Forever Young: A Disneyland Trip 50 Years in the Making COMPLETED 1/16/16 - Page 15 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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Gorgeous photos all around!! I love the magic shots!! Cam, this TR is bringing me such joy!! You are like a little girl and your excitement can be felt!! I am so happy for you that this trip is wonderful so far!!
What a great day! I agree with you, Space Mountain is definitely smoother at DL than WDW! How great you got to ride the submarine! And I just love Autopia at DL, so much better than WDW!
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I enjoyed this installment, thanks for the historical perspective on your sub ride!
Subs were down both times when I was a kid, I think I rode it for the first time in 2013! I would prefer a 20000 leagues theme, but I'll take Nemo since I'm not the boss of Disneyland.
I think this area is one of the most photogenic places in the park, and your photos really do it justice. The first photo of the monorail over the lagoon, and the photo from the monorail of the lagoon with the matterhorn in the background are absolute winners.
Great pictures. I loved the submarines, too. I remember going on them back on my first trio back in 1976. It was at night and the fireworks were going off as we we got on. I might have one of those old ticket books around somewhere.
Liz
This looks like the roads where I live so I would feel right at home driving here.
Great photos! I love looking at pics of the Disney Parks so I enjoyed your overload of them.
Glad you were finally able to ride your favorite ride ever! Although the first time I visited MK 20,000 LUtS was still open, I never rode it.
Love all the PP pics especially the Matterhorn ones! So cool!
Very cool PP shots! Love the ones of you climbing the mountain!
I have to say, I don't know much about DL, so excuse my silly question...the monorail station is in Tomorrowland? And you just ride the circuit and get off where you got on? Or is it an actual means of transportation?
The monorail was something I didn't learn much about before we headed to California, but Luke filled me in as we rode. We got on in Tomorrowland from where the track took us outside the park around to the front and then on to DTD. There is a station at DTD where we could have gotten on or off, but we stayed on as we wanted to stay in the park. Lots of folks boarded to head into the park after clearing a bag check. From DTD, the track leads to the Grand Californian where it passes twice through the resort. Then the monorail takes a track through California Adventure (that was my first glimpse into this park). Eventually, the track back is parallel to the track coming out. Before the monorail returns to the Tomorrowland station it makes a figure 8 through Tomorrowland among the trees. We were dropped back off exactly where we started.
I had totally forgotten the route until you asked or I'd have included it in the update last night. Luke had to take me through it all over again using Google Maps.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Oh I so get you about the submarines - I loved those on my first visit to WDW in 1981 with my parents. We went back a couple of times and I loved them again, then we went on our honeymoon in 1999 and they were gone. I too was so excited to finally get to try them again in Disneyland and it didn't disappoint!
You were lucky you rode the monorail when you did, as I know it was closed for large chunks of time during our visit because of the heat.
Luke told me back in 1997 that there had been issues with high maintenance as well as slow ride time and low guest capacity. I remember thinking but what about the fun, cool factor. I'm glad they worked out the issues and opened it again. Definitely a reason for me to make more trips to DL.
I'm glad we got our ride in when we did then as it was a must do for Luke>
Quote:
Originally Posted by Disneybine
Ooooo, I love the PhotoPass backgrounds!!! The Matterhorn one is hillarious
The Frozen background was rather plain after we saw the one for the Matterhorn. The PP photographer at the Matterhorn was a hoot himself as he had on a long wig and huge sunglasses. He was excellent at getting us to pose to make the effect work.
I miss the 20,000 Leagues ride at WDW. Your photos are great. I agree they should add the photo backdrops to WDW.
The photo backdrops were very cool.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tara O'Hara
Gorgeous photos all around!! I love the magic shots!! Cam, this TR is bringing me such joy!! You are like a little girl and your excitement can be felt!! I am so happy for you that this trip is wonderful so far!!
I remember one night writing up the live update and hoping my gushing wasn't wearing everyone out. Not knowing DLR resort like the back of my hand as I do WDW made for all kinds of excitement and adventure.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
I love today's photos, yours and the Photopass ones, too. The backdrop magic-shots are a great idea!
The first time in each park, I practically wore my camera out. I have actually had to delete quite a few as they were blurry. I'm chalking that up to excitement which led to impatience in my shooting.
What a great day! I agree with you, Space Mountain is definitely smoother at DL than WDW! How great you got to ride the submarine! And I just love Autopia at DL, so much better than WDW!
Love all the Photopass pictures!
Autopia is so scenic and feels more like a leisurely drive through the country.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KimmyAnn1147
I enjoyed this installment, thanks for the historical perspective on your sub ride!
Subs were down both times when I was a kid, I think I rode it for the first time in 2013! I would prefer a 20000 leagues theme, but I'll take Nemo since I'm not the boss of Disneyland.
I think this area is one of the most photogenic places in the park, and your photos really do it justice. The first photo of the monorail over the lagoon, and the photo from the monorail of the lagoon with the matterhorn in the background are absolute winners.
I'm so sorry you never got try 20,000 Leagues, and like you, I'll take Nemo just to keep this ride. I thought Tomorrowland was very photogenic and I couldn't stop taking photos of the Matterhorn. The ride may be rough but the mountain is so cool.
I have to laugh, I was singing We all live in a Yellow Submarine. All the PP photos are awesome, wish they had back drops in Fla. I was shocked to read that they have no AC on the Monorail, wow!!
Great pictures. I loved the submarines, too. I remember going on them back on my first trio back in 1976. It was at night and the fireworks were going off as we we got on. I might have one of those old ticket books around somewhere.
Liz
I think it would have been so cool to have ridden 20,000 Leagues at night and with the fireworks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
This looks like the roads where I live so I would feel right at home driving here.
Great photos! I love looking at pics of the Disney Parks so I enjoyed your overload of them.
Glad you were finally able to ride your favorite ride ever! Although the first time I visited MK 20,000 LUtS was still open, I never rode it.
Love all the PP pics especially the Matterhorn ones! So cool!
You had me laughing with your road comment. I grew up in eastern Kentucky where the roads are bit like that, too. I realized as I was editing photos that I must have been attracted to the Matterhorn because it keeps showing up.
We have a backdrop photo from WDW in 1999(?) that has my DD fighting the Malifent dragon. and a whole bunch of villians in a forest type setting. it's the only one we have like that. Seems like it was before PhotoPass days started. Now I'm wondering how we got it.
Luke told me back in 1997 that there had been issues with high maintenance as well as slow ride time and low guest capacity. I remember thinking but what about the fun, cool factor. I'm glad they worked out the issues and opened it again. Definitely a reason for me to make more trips to DL.
Oh gosh I am so with you about the fun, cool factor. Even as an adult who hears all of that rational reasoning about slow ride time and low guest capacity, I'm still like "but why not keep it going?", it's so much fun!
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I love the magic shots!! Cam, this TR is bringing me such joy!! You are like a little girl and your excitement can be felt!! I am so happy for you that this trip is wonderful so far!! 
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How great you got to ride the submarine! 
Luke had to take me through it all over again using Google Maps. 
I too was so excited to finally get to try them again in Disneyland and it didn't disappoint! 
I realized as I was editing photos that I must have been attracted to the Matterhorn because it keeps showing up. 
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