National parks, natural beauty and a bit of Disney wonder! DISNEYLAND SECTION COMPLETED - Page 29 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Ouch, $110 for lunch!! Thank goodness for DVC. I have really enjoyed your DLR portion of the TR. I can't wait to get back there, just have to find the time and the money!
OH goodness---it looks like I'll be reworking the food budget for my DL trip. I know that we're mostly going to do CS meals, but we're planning a few sit downs and if lunch at Ariel's was $110 for two--ouch!
Bear in mind though that Breakfast in the Park was something like $60 for the two of us, so the sit down meals are not all that price. I think Ariel's is a bit like Cinderella's Royal Table - they can get away with charging a lot more, as it has the princesses there.
Even though the distances are less in CA, it seems you almost do more continuous walking than at WDW because you don't stop to take a bus, boat or monorail to go back to the hotel or shopping or another park. The heat must have been getting to you, but it's true the blue, blue skies make for beautiful photos.
I think that's a good point - I hadn't thought of that, but unless you take the monorail back to Downtown Disney, which doesn't work great if you're staying at the Grand Californian, the rest of the time, you are pretty much on your feet.
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Yay! I actually made it into someone's trip report!
It was sooo great to meet you and Mark. It really feels like I know both of you from all your prior trip reports! It certainly was hot hot hot that day! Poor Mark looked like he wanted to take a nap on that couch in the lobby, didn't he? I was pretty happy sitting in that a/c as well!
Well, of course you did - did you think I'd miss you out? I could've stayed in the air conditioning as well, but I was determined to see what they've been doing to the Disneyland Hotel and I wasn't disappointed!
Sunday 28 August – part seven: one of the coolest slides ever!
Soon, we made it down to the Disneyland Hotel and I really would not like to be staying here with that work going on. There was a Cast Member on duty to explain the situation and basically two whole sections are still closed off while they work on them. That means the tower with the front desk in it is completely cut off from the pool. If you want to use it, you have to walk round the exterior of the building, not my idea of fun. :
That’s what we did...
.... and soon we found the pool, complete with the lovely new monorail slide. That is one of the coolest slides I think I’ve ever seen. It’s lovely.
We headed through the other tower, aiming to get back to the Grand Californian. Instead, we found a really cool model of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which was very neat.
We headed outside and someone (I don’t remember who) pointed out the DVC preview centre outside. Well, as we were here, we just had to go and have a look around. They have a very neat model of Aulani and I think Jeanie in particular was fascinated to see that, just having returned from Hawaii.
We had a bit of wait before someone came to show us around the Aulani model rooms. We first went into the studio and what struck me immediately was how dark the wood was. I was expecting something much lighter and it did make the room feel a bit small. Still, just like the Grand Californian, it was all of a very good standard, although it was interesting that we were told that the studio here is a bit bigger than the real ones will be.
We then headed into the one bedroom villa and this was just stunning. I think Mark was instantly sold on this and I can see us staying in one of these, rather than a studio when we get there – and I say “when” as I’m sure we will one day. I loved the feel of this room as well, with much lighter coloured furniture and it really did make a difference to the whole atmosphere. It was all beautiful, although we were a bit surprised that they only had the one bathroom and consequently one toilet. I think that’s the problem I could foresee with it.
We headed back into the preview centre and chatted to various Cast Members, discovering that, at the moment, they were only selling Saratoga Springs, Bay Lake Tower and Animal Kingdom Lodge. They couldn’t sell Aulani, despite the fact that it was due to open the next day due to legal problems. I can imagine that must be a complete nightmare for the sales reps here, trying to sell Walt Disney World, rather than Hawaii, especially when all your models are of the rooms in Hawaii.
Love that monorail slide! The Aulani studio looks very nice, and you're right, it must be a nightmare to the CMs there showing the rooms but unable to sell the memberships! Must have had something to do with the snafu about Aulani pricing. I guess they're probably straight on it now.
The rooms are gorgeous! It makes me wish they would revamp all of the DVC rooms with new appliances and bathroom fixtures. Maybe one day I'll be able to say I've stayed there, but definitely not anytime soon.
The Aulani rooms look great. But I agree, especially in California, can't imagine how tough it was for the reps when they couldn't sell Aulani! Glad it's all fixed now.
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That meal was so much! it looks like a great place though...I know Claire would love it. Is it a fixed price meal? Or are there cheaper options to get?
The monorail slide is just too cool!
The Aulani rooms are gorgeous!!!
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unless you take the monorail back to Downtown Disney, which doesn't work great if you're staying at the Grand Californian, the rest of the time, you are pretty much on your feet.
No he didn't - I have to be honest, until you pointed it out, I hadn't even noticed it! 
I could've stayed in the air conditioning as well, but I was determined to see what they've been doing to the Disneyland Hotel and I wasn't disappointed! 
Did you happen to notice if the Build-a-bear shop is still at Downtown Disney? I had a blast there in 2005!
: 
I think that's way we didn't eat there! 
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