Backstage Magic Guinea Pigs - DLR and More! Apr 19-27, 2008 - REPORT COMPLETE!! 5/2 - Page 3 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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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.
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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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About 4:30, we staked out a spot for the Pixar Play parade – a bench in the shade across from Jumpin’ Jellyfish. It actually got a bit cool in the shade & I put my fleece vest back on. The parade is pretty neat – I was a little surprised they still did the water effects, since it was a bit cool. They use non-Disney music for this parade as well – a little surprising to hear Queen coming from a Disney float!
We wandered over to Flik’s Fun Fair about 6 – got in a LONG line for Heimlich’s Chew Chew – I’d forgotten how short the ride is. Oh well. We looked around the area for a bit before deciding to try Soarin’ over California’s single rider line about 6:30. It took about 4 cycles for us to get on – the CM must’ve felt sorry for us, because he let us get on a flight together I like the queue here a little better – tho the interactive video game has spiced up the Epcot version a bit.
Headed back to the room for another rest – we really wanted to see Fantasmic! & figured the second show at 10:30 would be less hectic – planned on getting back in the park just before the fireworks at 9:25. Scott picked up a couple of burgers from McD’s on the way back, and I finished my Monte Cristo leftovers – not to bad cold, but better when fresh & hot!
We each added an extra layer of clothing – a hoodie sweatshirt for me & light jacket for Scott – and headed back to the park about 9, got to the hub over by the Frontierland bridge just in time to hear the firework cancellation announcement – we hustled over to Frontierland, where they were holding the crowds over by the Mark Twain dock while they cleared the Rivers of America area. They let us in about 9:45 and we found a spot riverside pretty much front & center. The ground was a bit chilly, but we had enough room to stretch our legs out & we were sitting down! Having the Columbia and the Mark Twain in the show really gives this version of Fantasmic, the edge over the WDW version. (tho the dedicated seating at Hollywood Studios is nice…) The storyline is a bit different, but Mickey still wins the day!
We were on our way out of the park about 10:55 and back to the room about 25 min later, stopping to take photos of Main Street along the way. Scott swore they moved the hotel a couple of blocks further away when we weren't looking …
Woke up around 6:45 – had another leisurely morning and were leaving for the park by 8:15. I bundled up a bit more than I really needed, with my hoodie sweatshirt over a long sleeve t, denim shirt & fleece vest. Both the security stop & front gate were a bit busier than they were the previous morning – tho we did see the Mark VII Monorail Red on a test run on our walk to the park.
Got thru the turnstiles about 8:30 – they held the crowd at the end of Main Street, We browsed the shops a bit before getting in position for rope drop. Scott headed over to Toontown, while I headed over to Tomorrowland to get FP’s for Space Mountain before joining him. On my way thru Tomorrowland, the CM’s were announcing a “delayed opening” for the Nemo Subs – I’m so glad we got that done first thing yesterday!
We got seated about 5 min before the Toontown Morning Madness ceremony started. It’s held in front of the Toontown Town Hall & is a little song & dance skit, with Mickey welcoming the crowd and choosing a Family of the Day – only Mom & Son came up to the podium – Dad hung back with Daughter, as she seemed frightened of all the hullabaloo! When they said they were from Calgary, about a dozen folks in the crowd cheered and the deputy mayor said “Oh, you brought the whole province with you!”
After the ceremony was over – we walked over to Gadget’s Go Coaster for a quick ride, then walked on to Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin. We looked around Toontown for a bit while waiting for our FastPasses – we headed for Tomorrowland about 9:55. We made it back almost to the loading room before catching up with the Space Mountain queue – not much more than a 5 min wait. We’re definitely going to ride this a few more times when we come back later this week!
Took a snack break about 10:20 – I wanted some pineapple, but didn’t know where to find some other than Adventureland, so we headed that direction. The Jungle Cruise had a fairly short line, so we joined Skipper Jay for a tour. He was by far the best skipper on our trip so far – a bit older than us (late 30’s – early 40’s) , glasses & mustache. Unfortunately, we were sitting right by the motor, so we didn’t hear all his quips, but he had some good ones! Instead of the “back side of water” he did the big build up, then announced that we were under water, “Yes, we are under water… and you didn’t even have to wait an hour in line for it – take that, Nemo!”
