The CLQ Heads West - Even Eileen!! - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Day Three – Sunday, July 29 Cash falling from the sky… err, elevator
I only dozed a bit after the alarm debacle, so I was kind of ready to get up for EMH (which is actually called Early Entry at DL). After everyone was up and ready, we went to the lounge for a quick breakfast.
When we were all ready, we headed out to the elevator. When it opened, Thom was in there, coming back up to meet us. He noticed a $100 bill on the floor of the elevator and picked it up. There was nobody else in the elevator with him before and it’s not like you can just go, “Did someone drop this $100 bill?,” so he kept it. Maddie sidled up next to him and said, “I love you, Daddy.” No doubt she was calculating how many fluffies she could get for $100!
But the story doesn’t end there! The elevator stopped on the 8th floor on our way down. The door opened, but nobody got on. But the man who’d gotten on after us on 11 spotted a huge pile of $100 bills. He scooped them up and we figured someone lost all their vacation money. Thom added his hundred to the pile and the man took the money to the front desk while Thom went up to the lounge to see if anyone had reported that they lost $1,000 (that’s how much it was! ). Or to see if someone was running around, frantically searching.
Thom came down again and said that nobody had reported losing any money. We began to speculate what the story was. Was it some rich person who dropped their pocket change and won’t even care? Is it someone who’s going to be evicted from the hotel when they can’t pay their bill? We never found out – nobody claimed the money (at least not before we checked out). On our way through Downtown Disney, we ran into the guy who’d turned in the money at the front desk and he said nobody had reported anything there either.
We walked to DCA and followed almost the exact same path as the day before. First stop: Luigi’s Flying Tires.
Thom seems to have a certain gleam in his eye, doesn’t he?
Then, we did Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree. Whoo!
Then, Karen offered to stand in the FP line for RSR while the rest of us went to ride TSMM. Unlike at WDW, TSMM often has a do-able standby line, and sometimes, like this day, the line is nonexistent. The CMs were handing us our 3-D glasses as we were being seated in our ride vehicle. No. Line. Whatsoever.
I rode with Zack and beat him.
I had the high score of the day! Honestly, I didn’t care about beating Zack, but judging by his reaction “Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!” he wasn’t very pleased about it.
After the ride, we all rode again. This time we actually had time to pick up our own glasses. I rode with Zack again (and beat him again). His reaction was funny to me, so I kept teasing him about it. He warned me he'd have his revenge when we rode Buzz Lightyear. Gulp.
After our second ride, Karen was back with our FPs. She also had 6 bonus FPs for California Screamin’! And even better, the FPs were good for up to 6 people. That’s a lot of rides on CS! That also reminds me that we'd gotten one bonus FP the day before. I never seemed to get one with my Premier AP.
We split up a bit, with Karen and Mary Devall going to ride (I forget) and the rest of us went on the Sun Wheel. There was no wait for the Sun Wheel. The best part of riding it was watching Maddie’s face – she has the most expressive face and she made great faces, especially when we got rocking!
Once we were back together, we went on California Screamin’ with our bonus FPs (I think Jill took Maddie on the carousel, but I really don’t remember ). By this time, Eileen was in the park ready to meet us after transferring over from her conference hotel, so we walked to the front of the park to meet her. We’re all together, finally!
Eileen needed coffee, so we walked over to Fiddler, Fife & Practical Café (where they serve Starbucks coffee). The line was fairly long and Eileen decided she didn’t really need Starbucks coffee, so we walked over to the coffee kiosk in Paradise Pier (after a quick detour to get a GAC card for Eileen and her bum knee).
Then, we sprung the big surprise on Eileen and presented her with her gold key. After that, we got a Photopass picture of the entire group. I don’t have access to those pictures, but I’ve got one with my camera!
Then we used another bonus FP to ride CS with Miss Eileen. By this point, we were getting dizzy, so we decided to pass on the magic and give the rest of the bonus FPs away.
We walked over to Cars Land, ready to ride RSR all together.
We all had FPs (except Eileen, who used her GAC), we had to split up because there were 8 of us, so Thom and Maddie rode in another car. I couldn’t tell who won the race this time – maybe there can be a tie? Jill has the ride photos on the Photopass+, so she’ll post them.
While we were waiting for Thom and Maddie, we had a celebrity sighting. A fairly large group (maybe 6 or 8 people) came through with a VIP tour guide. I looked at everyone in the group but didn’t recognize anyone. Jill did, though, and even snapped a photo (which will be in her TR – her TR is going to be so much better than mine! ). Now I don’t remember her name, but she’s on Weeds I think. Mary someone, maybe? I should’ve taken better notes.
We stopped at Flo’s so some members of the group could take a bio break. I got this cute picture of Maddie while we waited.
As we made our way to a Bugs Land, we saw some Radiator Springs residents:
and
The group was ready to try some stuff in A Bug’s Land. Eileen wanted to rest her knee, so I decided to join her on a bench in the shadow of my beloved Tower. We chatted away, stopping only to wave when Mickey came by in the Trolley.
