An Animal Kingdom State of Being with Cam and Fam COMPLETED 9/18 - Page 116 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Love the little giraffes - what a unique souvenir! I have never noticed them. I'll have to make sure to check them out next time we are in Animal Kingdom.
Great pictures at AK, I like the different perspectives. I love the giraffe carvings! Growing up Justin loved to experiment with wood carving, so we will have to look for them on our next trip!
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Just got caught up again!!
Love the picture of the spider lights! Where are they located?
I always love reading your trip reports because I feel like I'm right there with ya'll.
Can't wait for more!
Just got caught up again!!
Love the picture of the spider lights! Where are they located?
I always love reading your trip reports because I feel like I'm right there with ya'll.
Can't wait for more!
I just rechecked my notes and I didn't write down where I saw them. I know we were walking from the front of the park towards Asia.
What a great start to your day at AK. Those giraffes were so cute!!
We did have a great start to the day!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lexiemom
Great pictures at AK, I like the different perspectives. I love the giraffe carvings! Growing up Justin loved to experiment with wood carving, so we will have to look for them on our next trip!
My Papaw used to whittle, but never anything as intricate as these giraffes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by southerngirl1014
Aww I love the little carvings! Too cute. I always mean to get neat things like that and get completely distracted by other things.
I'm planning on checking back next year and see if there is another giraffe or another animal I'd like to get.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MontiMouse
Love the little giraffes - what a unique souvenir! I have never noticed them. I'll have to make sure to check them out next time we are in Animal Kingdom.
She does very beautiful work, so it is worth it to check it out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sc507
Love those little giraffes! Looking forward to reading about the rest of your day!
More coming up soon!
Quote:
Originally Posted by nalexander
What a great time at AK.
We were having a great time, in spite of some extreme heat!
I love the detail at Animal Kingdom and, like you, I'd never noticed those spider lights before - very cool!
I figured when I posted the lights that others would have already noticed them. But I think that's the fun of Disney going back year after year; there are still little details that surprise us.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcc0313
Sounds like the early mornings finally caught up with your group Glad that you had some reading to keep you busy while they slept in a bit. Great start to your day, love the pictures. AK is the one park where I just never feel like I can eat anything, I think it must be because of the heat in that park, pretzels are normally our staple there...until this trip when I shocked myself and actually ate.
We actually made it up for 6 early mornings, and that was a record for us. The rest of the vacation we get up and around much more slowly.
Once the giraffe were purchased we headed back out of the store to new adventures. First up was some time with the PhotoPass Photographer at the Tree of Life.
From here we let Stefanie start making the choices for what we would do next. Her first choice was to meet Lilo and Stitch. While in line we considered a hair wrap, but the line was currently very long. So this was put on hold for later.
Luke’s pictures:
PhotoPass pictures:
After enjoying time with Lilo and Stich, we checked again for the kangaroo, but he still was not visible. The photographer with Lilo and Stitch had said that Daisy Duck would be at Camp Minnie-Mickey from 1:00 – 1:40 (the only time she is available at AK). It was now within that time frame, so Stefanie was ready for more character time. And Daisy was truly lovely.
Luke’s pictures:
PhotoPass pictures:
Once we’d finished our visit with Daisy, Stefanie was off to meet Thumper and Miss Bunny. She managed to do quite a bit of loving on Thumper.
While Stefanie had been visiting with Thumper and Miss Bunny, Rafiki had come out and no one was paying him any attention. But Stefanie cured that dilemma.
Finally, we got in line for a meet and greet with Mickey, whom we had missed the other day. This is usually an awesome family picture for us and this time was no exception.
Luke’s pictures:
PhotoPass pictures:
The heat was getting oppressive so we headed back toward the front of the back. On the way we discovered no line for the hair wrap. Stefanie immediately began selecting colors: yellow, orange, lime green, and royal blue. She also chose a charm and matching beads. Luke got a seat on a bench and I pulled over stool to take photos. Really pretty wrap! We paid inside and then brought the CM a tip as she had been especially sweet to Stefanie.
Now we were truly leaving the park. An AKL bus had just pulled up so we quickly found a seat. We did have a little wait to move out of the park as it was shift change for the drivers.
Once the giraffe were purchased we headed back out of the store to new adventures. First up was some time with the PhotoPass Photographer at the Tree of Life.
From here we let Stefanie start making the choices for what we would do next. Her first choice was to meet Lilo and Stitch. While in line we considered a hair wrap, but the line was currently very long. So this was put on hold for later.
Luke’s pictures:
PhotoPass pictures:
After enjoying time with Lilo and Stich, we checked again for the kangaroo, but he still was not visible. The photographer with Lilo and Stitch had said that Daisy Duck would be at Camp Minnie-Mickey from 1:00 – 1:40 (the only time she is available at AK). It was now within that time frame, so Stefanie was ready for more character time. And Daisy was truly lovely.
Luke’s pictures:
PhotoPass pictures:
Once we’d finished our visit with Daisy, Stefanie was off to meet Thumper and Miss Bunny. She managed to do quite a bit of loving on Thumper.
While Stefanie had been visiting with Thumper and Miss Bunny, Rafiki had come out and no one was paying him any attention. But Stefanie cured that dilemma.
Finally, we got in line for a meet and greet with Mickey, whom we had missed the other day. This is usually an awesome family picture for us and this time was no exception.
Luke’s pictures:
PhotoPass pictures:
The heat was getting oppressive so we headed back toward the front of the back. On the way we discovered no line for the hair wrap. Stefanie immediately began selecting colors: yellow, orange, lime green, and royal blue. She also chose a charm and matching beads. Luke got a seat on a bench and I pulled over stool to take photos. Really pretty wrap! We paid inside and then brought the CM a tip as she had been especially sweet to Stefanie.
Now we were truly leaving the park. An AKL bus had just pulled up so we quickly found a seat. We did have a little wait to move out of the park as it was shift change for the drivers.
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