I said I needed a break but....this is not what I meant - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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What a trooper you are! Your dinner sounded pretty yummy, and pretty fun too. Love that last shot of the boys playing, so cute!
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
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What a trooper you are! Your dinner sounded pretty yummy, and pretty fun too. Love that last shot of the boys playing, so cute!
Thank you Tanya! I love that pic too. They were playing as we waited for our table and hubby caught them at the perfect moment.
The one with Cinderella is funny because she was asking Ty about his Toy Story ears and if he arrived on a steed like Bullseye? Ty was showing her all the guys on the ears. It was very cute.
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I had a tough night’s sleep. Lots of tossing and turning to find a comfortable position, lots of keeping my foot as far away from my husband’s side of the bed, up once to take some medicine. Ethan got us up all bright and early and really I was up anyway, waiting to take another dose of medicine. It was a magic morning so we could enter the park an hour early, I had showered the night before so I only had to running a flatiron through my hair put on a pair of Mickey ears (I have many pairs) and I was ready to go. Hubby got the kiddos dressed and out a daily snack bag in the stroller and filled the water bottles for the boys. It was very odd to have to sit and ask him to do the things that I usually just take care of. We set out for the parks. Only one set of elevators were working for this tower and it took a while for a car to come to our floor and then we realized we could not fit in with my scooter and our double stroller. So I went ahead first and they followed and luckily it was shortly after me.
We stopped ay guest services and I dropped off a thank you bag for the CM who helped me get our room and the scooter. She was not working but her supervisor was and I raved about her to him. He took notes and thanked me for letting him know about my experience.
Then we headed out to DTD. I had read that one of the greatest deals for breakfast was the breakfast English muffin at Ralph Brennan’s. Hubby went in and got me that and an order of beignets for the boys as well. Mine was very good, had egg and cheese and sausage and was super yummy! It came with a hash brown round and some fresh fruit for just under $6! Good deal IMO. The boys were very happy with theirs and hubby finished up what we did not. We went though security and got in a newlu open Magic Morning line and we were in the park 45 minutes before it was to open.
As we went through the gate I was handed a pamphlet regarding how to get around in a wheelchair. It listed every ride in both DLR and DCA and how one can get through the lines and onto the ride. It was very helpful since sometimes you go to a whole other entrance. We headed over to Tomorrowland first and hubby and Ty did Astro Orbitor quickly with almost no line.
Next we went over to Buzz’s Astro Blasters, this is Ty’s very favorite rise and we go on it a lot. The CM told us to follow the regular line for most of the time and head to through a door where we drop off my scooter and they would help me further. It worked just like that. The CM right on the conveyor belt slowed it down so I could limp over to my seat. Ty sat with me and Ethan sat with his daddy. At the end they had my scooter waiting for me and off we went. Ty wanted to go again the boys all went again and I went to shop in the Little Green Men store at the end of the ride. I found a cool Buzz with a Rocket on his back and a couple other little things and the boys found me just as I finished paying. Perfect! We still had about 20 minutes left of our magic morning so we went over to Fantasyland to and the boys did the teacups twice and then Alice.
The crowds started to pick up as the park was now open but it was still not bad. My medication was making me thirsty so we went for a soda and a water when Ty told us he needed to find a potty! I was very proud of him. Daddy and son went to take care of business.
When we visited DL in February I had a very hard time catching Eeyore in Pooh Corner. He is my fav and I really wanted a picture with him. Last time we got in line to see him three times and by the time we got to the fron they rotated him out and put in Rabbit or just had Pooh and Tigger and no third character at all. So I crossed my fingers and ask my hubby if we could go see the Pooh crew. Off we went. They were not out yet so the boys went to ride the Pooh ride and I went inside to buy an autograph book. This was something new for us. We had never done autographs and I thought the boys might like it this trip. So I found a non-princess book and was wishing I had picked one up before our Character dining the night before but oh well what could I do about it now. Thing went all pear shaped with our plans and what was done was done. I saw a cute stuffed Eeyore and the Minnie tank top I wanted for my friend and the Mickey crocs I wanted for me (all on my list). I picked it all up and was paying just as the boys found me. I glanced outside and saw my donkey!!!! The boys headed out and I followed shortly after. Ethan and I both had on Eeyore t-shirts and I have an Eeyore lanyard. I am sure it was no surprise to any of the CMs who we were all excited to see. Eeyore is the stuffed animal that Ethan has slept with since he was a tiny baby. He rubs Eeyore’s tail against the side of his head as dozes off. This is probably part of why I love that donkey so much to be perfectly honest. So we got to the front of the line and Pooh was first as usual. The boys rushed over and I was slowly getting off on my “motorcycle and Pooh seemed very concerned. He motioned to wait on the PhotoPass until I made it over and held his hand out to me. He held my hand the whole time and kind of supported me. It was such a small, sweet thing but it meant a lot to me.
Then we moved over to Eeyore!! He was so happy to see our t-shirts he lifted his ears and clapped his hands together. I told how he is my favorite and how I had missed him a few times. He was very sweet and seemed flattered. Ty and I got pics with him and I was thrilled.
Ethan went up with his daddy and he is usually shy with characters but he gave Eeyore kisses all on his own. He knew his buddy when he saw him. It was so cute.
Ty bounced on over to see tigger and I stayed on my scooter and took pics this time as my medicine was wearing off and it was hurting to stand. Tigger is Ty’s fav and he never disappoints.
I was just so happy to get the Character interaction that I had been looking forward too. The boys went back to do the Pooh ride one more time and I got them some tigger tails for later. I got myself one of the caramel nut chocolate dipped pretzels. YUM.