How cute is Mickey’s outfit?
When the rest of the group caught up with us, we all took the trolley to the main entrance. Mickey wasn’t riding with us, though.
We walked over and entered Disneyland park. Our first item was to get FPs for the Indiana Jones ride. As we walked up Main Street, we saw the Dapper Dans. On a tandem bike!!
I think the CLQ needs a bike like this one!
That picture makes me laugh because the first three Dans are all smiling at the kids in the stroller, but that last guy? Totally posing for the camera! We grabbed our FPs and the girls wanted to do Tarzan’s Treehouse. I decided to skip it and sit with Eileen, but then realized I’d never done it before. Oh well, it gives me a reason to return to Disneyland.
When the girls were done exploring Tarzan’s Treehouse, we went to ride Pirates. I just love POTC at Disneyland. And because we’d be eating at Blue Bayou shortly, it was fun to check out the restaurant on the way past it.
But before lunch, we had time for one more attraction, and Haunted Mansion was it!
Up Next: “I would do the wrong thing!”
__________________
Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
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.
I'm finally all caught up, and boy did it take a while since this site was having a bunch of issues loading each page...geesh! Anyway, I love love love the rooms at Paradise Pier! The pillows are adorable, and the room is so bright and colorful. I'm also loving all of the photos of Cars Land. Question...what is the point of the balls on the flying tire ride? Do you try and throw them at each other's heads while your flying around in the tire?
DCA seems to have some really interesting rides. It certainly wasn't like that when I visited in 2004, although I only had the chance to visit DL, but I may have to think up a way to make it over to the west coast. I've been wanting to dance with Ellen anyway, so now there's two reasons to make a trip over there.
I can't believe nobody claimed those $1,000. It was definitely someone that didn't need them. If it was me I would've been crying my eyes out, heck I would've been crying if I had lost $100.
Glad Eileen finally arrived! Great photos! It makes me want to visit DL even more.
I reeeeeeeally want to go to Cars Land! In the back of my head I have been wanting to make it back to DL (last time I was there, I was a teenager). I think I will be looking into a DL vacation within the next couple of years!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Sounds like a fun day so far! I love the Daper Dans, so cool.
I can't believe you saw Mary Louise Parker! She was also in Fried Green Tomatoes, the movie.
For real whoever lost that $1000, must have not needed it. I would be crying like Mayra said over $100, heck maybe even $10. Okay, maybe not $10 but yeah, even $50.
You packed a lot in! I can't wait to hear about Blue Bayou. We wanted to eat there so badly last time but it didn't work out. I agree that Pirates at DL is awesome!
Yay -- everyone's together now! Sounds like a wonderful day, so far.
I can't believe someone wouldn't miss $1000 cash!
I POTC at Disneyland also -- definitely one of our must-dos! And at least it doesn't seem to break down as much as the one in WDW! I guess that bad ride mojo guy doesn't live on the West Coast.
Mary Louise Parker. If nobody claimed the money then doesn't it go to the person who found it? I would have been freaking out if I lost my vacation $$$! Great update!
Crazy story about the lost money! How could someone have not been missing that?!?! I wonder if anyone did eventually claim it?
Carsland looks amazing, just like you are walking through the movie. I've been wanting to get out to DL, and now I'm thinking we'll have to do it soon!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
About This Page: 
No doubt she was calculating how many fluffies she could get for $100!
). Or to see if someone was running around, frantically searching. 
Is it someone who’s going to be evicted from the hotel when they can’t pay their bill? 
We never found out – nobody claimed the money (at least not before we checked out). On our way through Downtown Disney, we ran into the guy who’d turned in the money at the front desk and he said nobody had reported anything there either. 
Honestly, I didn’t care about beating Zack, but judging by his reaction “Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!” he wasn’t very pleased about it.
He warned me he'd have his revenge when we rode Buzz Lightyear. Gulp. 
And even better, the FPs were good for up to 6 people. That’s a lot of rides on CS! 
That also reminds me that we'd gotten one bonus FP the day before. I never seemed to get one with my Premier AP. 
). By this time, Eileen was in the park ready to meet us after transferring over from her conference hotel, so we walked to the front of the park to meet her. 
We’re all together, finally! 
By this point, we were getting dizzy, so we decided to pass on the magic and give the rest of the bonus FPs away.
Jill has the ride photos on the Photopass+, so she’ll post them.
). Now I don’t remember her name, but she’s on Weeds I think. Mary someone, maybe? I should’ve taken better notes. 
On a tandem bike!!
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
And who would drop $1000 and not miss it? 
LOL! Just kidding - they will both be equally fantastic!
"Sparky"(My first trip.)
PassPorter Guide Author
And if that was someone from Weeds, I'll quickly tell you when I see the photos, as we love that show. 
Linear Mode
