National parks, natural beauty and a bit of Disney wonder! DISNEYLAND SECTION COMPLETED - Page 14 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Sorry about the sleep! I didn't realize they had changed the front! I am so glad that I have pictures of the old entrance! I have to agree that I like the old one much better! Can't wait to hear more!
Great update and photos. Sorry you had such a rough night's sleep. Do you take sudafed for your sinuses? I don't travel without it - since it seems that the only think that seems to open mine up.
I swear by that stuff, but unfortunately with some of the other medication I'm on now, I can't take it any longer.
Now I REALLY want to go - the pictures are great, and how cool that it opens up to so much, the least not being the park!
We actually have more points there (250) than either of our other two properties, thanks to great onboard incentives when we were in the Baltic last summer.
Have you tried a neti pot for your sinuses? I find it helps tremendously with the pressure.
Fun that Mark gets some birthday attention this trip.
Glad you were able to get some sleep on the flight, however I am sorry that your sinus issues did not make it as restful as you would have hoped. I just love how the first class chairs turn into beds...I must travel first class once in my life, it is on my list
Sorry there was such a long wait at customs definitely not the thing you look forward to after a 12 hour flight. I love the look of the GC - glad you had a room close to the lobby, the room is beautiful.
Hope that the sinuses clear up a bit so that you can get some better sleep and enjoy your time. I have to agree when I first saw the signs for DCA I was not impressed either - I think the old sign was much more original, gave the park its own individual identity instead of copying over from DHS.
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Saturday 27 August – part two: there’s no line for Mickey?
From there, we walked across Town Square, getting some photos...
Then Mark spotted Mickey was out greeting people, so we got in line and saw him literally about three minutes later. Unbelievable. We were already very impressed by how quiet the park was.
We walked up Main Street, getting lots more photos. I don’t know if it was just me, but there seemed to be many more stars and stripes out than I’m used to seeing at Disney World?
When we got to the hub, we had to go and get some traditional photos of the Partners statue, with the tiny castle behind. That is the only real letdown in Disneyland. You get to the end of Main Street and then you’re kind of like “is that it?” when you see the castle, as it’s so small, compared to Disney World.
We also got some Photopass pictures taken there and found some neat theming too.
We wandered across towards the Snow White Grotto and I saw another nice photo opportunity, so we grabbed a nearby Cast Member and got her to take a photo of us.
From here, you get some nice and very unusual shots of the castle and of course the Grotto.
Photos done, we headed into Tomorrowland, seeing a moving bench on the way... I will admit I did a double take when I saw that!
We both thought that Tomorrowland looked different, but it could be our memories playing tricks on us. After all, now all the parks start to merge a bit into one....
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All caught up now. The hotel is gorgeous & the room...wow! That bathroom alone has me wanting to stay there. Love the photos from DL...and you're right about that castle. I agree that it doesn't have the wow factor that Cinderella's does at DW.
How rare it is to see the park so empty! Since I've never stayed on property, I've never seen the park so empty (aside from a few times I stayed until closing!).
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We were already very impressed by how quiet the park was. 
I will admit I did a double take when I saw that! 
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