Don't Stop - part one of Disney trip COMPLETED - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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The end of the party looks like it was fun, too! The PhotoPass pictures of the PPers are terrific! And after seeing this throw, I would have had to get it, too.
Wow, that throw looks so pretty! Any chance we get to see the Eeyore one as well? I love the pics of BLT, Cheryl! Can't wait to stay there myself soon!
The Eeyore fleece will be in plenty of photos, as I wore it almost non-stop for the rest of the vacation.
Saturday 12 December – part one: “which terminal did you say you’re at?”
I was awake at 6.00, which was at least a bit of an improvement on the day before, so that was something. I got to work on photos for a while and then we got ourselves together and all packed up, as we would be heading out this morning to our next destination. Very oddly, for the first time ever, there was no express checkout under the door, which was a pain, as it meant we would have to manually check out.
We headed down to the Contempo Cafe just after 7.30 and Mark got turkey, bacon and sausage, none of which looked very appetising, while I got some French toast, which was very nice.
Then it was out to catch a cab over to the Downtown Disney Hilton, where we would be picking up our rental car from the Avis desk there. Our cab driver was great, really chatty and fun and the whole thing cost us $25, which wasn’t too bad.
The lobby of the Hilton You can see the Avis desk at the edge of the shot Shops and restaurants just off the lobby
Once we got there, we found the Avis desk and there was one guy in front of us. Ok, no problem, we’ll easily be at the airport in time to get Wendy and Ben. Wrong, very wrong. This guy asked to apply ever discount under the sun and 15 minutes later, he was still in front of us. We were now cutting it fine. Finally, we were seen and we had a car in a couple of minutes, while the other guys had come back to complain that his car had a scratch on it. He was still there, as we finally pulled out of the parking lot.
Not long after we did leave there, we got a text from Wendy to tell us that their flight had landed, which meant that we would obviously not get to them in time to meet them off it. We kept in touch a we drove along and Wendy told me that they were at arrivals A. Ok, cool. That’s where we headed for. I had her on the phone, as we pulled up. “We’re at 29” she told us. We started at one and got to 15 and that was it, no more gates to be seen. I guess you’re at B then? So off we headed to B and finally found them.
We headed back to Walt Disney World, with Mark doing his best to miss every possible turn on the way and me just about keeping him on track. I think Wendy and Ben found the whole thing very funny.
By some miracle, we eventually got back to Walt Disney World....
and then to Bay Lake Tower. I think it’s fair to say that Wendy and Ben were immediately taken with it and it did look the best that I had seen it look with the sun now out for the first time in a couple of days.
We showed them around the pool area...
Friends together in the lobby of Bay Lake Tower
Then we headed to our room and showed them the view from it...
Then we took the luggage back to the car. We managed to fit all our stuff in the truck, but Wendy and Ben had to sit with theirs, as it wouldn’t quite all go. Next stop was checking out and there was a quite a wait, but the guy who eventually saw me, Francisco from Venezuela, knew England as he’d worked for an airline and he knew the part of the country that we live in, which was neat, but as he said, he bets it’s changed since he was last there in 1979. I would guess so.
All checked out, it was off to Animal Kingdom Lodge, stopping to chuck Wendy and Ben out at Jambo House and then we checked into Kidani Village.
Still looks like a prison camp as you pull up to Kidani Village – to me anyway!
Good grief, this place was mad! This lobby is way too small and the place was packed with people, mainly for the airline check-in, from what I could see. Fortunately, we were one of only a couple of people checking in for our rooms and that was quickly done, although ours wasn’t ready yet. We could’ve had a room but it wouldn’t be near to the lobby and I didn’t want a long walk from the lobby, so we opted to wait.
Instead, we went to explore the resort, going to the savannah overlook. This doesn’t have the same feeling as the one at Jambo House to us, but you do get some stunning views of the resort itself from here.
I then insisted that Mark check out the restrooms by Sanaa, as they are amazing and he obviously agreed, as he even took some photos in there.
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You know, there was this woman who told us that we obviously looked like we knew what we were doing because I not only had a PassPorter with my, but the 2010!! And could I help her find DME?? So THAT'S why we ended up being on the B side. Seriously.
Ben and I absolutely loved the ride with you guys to WDW with you giving Mark what-for. Too funny.
We loved your room at the BLT and I was really, really pleased when you told me you actually liked it more than you thought you would, after our talks about it in May. Great view for sure!!
Nice to have a personal valet to help with the luggage too!
We had a blast people watching with Mark while you were inside at the Contemporary. Especially one particular van.
I think while Mark was taking shots of the bathroom, we were walking from Jambo over to Kidani. Not a bad walk at all, especially if you enter Kidani through one of the first guest doors you come to. It's a long, long hallway, but it is enclosed and it dumps you out into the lobby.
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I'm so glad I got it. 
So off we headed to B and finally found them. 
in the lobby of Bay Lake Tower 
This lobby is way too small and the place was packed with people, mainly for the airline check-in, from what I could see. Fortunately, we were one of only a couple of people checking in for our rooms and that was quickly done, although ours wasn’t ready yet. We could’ve had a room but it wouldn’t be near to the lobby and I didn’t want a long walk from the lobby, so we opted to wait. 
Glad Wendy and Ben have arrived! 
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