Happy 10 Years - The Anniversary of our "Dreams" TR - Page 17 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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What a great interaction with Woody and Buzz!
It paid off to get up early and arrive early to the parks.
It's definitely worth it to be there early! We'll sleep when we're home, right
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
That interaction with Buzz and Duffy sounds wonderful! It's definitely worth it to get to the parks early just for mornings like this when you get in early. Really gives you a great start to the day. I always get in line to the right as well and often go through the CM turnstile.
Using the CM turnstile is a great tip I'm so glad I read about it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Linnynad
Oh I just loved your easy breezy night at Epcot and an early time back at the resort. Those are my faves.
The girls look soooooooo grown up, it's crazy.
I too am with you on the mad dash to TSMM, relax, you'll get a FP if you are at park opening.
Mine too! Some of my favorite moments from this trip were those easy nights spent back at POR.
Tell me about it!! We are going to be hitting double digits with Kaeli in a little more than a month. I can't believe how fast that has gotten here!
All I could think while looking at those stressed out people was, "this is vacation, right?" I mean, we were here super early an they let us in before park opening. It doesn't matter how slow you walk, we WILL get a ride this morning
Quote:
Originally Posted by dutchdisneyfamily
Thanks for the tips about entering the park. I'll remember that one. You have some great pics with Woody and Buzz! What a fun morning!
You're welcome I'm not sure if they do it at the other parks, but from what I've been reading, early entry into DHS has been pretty consistent. It was a great morning, and it's still early!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Neat tip about the Cast Member entrance - thanks for sharing that. Those Monsters University topiaries are so cool.
We loved those topiaries too. I wonder if they are still there? I think the movie is being released on Blueray and DVD soon, so maybe they've left them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DMA
Yes, that's a great tip! I love easywdw.com!
I love all the pictures with Buzz and Woody!
Josh gives great advice, and all for free! It's a great site. We had so much fun with Buzz and Woody
Quote:
Originally Posted by num1DVCfan
I love the Buzz & Woody interactions. We know those in queue props well, we were stuck in line for an hour lol. I think I'll learn from you and get there at park opening next trip
Oh my, an hour is a long time! Getting there at park opening is definitely the way to go
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great pictures from your morning at DHS! We tried doing that at DHS, and they turned us back and said it was for CMs only and wouldn't let us thru (but that was over a year ago)! Glad it worked for someone!
Thank you!
That's too bad it didn't work for you! Thinking back, when we first got on line they were not letting guests into the CM line, it was too early. After a few minutes, they announced that we could now use that line. THey must wait until a certain time, making sure that all CMs are in for the morning, so we don't block the line on them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
What a great start getting on TSMM and scoring FPs even before the park officially was to open. Love all the PP pics with Buzz and Woody.
Thanks, Cam!
Quote:
Originally Posted by OneLittleSpark
Sounds like great timing this morning! Love all the pics with Woody and Buzz. Buzz Duffy did come in handy!
That Duffy sure did come in handy! My girls are shy, so having a prop or something with them helps to break the ice with the characters
Quote:
Originally Posted by guerns17
Cute buzz pics!
Thanks
Quote:
Originally Posted by stardust190
How cool that you got in to the park by 8:30. I wonder if they do that every day. With my early morning risers (4:30 AM this morning for one of them ) I'm thinking that we might be able to make it out the door quite early this next trip. I'm with you in the whole not getting stressed about TSMM. While I enjoyed the ride and will definitely be taking my kids on it this next trip I don't feel like I need to rush over to get on it. I'm not even sure if it's a must for me to ride on it more than once in a day. It's a cool ride, but I guess it just isn't that big of a deal to me.
I love the interactions you had with Buzz and Woody. The girls looked like they enjoyed it as well.
From what I've read, the time does vary, but it seems that they are pretty consistent opening the park between 8:30 and 8:45 every day. And, there is no longer a rope up by the sorcerers hat. Once they open the gates you are free to head to any attraction you like.
