The way We do a Disney Re-Do ~~ Beach club Aug 13-22 - FINISHED!!! 1/20 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Hey Shelly, glad you at least liked the atmosphere at the restaurant. I have been to Sci Fi 3 times and have never waited that long or had any rudeness, maybe it was the day. I have always been in and out in about the same time as other ADR's.
It is also a place where burgers and fries rule. Glad you loved the dip though, I love it too!
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All caught up on your TR and am loving it! I have a brother with Autism, so it's really neat to hear your point of view. Alex and Hannah are very similar in promptly exclaiming their thoughts about a ride!
Sorry about your less than satisfactory meal at Sci-Fi. Glad you still had a good time
It was an EMH evening, but the main park closed at 7. We had a couple of things we were hoping to try before the park closed, we would not be getting to them.
We walked past Pixar Place because the girls wanted to meet Toy Story characters. The CM at the line told me that the wait was currently about 45 minutes. We kept walking (we assured Delaney we would try to meet them at MK).
Next stop was the Honey I Shrunk the kids playground. We did not get to see this place last visit because of the rain. It was minutes before 7 when we entered. A CM tried (not very hard) to prevent us from going in as it would be closing. Another family behind us argued that there were still 5 minutes…the CM shrugged and said, “we will be closed in 5 minutes.”
They were slightly more flexible…at 7:05, CM’s started announcing that the playground is closed and everyone has to leave. They were pulling ropes and blocking entrances. My kids were having a blast, and were very disappointed to have to leave. DH and I were feeling even more frustrated with the Sci-Fi experience that sucked 2.5 hours of our day.
After we got kicked out of the play area, we had 3 EMHs with 3 items on our must-do list: Muppets, Mermaid, and ‘Mation (Animation Academy, that is!).
We headed first to Muppets 3-D (new for us). The kids had no idea who the Muppets were. We were comparing it to Mickey’s Philharmagic. It will not be on the list for next visit.
We then made our way to the Little Mermaid, another thing we missed last time. LOVED it! (Even Ben who is averse to “princesses and girly things” could appreciate the special effects. We also loved the crowds during the EMH time--The theatre was less than 2/3 full! Although we were forced to move all the way to the end of our row when being seated, once the show started, we were able to move into a more central part of the row.
It was great.
One more thing to do: Animation Academy. We actually tried to do this as soon as we got kicked out of the playground, but the line was too long. We were advised that the crowds are almost non-existent near the end of the EMHs. We planned to get there for the 9:00 (8:45? I cannot remember exactly) lesson.
It was still crowded.
We almost did not make it in. The CM advised us that we “might” get in. We waited in this line, but agreed to not wait for the next session if we did not get in to this one. In the end, we were the last ones seated on the bench in the front. We had 3 lapboards. I “helped” Hannah, and DH “helped” Delaney. Ben had his own. We thought that he would love this because he loves all things art. We were drawing Dale from Chip and Dale. Ben was disappointed at the character we were drawing, and frustrated that the teacher was going so fast and he could not erase. The girls were not interested and very squirmy. DH and I thought it was neat, but it will not be something we try hard to do again until the kids are a bit older.
The park was not yet closed, but we had accomplished our goals, so we made our way towards the exit (and found a PP who looked bored along the way)…
When we passed the boat launch, there was not a boat in sight, but there was a long line. We decided to walk back to our resort. It was a good choice. It was a nice evening for a stroll along the path from DHS to the BC. (Have I mentioned how much I love the BC?!?!?!)
We were getting ready for bed again before 10:00.
The next day would be our third visit to our happy place at the happy place….
Sounds like you got quite a bit done. I'm glad you enjoyed the Little Mermaid show. I didn't care for it a whole lot, I think I will try it again though. Can't wait to hear about your happy place
Great update! My ds also got frustrated with Animation Academy; (really could use erasers in there!). He also is an aspiring artist but got frustrated that he could not keep up and his drawing didn't come out as he hoped.......
THat playground is pretty cool. Sorry you didn't have more time there. I've got to agree with you on the Muppets as we find ourselves comparing it to Philharmagic and it just doesn't hold a candle to it.
Ahhh.... thinking happy thoughts about THE happy place!!
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Sorry that you had such a not so great experience at the Sci-Fi. We have gone there for the past few trips and I found that the wait has gotten longer each and every time. During one of our first visits they tried to push us into one vehicle...there was just no way to eat (there was me, 3 teenage girls and my little one), and on top of that I agree....with allergies there is just too much closeness in terms of contamination.
We are not big muppet fans here either....we have seen the show once or twice but it is not really on our list when we go. Glad you decided to take the walk to the BC, It sounds like the perfect way to let the kids unwind and end the day.
Great update! Wish the kids could have stayed longer at the playground. You really got to do lots of fun stuff though this trip! My excitement builds when you talk about how much you loved staying at BC!!!
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