Ooooh, I love me some Eeyore!!! How adorable about Pooh helping you out. So cute! Yeah, I can't imagine telling my DH just exactly how to pack the bag for the day - that had to be very strange. Great breakfast tip, I'll remember that in Sept.!!
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
The boys finished on the Pooh ride and found me waiting for them in the shade. We headed off and hubby said he wanted to do Pirates of The Caribbean. We added this as a ride we thought Ty would enjoy this time. The tricky part is that Ethan is not a huge fan of dark rides just recently and he will tolerate them only if there is a character or theme that he really enjoys. Pirates does not fall into that category. So we decided I would stay out with Ethan and Ty would go with his daddy. I wanted to go as I love this ride but I knew it would scare Ethan. We waited for quite a while and Ethan was getting hungry and grumpy. I used my carefully packed snack bag to help him but we needed to get real food in short order. I had forgotten how long of a ride Pirates is. Finally the boys came back and Ty had a big smile on his face! He loved the ride. I told hubby we needed to feed Ethan ASAP and off we went to Pizza Port. We noticed that the Buzz ride was down, it had gone down shortly after the park opened (thankfully we made it on before opening) and we wondered if it had been down the whole time.
Pizza Port has been on our list for a long time and we just keep missing it. I was worried about getting through the lines with my scooter but it was easy and I could put a tray on my lap and still drive! Ty saw the Buzz souvie cup right a away and we let him get one. He was very happy. I decided to get a slice of pizza and a side salad. Hubby got the Asian Chicken Salad and the Bread Sticks with dipping sauce. We got an extra slice of pizza and the kid’s size pasta with meatballs and milk for the boys. We were very pleased with everything. The pizza was medium thickness and the cheese was good quality. My salad was basic but fresh and a good size for a side salad. The boys ate all my tomatoes but that happens a lot. Ethan is always a very good eater and he ate A LOT. Ty did well too and played with his new Buzz. Hubby and I finished off the soda in the Buzz cup and filled it with water so if Ty spilled it would not be a sticky mess. Hubby’s salad was huge and although it was very good he did not finish. He breadsticks were more like small French baguettes, with a very crunchy crust. He loved that but I was not a big fan unless I broke them into smaller pieces.
When we left the Buzz Ride was still down. Ty really wanted to ride it again but thankfully I saw that Buzz himself was out meeting and greeting! We got in line and we were lucky as the closed it right behind us. The boys were thrilled. We added his signature to our new book! We thought we would try the Jungle Cruise next and sadly that was down too! UGH, bad luck.
I had some shopping time scheduled for the afternoon but we were moving so much slower and getting less done than usual I told hubby we could put it off. He would not hear of it. Ethan was napping at this point and off we went to shop along Main Street. It was challenging to maneuver around in the stores and around the people. Surprisingly people move around to accommodate a stroller much quicker then a wheelchair or scooter. Oh well. I found lots to buy and had a few tshirts and sweatshirt and a cute skirt with hidden mickeys on it, all piled up in my lap as my dear sweet hubby comes over saying he found a purse I might like. It was not just any purse but one of the Dooney and Bourke purses I had been wanting but was not sure I should get. It was the larger blue and white one and it was so cool. I looked up and ask my hubby if he was sure. He said absolutely! He is wonderful!! I quickly paid before I could talk myself out of it. We went over to the candy store and picked up some pretzels and a few other things, we did a bit of penny pressing. Hubby found a mug he liked and I saw the chocolate dipped shortbread cookies that I love so those were added to the loot. We were trading for pins the whole time and got a few good ones. Ty was really starting to get into that and it is fun to watch him look over a lanyard for his favorite character pins. We headed out to DTD and picked up some cute tees for the boys at WoD and hubby saw a polo and shorts he liked but they did not have his size out. I asked, and the CM was not very helpful. I told hubby we would find it before we left and not to worry. Since I had spent quite a bit at this point we went back to enter DCA for the Pixar Fun Parade.
Now this is a parade we have seen many many times and we kind of have a certain spot try to sit in but they had changed the parade route and we almost missed the whoel thing! Once we found a decent place to watch I turned my scooter off and Ty sat on my nap so he had a nice view. This parade is his favorite since he loves Pixar movies so much. In fact he has never seen the parade at DL but we plan to remedy that in July. Last time we watched me were right up front and I saluted the solders as they went by and they came over and gave Ty high fives and he was thrilled. This time we were a little further back so no tricks to bring characters over for mommy. We noticed they added a few new things in preparation for Toy Story 3. The solders got a new truck and the purple Hugs a lot Bear was partying with the rest of toys.
Everything else was the same. Hubby got some good shots of the jumping guys that follow the Incredibles too.
Back in November there was a float for Up that went down before the parade and I keep hoping they will add Carl and Russell and Dug but it does not look like that will happen.
The parade finished up and we were close to the entrance/exit for the Grand California so we used that one and took our time enjoying the lobby. We love this hotel and stayed a few times including last year when I ran my half marathon. We traded some pins with CMs and headed out to DTD. The boys were getting grumpy and I knew it was time to eat. We stopped at Tortilla Joes and filled our bellies with tacos and nachos. The boys were very full and getting sleepy. We headed back to our hotel. Mousekeeping had been up to turn down the beds and had fun with Ty’s toys. He was very pleased.
The dragon and the blaster were added by Ty.
Hubby got the boys bathed and in pjs. I noticed a button on our bedside lamp that had Tink on it. I pushed it and it made the headboard light up with fireworks over the carved castle and played a lullaby. Very cool!!! Sadly we did not get a picture. Maybe when we are there next month?