Let the Magic Find You - Our October 2011 F&WF TR - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Great start to your trip. Landing early, DME is waiting for you, your room is ready and what an amazing view (and you only left home a few hours ago )
All your F&WF choices look delcious. We spent a good amount of time in China with the Tomb Warriors as well, it was one of the things on my list - what a great exhibit.
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Oh look at your countdown, I'm green with envy! You are going to have a blast.
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Originally Posted by chezp
I'm loving all the photos from Epcot!
Thank you!
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Originally Posted by mcc0313
Great start to your trip. Landing early, DME is waiting for you, your room is ready and what an amazing view (and you only left home a few hours ago )
All your F&WF choices look delcious. We spent a good amount of time in China with the Tomb Warriors as well, it was one of the things on my list - what a great exhibit.
Wonder what is next on the menu?
We definitely had great timing this trip - one of those vacations where you always seem to be at the right place at the right time. Tomorrow's update will have more food!
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Originally Posted by taylan1
Love the update! Glad you had time to explore Norway and China more. I must remember the "spitting cooler" thing it looks very funny. LOL
Do you have the Hidden Magic book? I really recommend it. I've only read bits and pieces because DH has been working his way through it but it was a fun add to the trip to look out for the things from the book.
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Originally Posted by islandgirl
Great WS photos! We explored much more this year too....so much to see!
So true! I think sometimes we go on autopilot and forget to stop and look at the details we often skip so we made a point of it this trip.
Great update! Love all the photos of the fun "stuff" to do in Epcot. Who is that Hidden Magic book authored by? Sounds like a trip to B&N might be in order....
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Great update! Love all the photos of the fun "stuff" to do in Epcot. Who is that Hidden Magic book authored by? Sounds like a trip to B&N might be in order....
Do you have the Hidden Magic book? I really recommend it. I've only read bits and pieces because DH has been working his way through it but it was a fun add to the trip to look out for the things from the book.
Yes! We do have that book, just have not thought to bring it with us. We will on our next trip.
Yes! We do have that book, just have not thought to bring it with us. We will on our next trip.
Cool! I have to make time to really read it cover to cover. DH was really studying it - notes in the margin and all, so I didn't want to take away from that!
We continued on towards Germany, where DH wanted to try the Nuernberger sausage in a pretzel roll. I really wanted to try the apple strudel with Werther’s caramel sauce but I was feeling a little too full for that so I opted for a glass of Riesling instead.
While DH waited for the food to come up, I found a nice shady spot on the bench overlooking the lagoon.
There were quite a few ducks around in the greenery beds – do you see them in the background of this picture? I think they wanted a bite!
After our snack we stopped inside the toy shop to see if they had any Smurf items. A few years ago they had a decent selection, in January it was dwindling and today we couldn’t find anything. DD is quite into Smurfs right now so I was disappointed that we couldn’t find anything. Mom had requested the caramel/chocolate/pecan corn from Karamell Kuche but we decided to pick it up later on so we wouldn’t have to carry it.
We went back outside to check out the train set. I love how they included F&WF booths! I don’t remember them from last year!
I did remember the banners, which they had again.
As we headed past the Italy booth I remembered that I really wanted to try the chocolate cannoli that we missed last year.
YUM! This did not disappoint – so good!
Next we stopped into the American Adventure Rotunda to see another item from DH’s Hidden Magic list. If you turn left as you enter you’ll see this painting. The plane seems to be facing you no matter which direction you look at the painting from. We walked back and forth in front of it a few times to see the nose of the plane “follow” us. We got a few strange looks from other guests so it was time to move on.
I noticed something else I don’t remember from last year (so maybe it’s new) – they had lots of picnic tables set up for extra seating. Great idea!
We headed toward another one of our highly anticipated booths – Hops and Barley for the Linda Bean (of LL Bean fame) lobster cuddler. I’m not sure what I was expecting from this dish, but it was just kind of basic and boring - a regular old lobster claw on a plate.
It was tasty and all, but boiled lobsters are readily available at home so I would’ve skipped it (I think it was $7) had I known it wasn’t anything inspired.
We took a seat in the back of the theater to eat the claw and listen to the Fife and Drum Corp. They always give me chills.
Once finished we headed on towards France. It has been somewhat of a running joke that we have terrible timing when it comes to Impressions de France. It seems like we always miss the show by a minute. DH dashed off ahead of me and I guess saw that they were just about to close the door. Well silly me had to snap a picture of the sign and guess what, the doors closed and they wouldn’t let us in. Do you see DH in the bottom of the picture? The look on his face cracks me up!!!
Ooops! We didn’t feel like waiting 17 minutes for the next showing so we soldiered on to the U.K. to look at the shops.
I didn’t realize that Diana had a memorial tartan:
I also got a kick out of the Kate and William paper dolls.
We were getting close to our Soarin’ FP time so we decided to start heading toward Future World. On the way we stopped to check out the Victoria Gardens. Lovely as always!
We had a little bit of time to spare so we headed toward SE and took a spin. We also stopped in the art shop to look for some retro 40th anniversary plates and cups that I had read about online. Unfortunately they only had the display left of the plates and were sold out of the cup (it’s a replica of the original paper cups from when WDW opened, done in ceramic). The hunt would continue!
We made it over to Soarin’ and got in the FP return line. We lucked out that they needed a party of two so we were able to bypass some large groups in front of us. There’s the timing working for us again!
At this point we were ready to head back to the hotel for a break!
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. DD is quite into Smurfs right now so I was disappointed that we couldn’t find anything. Mom had requested the caramel/chocolate/pecan corn from Karamell Kuche but we decided to pick it up later on so we wouldn’t have to carry it.
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