Thank You Disney Movie Rewards TR (November 16-22, 2014) - Page 4 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Great update! I definitely plan on riding Mickey's Wheel of Death . I'm surprised you didn't have single riders on such a popular ride as RSR! I hope the ride operators are doing all they can to fill in all available seats and keep the line moving!
I'm actually wondering if Shana messed up the single riders by not moving to the middle seat. But that doesn't explain why there wasn't one in front with me. I do know the line at this time seemed to be moving very quickly, so maybe they had run out of single riders.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
You guys certainly packed in the rides! I too was surprised not to see any single riders with you on Radiator Springs Racers and I was so sad to see Luigi's Flying Tires, as I really enjoyed that. I can't believe it's going.
We always mange to get a lot done, especially since we only had a few short days this trip. I thought Luigi's was fun but not as much as I had anticipated. It's difficult to get any speed up and one time we got trapped with tires all around us and it took half the ride time to get moving again.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
Mickey's Wheel of Death That's hilarious!
I love thrill rides and nothing really bothers me, but I've never been a huge fan of Ferris wheels and to have the car seem to break loose is horrid! I'm not ever riding again, the kids can go alone from now on!
Quote:
Originally Posted by xwewhisper
You are a brave soul getting on that fun wheel! Love how low the crowds were for you though
I have ridden that stupid wheel 3 times. The first with my mom in 2008, once in 2012 because the kids wanted to ride and Pat is afraid of heights (I can tolerate it but I hate it) and this time. That's enough, no more!
The crowds were wonderful during our trip!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
I'm totally with you on your name for the "fun" wheel! In fact, I think everything you've all ridden so far is off my "fun" list. I love that the kids were able to ride and ride and ride and ride!
I can handle most rides but that Wheel is terrible! The kids were having a blast being able to ride multiple times. Clearly going to Paradise Pier while everyone else was in Carsland was a good plan.
Next Update: It All Should Have Started with a Rabbit!
After our snack/lunch we made our way to Tower of Terror. I'm pretty sure I got a DAS time at some point while we were eating. Hunter said he was going to ride this, but he backed out before we got in line. So, it was just Shana and me. We were in the back row and you couldn't see us, so I didn't get a picture of the ride photo screen.
Pat and Hunter were in the Animation Academy and I dropped Shana off there and went to the kiosk to get a DAS time for Soarin'. I sat on a chair for a bit while Pat and the kids wondered around. Shana wanted to do the drawing class and when it was time we went in there. I'm pretty sure we drew Goofy. Shana's was pretty good! Of course, she is our resident artist of the family.
Our time was getting close for Soarin', but on the way there I remembered that Oswald did meet and greets at the front of the park. I had not told Hunter about this because I wanted him to be surprised and I didn't want him to get his hopes up in case we missed him during the trip. Hunter had been wearing his Mickey Ears most of this day, but I pulled his Oswald Ears out of his bag and told him he should put those on. We went to where the meet was and Hunter was so excited when he saw Oswald. There was only one other family in line, so we were quickly up to see him.
When we finished our meet with Oswald we rode Soarin' and then on the way out of the park we stopped and all got some cotton candy and went back to the room for a little break.
I got bored sitting around in the room after a little bit and went down to the lobby and wandered the gift shop for a little bit. Pat and the kids were in the room watching Iron Man 3. When I returned I called to see if we could change our dining time to a bit sooner and we were able to get it changed to 7:30. We went to Naples for dinner and Hunter got a cheese pizza, I got the Finocchiona pizza (salami, caramelized onions, tomato and mozzarella), Pat and Shana got the the Conchiglie (pasta with shrimp, mussels, clams, and calamari). The food here was pretty good and the service was great, but the restaurant was very, very, very loud!!
After dinner we went back to the room and the kids got their showers. It was at this point that Hunter realized he had worn the shirt he was planning to wear to the studios the next day and didn't want to wear any of his other shirts there, because they were not Disney shirts. So, being the ever so wonderful mom I am and to avoid a major meltdown I made my way to the gift shop and found nothing there that I thought would work. Then I was off to World of Disney and found a cute classic Mickey t-shirt that I thought he would like.
Then I returned to the room and we all hit the hay!!
