Celebrating a decade together.....Disney style - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Mmmmm, yum! Your lunch looked so very good. I'm glad the flight and check-in at the hotel was easy and uneventful (aside from the cab ride). I bet you just made that CM's day at the ticket window! I also try my best to be cheerful as that job is probably pretty boring with pretty crabby people to deal with day in and day out. It's nice to spread a little magic from time to time, isn't it?
__________________
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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We headed in and went straight to get Ethan’s AP photo taken. There was no line and it took us about 30 seconds. Ty was set on going to see Tigger and Pooh which was a surprise since it is usually Buzz he wants to ride first but we were happy to go anywhere. Eeyore and Tigger were out to meet so we did that. I am always so happy to see Eeyore and it was good a short wait. I had put Ty is his “Tigger is that you” tshirt that morning and oh my, did Tigger love it!
He and Ty had a ball and mommy and Ethan got to love on their favorite donkey. Afterwards the boys went to go ride Pooh’s Adventures while I went to go get a Tigger Tail for them. We paused outside the Hungry Bear for a few rounds to go potty and the boys snacked on their treat. Now Ty was ready to do Buzz. We headed over to Tomorrowland. There was no longer FP for AstroBlasters, those FP machines were now set up for Star Tours FPs. The wait was only 10 minutes so it was not an issue, but we wondered if it would be later in the trip. Star Tours was open for AP holder who had preview tickets (we did not) but the M said to keep checking back for soft opening options. We did a round on Buzz and the headed over to DCA.
I was looking for a certain pair of Toy Story mickey ears. Ty has a pair and a PP friend (Becki05) was hoping I could find some for her son, Skyler. I stopped at a few stores on main st and on the way into to DCA and nothing so far. The construction walls were still all over DCA, ugh! You can see the vista for Carsland really coming together though so that is nice. Ethan fell asleep in the stroller finally so we headed to Bugsland for Ty and Kent to do some rides while I stayed with Ethan. We found a spot in the shade and I caught up on my trip notes and Ethan snored. Kent and Ty went on Tuck and Roll, Flik’s Flyers, Hiemlich and the Ladybug ride since lines were nice and short.
The only ride that has a height requirement is the T and R bumper cars. There was a family of a mom, several kids and the mom’s sister (aunt) that waa doing several rounds to get all the kids on. The aunt was staying with the kids and the mom was riding with them one at a time. The aunt was fairly stressed with 3 older kids and an infant (my guess is 9 months). The infant was fussing and crying and did not want the bottle she was being offered. The poor aunt was digging through the diaper bag in search of a snack to try and give her. Nothing was to be found and the aunt was trying so hard to quiet the baby and corral the other kids. I dug into my snack bag and found some goldfish crackers. I asked the aunt if the baby was allowed to have goldfish. She wrinkled her forehead and said she didn’t know. I told her it is a common first snack and to break them in half and see how she does with them. She thanked me over and over as the baby quieted and the mom came back for one of the other kids. I like when I can be in the right place at the right time. Ty and Kent came back with big smiles and Ethan woke up. We did a stop at one of the few family restrooms in the parks.
As we left Bugsland I saw that PT Flea's pin shop was gone which made me very sad. It was my favorite pin shop. In its place was the new Cars 2 themed McQueen and Mater to meet and greet. The placement of this does not make sense to me since the construction wall narrow right there and form a bottleneck and with the characters right there it is kind of a mess. Oh well. Ty went to go say hi to them and get some pictures.
I checked at a store for the ears again and no luck. We circled around the backside of the park and we found that Corndog Castle was back open. Kent was sooooo happy and Ty loving corndogs even more than his daddy didn’t know it yet but he would be thrilled too. The new pizza place is still walled off until later in the summer and although I had read that Goofy’s Sky School was supposed to open this week it was walled off too. Ty rode on Jumpin’ Jellyfish with Kent and wanted to do Zephyr but it was down. It was getting to be close to our dinner ADR at Naples in DTD so we excited DCA through the Grand Cali and headed out to DTD. I love the Grand Cali and was happy to be there even if we were not staying.
