Is That a Raincloud Over My Head? EMTPEJ's Land & Sea Adventure **Updated 10/28** - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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Well I think you have just scared me out of driving in December. I have been looking at airfare and seriously will most likely fly but have been considering the possibility of driving. Given that it is a 24 hour drive from here it will take us at least 2 days down and 2 days back. Hmm no wiggle room for any road mishaps! We drove places ALL the time when I was a kid and I have boatloads of stories about being stranded on the side of highways with the car (trailer in tow!) broken down! (Well maybe only 2 or 3!) So I think it will be the financially unfriendly skies for me!
Patiently (??) waiting for more!
Don't let our experience put you off driving! We could have driven straight through if we needed to since there was three of us to drive. Thousands of people drive it just fine... It seems like they are all on the raod the same we are...
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Don't let our experience put you off driving! We could have driven straight through if we needed to since there was three of us to drive. Thousands of people drive it just fine... It seems like they are all on the raod the same we are...
True, but not everyone is as loved by Murphy as some of us are......
I'm so glad you were able to keep your cool and get the emergency dealt with....and that no one was injured in an accident from wheels falling off or something like that.
Even more glad that your motel wasn't residence to some Psycho folks and that you got a good night's sleep.
Great start to your trip!! I'm sorry that we were never able to meet up. Sorry about your car troubles at the beginning, but I hope it's all uphill after that!!!
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I am loving your TR. I'm sorry about your car, but I love how optimistic you are even when things aren't going as planned. I need to take a lesson from you, lol. Can't wait to read more.
We got up early (for my family, anyway) and started down the road to the world with brief stops in Georgia
for gas and breakfast and at the Florida Welcome Center! Yay! Florida Orange Juice in Florida!
L - Kenny's first visit to FL. R- David in a cut-out sign in the welcome center.
The little rental van was comfortable and moved along pretty well. I had a migraine most of the night and started out not feeling well, so my DW drove for a good bit while I napped. I think it was brought on by the stress of the previous day, but I’m no doctor, so what do I know? We were all in a hurry to get there, and got turned around a little in Jacksonville, as I have usually gone on I-295 through there, but we went down I-95 instead, as that was part of our original plan. Everyone was very, very happy to finally see the exits for Disney World after some rain and the inevitable traffic in Orlando. We just laughed and laughed with relief. I think anyone who sees the welcome sign knows how it feels! Yay! WOOO HOOO! Finally!
I found the way to 1600 Seven Seas drive easily as I had studied that route very well over the past few months. Check-in at the Poly went very smoothly. We received our leis and alohas and KTTWs.
Our hosts for the next few days invited us to stay in a first floor room in Rarotonga, which was very nice, convenient to the Grand Ceremonial House, the guest laundry, and a short walk to the TTC. It was also helpful that our room was closer to the elevator in the GCH, as Kendra’s ankle started bothering her. The buildings are not so very impressive, but are VERY well kept and seemed to be freshly painted, just as all of Disney’s resorts seem to be. The landscaping is very nice and that big atrium in the GCH is pretty neat, with the flowers and waterfalls. Photos just don’t do it justice.
It really is like being in another place. The staff and guests all seemed to be smiling. I know I was grinning like a maniac. While my DW was freshening up, I took the boys and my BIL and explored a little and roosted at the 2nd floor waiting area.
The boys enjoyed lemonade, my BIL and I both enjoyed the Ultimate Long Island Iced Tea, which was very refreshing! For some munchies, we got the breads and dips, served by a charming fellow named Santos. It was pretty wild looking outside, seeing the MK slowly break through the mist, as it started to rain just as we arrived (surprise, surprise).
After meeting up with my DW, we decided to take the monorail over to the MK.
a couple of shots of the GF...
Well, we got through security and my BIL entered the MK for the very first time!
We made our way down Main Street USA and hung a left at Casey’s Corner and enjoyed a little music from Jim, the piano player.
We then checked in at the CP. I was very glad to have made ADRs for this as the walk-up wait time was over 90 minutes. In the heat. and humidity. And the thunderstorms...
The food at The Crystal Palace was very good and we got lots of time and pix with the characters.
We were well attended by a fellow from Orlando named Rand. As much as I love shrimp, I really did not eat very much of it as I was trying all the other offerings! Everything there is fantastic! DW brought me a plate of the shrimp and I got the one with broccoli, edamame salad, beets, a huge piece of salmon, and red velvet cheesecake.
I saw a strange shiny thing on Eeyore’s tail and finally got a good photo of it. Do you know what it is?
We finally bid adieu to the friends from the hundred acre wood and went to Liberty Square. The Liberty Belle Riverboat was closed for the day, so we went and enjoyed the hospitality of 999 grinning ghosts at the HM. It was pretty much a walk-on.
We then went over to IASW (walk-on) and I agree with Eileen and everybody, that bagpiper is definitely playing something different from everyone else in the ‘world’.
Once we had left, it started raining again, but we did get our EMH wristbands, anyway. Then we went to see the country Bears (walk-on, what else), as the boys enjoyed this when we saw it last time, and it was raining again. Did I mention it was raining? Yeesh.
The sound system there is really showing its age – I’ll bet they could replace those bears with the Mos Eisley cantina band from Star Wars and come out ahead of the game. Tattoine is on the frontier, right? It would fit right in! We picked up some lanyard pins and some ponchos at the mercantile. We scooted down to adventureland for POC and were well entertained and rewarded for hanging around after a storm as there was no wait there, either. Everything else we wanted to see right then was closed for the evening or due to the rain. They cancelled the early Spectromagic parade as well, so we headed on back to the resort via the monorail. We all liked going through the Contemporary. We turned in for our first night in the world, after much laughing…
Today the weather was: Cloudy & humid and at least three thunderstorms. The best thing about today was: Meeting Pooh and friends at Crystal Palace! The worst thing about today was: The many storms that caused the cancellation of Spectromagic and Wishes (see what I mean about rainclouds?). The funniest thing about today was: The un-inhibited laughing by all us before bed. Today we tried: The Crystal Palace character meal. And the result was: A great time was had by all. The most magical moment today was: Seeing the welcome arch and knowing we were in WDW.
What an adventure EJ and that was before you ever got through those wonderfully welcoming gates...
Glad you all made it safe and sound and that you were happy with your room and that check-in was easy...sorry for all the rain though but glad that you are enjoying yourselves despite the weather.
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Great update, EJ! Glad you finally made it there!! Sounds like you had a wonderful time at CP! you had so much rain and it sounds like it was quite the trend while you were there. Can't wait to hear more
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you had so much rain and it sounds like it was quite the trend while you were there. Can't wait to hear more
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