A Whole New World - Disney Vacation 2015 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
We got up early this morning and got ready. We weren't sure if we would be able to keep the same room or have to move (since we had added last night). We headed to front desk and after a little juggling, we got to keep our same room. :O) We went over to the food court and got our refillable mugs and a little breakfast. Mickey Waffles....
We were headed to the Magic Kingdom this morning, but before entering the park, we made a detour and took the boat over to Fort Wilderness Campgrounds!
I love seeing all the resorts from the water.
We signed up for the 1:00 trail ride and had a little time to walk around the campgrounds. While we were here for Hoop Dee Doo last year, I noticed that Trail's End did take-out from their restaurant.
I knew that's where we would get lunch today.
We got the fried chicken, cole slaw, mac & cheese, sodas and apple cobbler for dessert. This food is delicious and we may just have to try the restaurant buffet sometime!
$32.74 or 2 CS credits
Love how they package it up! It was really too much food for the two of us, but we did our best! We found a table and had a little picnic.
The campgrounds are huge, we actually had to take the internal resort bus to get out to the Tri Circle-D Ranch Trail Rides.
Peter got the lead horse, Achilles, and I got the mischievous horse, Jessie. Peter had ridden year's ago, I had never done it. The CMs got everyone ready (there were about 10 of us), and the guide led us to the trail. Peter was right behind the guide, then me. Peter's horse was very good, but mine would stop occasionally to snack on the leaves (he wasn't supposed to). He didn't mind me very well, but I could finally pull him away and get moving again. The trail ride took about 45 minutes. We loved it and would definately do this again. The cost was $45 per person but we used the discount card from our resort packet and rode for $78.
Side Note: There is a weight restriction to do the trail rides. The limit is 250 lbs. (and you actually step on scales- cheating!). Peter would not have been able to have done this last year. He has lost 30 lbs. and now weighs 242!!! I am so proud of him!!!
We took the bus back to the boat area and rode back over to Magic Kingdom. Now we were ready to hit the park!
That's awesome that you didn't have to move!! The horseback riding looks amazing!! I think I will file that away for our December trip. I'm looking forward to hearing about your MK adventures!! I agree, the boat ride is beautiful and a fun way to see the MK resorts!!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
What a great start to your trip! How great that you got into your room so early and then didn't have to move! Love all the pictures! And great eats too!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Sounds like a great start to your trip!!! That's great that you did not have to move rooms!
We were glad that we didn't have to change rooms (even though our location wasn't quite as good as last year - and no upgrades this trip!).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tara O'Hara
That's awesome that you didn't have to move!! The horseback riding looks amazing!! I think I will file that away for our December trip. I'm looking forward to hearing about your MK adventures!! I agree, the boat ride is beautiful and a fun way to see the MK resorts!!
Tara
We loved doing the trail ride! We would definately do it again. And we love using Disney transportation!
Quote:
Originally Posted by katieb
Loving the pics of your resort hops and also trails end lunch. Looking forward to hearing more.
We try to see at least a few resorts each trip. I love that you can enjoy their restaurants/beaches/lounge areas!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
What a great start to your trip! How great that you got into your room so early and then didn't have to move! Love all the pictures! And great eats too!
We had a great day...the weather was gorgeous and we were in no hurry. A fun morning!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by DMA
Trail riding sounds like fun! And so does a picnic lunch! Quite a relaxing day so far!
A great morning! And the food was delicious!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by B.M.
What a relief not to have to switch rooms!
Looks like a great time at Fort Wilderness! Lunch looks delish and your riding adventure sounds fun! Kudos to your hubby on the weight loss!
A fun morning at Fort Wilderness! I am very proud of Peter (and he was so happy that was able to ride!).
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
What a great start to your trip!
We had a great morning with more fun to come!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
The horse ride sounds fun! Lunch looked quite delicious, too.
We really enjoyed our time at F.W. WE loved the trail ride and our picnic was awesome!
When we got to MK, our fast pass window was open for Pirates of the Caribbean so we headed over to Adventureland. Afterwards, we were ready for a little snack so we stopped at Aloha Isle for a Dole Whip.
$10.49 or 2 snack credits
We had skipped our fast pass for Splash Mountain as neither of us felt like getting wet and we didn't have our ponchos with us......
....but we were anxious to ride our favorite mountain!
Big Thunder Mountain Runaway Railroad
After our ride, we headed over to the castle, where we had our picture taken....(that crane....)!
We took a ride on People Mover, before heading back to the resort.
We stopped at the food court to fill our mugs before heading back to our room to rest a bit before dinner.
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.
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.