A 40th celebration to end the world! THREAD 1 COMPLETED 2/16 - Page 28 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I just asked Chuck "How did I miss Tiara - land?" And showed him your pic. He said "Because I kept you from it!" LOL I so want one! I also want Eeyore pillow pet! My BFF got me a LARGE Eeyore on my first trip. I love him!
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I have been told so many times that I take way too many pictures, however, you have me beat! When I went to Great Britain for a month I took about 500 pictures and everyone thought I was crazy. I can't even imagine filling 127 cd's. But, I have a goal to shoot for now!
Yeah, 500 - that's nothing! I say snap away. After all, what happens if you never get back to some of these places? For example, I don't know if or when we'll ever return to St. Thomas and St. John, Puerto Rico, Joshua Tree or Death Valley, so I may as well ensure I've taken enough photos so that I don't regret not photographing something....
Friday 7 December – part seven: this is “Pop Century on steroids”
We wandered slowly back through the rest of Future World towards the entrance.
We got some final shots at the entrance with a Photopass photographer…
… and then it was back to the car, stopping to get a couple of last shots at the entrance. We noticed the flag was at half mast, we assume for Pearl Harbor?
On the way back, I suggested going to have a look at Art of Animation, as it’s not that far from the Beach Club, and Mark agreed. We stopped at a set of lights, and realised that to the right of us was a backstage area…
We found it easily enough, and parked up, and headed for Animation Hall.
Wow! We absolutely loved the theming of this place the second we walked through the door. There wasn’t much Christmas stuff, but then again, with everything else they had, they didn’t need much.
We had a wander around the shop….
… and then headed into the food court to get a bottle of water with one of our snack credits. We loved all the different dining areas, each highlighting one of the films that the rooms here are based on. All very clever.
From there, it was outside, and first we went left to look at the Lion King section of the resort. I referred to this resort as “Pop Century, but on steroids”, and in truth, this is how Pop Century probably would look if the Imagineers designed it today, as they’ve learnt so much more and applied it. It’s essentially the same layout as Pop, but it’s so much better disguised. I especially loved how they’ve hidden away all the external staircases.
We wandered back to the Finding Nemo section, which was just covered with characters from the movie everywhere you looked.
The Big Blue Pool was key card only, but we still managed to get some shots of it from outside the gates….
… then we were lucky enough to find one open, so in we went.
Oh Chez thank you so much for all the AoA pictures!!! I have to say, the resort looks amazing. The Imagineers did a wonderful job. I can't wait to see it myself
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Wow - thanks for sharing the AoA photos!!!! I am hoping that we can take some time to go over and check it out during our next trip!! Maybe have lunch or something.
And I am right there with you on the photos............maybe I don't take as many as you, BUT I do take ALOT!!! My little 4 nt/5 day trip resulted in over 2000 photos on one camera.........I bring 2-3 cameras!!
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
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I think my favourite part of AoA has to be the big blue pool! Thanks for the great photos!
I have to ask (you've probably answered this a lot on the boards) do you use a tripod and specialized settings to get your photos or are most of them set on "automatic"? You get such clear images, I would think "tripod/settings" but you take so many that you really don't have time for that so that makes me think, "automatic" which then makes me think that I want to buy the same type of camera that you have
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I say snap away. After all, what happens if you never get back to some of these places? For example, I don't know if or when we'll ever return to St. Thomas and St. John, Puerto Rico, Joshua Tree or Death Valley, so I may as well ensure I've taken enough photos so that I don't regret not photographing something....
Guess where we were headed??
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