A special birthday, a diamond anniversary and a west coast adventure COMPLETED - Page 5 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Tuesday 8 September – part six: fancy seeing you here!
When we got out of the car at the Grand Californian, again the first thing that hit us was the heat. It was just unbearable out. I couldn’t believe this was happening to us once again – it seems that every time we come to Disneyland, there’s some form of record breaking heat, and it’s doing it again.
We quickly headed inside to check in, and I must admit we got a bit of a shock. All the crowd predictions I’d seen for this week were around two or three out of 10. Well, that didn’t tally up with how many people were waiting to check in. We joined the line, and it only got longer after we arrived. I was also looking around the lobby at how many people were there, wondering what the heck was going on. Had they got their predictions badly wrong?
We were lucky enough to have a room waiting for us, which was such a relief, because all we wanted to do was just relax in the room. Although it had only been a two and a half hour flight, we’d effectively been travelling since 8:00am, and it was now just past 3:00pm. We were both exhausted (the heat did not help with that ) and we knew we had Club 33 tonight, and we wanted to be in a fit state for that.
Now here I have to explain that when I turned the cell phone on earlier at the rental car counter, I had messages from both Jeannie and Karen and Sharon, asking if we wanted to meet up. I sent them both back messages saying it was a lovely idea, but we were too shattered. Well, bless Karen and Sharon, they showed up at the front desk to say hi as we were checking in. Now maybe Sharon can enlighten us, but we concluded they must’ve been staking out the front desk for about half an hour or so, as the last time we were in touch, we were at the rental car counter, so they had no idea when we’d be arriving. We chatted for a few minutes, but knowing our room was ready, we headed over there to check it out.
It was the first time we’d be on the first floor, although Mark was sure we’d have to take the elevator. I had to remind him that to Americans, our ground floor is the first floor.
The room was absolutely wonderful, and honestly, one bedroom villas are the only way to go now. We absolutely love them and the space and facilities they give us. I also love the theming of these rooms with all the dark wood and the natural colours.
One thing that did strike us was how noisy it was from the park, as we were right by the California Adventure. I was very relieved that the park would not be open late while we were here, otherwise we’d be hearing delighted screams from people way into the night.
We called bell services, and thankfully it only took about 20 minutes for them to come over with the luggage. I got worried, as Mark told me earlier they’d said it could take up to an hour.
As soon as they arrived, I got all the dirty laundry out, and got that going. Yep, I really know how to party! However, then it was all me, me, me! I got in that massive walk-in shower, had a shower and washed my hair, and then filled the Jacuzzi in, and chilled in there for a while, before getting ready for our big night out.
Next: activating your Photopass is certainly easier in Florida!
How sweet of Karen and Sharon! That was a nice surprise.
Gosh I'd love to stay there sometime. That decor is awesome. I hope the noise doesn't keep you up at night though - that's a legitimate concern!
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Your villa is so lovely!! I'd worry about having stalkers like that! Nice surprise, I'm sure, to see some friendly faces.
Can't wait to hear about Club 33!!!!
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How sweet of Karen and Sharon! That was a nice surprise.
It was so sweet of them.
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Gosh I'd love to stay there sometime. That decor is awesome. I hope the noise doesn't keep you up at night though - that's a legitimate concern!
I can honestly say that wasn't a problem for us this trip, for reasons which will become obvious as we move through each night, that's all I'm saying for now.
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Tuesday 8 September – part seven: activating your Photopass is certainly easier in Florida!
We headed down to the lobby around 5:00pm, where Mari and Raleigh were waiting for us.
It was so good to see them both again, as it had been over a year since our last adventure together on the Med cruise and the Italy road trip in July 2014.
As we had some time to kill, we decided to head over to the Hearthstone Lounge, and get some drinks. On the way, I found this:
I ended up getting a Godiva chocolate martini, after ordering a pina colava, but being told they didn’t have any mix left.
We enjoyed some time there, but soon we needed to get a move on so that we didn’t miss our reservation at Club 33. We made our way out through Downtown Disney and over to the parks…
As you can see, it was a beautiful day, but still stupidly hot. I have no idea of the temperature, but my goodness, it was just sapping.
I was a bit unsure about our park tickets, as you may remember from when we bought them, as they were screen shots, but they worked absolutely fine, and about 30 seconds later, after they took a photo of us, we had our paper tickets in hand. I tell you, it’s like stepping back into the last century at Disneyland. I forgot to say earlier, but we were asked about putting a credit card down on the room, and I just stared at the poor Cast Member, before remembering we weren’t in Disney World, and there are no MagicBands here. I just get so used to doing everything in advance that this is now a real culture shock.
We made our way into the park…
… and headed down Main Street U.S.A….
The one thing I wanted to get done before Club 33 was to activate our Photopass, as we still only had a voucher. Well, my goodness, that was easier said than done. We went into the camera store, which is at the top of Main Street on the right, saw the cashier, who gave me a receipt. Ok, now what? Now, apparently you need to stand in another line to get your actual Photopass. We had about 10 minutes spare at this point, so I told them we just didn’t have time, then I got the lecture about not losing the receipt. Good grief! If you had an easier system, I wouldn’t need to be carrying it around with me.
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I was also looking around the lobby at how many people were there, wondering what the heck was going on. Had they got their predictions badly wrong? 
Although it had only been a two and a half hour flight, we’d effectively been travelling since 8:00am, and it was now just past 3:00pm. We were both exhausted (the heat did not help with that 
) and we knew we had Club 33 tonight, and we wanted to be in a fit state for that. 
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Nice surprise, I'm sure, to see some friendly faces. 
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