A 40th celebration to end the world! THREAD 1 COMPLETED 2/16 - Page 35 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
That meal really was appalling. Two plus hours set aside, and you couldn't finish before Illuminations?! I definitely would've had some words with the manager. I cannot believe Harry hasn't been moved to a different job. Dishwasher perhaps? Everyone is not meant to be frontline staff - even if they do hail from Fraaance.
Oh boy, sorry about the bad service. My first thought: Well of course, it is a French restaurant after all We've had our fair share of bad service at DLP restaurants over the years... Same thing with how long it took - nothing out of the ordinary in France, plain ridiculous at WDW (aren't they trying to fit another rotation in?).
As you say, nothing out of the ordinary in France, and to be honest, we've had some good, albeit very lengthy meals, at Disneyland Paris, the most recent at Walt's, but you expect there. Perhaps they were taking authenticity just that extra step too far....
Ugh, so sorry to hear about the bad service! Taking a long time (very "French") for a meal is one thing (though come on, this is WDW and typically they're gonna pace your meal a bit better to move you along) but getting the order wrong and being generally useless? Come on! And it's funny because I thought the exact same thing just before I read your sentence... "He probably just made that answer up because he forgot to ask."
I'm really sorry to hear that it was such a bust. I'd love to have seen Heather in action there!
So would I! I don't think the servers or the managers would've enjoyed it though....
Sorry you missed Illuminations - reminiscent of our recent experience at Rose & Crown where we waited 45 minutes for our entrées to arrive (and missed meeting you folks!).
Of course... and that was only a few nights later. Maybe it was the time of the year?
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.
Wow, that was incredibly bad service. To me, the worst of it all is the manager not asking what the problem was when asked to adjust the tip. What's he managing, then?
That was pretty much what we were wondering too...
So sorry to hear of the subpar service at dinner...combined with the noise, it sounds like it really spoiled what could have been a nice meal with friends. I do have the to say, your veggie dish looked quite tasty and right up my alley!
Danielle
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~Shoot for the moon, if you miss, you will land among the stars~
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 8 December – part one: “are there electric fences and are the animals trained?”
Well, today was a bit better than yesterday in terms of jetlag. After we went to bed at around 10:45pm last night, we managed to sleep through until about 5:20am, so that wasn’t a bad score…
We got going and grabbed breakfast from the Marketplace, as we wanted to try and be at Animal Kingdom for opening. It was another foggy morning…
When we got to the park, we couldn’t get over how few booths were open – we’d never seen traffic like this before to get into a park.
Once we finally got in, we parked up and headed into the park, grabbing a few Photopass pics on the way…
The plan was to get to Kilimanjaro Safaris, ride it once, and then go over to Rafiki’s Planet Watch, where we’d meet Laurie. However, we got sidetracked by some Photopass photographers…
… then we took a few shots of our own…
… and then we realised we had a view of the elusive kangaroos in the background, so we had to just stop to have a look. I knew there was a better view of them, and knew that Laurie would be able to take us there later…
We made it into Africa…
… and the safari was only showing a 10 minute wait, so we took the standard queue, and we were on board in just over five minutes.
We ended up with a trainee, with two Cast Members sitting in the front row, evaluating her. I felt so sorry for her, as she was obviously nervous, and she missed the rhino at first, with Mark spotting it. She also had to deal with some very hard questions from her passengers. One woman asked if they had electric fences in here and then if all the animals were trained. Yes…. Seriously!
All in all though, we had an amazing safari. I couldn’t believe how many animals were out, with so many giraffes and elephants in particular…
The cheetah was up and about…
… and even the lion was showing signs of life.
There were plenty of other animals to be seen as well…
I really liked the new zebra ending to the safari, so much better than having the Little Red storyline every time ( Little Red! )
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We've had our fair share of bad service at DLP restaurants over the years... Same thing with how long it took - nothing out of the ordinary in France, plain ridiculous at WDW (aren't they trying to fit another rotation in?).
I don't think the servers or the managers would've enjoyed it though.... 
Maybe it was the time of the year?
I'm sorry for laughing!
:
Tricia
She also had to deal with some very hard questions from her passengers. One woman asked if they had electric fences in here and then if all the animals were trained. 
Little Red! 
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