A Promise Kept: A Cam and Fam PTR Updated 10/9 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Great plans Cam. I made many a FP waiting in line for our 3rd FP on our trip. Between checking wait times and looking for FPs, everyone in line is now on their phones!
Oooo! I didn't know about the CoP refresh. I look forward to seeing that in Oct. I would love to think that the Star Wars Gala is still going on when we arrive in late Oct., but I'm not holding my breath.
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Our FP+ time for the Haunted Mansion overlaps with NanaTink and her crew. We’ve met up a couple of time before, but the last time, none of us thought to take a commemorative photo. I’m thinking we might be able to get all six of us in a PhotoPass photo of us by the hearse after the ride plus some with our own cameras.
That's always a favorite Photopass stop for us as well. Unfortunately, there was never a photographer there when we rode HM in June (3 different days). Hopefully there will be one there for you. Just thought I'd mention it so you can have a back-up plan ready.
I also agree with the PP who said to schedule your 4th FP as soon as you've used the 3rd one (maybe while you're having lunch). The longer you wait, the fewer options you will have. You might be surprised with TSMM -- we had no trouble getting extra FP's for that for a party of 8 in June. We also found the standby line to be very reasonable at various times throughout the day. We did RnR standby at rope drop one day and then went over to TSMM and rode standby with a 10 minute wait (at about 9:20 in the morning). Even in the afternoon the standby wait time was about 40-50 minutes.
yay!!! I was thinking the same thing--now that they have the photopass photographer, that would be an awesome picture! Great minds and all that!
I did not know about CoP re-do! I love that...Dave not so much, but I bet in Sept heat he'd be more than willing to take a nap in the cool. Besides, I want the littles to see it
Keeping my fingers crossed for the 3rd!
Luke has been showing me photos of the refurb for weeks now. The exterior is so much more colorful, and it was definitely time for new carpet and upholstery.
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Originally Posted by disney fan 46
Everything sounds great
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Originally Posted by SuperDave
That's a great goal with all four parks in two days! Don't go crazy and just do what you can as you are on vacation and take it at a relaxing pace, which is the best way to go!
You will at WDW for several days, so you have time to do all four parks. Even though you have a ParkHopper, which I do as well. I will only be doing this on certain days. Down time, back at your resort to relax and perhaps, some pool time may be good as well!
Nice choices with your FP+s!
We don't plan to do much more in each park than our FP+. These days are to get in a few of our favorites or new rides, so we can relax and let the Vaughns enjoy themselves. I never pencil in pool time into our plans as we kind of go with the flow on that. Neither Luke and I are much for spending more than an hour at the pool at any one time.
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This is the day I'm really sad to read about, as originally we were due to be back in WDW and would've been able to finally meet you. I can't believe we've come so close and then we ended up flying up to NYC. I am so sorry things didn't work out for a meet, given we're both in Florida that day.
Now I'm sad, too. We are getting closer with our dates and there is always Christmas 2017. I've been mentioning already that we need to head back at Christmas time, but Luke isn't convinced yet.
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Originally Posted by lindawdw
Your F/P picks for this day look great! I didn't know that they did a refurb on the CP!!! I've been saying for years now that it looked so run down and it would make me sad because it was an attraction that Walt had so much input into. I'll look forward to seeing some pictures from you on that one for sure! It's nice to have a day here and there where you have no ADR's planned, so that you can just wing it and do whatever you want, when you want!
The exterior of CoP is so bright and cheerful now. I've told Luke every time he shows me photos on line that I'll have to take a collection of my own of CoP. The interior took longer than they expected, but I honestly wasn't surprised because like you, I thought it needed this years ago.
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Originally Posted by Straitlover
Actually, you can make a new FP+ as soon as you scan your band at the third one. So, if POC has a wait in the FP+ line and you can get a wi-fi signal inside the bldg, you could go ahead and make a FP while you're waiting! I was using an older smartphone on our June trip, and I couldn't always get a signal inside queues.
Thank you so much! I was hoping someone reading would have already done this for the 4th FP and share their experience.
