The trip of many changes... TRIP REPORT UPDATED 2/25 - Page 34 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I'm finding all the information from your WL tour just fascinating Cheryl! I'm going to try to get signed up for this tour whenever we stay at WL again. It's truly one of my favorite lobbies at WDW just because of the details!
It is an excellent tour. The only problem is that it's at 9:00am, when of course a lot of us want to get into the park and get rides in.
Oh wow. I knew the lobby was a sort of an ode to Walt's love of trains but didn't realize it was kind of part museum like that. Fascinating stuff in the main lobby too! I also didn't realize all the reference and honor to Native Americans. Very cool.
That's a lot of wood. But yeah, that's one heck of a lobby, so it makes sense. Didn't really think about the logistics of all of that wood. Wow!
__________________
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
Sounds like a great tour with so many details to the WL you were not aware of. Seems like Jack is a good guide.
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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!
Oh wow. I knew the lobby was a sort of an ode to Walt's love of trains but didn't realize it was kind of part museum like that. Fascinating stuff in the main lobby too! I also didn't realize all the reference and honor to Native Americans. Very cool.
That's a lot of wood. But yeah, that's one heck of a lobby, so it makes sense. Didn't really think about the logistics of all of that wood. Wow!
I don't think you do think about the logistics until someone forces you, if that makes sense? I certainly don't. It's there, it's beautiful, that's all you think about, not how it was built. I bet it was something to see though.
I wonder whether if Disney built a resort from scratch (as opposed to adding to existing ones or revamping them) whether they'd share more about their construction. I bet they won't with the Star Wars one, because of the "immersive nature" of it, but with something else, would they, given how much coverage it would probably get them on social media? Just a thought....
Saturday 13 January – part four: a flowing finale to our tour!
Now for the totem poles in the Wilderness Lodge lobby – there are two of them, both 55 feet tall, known as the Raven Pole and Eagle Pole. They were created within six months with an artist and three assistants working on them. When they were ready to install, they were shipped in from Washington state and it took five days to install them.
The Raven Pole has the story of how the Raven pulled the moon, the stars and the sun from a box to light the world of darkness at the top of it.
The Eagle Pole starts with bear cub emerging between the ears of the bear chief, symbolising how some young ones in Indian cultures are trained by their uncles. The mountain goat above protects a shield of copper, which the Northwestern Indians consider the highest form of wealth. Then there’s a raven, a beaver (the symbol of hardworking builders) and at the top, the eagle, a protector to both the animals and humans.
We then made our way into Territory Lounge, which celebrates the exploration of the Northwestern United States. Jack talked about the items in each of the display cases, which have exploration equipment, a tribute to President Teddy Roosevelt, who of course created the National Parks, photographs and negatives from the early 1900s Yellowstone and Yosemite National Parks and some trapping equipment, which didn’t do much for me, being a non-meat eater.
He also showed us this – a 33 star flag from Oregon, if I remember right?
And I think this is the state flag from Wyoming?
We finished off the tour in Artist Point and it was so magical to be able to walk in here and see it empty and in the daylight.
Jack talked about the water from Copper Creek and how, although it looks as if it all flows from the lobby into the pool, it doesn’t. It stops before the pool, then that’s all chlorinated water, separate from Bay Lake. The waterfall you can see here plummets 15 feet.
He talked a lot about Bay Lake and how they drained swamp land to create man made lakes and it turns out that, just like the Magic Kingdom, the Wilderness Lodge has a separate lower level just for Cast Members, which explains why the elevators say floors 3 – 7 and then lobby. I did say to Mark it’s as if the lobby was on the second floor and I was right.
The finale was the opportunity to watch Fire Rock Geyser explode at dot on 10:00am, which was very neatly timed. The water goes up to 120 feet into the air and they have a computer controlled system that can adjust for wind draft. Neat!
It was well worth taking this tour, especially as it’s free and I’m so glad we did it, as we learnt so much and it was a great use of our time. I came away with a much better appreciation of this resort.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but this tour is still for free?! That’s one heck of a deal! Very cool tour, well worth the time.
Ahh yes, Artist Point in the daylight just like it used to be when they had the character breakfast there. Such large windows let in so much light, it is a beautiful space!
__________________
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
Correct me if I’m wrong, but this tour is still for free?! That’s one heck of a deal!
You are completely right, it is free and yes, it's a great deal.
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Very cool tour, well worth the time.
Ahh yes, Artist Point in the daylight just like it used to be when they had the character breakfast there. Such large windows let in so much light, it is a beautiful space!
Oh yes, the wonderful character breakfast with my donkey boy and friends. Such fond memories... of Pooh falling over and lying on his back unable to get up again! Yes, that was a very fun morning!
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But yeah, that's one heck of a lobby, so it makes sense. Didn't really think about the logistics of all of that wood. Wow!
Seems like Jack is a good guide.
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