A special birthday, a diamond anniversary and a west coast adventure COMPLETED - Page 20 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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So good that you got indoor seating to be out of the heat. When we ate here, we were told it would be first available and we could see that every indoor table was taken, so we knew we'd be outdoors. Thankfully, that the day when the high was only in the low 80s.
Oh wow, that sounds like bliss, compared to the temperatures we had!
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Wednesday 9 September – part eight: “we have this one, that one, oh and those ones.”
Eventually, we headed out of Café Orleans, and my goodness, it was still hot out there. Again, I pretty much photographed as we walked along, as I did not want to spend any more time in the sun than I had to.
As we passed the Jungle Cruise, I noticed that it didn’t seem to have much of a line, so we decided to hop in. It said 15 minutes, but we barely waited more than five minutes, and all of that was in the shade.
Then we were boarding our boat, which I think was skippered by Jonathan. He had all the usual jokes, but some we hadn’t heard before. I loved the one pointing out all the plants. “We have this one, that one, oh and those ones.”
With this bit, the “lions were carefully looking after the sleeping zebra”!
As we went past this scene, Jonathan kindly translated what they were saying “we can’t touch the drums, we can’t touch the drums”…. which we loved, and used a few more times this trip…
The “backside of water” got a huge cheer…
… and the piranhas startled a few people, although sadly I couldn’t get a shot of them, as I wasn’t in a great position. All in all, it was a really fun ride, as you always hope to get from the Jungle Cruise.
We made our way back towards Main Street….
… and caught a bit of the Dapper Dans performing, although I didn’t actually stop for a photo, as air conditioning was calling our names!
We walked back along Main Street, mainly through the air conditioned shops…
Great ride on Jungle Cruise! The skipper can make or break that experience, and it sounds like you had a winner!
We certainly did. In fairness, over the years, I think we've only ever had great skippers. My fondest memory is still Tokyo Disneyland - we couldn't understand a word of it, as it was all in Japanese and, even though I'd learnt Japanese, it didn't work so well on what he was saying, but he was so overly enthusiastic, speaking so fast and giving it his all that we kind of got the idea.
Love some good puns and jokes on the Jungle Cruise!
I guess I hadn't thought about the fact that the ride would be done in Japanese in Tokyo! Of course it should be, but that would take some of the fun out. But sounds like even then you had a good experience.
Love some good puns and jokes on the Jungle Cruise!
I guess I hadn't thought about the fact that the ride would be done in Japanese in Tokyo! Of course it should be, but that would take some of the fun out. But sounds like even then you had a good experience.
We had an absolute blast on it and Tokyo Disney did have some rides that had translators, which we thought was very neat.
Wednesday 9 September – part nine: this merchandise is a bit disappointing
We headed over to Downtown Disney, and dived into the World of Disney store…
I was a bit disappointed by the merchandise in here. They didn’t have that much for the diamond anniversary, and there was no scrapbooking stuff to be found anywhere. I’m sure they’ve had a better selection of goodies in years gone by in here.
When we came out, we said farewell to Mari, who was heading off to the parking lot, and we carried on walking through Downtown Disney.
As Build-A-Bear wasn’t that far from the entrance to the hotel, we headed that way. I was a bit disappointed by the range in here, as I already had most of the outfits, but I did get a 60th anniversary top for about half what they’d been asking for something similar in the World of Disney, and an Anna dress, so that was at least something.
We had a browse in D-Street, then in Anna and Elsa’s Boutique in case they had any fun Olaf stuff that I wanted, but they didn’t, although this was cute…
We went to exit through the doors closest to the Grand Californian, only the staff were in the way chatting, so I asked if we could use this door, and one said to me “only if you’re visiting Disneyland” which threw me for a second…
As we headed back to the room, we saw they were getting ready for a wedding – oh boy, that’s going to be hot!
We went and had a browse in the gift shop, and I got a Grand Californian sweatshirt, and a couple of other bits. I finally found the 60th anniversary top in the size I needed, and it was then that I looked at the price tag. $99! This was a long sleeved top, admittedly sparkling, and apparently it’s because of what it’s got on it (real diamonds I’d hope for that price…) that it’s so expensive. One of the Cast Members asked if I was feeling Ok, and I said I’d just seen the price tag. He just laughed and said he’d had a similar reaction as well when he first saw it.
I have only visited Disneyland three times. Once in October, one in January and once in May.
Two out of three times the weather was perfect-warm but not hot and dry. I loved all the outdoor queues. I cannot imagine it in that heat. In May, I froze and had to buy a sweatshirt and was still freezing. I would love to go back ( I actually like the parks better) but it's a 5 hour flight v a 3 hour one to WDW and pushes my limit for sitting on a plane.
I was disappointed by the Diamond anniversary stuff too. Nothing that really jumped out at me, which was a shame because it would have been neat to have something. Something that didn't break the bank.
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Tanya
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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.
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Glad that has some indoor seating available!
Again, I pretty much photographed as we walked along, as I did not want to spend any more time in the sun than I had to. 
All in all, it was a really fun ride, as you always hope to get from the Jungle Cruise. 
In fairness, over the years, I think we've only ever had great skippers. My fondest memory is still Tokyo Disneyland - we couldn't understand a word of it, as it was all in Japanese and, even though I'd learnt Japanese, it didn't work so well on what he was saying, but he was so overly enthusiastic, speaking so fast and giving it his all that we kind of got the idea. 
This was a long sleeved top, admittedly sparkling, and apparently it’s because of what it’s got on it (real diamonds I’d hope for that price…) that it’s so expensive. One of the Cast Members asked if I was feeling Ok, and I said I’d just seen the price tag. He just laughed and said he’d had a similar reaction as well when he first saw it. 
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