1 Mom, 2 Daughters and 3 Days of Wonder! **Completed 6/29!** - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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My goodness, Katie looks wonderful in her favorite dress! So glad she got time to get up close and personal with Miss Minnie. And, Pirate Stitch and Emily, what a twosome!
Love the pictures Mo...Emily and Stitch and Katie and Minnie - really great shots. Glad some rest was all Katie needed to put the smile back on her face, glad Emily was able to enjoy the kids club for awhile. You all look wonderful all dressed up, can't wait to hear all about your evening.
You all look beautiful all dressed up! Great character meets! Stitch looked cute as a pirate! Cant' wait to hear about Toy Story. I love that movie and was hoping the show would be great. Now I'm worried!
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I'll probably be able to squeak out one more installment but Monday, we are beginning our move back to Arkansas- if our hotels along the way have free internet, then I should be able to keep going- but if not, it may be a bit before I come back to update.
Toy Story The Musical began right on time and we all were tickled with the stars. The actors who played Woody, Bo Peep and Buzz (he was almost a carbon copy of Nathan Lane) were outstanding. The stage sets were superb and very detailed. Here are just a few shots I got during the show (with my LCD screen off and no flashes!)
I know it wasn't just me who thought the costuming and stage presence of all these beloved characters was great- the whole audience would have a collective ooh- aah when some of them appeared- like Rex, Slinky and Hamm.
However, the biggest response came when we were taken to see Sid's room and those creepy potpourri of tortured toys came to life- Emily was a bit freaked out by the erector set one- so much so, that she forgot she was in a theater and said "Now Mom, that thing is just so creepy!"- and I heard a few people behind us laugh. Creepy yes but also completely true to the movie.
One of the final scenes:
I did find it a little long because the dialogue all came straight from the movie- there wasn't much original material added other than a few songs, which I was kind of disappointed with. It wasn't bad or anything by any stretch of the imagination, it just didn't have the WOW factor like the Golden Mickeys did. We still really enjoyed it.
After the show, we headed straight for the atrium where Pirate Mickey and Pirate Goofy were appearing- we were able to get a good place in line for both of them. I tell ya, ya gotta use that Navigator to your advantage- if you know where they are and are there when they get there, the quality and quantity of character appearances will increase dramatically.
Before we got in line though, Katie and Emily both asked for pirate ears of different types to wear for the deck party later in the evening- so we found a cute pair for each of them. At $15 a pop, I decided to pass on ones for myself.
Good times with Pirate Mickey and Pirate Goofy!
We headed over to the formal photo setting for a quick picture- hoped that would turn out!
The ship had meanwhile, pulled out of Nassau and we were moving once again- against the backdrop of a gorgeous sunset.
We still had some more time before our dinner seating, so we joined in on the Family Dance Party in the lounge- which was alot of fun. Most of the kids were younger but we still had a good time- the three of us made our group to the side and danced away.
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