My Best Trip Ever! A Disney Trip 10 Years in the Making - Page 26 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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Who honestly likes getting up early? Not me. But it looks like you ended up having a great morning after all. That birthday button is getting me all excited for our trip in May when Hope gets to wear hers.
We arrived at HS and meet my sister and her family at Backlot Express for lunch and then headed in to see Lights Motors Action Stunt show.
This had been changed around a bit since the last time I saw it. You used to enter the theater in the front and walk across the front of the seating area now we actually walked under the entire stadium and we sat all the way on the left side of the stage. The show was basically the same other than the appearance of Lightning McQueen. As expected Evan loved it. So did my 6 year old nephew Eric. After the show we thought we would let the kids play in HISTK playground. Earlier in the week I had promised Evan we would return back there.
Well as you might have guessed when 5000 people all leave a show at the same time, everything gets mobbed. There was just this giant sea of humanity as far as you could see. The line for the playground was at least 50 people deep. Considering I’ve never ever seen a line here before, that was significant. Plus the playground doesn’t have a time limit so you have no idea how long it would take to have 50 people enter before you.
We thought maybe we could get FP to Toy Story so we fought our way over to Pixar Place. What a disaster that was, very poor planning on Disney’s part if you ask me. They place the most popular attraction in the entire park in the smallest area – what were they thinking??? The sidewalks are already narrow in that area.
Of course 5000 other people had the same idea (make that 5000 minus the 50 on line for HISTK). We end up hitting a wall of people. The line for TSMM extended out of the building and into the sidewalk area. There was a green army man doing greets and he had a line. Buzz and Woody were across the way and their queue extended out of the building and into the sidewalk as well and I looked and saw 5 tour guide flags all trying to enter TSMM. I had a stroller with me and I just couldn’t even move. I was literally just standing there for about 3 minutes. I couldn’t move forward or backward and no one in front of me was even moving. It honestly was like grid-lock. I’ve never seen anything like it before.
After a few minutes and there was no movement anywhere I just tried as best I could to back out – thinking everyone was following me. Evan and I and my mom make it out but my sister is nowhere to be found. I thought maybe she had bailed on me earlier and I hadn’t noticed. We get away from the crowd and I text her. She had pushed through and they were going to do the VOLM. I said “see you later” and Mom, Evan and I went over to the Muppets.
By the time we got to the Muppets the crowd from LMA show had dissipated and we got into the next show. Muppets was fun as always and do hope that that area grows since the return of the movie. I’d love for an updated movie or a Muppet ride.
After the Muppets we went back to HISTK playground and Evan ran around in there again for like a half hour or so. We said our good byes to HS for this trip and then went back to the hotel for some afternoon down time. I think I took a little nap today too.
On a side note: Yesterday, just as I was picking up Evan from school he had whacked his head on the playground equipment. He had a giant egg on his head and this morning his eye was swollen shut – poor thing. I had to wait almost 90 minutes from when we got up until the doctors office was open and then another 2 hours before I could him an appointment. But let me tell you – what a day to be home. The electric company is trimming trees in my neighborhood since they are growing too close to the wires. Well a crew shows up today, of all days, right in front of my house. I actually had to have them move a little before they started as they were blocking my driveway that is how close they were. Evan was just in heaven. He sat staring one-eyed out the front window for 2 hours. Every little boys dream.
BTW – he is a-okay. No vision problem, nothing broken, just swelling.
(boy this updates are so much easier when I have no photos - I can tell it is later in the trip as I was getting lazy with the picture taking by this point. I do have some for the next update though)
That sounds crazy Holly! I have to say though, that I always feel like that place is crowded. I have decided after 3 trips in a row, it's the way it is laid out and the narrowness of it.
I know what you mean about the pics. I seem to take so many pics, like I have to take a pic of everything the first few days...each consecutive day after the pics become less and less.
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Glad Evan's ok and that he had some entertainment right outside your window! That area in front of Toy Story is a mess all the time. I never made the connection between the big shows letting out and the crowds, though. I'll pay more attention to that in future. I must have hit one of those moments on my last trip when I was stuck in one spot on the scooter just like you were with the stroller. You made the right call, maneuvering to Muppets and then backtracking to HISTK.
I have finally gotten all caught up. I know everyone has already said this, but bless you for your patience with Christine. I would not have kept my mouth shut, and it would have been a battle of epic (and embarrassing) proportions at that point.
I had forgotten that they added Lightning McQueen to the show, I may have to see if David wants to go see it again - we weren't huge fans of the original.
I love all the surprises Evan is getting because of his birthday pin. Can't wait to read about the rest of your trip!
Great time at AK and at the Studios--I haven't seen LMA--I might have to try and squeeze it in next time! Sorry about the knock on Evan's head, but I'm glad everything is okay!