Next Update: Walt Disney Studios Private Tour!! (I know this is what everyone has been anxiously waiting for, as were we )
I noticed I missed this pictures in the last update. We ran into Jessie right as the kids got off the Silly Swings there was absolutely no one there.
Very, very cool that Hunter got to meet Oswald! I had no idea he did meet-and-greets. I'd have done the same thing and gone searching for an appropriate t-shirt for Hunter to wear the next day. Not just to avoid a melt-down, but because I totally understand and might have had a melt-down myself without a Disney shirt to wear to the studio!
Very, very cool that Hunter got to meet Oswald! I had no idea he did meet-and-greets. I'd have done the same thing and gone searching for an appropriate t-shirt for Hunter to wear the next day. Not just to avoid a melt-down, but because I totally understand and might have had a melt-down myself without a Disney shirt to wear to the studio!
I discovered the Oswald meet before the trip, but didn't want to mention it. Hunter loved it, his face when we went around the corner was awesome!
The funny thing with the shirt is the one he was going to wear is the one in the pictures that has nothing Disney on it. But he didn't want to wear any of the others he had had writing and things he didn't want on them going to the studio. I felt it was worth the hassle to not have a meltdown not only that night, but even if we got him calmed down that night it could pop up again the next morning. Much better happy!
that Hunter got to meet Oswald! I've never heard of him doing meet and greets. The pictures came out great! Oswald must have been so excited to see someone wearing his ears!
Hunter loved Oswald. There is a little shop at the front of the park with all Oswald gear, it was so cool!
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
that Hunter got to meet Oswald! I've never heard of him doing meet and greets. The pictures came out great! Oswald must have been so excited to see someone wearing his ears!
I saw something about Oswald meets just before the trip but didn't tell Hunter. It made for a great surprise! Oswald did "comment" on Hunter's ears.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
I too had no idea that Oswald did meet and greets - how neat!
It was such a fun surprise and when we were walking near the area I realized the time was when it showed him being there so it worked perfect!
Sounds like a great trip so far. Can't wait to hear more
Well, I fell behind but more is on its way!
Quote:
Originally Posted by num1DVCfan
I love the pictures with Oswald! I would have gone out and bought him a shirt too, plus it's an excuse to browse the Disney shops again. Double bonus!
We loved Oswald and he seemed really happy to see Hunter wearing "rabbit ears". I was so tired but the other shirts he had were video game related and not something I wanted him wearing to the Studios! I didn't do much browsing because the store was packed and I was really wanting to get to bed.
I feel awful for apparently falling off the face of the earth in regards to the TR! I went to Denver right after the last update and then when I got home I have just been so busy with everything life brought our way. I'm excited to share this next part of the trip!
Today's Update: Walt Disney Studios Private Tour!! (November 19th, 2014)
We had asked several CM's the day before what time they thought we should leave to make it to the studios on time and the consensus was that we should leave extra early in case we have traffic problems and to get breakfast somewhere near the studios. This sounded like the best plan to avoid being late, so we left the hotel at 6:30am and hit the road. I'm really glad we decided on this route because even though it was so early traffic was rough and we arrived in Burbank at about 8am. This gave us about 2 hours to kill before we had to be at the studios. We had found an IHOP near the studios the night before and we got some breakfast.
We actually finished breakfast relatively quickly and decided to find where the studios was and then try to find a way to kill some time. We found the studios but missed a turn to find the entrance we would be using later and we ended up back on the highway. We took the next exit thinking we could just turn around but the exit we took didn't seem to have an entrance ramp in the other direction. We ended up turning right just to go somewhere and then we noticed a sign for Griffith Park. We decided to drive through the park to see if we could find the carousel that Walt took his daughters to when he had the idea to build Disneyland. Well, the park is enormous and we did not find the carousel (at least not yet).
After driving around for a little bit we made our way back to the studios but we were still a bit early so we drove around a little longer before heading in. I didn't want to be late, but I also didn't want to be too early either.
Here are a couple pictures from the outside as we drove around:
When we got back around we entered at Gate 3 (and yes I took a picture):
Pat didn't want me to be a total dork so this is the only picture I got as we entered the lot:
We were directed to the Zorro parking garage, which we learned during our tour was called the Zorro lot because where the parking structure sits now is where some of Zorro had been filmed:
We ended up on the very top of the parking garage which was okay, because it had a nice view of the water tower:
We made our way to the elevators and headed down to the first floor. This is a picture from inside the elevator breezeway, you will see the outside picture later.
