Southern California. Will it be attached to the state once we're done with it? *Updated 7/9* COMPLETE - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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.
Rides, rides and MORE rides!!! And a birthday party too!
As we neared the “Central Plaza” area, I decided to just take the first left we came to, which would take us into Adventureland. Our first stop of the morning was to be Tarzan’s Treehouse . . . which, I will admit, is an odd choice for 2 girls who are rather afraid of heights. We both made it up and down just fine though. I videoed the whole trip up and down, but the bulk of it was in one video that was TOO big for YouTube (and everything else, apparently ) I have posted an "abbreviated version" though.
Since we were already in Adventureland, naturally we moved on to Pirates. I videoed the entirety of Pirates as well. Not that anyone would realize what was going on though . . . because, it was pitch black the whole time. This was the first time I was seeing Pirates since the Jack Sparrow/Davey Jones etc. overlay and I have to say, that was pretty dang cool. I was pretty excited about it and it did not disappoint!
There was some point in one of the videos (it may have been my lengthy Pirates video) where I asked Emilie what she wanted to do next . . . her answer was “It’s a Small World!”. Now, it didn’t make much sense for us, being in New Orleans Square at the time, to criss-cross over to the far end of Fantasyland when we hadn’t yet done everything on this side of the park, you know. So, I overruled with a “Well, since we’re over closer to Winnie the Pooh, how about that then?” There was no argument or hesitation from her . . . so, off we went towards Critter Country.
Of course we had to grab a few (dozen) photos along the way . . .
Harumph.
. . . and on through the Hundred Acre Wood we went in our big ol’ floating beehive.
Emilie got a bit excited when I told her we could walk through the castle, so off we went into Fantasyland. Since Peter Pan was already at a 25 minute wait (no FP at DL for PP ) and Snow White was a walk-on and right there (to your left as you walk through the castle ), we decided to duck in and take a ride through Snow White’s SCARY Adventures. I hate how this one ends. It’s just so sudden and furthermore, there’s no waving Dopey. Talk about bumming a Dopey fan out. I hope you will still enjoy my seriously dark video with silly Sarah commentary though.
Pinocchio’s Daring Journey is right next door to Snow White, so we popped in there next . . . this is always a fun one for me, as I have such fond memories . . . of being scared of it as a kid. I videoed again . . . it’s nice and dark . . . and has lots of my doofy commentary all the way through. I meant well though.
Next up, well, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, of course! I was SO glad that the rehab of the ride was completed and the ride reopened by the time we got there! The storyline of the ride cracks me up! It’s honestly a good lesson, but I often wonder what they were thinking when they put that ride in . ..
Remember, kids . . . don't drive wild and drink or else you'll go to court, get hit by a train and go to Hell.
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.
After going on a wild ride with Mr. Toad, we figured, why not go another wild ride of sorts . . . and off to Mad Tea Party we went. There was hardly any line at all, and we were able to walk right in and grab a teacup!
After spinning ourselves silly (actually, truth be told, at least one of us was already silly long before the ride, but . . . anyways . . . ) we headed over to ride the Matterhorn.
There were 2 main reasons for “having” to ride . . . #1 – Emilie had never ridden it and I know she likes rides like that. #2 – I hadn’t ridden it since I was 17. So, we joined the not-too-long line and opted to go on the Fantasyland side (ouch.) first. We only waited about 7 minutes total from the time we joined the queue until we were sitting in our bobsled. Care to see video and hear me get in trouble for not having my seatbelt on properly?
After our jarring but fun ride down the mountain, we decided that we’d just better do that again, so we joined the queue again . . . this time opting to go on the Tomorrowland side. Hey, I had to be able to compare and contrast the 2 sides, right?
Now, I have to say . . . I think I enjoyed the Tomorrowland side just a bit more than the Fantasyland side. Don’t get me wrong . . . I enjoyed both sides immensely, but the Tomorrowland side just seemed to be a bit smoother on the way down. Both sides are rough and pretty jerky, but the Fantasyland side is just a little more so.
Since the back-to-back rides down the Matterhorn made us both a bit hungry, we decided to head over to Tomorrowland Terrace to grab a little lunch, since we were so close. The lines for food were starting to get a little heavy, since it was around noon or shortly after by this point. We probably stood in line for a total of 10 minutes and we walked off with our food . . . a good ol’ Disney burger for me and a kid’s chicken strips meal for Miss Emilie. We enjoyed our lunch in the sun while listening to the Star Wars music that was being blasted in the area. Just as we were finishing up, the next session of the Jedi Training Academy was getting close to starting, so we went and stood near the rope to watch.
The CMs who come out first went around the crowd trying to get the kids hyped up, telling them things like “If you want to get picked by the Jedi Master, you have to have a lot of energy! Jump around, wave your arms in the air and SCREAM READ LOUD!” So, naturally, when the Jedi Master came out, all of the kids went bananas, including my own. She was screaming bloody murder and jumping around flailing her arms like a wild woman. The Jedi Master walked along the rope choosing “younglings” . . . but Emilie was not one of them. She was pretty bummed out and wanted to leave when she wasn’t picked . . . and I can’t blame her. Out of the 24 kids that were picked, only SIX of them were girls. Thankfully, just after all of the younglings were picked, Terri called to tell us that they were through with the tour and we agreed to meet up.
