Our "Let's Try This Again" Trip Report UPDATED: 11/1 - Page 2 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Wow, Tricia! You and Roger had a wonderful start to your trip! I can't believe how much you got done that first day! I'm loving it!
I can't wait to hear more.......please?
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 am so loving this trip report especially knowing that I was one of the "Family" that was called while you were at LAX!!! I hope you saved some fun at Disney for when my crew gets down there. I don't want the CM's all pooped out.
Despite the time zone difference and being up too many hours yesterday, we were able to make it to the Animal Kingdom for the opening show with Mickey and the Gang. Our first destination today – Expedition Everest. A little background first….several years ago I passed out on Splash Mountain at DL. Ever since, I have been cautious about riding attractions that go straight down (or seem to) (no ToT for me). I’ve been debating since Roger first rode EE in ’07 whether to try it or not because of the hill coming out of the mountain. I had myself all geared up to try it last year and then we didn’t get to go on our trip. So here I am…moment of truth….Roger offered to carry me back to the resort if I passed out again (lol)….but no need, I did fine and I liked it! We even went a second time to get a better picture.
Here I am after just surviving EE!
For a more mild adventure, we got fastpasses for Kilimanjaro Safaris next, and then took the Wildlife Express Train to Rafiki’s Planet Watch.
Roger pointing the way to Rafiki’s Planet Watch
We got to watch the vet staff performing a procedure on a duck. His metal levels were too high and there were putting a camera and a scope down to see if they could find something. They did pull out a tiny metal ring that he had swallowed.
The Vet Staff working on the duck
We also got to meet Jimmy Cricket while we were over there.
To Be Continued....
__________________
Some Day My Prince Will Come!
Katie - WDW - August 2011
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.
On the train ride back to Africa, Castmember Ed wished us a Happy Anniversary over the loud speaker on the train.
Next we went on Kilimanjaro Safaris. As it was still pretty early in the day, a lot of the animals were still roaming around. This is my favorite AK attraction! We got some great pictures of the animals.
We got 4 elephants in one picture!
Flamingo Island is one of the largest “Hidden Mickeys” at WDW
A great close-up of the Rhinos
We went on the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail following the Safari. We couldn’t see any hippos in the hippo pool but there were several Gorillas lounging around.
“I’ve got such a headache from all of these people staring at me”
To Be Continued...
__________________
Some Day My Prince Will Come!
Katie - WDW - August 2011
We shared a pizza and salad at Pizzafari on our way out of the park to catch a bus to Blizzard Beach. Since the buses run to AK first and then BB, we had brought our swim stuff with us so we could go straight to BB without having to go back to the hotel first. Still being tired from yesterday, we took it easy and cooled off in the Cross Country Creek (lazy river) and Melt-Away bay (wave pool). Roger did come down the closed tube on Runoff Rapids – one of his favorites.
Roger coming out of the wave pool
Here is a picture of my new water shoes.
This is just to prove I was there – no pics of me at the waterpark please!
To be continued...
__________________
Some Day My Prince Will Come!
Katie - WDW - August 2011
After returning to W.L. to get cleaned up, we headed over to Hollywood Studios for our ADR at Sci-Fi Dine In Theater. We were extremely glad Judi had made an ADR for us as people were being told 45-50 minutes for a “table” (and the waiting room was standing room only) and we were seated in 5 minutes. The food was fine (Roger had the ribs and I had a chicken sandwich) but we love to come here for the atmosphere. We were the back seat drivers in our car while watching old movie clips, cartoons and ads for the concession stand. When he brought us the bill, it was stamped “Speeding Ticket” at the top.
Back seat drivers at Sci-Fi Dine in Theater
We wanted to see Toy Story to compare to the one at DL in CA, but it was temporarily shut down after dinner. We went on the Great Movie Ride and explored the Streets of America instead. Since they were offering two shows of Fantasmic, we decided to wait for the second one to thin out the crowd a bit. While waiting, we checked on Toy Story again and it was running. We decided to go ahead and wait in the 40 minute line while waiting for Fantasmic to start. The queue for T.S.M.M. is a lot more entertaining in FL vs. CA! The ride is basically the same both places once you get inside.
Roger in the queue line for TSMM
Since I’m a teacher, Roger thought it appropriate to take my picture with the crayon.
Here is something that never happens – I actually beat Roger!
Next we went and got in line for Fantasmic. We enjoyed it but for some reason, we like the one in CA better. Maybe because in CA you are a lot closer to the action???? We went back to W.L. and called it a night! One thing I will mention about W.L. is that the mousekeeping staff is awesome! Devora was our mousekeeper for most of the trip. She made us towel animals almost every day and we wrote notes back and forth on the dry erase board we had brought. You can also request turndown service for the evening and that staff was a lot of fun too! Yesterday we got a “Hidden Mickey” made out of towels and today we got an alligator.
Today’s towel animal from mousekeeper Devora
More to come….
__________________
Some Day My Prince Will Come!
Katie - WDW - August 2011
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.
Great pics Tricia!! And you know all the times I go to AK, I never knew that Flamingo Island was a big Hidden Mickey!! I guess I never noticed because I was always taking pictures! Thanks for the info!
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that ride!!!! More, please!!!
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