The girls had a ball with Woody and Buzz!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Russi01
You had a great time with Buzz and Woody!! Love the new signature picture! I will have to try and remember that for our May trip! Thanks for sharing!!
Epcot sounded great! Your salmon looked delish! We have never eaten there, may have to try it in May.
The bridge is cool to see up. We got stuck waiting for the barge to pass when we were there the last time (Dec 2010-too long ago!). It was neat.
Great tip about opening at DHS, thanks for sharing!
Looked like a great start to the day and an unplanned early opening!
The PP pics with Woody and Buzz are adorable.
What a great interaction with Buzz. Love it! I think by the thrid or fourth day at Disney everyone has the "tired" look in the morning. Cant wait to read more!
Epcot sounded great! Your salmon looked delish! We have never eaten there, may have to try it in May.
The bridge is cool to see up. We got stuck waiting for the barge to pass when we were there the last time (Dec 2010-too long ago!). It was neat.
Great tip about opening at DHS, thanks for sharing!
Looked like a great start to the day and an unplanned early opening!
The PP pics with Woody and Buzz are adorable.
Thanks, Liz!
Quote:
Originally Posted by llgmommy2
What a great interaction with Buzz. Love it! I think by the thrid or fourth day at Disney everyone has the "tired" look in the morning. Cant wait to read more!
It's true, we all had that "tired" look going It was worth it for all the fun we had that morning though!
Great morning so far! The Monsters Inc. topiaries were at Epcot when we were there in May. I wish they had a PP photographer there because I just loved them.
All caught up and what a wonderful trip it's been thus far! Can't wait to hear more!
Thank you
Quote:
Originally Posted by lexiemom
Great morning so far! The Monsters Inc. topiaries were at Epcot when we were there in May. I wish they had a PP photographer there because I just loved them.
They really are cute! I was so excited to see a photographer there, it was a cute backdrop for pictures.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Soarin829
All caught up. And I have to say that is SUCH a great idea with the photo mat and the WS "hello" idea. LOVE it!
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We left off with us heading over to the Animation building, hoping to get into a drawing class. We were lucky to find hardly any one waiting for the first class of the day , we grabbed a spot on the couch and settled in to wait. Shortly we were led inside and found seats for myself, Kaeli and Abby. Chris again decided to just observe instead of draw. Our teacher was funny and friendly and decided to give us a choice of two characters to draw this morning, Mickey or Dopey. The majority chose Dopey and I was excited about that, it was a new character for us to draw!
After we finished up with the class, we spent some time playing on the computer games in the Animation building. Kaeli wanted to wait to meet Ralph and Vanellope, but they didn’t open until 10:30 and that would interfere with our FPs for TSMM. We promised that we would try to make it back to that meet and greet another time and headed off to use those FPs.
After Chris kicked our butts again, we headed over to Sunset Blvd for some thrills.
Abby was on a mission to ride RNRC this morning and I hoped that her bravery wouldn’t wear off. I can’t do coasters with loops anymore, and both girls of course wanted to ride with Daddy, so we got 4 FPs and decided that both girls would take turns riding. We had some time before our FPs would be ripe, so Kaeli and Chris headed to ToT while Abby and I did some shopping and pressed penny hunting.
Chris had texted me to let me know that they were done, so we headed off to meet them. We still had some time before we could use our FPs, and we were all pretty hungry by now , so off we went to Pizza Planet. It was still early, so we hit it right before the lunch crowd would arrive. We found an empty line waiting for us and a friendly CM greeting us. Well, that friendliness faded shortly after we started to place our order. It all started when we mentioned Kaeli’s allergy, and she pressed a button that is supposed to alert a manager or chef to come out, but no one responded. She was a little annoyed with this, and stomped off to the counter , yelling to the back that she needed someone to help with an allergy. Even after that, we still waited for someone to get to us, and even though it didn’t really bother us, I could see that the CM was getting more and more annoyed. Finally, a manager came out and went through our order for us, we ended up requesting peanut free cookies for Kaeli as a side, and he put it in for us. When the CM was repeating our order, she kept saying that we had 3 adult meals and 1 child. I said no, that’s not right, it should be two and two. We went back and forth like that a couple of times, when finally she snapped that because of the special request for allergen free cookies, Kaeli’s meal needed to be rung up as an Adult. She was quite flustered and now grumpy, taking it out on us and it was not our fault at all. How was I supposed to know that? I wasn’t about to let her attitude ruin my day, so I just brushed it off and moved up to get our food. We headed upstairs to find a seat and sat down to enjoy our meal. I’m not a fan of Disney pizza, but it was hot and fresh and did its job to fill my belly. The girls, of course, loved theirs. I think they could eat pizza in Disney every day!
