Four Days Off Christmas Edition Complete 1/13/11 - Page 21 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Finally caught up! What a great day at MK and your meal at LTT has me thinking about adding to my trip next January. Love the castle pic's. You snagged a great spot!
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Oct '99: CSR ~ May '02: CR ~ Nov '04: SOG ~ May '06: SOG ~ Dec '07: Solo @ Pop ~ May '08: Pop w/friends ~ Oct '08: SOG ~ Dec '09: Pop w/LeAnn ~ Sept '10: Solo @ Pop ~ Spring '11: AKL ~ Jan '12: Pop for 1/2 Marathon ~ Sept '12: 1st trip for DL 1/2 Marathon? ~ Feb '13: Pop w/pals? ~ Mar '13: Tokyo Disney w/PP's?
I once again got up at O Dark Thirty! This time because I had an 8:30am tour scheduled at AK and it was time to check out. So I packed up all my things and called Bell Services. I was shocked when I was told that they only had one "runner" working this morning and it might be awhile. Its the day before Christmas Eve and starting to get really busy at The World and they only have one bell guy? Ach! Scary! Well it turns out that "awhile" was all of 5 minutes.
This morning I did hop in a taxi and was quickly whisked away to AK. There was a little confusion on my part as to where the tour met. So I stopped at guest relations to find out. Turns out Wild By Design meets outside the park entrance. I had about 30 minutes before the actual start of the tour and 15 before I was supposed to meet my guide. What did I do? I quickly hoofed my way across the park to the Safari to get a FP for later. If you can walk it fast enough you can do this in 12 minutes or so.
I walked back to the front of the park and met Jane, my tour guide. I was the only one scheduled for this tour today so I got I private tour! Boy did I feel like a VIP! I think I paid a miserly $45 for a 3 hour private tour . . . retail $900, if you book through VIP services. Jane was also excited! I'm not going to share everything because you SHOULD take the tour, but I did learn some nifty things about Animal Kingdom's design, and Jane stopped for me to get FP for all the headliners along the way. There are such amazing things build into the story at Animal Kingdom. For example, all throughout Asia you see wood piled on the roof. The amount of wood is equal to the wealth of the family who owns the building because wood is extremely expensive.
I also got some one on one time with the keeper at the bat exhibit. There are two kinds of bats on the trail, all of them are full grown. The little bats you see aren't babies--they are a different type of bat. I also got to meet with one of the gorilla keepers, which was very interesting. She told me all about the process for mating and determining family groups for both the apes and the monkeys.
This turned out to be a very special experience for me! The tour included a stop at Pizzafari for a light continental breakfast. I believe I had a diet coke and was presented with a plate of fruit and two danishes. I highly recommend taking this tour--especially if you are traveling during low season, as it doesn't appear to be super popular. This tour is entirely on stage, but they do offer several backstage tours at AK, including one about the care of the animals, which might be my next tour.
After the tour I decided I had time to ride the Safari and I got some good photos of the animals.
This looks to be one of the viewing areas for the new tour:
Next I headed to Asia to ride MY ride! I love Soarin, but Expedition Everest has become the ride I absolutely cannot do without.
There are some great details to see as you walk through the Asia area:
And wonderful detailing in the EE queue line
I did a little shopping in the EE store. I've now got one of those fluffy Yetis to help keep me warm at night and a cute fleece jacket that identifies me as a member of the EE Summit Team. Its a men's jacket--so I ended up buying a small and the sleeves are a little long, but it's been a lifesaver on some of our colder evening here this year.
It was then time for lunch. I had managed to book a late lunch at Yak and Yeti, but I definitely forgot that they didn't take the TiW card, but they do provide a discount for AP holders and DVC members, so all was okay. Technically I think the discount is for entrees, but I didn't order one. My lovely waitress applied it to my entire meal. Once again I ordered too much food. I did notice that the wok fried green beans were available at two different prices. You can have them as an appetizer for 7.99 or as a side for $4.99, same is true for the egg rolls. Apparently the difference is in portion size. Well seeing as I was by myself, I had a side of green beans and a side of egg rolls and saved myself a total of $5.
I also ordered a Yak Attack, even though it was chilly outside, it was warm enough in the restaurant to indulge in a frozen beverage.
Finally I decided to try the Dim Sum basket and all of it was really good, but I must say that my favorite was the shrimp siu mai, followed by the pork pot stickers. I didn't love the pulled pork buns, but they weren't terrible, just a little bit bready for me.
After lunch I had a little bit of time, so I went over to Dinoland to use the FP I had picked up earlier in the day. I also played Whack-A-Packy and ended up with an enormous stuffed chameleon. Normally I feel a little bit bad about beating little kids, but in this case it appeared I was only beating parents who were playing for their kids. I have never, ever lost a game of Whack-A-Packy, not even to Brandon. See I do have a talent! If you ever run into me at AK . . . . I'm open to challenges!
After my trek through prehistory it was time to go . . . yes, to go home . . . how awful!
I headed back out to the bus stops and quickly boarded a bus to All Star Sports. I sat in the Food Court for awhile with my mug of diet coke. (I bought a new mug at the beginning of the trip.) I also made a return at the gift shop. It doesn't matter where you buy things--you can always return them at your resort. In this particular case I bought a hat without trying it on at DTD and it was a little too big. Interestingly I had only just made the minimum for the purchase with purchase (a blanket), but I did not have to return the blanket! (Not that I don't give Disney enough money already, but I filed this away for later use.)
Before long it was time for my bus ride to the airport. I was surprised that my DME time was only 2.5 hours before my flight, but we were the last stop and I still had plenty of time to get through security and have my traditional last meal.
I grabbed a Big Mac and Fries, ate pretty quickly and headed over to the gate. Boy did this flight take a long time to board. I was one of the first people on the plane thanks to my A1 boarding pass. I took the aisle seat in the second row. I've already told the story about my flight, so I'm not going to repeat it.
In just under two hours I was back at MSY, or Louis Armstrong International Airport. I was tired and it was late, so instead of the shuttle I took a cab back directly to my house. The shuttle will only drop you at a hotel and the closest one to my house is a couple of blocks and I was lugging a lot of stuff by now. The shuttle is also much like DME and makes multiple stops. I've sometimes made as many as 6. I was glad to be back home and back at work for a busy weekend. (Needed to PAY for the trip right?)
Later . . . final thoughts on a last minute, somewhat budget trip.
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Wild by Design is my favorite of all the tours. I love all the info about the design an!d theming elements at AK. How absolutely fantastic to get a private tour!
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Wild by Design sounds like a terrific way to have ended this trip. In fact you've got me thinking that I might want to add this to our June trip. We did the Backstage Safari tour a couple of summers ago and totally loved it. And now I'm also hungry for Yak and Yeti and thirsty for a Yak Attack. So sad that this trip is over!
There are such amazing things build into the story at Animal Kingdom. For example, all throughout Asia you see wood piled on the roof. The amount of wood is equal to the wealth of the family who owns the building because wood is extremely expensive.
Now I'm going to be looking for the wood on the roof and will tell DH the story behind it. Just an example of the things I learn here at PP. Your TR is awesome and your pictures are amazing!
What a great last day!!!
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things I learn here at PP. Your TR is awesome and your pictures are amazing! 
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