A Walk in the Parks: A Cam and Fam TR COMPLETED 12/22/16 - Page 27 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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We haven't been to see the FOLK show in years but I hope to for our upcoming January trip! Your pictures were so colorful. I love that Starbucks is in the AK now but I do wish they provided more table to either sit or stand around. Loved the Yoda plush pictures!!!
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We haven't been to see the FOLK show in years but I hope to for our upcoming January trip! Your pictures were so colorful. I love that Starbucks is in the AK now but I do wish they provided more table to either sit or stand around. Loved the Yoda plush pictures!!!
Every single table was occupied, so the wall was it for us. I do agree they could use a few more tables with chairs here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
Great pictures of FOTLK! I love this show!
FotLK just makes me smile every time, along with a few tears.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pris
You did, indeed, get some great pictures of FOTLK. That Yoda was adorable!! I especially loved the sunglasses.
Thanks! I loved the sunglasses, too. The guy really had done up Yoda so well.
Oh I just love that Yoda - so cute! Cool shots of the Lion King as well.
Wow, I hadn't thought about the emergency warnings about the hurricane. Like you say, eerie but exciting. I think I'd have been freaking out!
That Yoda was definitely a cutie. Partly because all the cast members remained calm, I never felt like freaking out. I did want to be prepared though so as I'll show in later updates, we did check with some higher up CMs and took care of provisions.
Really enjoying your trip report. All the photos are lovely. I love the Lion King and It's tough to be a bug. We were there during the alert and my phone went off a few times, it was really loud. Looking forward to reading more.
Last edited by Saratogasprings; 11-24-2016 at 04:00 PM..
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Great pictures from FOTLK!! That Yoda was super cute, I totally want one!! That is kind of eerie about the hurricane alert going off on everyone's phone. It reminds me of one time at work when about 4 different phones went off with a tornado warning!
Nice photos of FOTLK and looks like a great show! Love that Yoda photo! I remember when the warnings came out for Hurricane Matthew (not Matthews! ) and knowing you and look were there and hoping all would be well! I was also worried a bit about my trip as I would be arriving in WDW within a week of Matthew!
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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!
Great shots from Lion King! What a cool Yoda. Scary about the hurricane warning!
Thanks! The phone alerts going off was very surreal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Saratogasprings
Really enjoying your trip report. All the photos are lovely. I love the Lion King and It's tough to be a bug. We were there during the alert and my phone went off a few times, it was really loud. Looking forward to reading more.
That was the crazy thing about the alerts. They were all so loud on everyone's phones.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
Great pictures from FOTLK!! That Yoda was super cute, I totally want one!! That is kind of eerie about the hurricane alert going off on everyone's phone. It reminds me of one time at work when about 4 different phones went off with a tornado warning!
The guy told me where he got all the items to dress up his Yoda, but I don't remember any of that now.
Nice photos of FOTLK and looks like a great show! Love that Yoda photo! I remember when the warnings came out for Hurricane Matthew (not Matthews! ) and knowing you and look were there and hoping all would be well! I was also worried a bit about my trip as I would be arriving in WDW within a week of Matthew!
The staff at WDW does an excellent job of getting folks and the premises ready for a hurricane, which helped us to feel safe the whole time
At this point we split into two groups with Luke and kids going to Expedition Everest while June, John, and I went to Gorilla Falls. For our part, the three of us had an excellent exploration of the newly renamed Gorilla Falls.
Our first sighting was the Colobus monkeys who appeared to be napping, but eventually we noticed one who was awake and up.
Next we entered the aviary section of these trails, finding golden weavers and some other small birds.
While in the aviary, we kept hearing an unusual, at least to us, bird call. We initially thought the bird making the sound was this one, that we nicknamed the Mohawk bird due to the shape of his head feathers.
Eventually, we decided that the sound he was making was not quite as loud as the unusual one. Instead we surmised that this mother bird who kept pacing around her nest and then sitting down was the bird behind the unusual sound.
Just a note here, June and John were never in a hurry to move on, so I was allowed to get all the photos that I wanted. They are so sweet! Next we entered the building where the hippos can be seen underwater, and today there was one resting at the bottom where we could all see him.
We didn’t linger with the hippo long before heading off to see what the meerkats were up to. We stopped at first to see the zebras.
Soon after we arrived, we realized that the meerkats were out and about on the other side and creating all kinds of excitement in the crowd gather there. I was able to get a spot up front to get photos. Quite a few of the meerkats were busy digging holes while a few were acting as sentinels. We could also see that food had been placed out for them. They were very active and mesmerizing, which caused us to stay here a while.
Finally, we moved on because the gorillas were just around the bend. The family was huddled in a corner, napping. We waited for a turn to get closer to the glass, but only spent a few minutes as no one in the family was doing much besides sleeping.
As we moved around to where the bachelors were hanging out, we saw a lot of activity as food had just been put out for the fellows. These guys caught our attention.
Just as we began to move on, Luke sent a text that they were just a bit behind us as they were now moving towards the bachelors. We waited for them to join us, and then we were off to new adventures.
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I love that Starbucks is in the AK now but I do wish they provided more table to either sit or stand around. Loved the Yoda plush pictures!!!
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Cool shots of the Lion King as well. 
You've made my day. 
I remember when the warnings came out for Hurricane Matthew (not Matthews! 
) and knowing you and look were there and hoping all would be well! 
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