The trip of many changes... TRIP REPORT UPDATED 2/25 - Page 24 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
Great day at MK. It was nice to meet Mary Poppins and then find Stitch without having to do the ride. (Not one of my favorites either). Being able to meet and eat with Ginger was sure an added treat. I didn't notice, was that planned or just happenstance?
Sounds like your meal was quite good at The Plaza! Glad you were able to finally meet up with Ginger! Funny photo of Donald!
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
So cool that you got some time with Ginger! I've already told Luke about the milkshake and the fact that it is refillable, and he is sold. My goodness, Mark's brisket sandwich is enormous. I'm excited that we're getting to eat here again. It's been awhile for us.
Food pics made me hungry, it all looked so good. Glad you met Ginger and got to spend some time together. I only went on the stitch ride once before it was even the stitch ride (although heard the ride was basically the same but with Stitch there) and I did not like it at all. Sounds like a meet would be much more popular. Great photopass pics
Great day at MK. It was nice to meet Mary Poppins and then find Stitch without having to do the ride. (Not one of my favorites either). Being able to meet and eat with Ginger was sure an added treat. I didn't notice, was that planned or just happenstance?
We were due to meet Ginger, but we were going to message each other via Facebook and sort out somewhere to meet after our lunch at the Plaza, if I remember right. She managed to find us at the Plaza, which worked even better.
Food pics made me hungry, it all looked so good. Glad you met Ginger and got to spend some time together. I only went on the stitch ride once before it was even the stitch ride (although heard the ride was basically the same but with Stitch there) and I did not like it at all.
Now I never went on Alien Encounter, the ride before Stitch's Great Escape, as I heard how terrifying it was and I figured it wasn't for me. I think "very unDisney" is how a lot of people described it, whereas Stitch was supposed to be more family friendly.
Quote:
Sounds like a meet would be much more popular. Great photopass pics
Friday 12 January – part seven: this is really scary!
We made our way to the Haunted Mansion, which we had Fastpasses for, and thank goodness, as it was now showing a 45 minute wait.
When it got to the dark bit in the stretching room, we had a really scary experience and I do not mean scary good. There was a group in there and I don’t know if someone just decided to push someone else or someone was genuinely scared, but when it went dark, suddenly we were all being pushed around and everyone was screaming at them to stop. That is not the place to do that and goodness help any kids who were slightly scared before that experience. They’ll now be completely traumatised.
I rode with Ginger and managed to snag a few decent shots even on sports mode and in the darkness.
Madame Leota The bride… The singing statues! :
We were really disappointed when we came out, as when we entered there was a Photopass photographer doing some kind of Magic shot, but they’d disappeared. Darn it, we were hoping to get one done.
We said our goodbyes to Ginger, having arranged to meet up later on and headed out of the park. We were in luck and a boat was there when we got to the dock. We chatted on the way back to a family who’d left the Wilderness Lodge at a similar time to us this morning, but whereas it had taken us about 20 minutes to get into the Magic Kingdom from the boat dock, it took them an hour on the bus. That is just insane. Lesson learnt – if you have the option, go for the boat. I think it’s all to do with the security checks, as the boats have their own, but with the buses, you have to all go through one massive one. We don’t know why Disney don’t do those at the resorts, it would make things so much simpler…
When we got back, we just had time to nip to the room before we took the Disney Vacation Club member tour of the new Cascade Cabins. We had some time to sit in the lobby and take in the magnificent views…
I felt sorry for our guide, as she was grabbed by a guy who said he’d been told to wait an hour for her for this tour and he wasn’t a Member. They’re not supposed to take non-Members, but she made an exception for him, but now his wife was in the bathroom! They did catch up, but frankly I don’t think they got much out of it, as it’s not aimed at non-Members.
We got to the studio/one bedroom/two bedroom display unit they have, but there was a couple in there looking at it (non DVC), so we moved on to the pool. Later when we saw that couple, we were all yelling “buy in” at them!
Anyway, we were told the Copper Creek pool was nearly always deserted and look – she was right! Now I can tell you there were a lot of kids using the other pool when we left for the Magic Kingdom later and it wasn’t that it was cold, because it wasn’t. They have cabanas here, but they don’t charge for them and it’s purely first come, first served.
Now why do people have to go and ruin a good thing? I hope no kids were scared from the Haunted Mansion experience!
1 hour on the bus? I have to wonder though, why would one take the bus from WL to MK? When you stay at the WL, one should take advantage of the extra amenities, boat service included!
Looking forward to seeing these cabins!
__________________
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
Agree with Tanya, why would you take a bus from WL to MK?
The first time I ever rode on HM, I was about 14, my mom was in a different Doom Buggy and in the part where you start going backward as if being lowered in to the grave, she somehow reached around and grabbed me. Scared me to death! I was riding with my grandma and she admonished my mom for that! But I wasn’t sure about riding HM the next time I had a chance at DL. When I was 21! I was so embarrassed when I realized it was NOT a scary ride!
Now why do people have to go and ruin a good thing? I hope no kids were scared from the Haunted Mansion experience!
So do I. I found it really scary, I'm an adult and I'm done this ride many, many times, so for a child doing it for the first time, it could've been terrifying.
Quote:
1 hour on the bus? I have to wonder though, why would one take the bus from WL to MK? When you stay at the WL, one should take advantage of the extra amenities, boat service included!
Well, I have to confess, I didn't even know there was a bus service from the Wilderness Lodge to the Magic Kingdom.
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.
The first time I ever rode on HM, I was about 14, my mom was in a different Doom Buggy and in the part where you start going backward as if being lowered in to the grave, she somehow reached around and grabbed me. Scared me to death! I was riding with my grandma and she admonished my mom for that! But I wasn’t sure about riding HM the next time I had a chance at DL. When I was 21! I was so embarrassed when I realized it was NOT a scary ride!
Well, having said that, I can imagine what a scary experience that was for you first time around. I'm not surprised your mom got into trouble for that stunt....
That was a crazy experience on HM and not a good one! People pushing in a dark and crowded room is not the place for this. Nice tour of Cascade at the WL. Funny how that pool is always deserted and wonder why!
WDW needs to change the security by doing the screenings at the resorts. They do this at Universal before boarding the boat and the process runs very smooth.
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
The bus stop at WL is so close to the Boulder Ridge Villas and the ride to MK is much faster than the boat. And the walk back to the room after a long day in the park is so welcome. With the new bag check strategy I can see how the wait from the bus stops would be difficult because all the bus passengers converge in one spot. We will be there in 10 days for a 2 week stay. Looks like we will reconsider our mode of transportation to MK, but will continue to take the bus back to the resort. Thank you, Cheryl, for posting about this new bag check situation.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Glad you were able to finally meet up with Ginger! 
Funny photo of Donald! 
I'm excited that we're getting to eat here again. 
Alaskan Mom aka Bonnie
PassPorter Guide Author
People pushing in a dark and crowded room is not the place for this. Nice tour of Cascade at the WL. Funny how that pool is always deserted and wonder why! 
Linear Mode