We made it over to Naples and checked in. We had a tiny wait and the boys were drooling on the windows of Ridemakerz for one of the custom McQueens or Maters. We had no time to look inside since our table was ready. We sat outside at a lovely shaded table right next to the hedge which the boys played “bugs life” in. I had checked some reviews of this restaurant and that the pizza sizes were huge so we planned to get a pizza and a pasta and a salad and all split it all. We took a minute to look at the menu and the server came and went and disappeared all together along with our wine list. When she returned we asked for the wine list and silverware, which we also seemed to be missing. She was very sweet but a little distracted. I actually ordered a glass of wine, which I almost never do. It is a choice not to drink much and a splurge when I do. We ordered the Contadina Salad, the Pizza Margarita and the Candele pasta and I got a glass of Pinot Grigio. I took Ty to use the restroom, which was way up on the second floor in the back, and he did take his time, but by the time we returned our food was all there. Normally this would annoy me, but with two kiddos who had been going since very early in the day this was perfect! Can I tell you that all of the food was amazing! The salad was mostly eaten by Kent and Ethan but it looked great. It was a chopped salad with Italian meats and cheese and light dressing that all worked well together. The pizza was huge and thin and crispy and perfect. The pasta, oh my, was a baked tube pasta with both a sausage ragu and a béchamel sauces and it was rich and creamy and bubbly and soooo good. My wine was perfect, light and crisp. Sitting outside with the warm breeze and the background music from DTD and such good food was heaven to me. I had had my hands so full with getting everything ready for this trip plus a ton of end of the school year stuff for the boys. I needed some serious decompression and this was just the ticket. The boys were super good and ate tons. It was perfect. We paid and took a couple of pieces of pizza back to our hotel. We walked back to the hotel at this point so I could get us unpacked and the poor boys could crash.
The hotel had left us a great fruit plate for our anniversary, which was so cool. Ethan dug right in, that child eats so much it is ridiculous. I got us unpacked as Kent got the boys ready for bed. I also got clothes and stuff out for the next day. Our room was a family Suite and had a small room for each boy. Ty”s room was Toy story theme and had bunk beds in it. They had a guardrail on the top bunch which made this mommy happy. He slept on the bottom but I liked that the hotel was careful about safety. Ethan’s was not themed and his bed was a daybed that was kind of high and although he has never once fallen out of bed we backed an armchair up against the side and he was nice and safe. I love the hardwood floors (I worry about what is in hotel carpets) and the wooden window blinds. There is a nice counter in the hall to the bathroom, which is great for keeping things away from a certain three-year-old boy. We have stayed in a mission suite when Ethan was in a crib and did not need a bed of his own. We enjoyed both rooms.
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Your hotel looks awesome. That's definitely on my list of contenders.... whenever our trip to DL may be.... I'm glad you were able to help out the family with the baby. I once gave a diaper to a woman at WDW cuz she ran out! It is nice to be at the right place at the right time.
Naples. My friend and I ate there the night before the DL half marathon. I actually run surprisingly excellent after a meal of pizza. Who am I to question that!! That pizza is over the top good! It was all I could do to stop at 3 pieces because I just didn't wanna over-eat the night before a race. So delicious!
__________________
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
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
I just caught up on your trip report. Sounds like everything is off to a great start!! I love your idea of CM thank you bags, what a nice thought! We (DH and 3 kiddos) are heading out to California in 12 days!!! It will be our first time and have plans to see as much as possible!
Well look at you turning all those frowns upside down! it's great that you were able to help out the CM and the aunt.
Sounds like a fabulous first day! And your room is great! I'll have to keep it in mind for when we go to DL someday.
I promise I have not forgotten about this TR!! We were in California for two weeks at the beginning of this month and now we are in Wisconsin visiting family. I promise to get a few posts in once we are home next week.
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Your lunch looked so very good. I'm glad the flight and check-in at the hotel was easy and uneventful (aside from the cab ride). I bet you just made that CM's day at the ticket window! I also try my best to be cheerful as that job is probably pretty boring with pretty crabby people to deal with day in and day out. It's nice to spread a little magic from time to time, isn't it? 
You can see the vista for Carsland really coming together though so that is nice. Ethan fell asleep in the stroller finally so we headed to Bugsland for Ty and Kent to do some rides while I stayed with Ethan. We found a spot in the shade and I caught up on my trip notes and Ethan snored. Kent and Ty went on Tuck and Roll, Flik’s Flyers, Hiemlich and the Ladybug ride since lines were nice and short. 
Nothing was to be found and the aunt was trying so hard to quiet the baby and corral the other kids. I dug into my snack bag and found some goldfish crackers. I asked the aunt if the baby was allowed to have goldfish. She wrinkled her forehead and said she didn’t know. I told her it is a common first snack and to break them in half and see how she does with them. She thanked me over and over as the baby quieted and the mom came back for one of the other kids. I like when I can be in the right place at the right time. Ty and Kent came back with big smiles and Ethan woke up. We did a stop at one of the few family restrooms in the parks. 
We paid and took a couple of pieces of pizza back to our hotel. We walked back to the hotel at this point so I could get us unpacked and the poor boys could crash. 
We have stayed in a mission suite when Ethan was in a crib and did not need a bed of his own. We enjoyed both rooms. 
Waiting to eat with Goofy - DLR May 2010
Who am I to question that!! 
That pizza is over the top good! It was all I could do to stop at 3 pieces because I just didn't wanna over-eat the night before a race. So delicious!
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
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