A very personal Decade of Dreams tour! UPDATED 6/5 - Page 30 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Another interesting update Cheryl!
Am I alone when I say I get totally freaked out when I see unfinished bridge construction? I don't know why that is, but it always leaves me feeling nervous.
Anyway, your pictures are amazing as usual, and the food looked very very good.
Curious if you tried any sushi while there and how it was. I love sushi, but I often wonder if there is a big difference in flavor between what we get here and what you would get in Japan.
The sushi was very similar - I did wonder if there'd be a huge taste difference too, but really there wasn't. :
Just getting caught up on several updates here - count me in as another cinnamon melts fan! I loved the trees in both parks you visited - both the shape of them as well as their size. Sorry the fog kept you from getting the views you were hoping for. Great pictures from around town. Loved the Disney Store. Interesting that the subways are run by different companies. Glad that you are making it so well in a place you've never been, and that you are able to see so many of the things you have been reading about all this time. Looking forward to your train travels!
Excellent updates. I'm really enjoying all the little details.
How do you eat a traditional Japanese meal? My only experience with Japanese cuisine is at your typical 'teppanyaki' dinners.
Literally everything comes out on trays, as you can probably see from the pictures and then you just pick your way through what you want in the order you want. That's how we did it anyway!
Wednesday 1 April – part six: visiting the Statue of Liberty and seeing the Eiffel Tower
After an hour, we were all done with dinner and headed back out to the bus. We drove through Odaiba and over to Tokyo’s Statue of Liberty. I have to be honest that I had no idea that they had one of these, so this was a pleasant surprise and shows I don’t know everything about Japanese, even after all the guidebooks I’ve consumed to date!
On the way over, we saw this big wheel that we later found out is near to Tokyo Disney!
We got some great views of the Rainbow Bridge with the Tokyo Tower behind it.
We also saw the nearby Fuji TV studios, which was very futuristic and the Aquacity shopping complex. As we drove off, I could see that it was also home to another Disney Store. Sadly, there was no time to stop there and there wouldn’t be for the rest of our stay in Tokyo, but at least I knew there was another one here. If we ever come, I’ll know where to head for.
We then headed off Odaiba on the Rainbow Bridge and on to mainland Tokyo. I was pleasantly surprised to find that we would then be driving through Ginza, which I didn’t realise we would do on this tour. I was hoping to see this area at night and I thought we wouldn’t get a chance, but now it looked liked it we would. The area very much seemed to come to life after dark, like much of the rest of Tokyo. It really is a thriving city after dark.
Our final stop was Roppongi, very much the young area of Tokyo and filled with clubs and restaurants. This is certainly an area that’s buzzing at night. I managed to get a few photos here, but sadly by the time we arrived here, it was starting to rain quite heavily.
We stopped to go up to the top of one of the tallest buildings in Roppongi to the 52nd floor of the Mori building to take a night time look at a view of the city. It was nice to do this, as it meant that we got a view of the Tokyo Tower, their version of the Eiffel Tower. It’s a bit like going up the Rockefeller Center, rather than the Empire State Building, as you actually get to see the main building in front of you. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t with us tonight and when we got up there, you could barely see anything through all the rain on the windows. Sadly, it wasn’t very well built, as the rain just poured down the windows, whereas some other buildings we’ve seen are designed so that the rain doesn’t stream down the windows like this. Despite this, I was still able to get some good photos of the view outside, well what we could see of it anyway. Visibility wasn’t exactly good…
The rain coming down… .. and the air conditioning units throwing out steam
However, there was plenty else to entertain you and especially Mark! This place is also home to an amazing collection of classic cars, some vintage and some in the league of Ferraris and Porsches, so he was in his element, taking photos of these and studying the car he would have if we ever win the lottery. In fact, he was so intent in that, that I lost him quite early on and ended up walking around the whole thing pretty much on my own. You’re meant to follow a path round back to where you started from, but as I couldn’t find him, I ended up backtracking and we ended up seeing the whole thing the other way round.
As we did so, the rain worsened and suddenly there was lightning outside that lit up the whole area. I was very glad that we were inside and, as Mark said, it’s lucky that didn’t come down earlier in the day, as being out in that would be no fun at all. Even worse, at first, the air conditioning units were throwing out steam, which meant that we couldn’t see the view. Even the Tokyo Tower couldn’t be seen. It was amazing how quickly it had changed and we were glad that we had gone up when we did, as at least we got some views outside, rather than none at all.
We were picked up by the bus and were the first to be dropped off at our hotel. Bearing in mind the weather, I’m very glad that they offered a hotel drop off service. That was very welcome. From there, it was back to the room to upload photos and then to bed.
Today we walked 4.07 miles The weather today was cloudy during the day with heavy rain and lightning at night, with temperatures in the 50s. The best thing today was the dinner we had. The worst thing today was the weather in the evening. The funniest thing today was finding the Disney Store in Shibuya. Today we tried the Tokyo night time tour And the result was it’s a great tour and well worth the money we had paid for it. The most magical moment today was seeing the Imperial Palace.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Great update. I too didn't realize (even though I've never researched it) that there was a statue of liberty in Japan. What a very thing to stumble on!
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there were! 
Sadly, there was no time to stop there and there wouldn’t be for the rest of our stay in Tokyo, but at least I knew there was another one here. If we ever come, I’ll know where to head for. 
Have a great trip and enjoy the Decade of Dreams tour 
thing to stumble on!
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