Recent Empty Nesters Go To Disney **updated 11/5 TWICE** - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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The Parks
We visited all four the parks, but did not go to any of the water parks
this visit. I am not much of a water park person. Epcot
We had an amazing time in Epcot this year. It was our first trip during
the Food and Wine Festival and we loved it. The weather was perfect for
taking leisurely walks around the World Showcase and trying new foods. (I
will comment on the food in a later post). We met and chatted with
several people while we made our way around the world. There was one
family visiting from New Jersey that had 14 members there all together and
they wanted a picture all together so I offered to take one for them. I
ended up taking several of them with various cameras from their group. I
sure hope they turned out. They were a fun group. We also met a couple
that comes in for the Food and Wine Festival every year from Colorado.
They said it is definitely worth the trip and I tend to agree with them.
I sure wish I could make it there every year.
In Future World we loved the new updates to Spaceship Earth. I thought
it was a lot of fun. We did Soarin three or four times. We finally got
the first row, without even asking. We ended up right in the middle of
the first row and I have to say it was AMAZING. It is our favorite ride
in Epcot. We did the Nemo ride, which was really cute.
MINE! MINE! MINE!
We were the only ones walking in the line, there was not a soul in front of us or behind
us. Jack kept saying we could cut through the aisles and I kept saying
you couldn't without climbing over or under a railing. Jack said sure you
can, we can go right through here as he walked right into the railing. I
know it hurt as he went full force into it, literally bending him over at
the waist, but it was the funniest thing to witness. Thank goodness no
one else witnessed it or else I would have gotten the medal for
Worst.Wife. Ever as I laughed hysterically. What made it even funnier was
the fact that all week long Jack had been commenting on how great his new
glasses were. How much better he could see. I couldn't help but mention
the new glasses failing him in the line for the Nemo ride. I know I am
terrible, but it really was funny. We never got to see Illuminations this
trip, which I was very sad about.
But I did find this guy one afternoon. He was so cute and it was the first time we had seen him.
DHS
We didn't spend a lot of time here this trip. Jack doesn’t do TOT or RnR. I will do them, but usually only when the boys are with us. Since they weren’t I skipped them. Most of our time was spent getting fastpasses for Toy Story Midway Mania. That ride is SO MUCH FUN!
We rode it a total of three times. We would have done it more if the waits weren’t so insane. Fastpasses were gone by noon. We rode twice with fastpass and once we stood
in line for 25 minutes, right at park opening. Jack beat me every time (not that our scores were great), but I
was far more accurate. Jack wasn't buying that accuracy was better than points. I still think it is. See 70% accuracy!
I love how the ride is good for all ages. It is a
ride you can go on with little ones, teenagers or adults. I would give
this ride top honors for the best queue. I loved it and it makes the wait
so much better. Mr. Potato Head is priceless, so much fun.
LOVE HIM!
We saw the Beauty and the Beast show, which is always a favorite of mine. I never get tired of it. It is too bad that the preshow entertainment is no longer there. I think they were called Four for a Dollar or something like that. I may not remember the name, but I do remember they were good and entertaining.
One of my favorite things to do at DHS is walk through One Man’s Dream. I am amazed by the creativity of one man and how it created such wonderful things.
Animal Kingdom
I would have say that this is Jack’s favorite park.
He loves KS. We always have to hit that first. We had an especially good safari on our trip this year. I think it was because the weather was slightly cool.
Love the elephants!
We saw the Lion King show, but missed the Nemo show this year. I really like the Nemo show, so I was a little disappointed. The timing just never worked out. The Lion King show was just a fantastic as usual. We always seem to end up in the warthog section, but this time we were elephants. The crowds were extremely low the day we were at AK, we had our pick of seats. We did not do EE. Another one Jack is not fond of, and I like to do with the boys. I did think about the single rider line, but I enjoy riding it more with someone else. Because the weather was so nice (we usually visit during very hot seasons!) we spent a lot of time just walking the trails and enjoying the park.
It was the best day we have ever had there.
Magic Kingdom
It is my personal opinion that the Magic Kingdom is the most magical of
all the parks. There is something about seeing the castle for the first
time each trip that makes me a little teary and excited to be there.
We visited three times total
this trip, with one of the trips being for MNSSHP. Since the crowds were
low we were able to do everything we wanted with minimal waits. My
favorite is Mickey's Philharmagic. Lucky for me Jack likes it too and
doesn't mind when I drag him to see it. Even if I drag him four times in
one trip. For the first time in many, many years I got Jack to go on Big
Thunder Mountain Railroad. We were walking towards Frontierland to check
the wait time when a young lady came up and gave us two fastpasses for it
that were good right then. Poor Jack didn't have time to think about it
before we were on it. He said he did enjoy it, but he never did ride it
again. Monsters Inc was a lot of fun. For some reason
whenever we go in there Jack gets his face up on the big screen. For the
life of me I cannot remember what the caption was under his picture this
year. I know last time it was "will buy churros for everyone".
I really should have taken notes. The Haunted Mansion was great as usual,
but it seems extra special when you are going near Halloween. Every time
we went this time though there were kids that were being dragged on the
ride kicking and screaming! They obviously did not want to ride, but
their parents did. On one trip through we could not hear the dialogue in
the stretching room due to the very loud screams of some youngsters.
Hopefully they are not traumatized for life. I love Fantasyland. Makes
me wish I had little ones to enjoy all the ride there with again. It
didn't stop us from riding them, I just was just a little nostalgic. I
love TTA. Such a great way to take a break and see interesting things.
I finally got to see SpectroMagic. I loved it. I took some pictures but only a couple turned out.
Magic Kingdom will always be my favorite park.
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