Graduation and Good bye: the Radcliffe family - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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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WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
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The heat is getting pretty bad. We're from California, and the humidity is killing us, so our plan of action now revolves around air conditioning. Our next stop is Mickey's PhilHarmagic. We find our place, and as we're waiting for the show to start, I notice the group on my left doesn't have any glasses. Turns out they didn't know they needed them, as the CM at the door didn't tell them, so my sweet DH runs back and gets them some.
After Donald's antics, we head back to Tomorrowland to ride TTA and view Carousel of Progress. On our way back to the Haunted Mansion, we decide to pop into the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. It was pretty funny. Nobody got the first joke except me and my husband, as it was the type of bad play on words he likes, so we were the only ones laughing at it. Things improved after that and soon everybody was laughing.
We did another haunting, then called the kids at the hotel room to come and meet us at the front gate as it is getting close to our dinner at 1900 Park Fare. I went pin shopping (again!) and we made our slow way out. Found the kids and took the monorail over to the Grand Floridian. What a gorgeous hotel!! If I ever get wealthy, I will definitely stay here! We had an early reservation, so were in time to hear the Evil Stepsisters be introduced. It was real cute, watching Prince Charming with all the little Cinderellas. He would take time to talk to each one, then bow over her hand before posing for pictures. When Cinderella reached our table, I had my DH go down on one knee and take her hand. The look on her face was priceless!! I was laughing so hard, I didn't get the best picture, but I did manage to get most of her face. Once she stopped laughing, I was able to get a better picture.
The chilled strawberry soup was available tonight, so I tried it. Very yummy!
When we went back to the monorail station, it was sprinkling a little bit. Somebody on the platform said it had been pouring down. It definitely broke the heat wave for the rest of the day.
The girls said they wanted to ride Pirates, so we headed back to MK. We rode Pirates, Haunted Mansion and then they wanted to ride the Indy Cars. I'm not a fan of that one, so I went pin trading while they rode. Then we all grabbed Mickey bars and called it a day.
The best part of this day was spending some time alone with DH, acting like teenagers again and just having fun. We don't do that often enough at home.
Location: w/future ex husbands tommy lee, robert downey jr, adam lambert in NJ planet poptart
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just catching up, despite the technical difficulties everything sounds wonderful so far. LC is one of my favorite places to eat too. so is CR
uh-oh, now I wonder what the big disappointment was???
Just caught up...sorry that your dtr was not feeling well after dinner but good to see it quickly past. What a great day for you and your DH to spend some time together. Sorry the heat is wearing you down but you seem to be getting a lot in despite the heat and small technical difficulties. Hope the less than magical moment coming up is not that bad. Hurry back!
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Margaret
I am not a Disney employee. The postings here are my own and do not represent the positions or opinions of the Disney Company
Great update!! Sounds like some nice 'alone' time in the MK! Your DH sounds like a sweetheart.....first the glasses and then woo-ing Cinderella. I'm a little nervous about the next installment
Today is our official day off. The kids want to spend the day at the pool, DH wants to rest but I have a tour at Epcot, so after breakfast at the Maya Grill, I head over there to take the Segway tour. Halfway there, I realize I have forgotten my camera, but don't have time to go back for it. I arrive way early and sign in. While sitting outside waiting, the nice CM who signed me in asks me if I would like to be moved into the 8:30 tour instead of my scheduled 9:00. Not a problem for me, and I'm glad I did. For tour guides, we had Robert and Lamonte, the absolute best two, or so I've been told. These two have been with Disney for years and with the Segway program ever since it started.
After getting used to our machines, we head off. We are using the newest versions of Segways. These don't have those confusing handlebars that you have to turn to make the machine turn. Instead, you just turn the whole handlebar the way you want to go. Very easy to learn. They also have built in speed inhibitors to keep guests from getting hurt because they are going too fast. If you reach that speed, they start to shake, the platform tilts up and they will slow down. One lady kept going too fast, and would panic when the machine started to slow down and she fell off twice. Lamonte was patience personified; he took her to the back of the group and spent some time with her.