Right after we got in the elevator my dad called, go figure. He couldn't find anymore oats for the alpacas because Shana had not unloaded them from my van. Our internet was also down which means we have crappy cell signal at our house, so it was hard to have a conversation. The call dropped just as I was trying to tell him where the oats were. When we got out of the parking garage we met Drew, who was going to be our guide. I explained that I had to try and call my dad back really quick. I was able to explain where the oats were and I told him I would call him later to explain how to reset the Wifi.
Drew was very nice and understanding of the problem and once I got off the phone we all visited for a few minutes and he asked us what movies were our favorites. I love all the Disney movies, of course, but I have a special love of Meet the Robinsons. I just love the Keep Moving Forward and it has been a big factor in helping Hunter with some of his perfectionism issues and with persevering even when things don't go the way you want. Drew was excited to hear that as I guess Meet the Robinsons was not the most popular movie. Pat went off the deep end and said his favorite wasn't really a movie but was the Scarecrow series. This also surprised Drew. Hunter went with Cars, probably because Carsland was fresh in his brain. And Shana couldn't decide what her favorite was.
The kids were so excited and were talking like dueling banjos but Drew was great and loved visiting. He really took time to listen to what they were saying and really engaged with them. After a few minutes of chatting we got moving.
Our first stop was to the corner of nothing as Drew put it, but we were able to look across the street and see the animation building. He also pointed out that it was the spot of Walt's original idea of where to build Disneyland but the city of Burbank didn't like the idea.
Here's another picture of the water tower I took on the way to the corner of nothing:
And here is the animation building with Big Hero 6 on it. We had not seen Big Hero 6 yet, and were planning to see it the next day in Downtown Disney. Drew told us if we liked Meet the Robinsons we would probably like it. You will have to wait until tomorrow's update to find out.
After leaving the corner of nothing we went past a few sound stages, but we couldn't go in any of them because they were closed sets. In fact we never made it in a sound stage during the tour, and I'll explain why later.
Drew told us movies and shows that had been filmed in the different sound stages, but I wasn't taking notes, so I can't relay any of that information. :roll eyes:
Next we happened to walk by these generators and we thought it was adorable that they were named after the Seven Dwarfs:
Stage 2 is called Julie Andrews stage and Mary Poppins and The Princess Diaries were filmed here (I took a picture or I wouldn't remember that):
Drew did tell us a funny story about when they were filming the early Pirates movies that Johnny Depp was a smoker and would often go outside the sound stage during breaks in full costume to have a cigarette. The problem was that even though people walking by knew not to go bother the talent, he would call people over and start talking to them and have pictures taken. He would be late getting back on set because of it. I'm really wishing we had been there during the filming of a Pirates movie!!!
We continued walking around the lot and passed the Pixar building, and several other areas. Drew showed us areas where parts of Saving Mr. Banks had been filmed. Shana pointed out a squirrel (that's my AD/HD kid for you!) and Drew said there is a story that when they were working on Bambi, they brother in deer, rabbits, squirrels, etc to observe for the animation. Now the story is that all the squirrels they have on the lot now are descendants of those squirrels. Not sure how true that is, but it was funny!
Here are some pictures as we walked around the lot:
This is the theatre and we were told that the sidewalk in front of the theatre is where the Legends plaques used to go, but since they had so many they built Legends Plaza for them and moved them there.
I'm going to stop there for right now. I promise to try not to be away for a month before I post the next update!
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Oh, boy, oh, boy, oh, boy! The tour!!! Loving every word. I think if Johnny Depp as Captain Jack called me over for a photo and a chat I'd assume it was a VERY good "character" playing Depp! Sounds like Drew was a great guide.
About This Page: 
. I'm surprised you didn't have single riders on such a popular ride as RSR! I hope the ride operators are doing all they can to fill in all available seats and keep the line moving!
I too was surprised not to see any single riders with you on Radiator Springs Racers and I was so sad to see Luigi's Flying Tires, as I really enjoyed that. I can't believe it's going. 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
Linear Mode
