The trip of many changes... TRIP REPORT UPDATED 2/25 - Page 32 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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Wow, sounds so exciting all your plans! Well, when you finally do make it back to WDW, there will certainly be a lot to see between Toy Story Land, Star Wars Land and the new resorts! I'll look forward to any of your trip reports Cheryl!!!
I know... in a way, that's partially why I'm happy to wait to go back to WDW. Toy Story Land does nothing for me and I think the Studios are going to be chaos for a long time after Star Wars Land is open. We were saying on this trip that if people think Animal Kingdom is bad with Pandora, you haven't seen anything yet. I cannot even begin to imagine how long the park hours will be once Star Wars opens. I'd like to give it a few months to quieten down, although frankly I'm not holding my breath, given what we found with Pandora on this trip and that was more than six months after it opened. We'll also be carefully trying to find a quieter time of the year to visit (I don't think there's such a thing as a quiet time of the year any longer)...
The changes and remodel of the WL looks amazing and so welcoming! What I do love is all the little touches in the grounds keeping the the nice shrubbery that is here. Nice meal at Geyser Point and looks like my type of place!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
When you figure out the "quieter time of year to visit" please share, I'd love to know.
I don't think there is one no longer! But there was at one time. Most notably just after 9/11 in the shoulder months like January and after Independence Day through much of September. It varied, but not any more!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
The changes and remodel of the WL looks amazing and so welcoming! What I do love is all the little touches in the grounds keeping the the nice shrubbery that is here.
I think they did a wonderful job of incorporating all the new areas into the original resort.
Quote:
Nice meal at Geyser Point and looks like my type of place!
When you figure out the "quieter time of year to visit" please share, I'd love to know.
Yes, I think that's the problem. When we went in January, some of the days we were there were supposed to be 3/10, according to the crowd projections. Well, I'm not sure about those predictions. I'd have said 5 or 6? I think there are perhaps now just "slightly less busy times" to visit?
I don't think there is one no longer! But there was at one time. Most notably just after 9/11 in the shoulder months like January and after Independence Day through much of September. It varied, but not any more!
No, that's the problem now. It's a great thing for Disney, but not so much for the rest of us. We found February/March to be quiet in the other theme parks when we visited last year - like deathly quiet, but that certainly wasn't the case at Disney.
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.
Saturday 13 January – part two: that’s why it looks like that!
We headed back to the room with me taking photos as we went. We also admired the lifeguards who were having a practice. Nice day for it, as it turned a little on the chilly side. They asked if we wanted to come in and join them, but we declined their polite offer!
Wow! Detail in the elevator
We had a few minutes in the room and Mark found some more lovely details in here that I hadn’t photographed before…
Then it was time to head down to the lobby to catch the Wonders of the Lodge tour. We met at the fireplace, which gave us a chance to sit there and admire it.
In total, there were six of us for the whole tour. There was a family, but they dropped out quite early on. Our guide was Ranger Jack and he was great, although at times in the lobby it was hard to hear him, as there was so much noise. He talked about himself and he’d been with Disney for 26 years, 19 of those at the Lodge.
He explained that the tour would be about the architecture of the lodge and the storylines behind it, which was exactly what I was hoping for. Now I will confess that my memory really isn’t as good as you might think, because at the end of the tour, they handed us a set of “fun facts” that ran to quite a few pages, essentially summarising what we’d learnt on the tour.
We started off by the fireplace, which represents the 1.6 billion years of the strata at the Grand Canyon. It’s 82 feet high and has more than 100 colours in it. In the real strata, fossilised remains of animal and plant life have been found that pre-date the dinosaurs.
We headed outside to Boulder Ridge Villas, learning the story behind them. Basically they were built by the railroad pioneers in the same way that railroad hotels would’ve provided the first lodgings when east to west railroads were completed and Jack explained why the pool looks the way it does – because they’ve only just finished excavating it.
I don't think there is one no longer! But there was at one time. Most notably just after 9/11 in the shoulder months like January and after Independence Day through much of September. It varied, but not any more!
Actually from what I've read in the last couple of years the peak summer seems to have become quiet.
I didn't even know WL had a chocolate display for Christmas!!
All those little details at that hotel are incredible, and now you're hearing more. Great start to the tour, looking forward to more! And looking forward to taking this tour on my next trip.
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Tanya
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I love seeing the chocolate Bear Country, the detail is amazing! The tour sounds lovely and informative. It is nice they provide a handout at the end to remember all the details learned.
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.
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I cannot even begin to imagine how long the park hours will be once Star Wars opens. I'd like to give it a few months to quieten down, although frankly I'm not holding my breath, given what we found with Pandora on this trip and that was more than six months after it opened. 
We'll also be carefully trying to find a quieter time of the year to visit (I don't think there's such a thing as a quiet time of the year any longer)...
Glad you were able to do bag check in for your flight! 
What I do love is all the little touches in the grounds keeping the the nice shrubbery that is here. Nice meal at Geyser Point and looks like my type of place! 
But there was at one time. Most notably just after 9/11 in the shoulder months like January and after Independence Day through much of September. It varied, but not any more! 
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