The girls wanted to check out the arcade after we were finished, so we headed downstairs. Chris gave them both $2 to play some games, and they enjoyed every minute of it. Finally, it was time for us to head over to RNRC and use those FPs!
Abby was getting really excited for RNRC, and since she had never ridden before she got to ride first with Daddy. Even though she looks like she is screaming like crazy in the ride photo, she came off excited and happy, absolutely loving this ride!
We decided to head back to POR after that, stopping for some refreshing treats on our way out. Chris didn’t get himself anything, and a PP photographer noticed that as we were walking by and decided to take a silly picture of us.
We didn’t have much of a wait for a bus, and in no time we were back in our room where we rested and freshened up for our dinner tonight at the Brown Derby.
I am glad that Abby loved RnRC, and I love the screaming pic...but Kaeli's smile in her pic....omg, way too cute!
What is the deal with the meal?? AND the CM?? Dang. I think I would have requested to just buy the dang cookies. An adult meal just bc of the cookies. Isn't that going to mess up your meals now?
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Animation academy is always a fun stop, especially on a hot day. Nice that you got to draw Dopey! Wow, what's with the grumpy CM at Pizza Planet? Not good customer service at all. : I love the PP photos today!
Did they really charge you for an adult meal because of Kaeli's allergy-required swap? That can't be right . That CM's grumpy attitude was certainly uncalled-for and only made her miserable. I love the Photopass family pix in front of TOT and also the "poor Chris" ones! Abby for riding RRC!
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I'm so glad I read about it!
I'm not sure if they do it at the other parks, but from what I've been reading, early entry into DHS has been pretty consistent. It was a great morning, and it's still early!!
We tried doing that at DHS, and they turned us back and said it was for CMs only and wouldn't let us thru (but that was over a year ago)! Glad it worked for someone! 
) I'm thinking that we might be able to make it out the door quite early this next trip. I'm with you in the whole not getting stressed about TSMM. While I enjoyed the ride and will definitely be taking my kids on it this next trip I don't feel like I need to rush over to get on it. I'm not even sure if it's a must for me to ride on it more than once in a day. It's a cool ride, but I guess it just isn't that big of a deal to me. 
Liz 
It was worth it for all the fun we had that morning though!
*Melissa
I can’t do coasters with loops anymore, and both girls of course wanted to ride with Daddy, so we got 4 FPs and decided that both girls would take turns riding. We had some time before our FPs would be ripe, so Kaeli and Chris headed to ToT while Abby and I did some shopping and pressed penny hunting. 
, so off we went to Pizza Planet. It was still early, so we hit it right before the lunch crowd would arrive. We found an empty line waiting for us and a friendly CM greeting us. Well, that friendliness faded shortly after we started to place our order. 
, yelling to the back that she needed someone to help with an allergy. Even after that, we still waited for someone to get to us, and even though it didn’t really bother us, I could see that the CM was getting more and more annoyed. 
We went back and forth like that a couple of times, when finally she snapped that because of the special request for allergen free cookies, Kaeli’s meal needed to be rung up as an Adult. 
She was quite flustered and now grumpy, taking it out on us and it was not our fault at all. How was I supposed to know that? 
PassPorter Guide Author
How great that Abby rode Rock'n'Roller Coaster and enjoyed it. 
"Sparky"(My first trip.)
: I love the PP photos today!
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