We headed over to the Golden Horseshoe for the 11:00 Billy Hill & The Hillbillies show – arriving about 10 min early. We were in the mood for a snack, so we shared a mozzarella stick meal and a crispie treat while waiting for the entertainment. The boys put on a great show as always – they stuck in a little reference to Nemo as well, changing the last line of their Beatles medley from “yeller submarine” to “a Nemo submarine”
I wanted to make sure to check out the Pirates’ Lair at Tom Sawyer Island this trip (we missed it by about 3 days last year!) , so that was our next destination. We rode the raft over around 11:30 with one of the scurvy swabs, who was in an intent conversation with a young guest about the Tooth Fairy – he wanted to know what the tooth-to-doubloon exchange rate was, and whether the teeth had to be your own. We wandered around the island for about 45 minutes – finally finding the Pirates Den - very crowded! We saw Jack Sparrow a couple of times – with lots of pirate wanna-be’s in tow!
We stopped for awhile to listen to the Bootstrapper Band – they’re quite talented and a lot of fun – telling tales of the “cursed land of Dis Ney” across the water – where they have quite a rodent problem … While we were listening, we saw Kelsey Grammar and his family, being escorted by a plaid CM – noone really seemed to be taking notice of him, which I imagine is just the way he wants it. We did snap a quick candid photo, tho.
We headed back to dry land about 12:45, and headed over to a 25 min wait for Star Tours – got back row, left corner – what a blast! We decided to have lunch at Redd Rocket’s Pizza port – I had the chicken ceasar salad – good & pretty large, and Scott had a slice of pepperoni pizza. The cashier didn’t think they did the Disney Visa discount anymore, just the Annual Pass – so I guess the DV website needs to be updated.
Scott wanted to go on Autopia, so we joined a fairly short line (about 15 min or so) around 2:00. While it’s still a bit noisy & smelly - this attraction is a lot longer & more scenic than the WDW MK version! We noted that they were still doing test runs of the Mark VII monorail, so decided to head over to the platform for a closer look, as well as a round trip ride on the other train that was in service - hard to tell which one it was, with the YoaMD wrap on it!
We waited about 20 min – they brought the Mark VII around & it sat at the station for awhile – they tested door opening/closing, so Scott got some pretty good pix of it. A local news station reported that they may have it ready for guests as early as Friday – keeping our fingers crossed! We took the round trip about 2:40 – our car was about ¾ full, with hardly anyone waiting at the DTD stop.
Upon our return, we visited Fantasyland and had a scary adventure with Snow White. I was getting thirsty and wanted a special treat, so walked over to New Orleans Square for a mint julep. We sat & listened to the Royal Street Bachelors for a little while, deciding what to do for the rest of the day. I wanted to do a couple of attractions at night, but decided we needed a nap first. Scott wanted to get some bread from Boudin’s as a snack for the next couple of days, so we went across the street to DCA, did the tour and bought a Mickey loaf. We left for the hotel about 4 & set an alarm for about 6:15, taking a nice, long nap.
We headed back to DL about 6:30, bundling up a bit once again. I wanted to ride Indy – Scott’s not a big fan – too rough for him – so we made plans to meet back up at 7:00. The 20 min posted wait for Indy was generous – I was back out in Adventureland by about 6:40. I thought I’d catch a quick Jungle Cruise before meeting back up… Scott ended up on the same boat! Skipper Liz was our guide for this trip & did a pretty good job. Scott had done a walk-on of Pirates (the parade was running during this time), so we headed that way for another trip to Tortuga.
I was ready for some dinner – so got a bread bowl of steak gumbo from the Royal Street Veranda – that really hit the spot! I enjoy the sourdough bread, but it sure gives your jaws a workout!
We decided to visit with the happy haunts before calling it an evening; it was a walk on right up to the front porch. Got stopped on the descent from the attic – wish it had been somewhere a bit more scenic! Since we still had some packing to do & would need to be up early to get the rental car back to the airport by 9, we headed back to the hotel about 9:20 & were getting into bed about 10:30.
Haven't had time to type up first couple days of the tour (it's all written down, I promise!) but have twittered some basic info: Twitter / Politzania. Have tried to avoid spoilers & will do so with the detailed report upon our return.
It's a work in progress - what's out there now is basically what's in this thread, with added photos. I hope to have the rest of the trip up within a week or so.
Please note that there were some "Magical Moments" I opted not to write about... so that later tours can have that same moment of surprise and awe that we did. Unfortunately, some of my tourmates preferred the "tell all" approach, so reader beware ...
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While we were listening, we saw Kelsey Grammar and his family, being escorted by a plaid CM – noone really seemed to be taking notice of him, which I imagine is just the way he wants it. We did snap a quick candid photo, tho. 
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