We wandered towards the Central Plaza and I kind of sat there looking around for a second trying to spot either Terri, Crystal or Doug . . . I couldn’t SEE them. HOWEVER . . . a couple of seconds later I heard “SARAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” and turned around. Crystal was standing clear on the other side of the Central Plaza from me and yelled for me. Terri came walking our way and we wandered over to where Crystal and Doug were . . . getting birthday buttons for Crystal and Emilie.
We had a bit of time to spare before heading to the big Birthday Party, so we headed back into Tomorrowland and into Buzz Lightyear AstroBlasters . . . and then I did something that I haven’t done since May 1996. I rode Space Mountain! The first (and last) time I rode it, it was the first roller coaster type ride I had ever been on in my life . . . and it scared the heck out of me. Since then, I have been scared of Space Mountain. But not anymore. The temporary overlay with Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Higher Ground” was really great and, I think, actually helped e not be “nervous” about it. Aside from the usual “peeps” and screeches out of me every so often, I pretty much sang along the whole ride.
Once we’d blasted through Space with Anthony, John, Chad and Flea (the Chili Peppers, ya know?), it was time to head over to the Plaza Inn to check in for the “My Disneyland Birthday Party”. It was only $10 per person for this event (with a discount for either AAA or Disney Visa members . . . I can’t recall exactly which one it was!)
We checked in, then joined the line to wait. After we’d been standing there for a couple of minutes, a CM from the Plaza Inn came along and asked “How many in your party?” then gave us 5 cool birthday hats!
. . . then just a few minutes later, the line was led into the outdoor patio. Each table was set for 5 people, with small souvenir cups (with lids and bendy straws) full of fruit punch. They had Mickey on them and the words “Happy Birthday!”
We only had to sit there a short time before our host, Mr. Patrick Edward Cake (or . . . Pat E. Cake, for short) came out to entertain us with the birthday song that is still stuck firmly in my head to this day. I have a couple videos of the happenings at the party, so I will just give a quick rundown:
Pat E. Cake comes out and talks to us all, then sings some more. The CMs hand out a birthday cake to everyone and Pat tells us that it’s time for the birthday cake decorating contest. The winner gets a blue ribbon! So we all get to decorating . . . except for Rebecca from Las Vegas who thought it would just be cool to eat the cake as soon as she got it. Pat made her the butt of every joke from then on out.
We had the judging of the cakes and . . . well, someone won. I won’t let out the secret on that one. Then we ate the messes we had made! A little after that, the birthday people were called up to where Pat E. Cake was standing and he distracted them all by trying to croon Happy Birthday, but Mickey and Minnie came out and “surprised” the birthday folks . . . and everyone was sang to properly. After that, they did a birthday conga line . . . then each person had their photo take n with Mickey and Minnie! End of party!
I thought that for $10 this was an EXTREMELY great value! Each person got a snack, drink, souvenir cup AND a meet and greet and photos with both Mickey AND Minnie . . . for $10. You just can’t beat that! So, if you ever go to Disneyland near your birthday, I highly recommend you calling for a Priority Seating for the My Disneyland Birthday Party event!
That birthday party certainly does sound like amazing value for money! It sounds like you had a great time on all those rides - you certainly crammed a lot in while they were all on the tour!
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.
Just caught up reading your trip report really enjoyed. What's wrong with taking pictures of the bedspread. I have taken pictures of the bathrooms in my hotel rooms in Disney lol.... now that is what my friends & family find strange.
Can't wait to read more of you trip report.
__________________
Aug,1978- LBV;Apr,1987-Disneyland;March,1993-offsite;Jan,1997-offsite;Aug,1999- CBR;Sept,2000- ASMo;Aug,2001- ASSP;Aug,2002- ASMU/AKL;Jan & July 2003-POR;June,December 2004- PC;January 2005- ASMU; Aug 2005-PC;Dec 2005-AKL;Jan 2006-CBR ; July/Aug-Saratoga springs; Dec. PC;April 2007- Disneyland;Aug 2007-Disneyland & So Cal;Dec 2007-POFQ; Aug2008-POFQ & Nov 2008 PC,Y&B May 2009 ASmu, June 2009 PC ; Nov 2009 WL & POFQ;Jan 2010 BW & WL; June 2010 POFQ ; Aug 2010 Poly ;Oct 2010 WL; Jan 2011 PC
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
all the photos - bedspreads and all!!! 
We both made it up and down just fine though. I videoed the whole trip up and down, but the bulk of it was in one video that was TOO big for YouTube (and everything else, apparently 
I was pretty excited about it and it did not disappoint!
Then we ate the messes we had made! A little after that, the birthday people were called up to where Pat E. Cake was standing and he distracted them all by trying to croon Happy Birthday, but Mickey and Minnie came out and “surprised” the birthday folks . . . and everyone was sang to properly. 
PassPorter Guide Author
It sounds like you had a great time on all those rides - you certainly crammed a lot in while they were all on the tour! 
What a great birthday party 
More please 
Linear Mode
