DrDolphin's Great California Adventure *COMPLETED* - Page 25 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Very cool spreading some Glad that you are having such a good time that you are not worried by Looking forward to more magic and memories being made. Hurry back.
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Funny how Karen can make anything into a contact sport
I am a winner. W-I-N-N-E-R. Whiny loser girls need not approach, as I will beat them to a pulp, chew them up, spit them out, and move onto the next life or death competition. Dawn how are those sprains and bruises healing?
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Karen, aka Zack's Mom - Lover of all Things Disney and the San Francisco Giants!
Wow! I have spent most of the morning reading the DL trip reports I've missed from the girls trip, and they are great! I love all your photos Terri, and the ones of the parade brought tears to my eyes! Sounds like a wonderful time! I HAVE to get to DL someday!!
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Last DL Day :(
We woke up this morning, knowing today was the last day in DL - and last night was out last night at the DLH - today we transferred to the Hilton Anaheim - this was the "extend the trip" hotel. We'd talked to Janine and Tina the day before and agreed to try and hook up during the day since all 4 of us had stayed one additional day.
After waking up, getting the bags taken care of and bell services called to come and get the bags - we headed for the Magic Kingdom. We had breakfast plans at the Carnation Cafe (yep - where we ate dinner the night before...). I was craving Mickey Waffles - and for the first time this trip - I got them!!
I remember that Emilie was not in the best of moods this morning and decided she was not eating breakfast -- ok -- fine with me. I ate my breakfast, and Sarah ate hers. We left Carnation Cafe and headed back to Jungle Cruise - for the first time since we'd arrived. I am not sure if Sarah and Em had ridden it yet - but somehow I had not.
I really like the DL version and the attraction queue -- it looks much more ramshackle than the WDW version.
In case of crowds in the summer - they have an entire second floor of queue!!
Our boat (somehow I did not get a photo of the captain!)
Pirhanas!!! I the pirhanas!!!
We headed for BTMRR -- and after another spin on BTMRR, ended up meeting up with Janine and Tina about that time. We headed for Pirates for one last go round with Capt. Jack!
After our ride with Capt Jack and Davy Jones - we ran into some of Jack's crew!
We decided to head over toward Fantasyland and we came across the most interesting site -- that stopped us all in our tracks -
Mickey is climbing the Matterhorn!! Can you imagine - even with a safety climber and harness - his head is so big and I think visibility would be an issue - as well as his climbing shoes...
He Made it!! Woo Hoo!! On top of the world!
We climbed on the Main Street Double Decker bus and headed toward the front of MK. These pictures are all taken from the top deck -
I this kid's hat - it says "Caution A Head"
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After we left MK - we decided to head to DCA for lunch.
We headed back to Paradise pier and Emilie and I held down the table (I think we colored) while mom bought lunch with Miss Tina and Janine.
I got the clam chowder in the bread bowl!
After lunch - we ended up back at the Animation studio - and this time instead of drawing Donald, we drew Daisy.
Art is obviously not in my future!
Next - we headed toward Grizzly Rapids. Now Sarah had managed to elude this last time - Sharon, Eileen, Karen and I took Emilie on the ride last time. Not so this time! Call it peer pressure (and child pressure!). We decided to do this - and then we would all switch to our new hotels and meet back later in the evening for dinner at DTD.
the Before pictures!
The after pics (I missed Janine and Emilie!) Doesn't Sarah look happy??
Sarah and I headed back to the DLH to claim our baggage, and grab a taxi to the Hilton. I took a BUNCH of photos this time of the DLH entrance area that I had missed on our arrival.
The theming is really good!
We loaded into the taxi - and less than 10 minutes later - we were unloading the taxi at the Hilton. I left Sarah with the valet and our bags and headed inside to check us in for our free night at the Hilton. We were on the Executive Floor - and were quickly in the room.
We didn't stay long. We wanted to get back to DTD to do some shopping and head to dinner at Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen. We rode the ATR trolley for like $3.00 or $4.00 - we purchased our tickets inside the hotel lobby - and there is also a machine right outside the hotel.
We arrived back at DL - and this time - it seemed SO FAR away! We went to WOD and I managed to get out of there without TOO much damage. I got a new DL short sleeve shirt, and a RED DL Sweatshirt. I got a few pins - including a Will Turner pin as well as DLR and DCA pins. Sarah got a great stuffed Minnie - but I will let her show you!!!
After our shopping was done - we headed to Ralph Brennan's, checked in and were seated upstairs in the corner. We had a nice CM... but it took FOREVER to get our food. When we finally did get it - it was good. I don't remember what everyone else got - but I got shrimp creole as my main entree.
While we were waiting - Emilie demonstrated her ability to cross her eyes -
Emilie crosses her eyes again while eating her ice cream.
After dinner - we decided to head back into DCA for a few more rides.
I don't remember everything we did - but I remember that Janine, Tina and I went on the Sun Wheel - and we got a moving car. The only other time I've been on this ride - it was in a non-moving car. I did ok until it SLID and then SWUNG. I shrieked!!! Glad that neither Tina nor Janine was taking photos!! First and last time I ride on that thing!!! While we were standing in line - we saw a man (I think) with a backpack - who was covered from head to toe.... in what reminded me of a burqa (like you see some women in Arab counties wear) be escorted out of line by Disney Security. Never did find out what that was all about.
We gathered up Sarah and Emilie (Sarah had declined our initiation to join us on the sun wheel) and we headed to the ice cream shop at the front of DCA and we all got ice cream.
My last photo of the trip - mimicing my first photo of the trip - is of Sarah eating her ice cream
Not long after finishing our Sundays - we walked over toward the entrance of DCA so we could see the MK fireworks. We lost Tina and Janine and never did get to say goodbye . We had a great time ladies! We turned in Emilie's stroller, and after the fireworks - I took Emilie into the esplanade, while sarah headed into MK to get something or return something
It was getting late and after Sarah's return (Em had fallen asleep in my lap) we trucked out to the trolley pick up area, found our trolley and was in our Hilton room in about 20 minutes and we all were out pretty quickly.
LOL Terri - Janine and I went to use the restroom while you were returning the stroller (we thought) and we couldn't find you either!!
Terri on the Sunwheel was hi-la-rious!! She didn't mention either that she called Sarah right before we swung down towards the water and you hear Terri on Sarah's voicemail saying 'We're right at the ..... AHHHHHHHH!!'
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*~*Tina
Picking up our Brasilian exchange student at the a/p
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Glad that you are having such a good time that you are not worried by 
Looking forward to more magic and memories being made. Hurry back.
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the pirhanas!!!
. We had a great time ladies! We turned in Emilie's stroller, and after the fireworks - I took Emilie into the esplanade, while sarah headed into MK to get something or return something 
She didn't mention either that she called Sarah right before we swung down towards the water and you hear Terri on Sarah's voicemail saying 'We're right at the ..... AHHHHHHHH!!' 
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