You can take the girl out of Disney, BUT……… - Page 12 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Into the shops we went…WOW! These places are so small! Really, incredibly small!!!! It’s really hard to move around with all the shelves and people in there. Universal did not think this out very well. We entered Zonkos and took a quick look around and Claire spotted her love immediately!
She chose a pink Pigmy Puff and we worked our way to the register. It’s not far, but you have to do a little zig-zagging around people. I did manage a few shots in there.
Honeydukes connects to this store, so I got some shots if it as well.
We made it to the register and the girl asked Claire if she wanted to name her Pigmy Puff. She said they would announce it to the store. Claire got real shy and said no, she would name it later…and I forget what she ended up naming it…but it was something really stupid. LOL!....Oh wait… I think it’s “Snuggles”. Very original.
I was told later that they ring this bell when they do the naming ceremony. I wish I would’ve pushed Claire to do it.
Skip called and told us he was off and we told him where we were. I told him to work his way over and we would find him outside. We took a look around the store a bit, but again, it’s hard to enjoy it with it being so small and crowded.
I would’ve loved to buy one of these, or a chocolate frog…but the price tag was awful…something like $15.
The door to leave is just a regular single sized person door…And it was really hard to get out. People were pouring in and I just stood there waiting. Finally we kind of pushed our way out. You would think others would be happy to let someone leave and make a little more room in there.
We found Skip near the Three Broomsticks.
I think we might’ve made another visit to the Moaning Myrtle bathroom too.
A few more pictures and we said good bye to WWoHP.
Claire was ready for Seuss Landing again. I took a few shots on the way. I must admit, I didn’t do a good job with pictures here for a little while. I barely took any at all once we hit Seuss Landing.
I think we stopped and watched the fountain for a few minutes here.
I totally agree about those shops in WWoHP! They are ridiculously small. We squeezed our way into Honeydukes long enough for my DD to buy a small bag of candy, and they we got out of there.
I totally agree about those shops in WWoHP! They are ridiculously small. We squeezed our way into Honeydukes long enough for my DD to buy a small bag of candy, and they we got out of there.
I guess they want you in and out there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
That is one of the best themed ATMs I've ever seen!
I am guessing I must’ve just put my camera away for most of Seuss Landing.
We got in line for the High in the Sky Trolley again. Today they had both trains going, so the plan was to ask to ride the other one because I was given the tip that both trains are different. Skip decided to sit this one out.
The line was MUCH longer today.
So we waited….and waited…and waited some more.
We came to a point where we just didn’t move at all. Finally an announcement came on that there were technical difficulties and it would be running soon. We decided to wait it out. But it really was taking a long time. The announcement came on 2 more times. Skip called wondering where we were. I told him we were about to leave the line as it was broke down. Soon the decision was made. The lady behind us mentioned that there were teenage looking kids trying to fix it….that doesn’t really sound all that safe to me. And watching them, it became clear, that none of them knew what they were doing. So several of us left the line…and as we walked out, we saw a train leave….go figure…. BUT as we were looking for Skip, we heard another announcement that again it was broke down and would be fixed soon. I think they ended up closing it completely for a while so someone who knew what they were doing could come and work on it.
I don’t remember where Skip was, but I think he was fairly close to the entrance.
Claire voted for Cat in the Hat again and again, todays line was much longer. We waited it out and when we boarded, the TM’s made a big fuss over Claire’s dress again today. She loves that. They did tell her to hold on to her pigmy puff so he didn’t fly out during the spins. We had another great ride, but I can only do that once…it’s a bit to “spinney” for me.
We decided it was time to head over to the Studios. IoA was just a tad too busy today. We left with intentions of coming back later…hopefully when it was less crowded.
As we headed to the front we saw this.
I think one of them made the comment that he looked so real…..well that’s because he is. I had seen pictures of good Ole Spidey on my friend Jeanne’s facebook page. He was sitting on a counter and she said he had moved and scared the beegeesus out of her. As I was talking the 1st picture…Spidey moved and gave me another pose. Skip and Claire also just about jumped out of their skin. LOL
I continued to take a few pictures on our way out.
Today we walked over to US on the side of the lake opposite of City Walk.
We went slowly. It was hot, and we were tired already, and just taking in the scenes. I think we actually sat down for a bit….most likely for a smoking pit stop.
We also watched this ride from outside…..scary stuff….
Sorry about the ride being down. That's too funny about Spiderman - that was my first thought when I saw the first picture - "he's got to be real", glad I was right!
Sorry about the ride being down. That's too funny about Spiderman - that was my first thought when I saw the first picture - "he's got to be real", glad I was right!
It wasn't a big deal that we didn't ride it, but it was wasted time...wish we would've just walked out right away.
That Spidey is so cool. In my friend Jeannes picture he is stiing on a counter at a store....He really looks like a statue in that one.
We headed into Universal Studios and the crowd level was once again much less than IoA. We had also decided that we wouldn’t spend much time here today. Everyone was feeling a bit tired. Skip said he was going to go back for a nap today, and we both knew Claire needed one too. I agreed it actually sounded good….Are you shocked? I almost shocked myself with that decision. And even more shocking, Skip said he would get a taxi for Claire and him so I could stay, but I said, no, I was fine going back as well.
So…..we had a couple of things we wanted to do before leaving. ET was on my list. I knew that Claire would find it fun, and it had been many years since I rode it as well, but I remembered liking it. With that on our agenda, that was where we headed.
We didn’t get too far into the park and look who we see!
Skip kept telling me to get a picture of Shaggy, He just loved his look.
I tried to convince Claire to get her picture, but she refused. Finally Skip said he would, and then they told us they weren’t taking anyone else now as they had to leave for a little bit. Darn!
So onward we went.
We stopped and looked at the show time for the Terminator. I had seen it before….it was OK, and I wouldn’t be against seeing it again, but the timing was off right now, so we thought we would try to come back later. Claire didn’t like that idea at all for some reason. She has no clue what it is, but she was convinced it was something she wouldn’t like. We never did make it back, so I guess she won.
Skips feet were also hurting a lot this day, so we were moving fairly slowly.
We spotted ET.
A potty break was needed before we rode though. I want to mention that I was not impressed with most of the Universal bathrooms on property. They were not super clean…….not filthy, but needed some major work. You could also tell the older bathrooms from the newer ones. It was almost like they just let the older ones completely go and only maintained the newer ones. This is one area where Universal could take some lessons from Disney.
After the potty break a show was starting.
We sat and watched a few minutes of it….we now found out why Shaggy and Scooby had to leave.
Claire kept making comments that she didn’t know the man in the yellow hat was a real character. It doesn’t take much to impress her sometimes. LOL
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That's too funny about Spiderman - that was my first thought when I saw the first picture - "he's got to be real", glad I was right! 
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