over a few guests in the process, who weren’t looking where they were going. I’m sorry, but when you have two huge suitcases in your hands and there’s someone coming towards you, not looking where they’re going, it’s not that easy to avoid them.
Finally we were in Bay Lake Tower, bizarrely coming out on the fifth floor from the connecting walkway from the main building, which of course leaves from the fourth floor. Very odd.
We found our way to the 11th floor and wouldn’t you know it, we had quite a hike from the elevators to our room. That figures. Everything had gone wrong since we landed. When we opened the door, finally something went right for us and we realised that we had a Magic Kingdom view. OK, so not that central, but it’s a view all the same. Bonus.
We took a few quick photos of the room:
Then it was out to the Top of the World lounge, as I really wanted to see it and the view from there. Getting there is not exactly easy. You have to go down to the first floor and then you’re escorted up by a Cast Member, a bit like they do to get you to the California Grill. Once we worked it out, it was OK, but it wasn’t as easy as we thought at first. We each had to show our room key to get in the elevator. Boy, they are tough on who gets in there. No guests allowed at all. If you’re staying here, you just won’t get in here, it’s as simple as that.
The elevator was packed, but when we got up there, it wasn’t too busy. Ok, so there was nowhere to sit inside apart from at the bar, but it could’ve been much worse.
We were both pretty hungry by now, so we asked at the bar if they did any food and were pleasantly surprised to find that they did flatbreads. I went for the buffalo mozzarella one, while Mark had the Bay Lake Tower one, which had bacon in it. We also grabbed a Sprite each. When they turned up, they were bigger than we had thought, about four slices to each, but then again, I guess that about right, as they were $7.99 each.
We had to throw those down pretty quickly, as there was just five minutes to Holiday Wishes when we got them. I couldn’t finish mine, but it wasn’t bad and it’s a shame I couldn’t polish it off. I guess I wasn’t quite as hungry as I first thought.
Next: “I wonder if we can see this from our room?”
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Might make it easier for me for my first trip across the ocean.
ºOº ~*~ 
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Pixie Dust
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
PassPorter Guide Author
(and you were delayed in first class!!)... Can't wait to hear more!
<--- Disney Fantasy 2016!
Deb
Eventually, someone else called us over and sorted us out with our room keys for room 8108 on the 11th floor of Bay Lake Tower. 
OK, so not that central, but it’s a view all the same. Bonus. 
No guests allowed at all. If you’re staying here, you just won’t get in here, it’s as simple as that. 
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