I recall reading somewhere about a refurb at CoP. I'm glad, as it has been looking very tired the last few years. Can't wait to see the bright new colors!
This is one of my must dos every trip so I'm glad it is now feeling the love.
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Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great plans Cam. I made many a FP waiting in line for our 3rd FP on our trip. Between checking wait times and looking for FPs, everyone in line is now on their phones!
This is so great! But at the same time a little funny that everyone in the queue is on their phones.
Oooo! I didn't know about the CoP refresh. I look forward to seeing that in Oct. I would love to think that the Star Wars Gala is still going on when we arrive in late Oct., but I'm not holding my breath.
I know Disney does things like the SW fireworks to draw in the summer crowds, but I wish these would be extended for those of us who don't want travel down when it's hot.
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Originally Posted by allgiggles
That's always a favorite Photopass stop for us as well. Unfortunately, there was never a photographer there when we rode HM in June (3 different days). Hopefully there will be one there for you. Just thought I'd mention it so you can have a back-up plan ready.
I also agree with the PP who said to schedule your 4th FP as soon as you've used the 3rd one (maybe while you're having lunch). The longer you wait, the fewer options you will have. You might be surprised with TSMM -- we had no trouble getting extra FP's for that for a party of 8 in June. We also found the standby line to be very reasonable at various times throughout the day. We did RnR standby at rope drop one day and then went over to TSMM and rode standby with a 10 minute wait (at about 9:20 in the morning). Even in the afternoon the standby wait time was about 40-50 minutes.
This is all great information! My phone and I are going to get very busy as soon as we enter the queue for FP+3. I love the info on TSMM as I know Morgan and JP will want to ride that more than once.
We will be driving to the park this morning because we will be transferring resorts from SSR to OKW. If we can get up quickly enough today, we’ll try to make rope drop at Epcot and then speed walk to Soarin’ Over the World to see the new film. We won’t be disappointed if this part doesn’t work out as we, at least, have FPs for it another day. Afterwards, we’ll get breakfast again at Starbucks. Our first two FastPasses keep us in this area.
· 9:45 - 10:45 AM Spaceship Earth · 11:10 AM - 12:10 PM Meet Disney Pals at Epcot Character Spot
Next is one of the things I’m most looking forward to on this trip. · 1:00 - 2:00 PM Champagne Beverage Seminar at F&WF Festival Center
The only Culinary or Beverage seminar that appealed to both Luke and me was the champagne seminar. So as soon as DVC/AP/Disney Rewards Visa members could book, two days before the general public, I called and booked us for this. Because of this, even though I said I’d never do Epcot on a weekend during F&WF, we will be doing Epcot on a weekend during F&WF. But we plan to vacate the premises right after our final FP. Beside the champagne seminar, the only other must do for Luke and I this day at Epcot is the new Frozen ride.
· 2:00 - 3:00 PM Frozen Ever After Lunch will be at one or more of the food booths both before and after the champagne seminar. We may even grab one more bite after our tour of Norway. Then we hope that a text will have arrived telling us where our room is located at OKW. We’ve requested Peninsular Road Area and near transportation. Whenever I get the room text, I will pass that info on to June. In fact, I will probably be texting them throughout the day for updates on how their travel is progressing.
· 4:00 PM Check-in Disney’s Old Key West Resort
· Early Evening park hop to Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Once we have our luggage unpacked and sorted out in the OKW 2-bedroom, we plan on hopping over to Animal Kingdom. We hope again to make a FastPass or two for this park, but won’t be disappointed if nothing is left. Mainly, I’m hoping we get to see the new light show on the Tree of Life. A safari would be fun as would a visit with the gorillas. Our time here will be limited by when the Vaughns are due to arrive at OKW.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Oh, enjoy your seminar. I keep asking Dave if he'd like to do one of the wine or beer tastings, but he declines. I don't drink beer or wine, but I told him I would go sit with him!
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Hopefully there will be one there for you. Just thought I'd mention it so you can have a back-up plan ready.
It's nice to have a day here and there where you have no ADR's planned, so that you can just wing it and do whatever you want, when you want!
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