DawnDenise Does Disney: Final Thoughts **Updated 11/10** COMPLETE - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I was up bright and early this morning. Got ready and waited for Bell Services to arrive to pick up my luggage for storage. Right @ 7:15am, bell services arrived and 5 minutes later, I was out the door headed to the bus stop. I waited about 10 minutes for a bus to AK to arrive. Another 20 minutes later I was headed up to the gates at AK. I parked myself on a bench in front of the turnstiles and waited for Amy. About 5 minutes later, my cell phone rings, and it was Amy asking where I was. I told her and she told me she was standing by the bathrooms near the turnstiles. Laughing, I turned around, walked two steps to my right and saw her. I headed her way and through the turnstiles we went.
We headed up through the Oasis and were stopped in a mass o people as they weren’t letting people past that point. I did get to see the park opening, kind of, for the first time. Amy made sure to point out Mickey back at the Tree of Life. They finally let us loose and we headed over to Tusker House to get checked in. OK, I have to admit that I never changed the ressie to two people. I figured they were going to sit me at a table for two anyway. So I checked in and said it was for two. The CM said it was only showing one but it wouldn’t be a problem. We sat down and waited for them to call us. It was then that I noticed a lady next to us that looked vaguely familiar. I asked if she was on the flight from Louisville on Friday and she said yes. We talked for a few then Amy I were called. We bypassed getting our picture taken as I didn’t like the fact that it was a package thing. Part of me regrets that decision because I didn’t have a picture of Amy and me together. Hindsight is 20/20. We were taken to a table for two next to a wall. Our waiter came over within 5 minutes and poured our juice and took our additional drink orders, Coke for me and a Sprite for Amy. He told us to help ourselves to the buffet and off he went. Both of us headed up to the buffet to get our food. Lots of normal breakfast choices and some different choices as well. All good, all good. After filling our plates, we made our way back to our table and started eating, chatting the whole time. Eventually the characters began to make their way around. First up was Mickey, then Donald, Daisy, and finally Goofy.
At some point during our meal, I must have accidently hit the button and took the picture of the wall. So, if you didn’t know what a REAL close up picture of the wall at Tusker House looks like, here ya go:
It was a great meal and one that I would definitely do again, especially if spending the day in AK. Great start! After we settled the bill, we were trying to decide what to do. As I looked at my watch, I basically could take in one ride and then have to head back to CBR to catch DME. We spent a lot of time talking at breakfast. We decided on doing the safari since we were in Africa. Amy had her GAC with her so we went through that line. The stand-by line wasn’t bad either but it was best. We boarded our jeep and off we went. We had a good driver and saw quite a few animals. Here are just a few of the pictures that I was able to get.
We saved Little Red and made it back safely. Once we got back out to the walkway that you took one to Asia, Amy and I had to say good-bye. Hugs and promises made to get together in November and she went off to the Asia area and I headed out to the bus stops. Amy for having breakfast with me! I stopped and got a bottle of water on my way out and I said good-bye to AK. Now here is where I encountered my only bus problem the whole trip. I got to the bus stop at 10:05am. Being that it is the park that is farthest out, I was patient. 15 minutes went by, 30 minutes went by and still no bus. The CM checking the schedules said one would be along shortly when another family asked where it was. The CM’s body language was telling me that she had no clue when one was coming and was trying to find out. Another 15 minutes passed and still no bus. Finally the CM went to a bus that was waiting for passengers as none were waiting at another resort stop to come around and get us. Thank goodness I left a little earlier than planned from AK. I finally made it back to CBR and got off at Old Port Royale. I ran through the gift shop one more time in case I missed something. I picked up some gifts to send to my co-workers up in Indy and then walked over to the Customs House. Once there, I had bell services retrieve my luggage and I waited on a bench watching a father and his two daughters playing freeze tag. Once my luggage arrived, I put my purchases into the bag and waited for the DME bus to arrive.
Sadly, it arrived right on time and after handing off my luggage and finding a seat on the bus, we were headed back to MCO. I sat back and closed my eyes reflecting on my first solo trip. We arrived at the airport and after waiting for my bag (the second to last bag) to find its way from the bottom of the bus, I headed into the terminal, checked my bag, and to security. Passed through without any issues and off to ride the mini-monorail to the gates. I grabbed some grub from McD’s and headed to my gate. I finished my meal, took a potty break, and within 20 minutes boarded the plane for my ride home.
The flight was beyond uneventful. I was asleep as soon as I could turn on my iPod. I woke up about 10 minutes before we started our descent. After I got off the plane, I headed past security where chuck usually meets me and he was nowhere to be found. I called him and he bounced around a corner and scared me to death. Gotta that man of mine. By the time we made it to baggage claim, the luggage was already spinning around and mine arrived about 2 minutes later. <sigh> I was home! And with that, my trip has come to end.
Sounds like a very nice way to spend your last morning at WDW. The pictures at breakfast are great by the way. Now I am really looking forward to seeing your scrapbook pages for this trip and hearing your final thoughts.
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Great finish, Dawn! How cool that you got to hang out with some Passporters! Sorry you had a cold, but glad you still managed to have fun. Looking forward to your final thoughts.
__________________
Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
Great update! What a fun time at AK with Amy! And, a not-so-fun time waiting for the bus back to CBR. I can't believe your solo visit is over already. Looking forward to your final thoughts
Can't wait for your final thoughts Dawn! I love your TRs!! The only good thing about this one ending is that you are going back so soon and we have another report to look forward too!!
About This Page: 
We sat down and waited for them to call us. It was then that I noticed a lady next to us that looked vaguely familiar. I asked if she was on the flight from Louisville on Friday and she said yes. We talked for a few then Amy I were called. We bypassed getting our picture taken as I didn’t like the fact that it was a package thing. Part of me regrets that decision because I didn’t have a picture of Amy and me together. Hindsight is 20/20. We were taken to a table for two next to a wall. Our waiter came over within 5 minutes and poured our juice and took our additional drink orders, Coke for me and a Sprite for Amy. He told us to help ourselves to the buffet and off he went. Both of us headed up to the buffet to get our food. Lots of normal breakfast choices and some different choices as well. All good, all good. After filling our plates, we made our way back to our table and started eating, chatting the whole time. Eventually the characters began to make their way around. First up was Mickey, then Donald, Daisy, and finally Goofy.
Amy for having breakfast with me! I stopped and got a bottle of water on my way out and I said good-bye to AK. Now here is where I encountered my only bus problem the whole trip. I got to the bus stop at 10:05am. Being that it is the park that is farthest out, I was patient. 15 minutes went by, 30 minutes went by and still no bus. The CM checking the schedules said one would be along shortly when another family asked where it was. The CM’s body language was telling me that she had no clue when one was coming and was trying to find out. Another 15 minutes passed and still no bus. Finally the CM went to a bus that was waiting for passengers as none were waiting at another resort stop to come around and get us. Thank goodness I left a little earlier than planned from AK. I finally made it back to CBR and got off at Old Port Royale. I ran through the gift shop one more time in case I missed something. I picked up some gifts to send to my co-workers up in Indy and then walked over to the Customs House. Once there, I had bell services retrieve my luggage and I waited on a bench watching a father and his two daughters playing freeze tag. Once my luggage arrived, I put my purchases into the bag and waited for the DME bus to arrive. 
that man of mine. By the time we made it to baggage claim, the luggage was already spinning around and mine arrived about 2 minutes later. <sigh> I was home! And with that, my trip has come to end. 
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Pixie Dust
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Shame about the problem with the bus, but I guess Disney transportation didn't want you to leave. 
Sammi
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