The Trip Full of Thanksgiving and Christmas 11/19-11/28 - Page 16 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I was away from the boards for 2 weeks, so I had some catching up to do.
Amazing trip so far! Lots of good meals and character interactions! Loving all the PP photos!
Sorry your meal and the service at Via Napoli wasn't the best.
Now that you mention it, we had slow service at Via Napoli last year. I thought our pizza was good, but it isn't a restaurant we "must do" each trip.
Now crowds on Thanksgiving night is definitely a happy surprise!
Right, good pizza, not a must do every trip. I have other places to try first.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
I was away from the boards for 2 weeks, so I had some catching up to do.
Amazing trip so far! Lots of good meals and character interactions! Loving all the PP photos!
Sorry your meal and the service at Via Napoli wasn't the best.
Thank you! It really was an amazing trip! Memories that are treasured for sure.
Tim needed the bathroom so we stopped by the American Pavillion. I noticed the Hanukkah storyteller and listened to her while waiting. Then I noticed that we were just in time to see the Voices of Liberty, something I have always managed to just miss. So we headed in there. I took a picture, and then got the notice that my phone was out of memory!!!
After they sang some Christmas carols, which were incredible, the one that you see closest to us came to talk to us. It turns out she was from Wisconsin and not missing the snow one bit right now either. Tim got a picture with her on his phone. She was a lovely person to talk to.
After that we got some Photopass pictures just as the sky opened up with a true sun shower and the photographer fled for cover.
We got in line for the Candloght Processional about 45 minutes before the show and we are glad we did. We got our pick pick of seats. I frantically downloaded some picks to Photobucket to free up some room on my phone. I managed to do that so I was able to get a few pictures.
The show began and it was lovely. Not only is the music moving, Gary Sinise was a fantastic narrator. He congratulated us on throng the first audience of the Candlight Processional season. He was glad to be back (he was at Disneyland last year). He had a way of making you feel like he was looking at you directly during the whole show. During silent night I wept. It was just so beautiful.
Whew glad you were able to free up some phone storage! I just did a mass download of everything off my phone in prep for my upcoming trip, but I didn't think about the photobucket upload in a pinch, such a great idea!
All caught up again! I can't believe the crowd levels - I figured the parks would be absolutely mobbed and insane, but apparently not, from your photos.
Whew glad you were able to free up some phone storage! I just did a mass download of everything off my phone in prep for my upcoming trip, but I didn't think about the photobucket upload in a pinch, such a great idea!
Photobucket did save the day at that moment.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
All caught up again! I can't believe the crowd levels - I figured the parks would be absolutely mobbed and insane, but apparently not, from your photos.
The crowds picked up massively at this point, as you hear in a moment. I truly saw what a level 10 crowd was. However I was really happy to see I didn't have that issue on the previous days.
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As we exited the Candleight Processional, Preston had mentioned wanting to go to Morocco. I said to make sure we headed right then. As soon as we exited we were met with a massive wall of people. There was no walking through them. I saw some people trying to push their way through. But to us, Morocco wasn't that important. I am assuming there were the people waiting for the next show, but I can tell you I would not want to be the people trying to keep that crowd in any sort of line.
So, we turned left. Remember how I said I wanted to see some story tellers? We went past Germany twice when Helga was doing her bit, but each time I caught the same last two minutes of the show. Sad. So we went a bit further to Norway and I noticed that that story teller was about to start and I got a nice front spot off to the side.
I enjoyed this immensely. The boys laughed and we learned something new. After that we stopped and watched some performers in China, but I didn't get pictures for two reasons. First of all I was worried about running out of memory and second because we didn't have the best view. But it was fun to just enjoy. The kids were amazed at the acrobatic stunts they did.
Soon the boys were somehow hungry again, and we were in Mexico. They wanted nachos. The line was insane. There were no tables. We sat on the steps of the temple and shared the nachos.
We then checked in for the Illiminations Sparkling Dessert party and decided we didn't want to wait in line an hour before it even opened so we decided to wander a bit more. This proved to be a HUGE mistake.
Next update: The huge mistake aka you have GOT to be kidding me!!!
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So neat to finally see the Voices of Liberty, and especially as they were singing Christmas music. You all had great seats at the Candlelight Processional. I have a feeling of foreboding about your next update.
So neat to finally see the Voices of Liberty, and especially as they were singing Christmas music. You all had great seats at the Candlelight Processional. I have a feeling of foreboding about your next update.
I knew you would like the Voices of Liberty part. We did have great seats!
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I can't believe the crowd levels - I figured the parks would be absolutely mobbed and insane, but apparently not, from your photos.
You all had great seats at the Candlelight Processional. 
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