We went through all the pavilions, and in some of them we would stop so that Robert could give us a little tidbit about that country. In Morocco, we learned that all the pavilions except Morocco are sponsored by some large corporation based in that country. Morocco is actually sponsored by the current king. He liked the idea so much when Disney first approached him, that he sent over his own royal architects to design and build it. He sends workers over on a regular basis to maintain it. It is also the only pavilion to show more than one certain type of architecture. If you know what to look for, there are 4 centuries worth on display.
This tour was so much fun that I think I will book it again for our next trip.
I really loved the segway tour, but my feet are killing me after being on them for two hours, so it's back to the hotel to pick up my scooter and then head back to Epcot for lunch at Teppan Edo. I get the scooter no problem; well, minor problem. The flippin' room door won't stay open long enough for me to back out, and there's no-one around to help me. I finally manage it and head over to the bus stop. Where I wait, and wait and wait some more. I try calling my DH to let him know where I am, but he can't hear me. After waiting 35 minutes, an Epcot bus finally pulls up and off we go.
I get to the Japan pavilion just as Miyuki is starting her rice candy magic, but sadly can't stop to watch, as our reservation is in 10 minutes. I get upstairs, and there is my family, looking a little worried. The lady at the check-in podium looks pleasantly surprised when I say hello in Japanese and gives me a little bow. We are seated immediately and settle in to our table/grill with 4 others. We order appetizers and I am idly watching the chef next door preparing their food. He pulls out several onions, does the mickey head and flaming volcano thing, then chops them and adds them to the noodles. Oops, major problem!! I signal our waitress and tell her that I need to talk to the chef. She brings the manager over, and I tell him that I am allergic to onions. He heads back to the kitchen and comes out to let me know that the chef has been told.
Our drinks, appetizers and warm towels arrive. I ordered the tempura selection. Chicken, shrimp, zucchini and carrots all done to perfection. Well, I assume the shrimp was as I gave it to DH - I don't like shrimp. Tempura batter so light, it melted in your mouth. The carrot was a bit odd at first, but I soon grew to like it.
Our chef, Migumi, comes out with the rest of the food. She does mine first, so that there is no chance of onion contamination. I had the chicken yakitori, and she put in extra zucchini for the onions. I felt a bit conspicuous eating while everyone else was still waiting, but the food was just too good to let it get cold waiting for the rest. This is definitely a must-do restaurant on future visits!!
After lunch, we all split up again, not to meet again until dinner. I hopped on a boat at the International Gateway and headed over to Hollywood Studios. I arrived there just at the Block Party Bash was starting. The heat was just too oppressive for me to sit out in the sun and watch, so I browsed the shops instead and found some good scrapbooking supplies. Once the Bash was over, I headed over to Rockin Roller Coaster. I had once vowed that I would never ride a roller coaster that went upside down, but decided I needed to try it at least once, before making a lifetime ban.
The wait time was 50 minutes. I asked the CM at the entrance if I could take my scooter through the regular line. She asked me how many were in my party, and I told her I was alone. She then told me to go up the exit ramp and talk to the CM there. I did, and they let me in the back way. I felt guilty, because I don't have a handicap, just bad feet. Anyway, the ride was great, and I broke down and bought pictures, so I could prove to one of my nephews that I had really ridden it, after telling him I never would. This was enough excitement for me, so I took a bus back to the hotel to rest up before dinner.
I agree that Teppan Edo is a "must". I also thought it was very yummy! (I'm sure your DH was glad to take the shrimp off you hands, in my opinion it was the best part of the meal) Glad you were able to ride RRC! Did you enjoy it??
Great update!! The Segway tour sounds like a lot of fun!! DS turns 16 in September, so we'll be able to try it then. Sounds like Teppan Edo was delicious too! Can't wait to hear more
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Our next stop is Mickey's PhilHarmagic. We find our place, and as we're waiting for the show to start, I notice the group on my left doesn't have any glasses. Turns out they didn't know they needed them, as the CM at the door didn't tell them, so my sweet DH runs back and gets them some.
Crystal
Margaret
I'm a little nervous about the next installment
Can't wait to hear more
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