Springtime Jaunt to Disneyland: Final Days and Final Thoughts: COMPLETE 6/11/08 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Day 2, Part 3: Chuck’s Reign Ends and the Parade of Dreams
Day 2, Part 3: Chuck’s Reign Ends and the Parade of Dreams
After grabbing the FP for Space Mountain, I knew our first stop would be Buzz. I love Buzz even though I am not one to get get a decent score on this ride. But I am one to embrace my suckiness and just have fun on this ride. We had a ten minute wait and Chuck decided that he was going to “drive” to give me an edge. Gee, thanks hon. The line started moving pretty quickly and I did a drive by picture op of Buzz giving us our instructions.
We boarded our vehicle and started off on our quest to defeat the evil Emperor Zurg. There was no beating of one another with our laser guns but Chuck tried to divert my laser aiming skills by his driving skills. But nevertheless, I finally beat my darling hubby. The scores weren’t fantastic by any means, but I beat him. Should I have gotten this much joy? My score was 42,000 and his was 23,900. Here are the pictures to prove it.
The lines to send the ride photo home through email were outrageous. One of the ladies was sending it at least four different emails while we were standing there. I told Chuck we would send one from another ride and headed out into the gift shop. It was all Pixar related toys and Chuck spent a lot of time looking at the Cars merchandise. I found the little green ailens in a tube that I just found hilarious, especially the wording on the lid. I found it so funny that pictures were taken.
While we were in the gift shop, we also found a pin set that was framed that spelled out Disneyland that really caught our eye. We decided to hold off on purchasing it and put that in our memory banks for possible purchase before we left. We headed directly over to Star Tours after leaving the gift shop. It showed a 15 minute wait. As usual, I spent the time waiting taking pictures of the queue and chatting with Chuck.
We had an enjoyable ride to Endor even though I got a little queasy afterwards, which has never happened before. We decided to grab a Sprite to calm my tummy before taking a ride on Space Mountain. After getting me back to feeling as normal as possible, we took our first ride on SM of the trip, we were midtrain and had a great ride (with no after effects). However, I missed the “Rockin” from the previous two years. I loved having the Red Hot Chili Peppers along for the ride. After finishing up that ride, we decided we needed to stake a place for the Parade. We headed for the hub by the train station as most of the sidewalk along the way had already been taken. They had just roped off the section of the hub right before the floats headed backstage. We were able to grab some seats right under the rope. I would be able to get some shots just the floats were turning and before they “disappeared”.
After the parade, we decided to hang out a bit and wait for the crowds to taper off. We decided to grab a Photopass picture while we were waiting.
We were headed towards the gates when I saw another Photopass photographer in front of the Mickey head flower bed and train station. I loved how they had lights intermingled with it and Tinkerbell near one of the ears with her wand. The Photopass lady was the one from yesterday at DCA and she remembered us. Now being that it was a prime picture taking opportunity, there were a lot of familed trying to get pictures. The lady asked the people nicley to move to the left so we could get our picture but the family turned around, looked at her, and went back to taking their pictures. At this moment, the Photopass lady (I so wish I remembered her name as I hate calling her lady) kept having me move a little to the left, eventually pushing them far enough out of the picture. Gotta it!
We thanked her profusely as she handed our Photopass card back to us. We then exited the gates and headed to Downtown Disney. We wanted to spend some time soaking in the atmosphere and do some major window shopping. Little did I know that I would find a new friend!
Great update, Dawn! We eyed that Disneyland pin set too and really wish we had purchased it now! Hope you get it!! the little green men!! I have been chosen!! Nice photos too!! Can't wait to hear more
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Great updates, Dawn! I was just thinking about you last night, and how you never got to meet Eeyore on the Girls Trip. So glad you were able to find him this time! Love the pics, particulary the parade pics and the Photopass pics.
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
So we headed out of DL and onto the Esplanade. I grabbed some shots heading into DTD and once we entered.
First stop was World of Disney. I started making a mental list of things I wanted to come back and look at again. I had to figure out what scrapbook I wanted for this trip, and I really wanted to try and find a new watch, as all of mine were non-working even though I have changed the batteries in them more than once. Chuck found a couple of things he wanted but still was in search of a tie clip. Once we finished up there, Chuck headed for the bathrooms while I went into Basin. I had to stock up on my bath salts. They had a special of 6 tubes for $20 and a free carrying case. I got my favorite scents and picked two for my mom that she would enjoy. Chuck met me in Basin as I was paying and then we headed over to Island Charters as chuck has a love of Hawaiian shirts. He found a couple he wanted to think over before purchasing so we left.
We stopped in Department 56 and ooh’d and aah’d over the Christmas villages and the collectibles. Now that we have places to display things, Chuck wanted to get started on the Christmas village thing. I actually was the one that said to hold off as I didn’t want to ship everything home as there was no way we were going to fit stuff like that in suitcases. Also helped that they have a website! As we exited that shop, I started looking in the windows of the Build-a-Bear Workshop. For the first time, I had an urge to do this. I saw that they had an Eeyore outfit that I could dress my new friend in and that was it. In the door I went. Now to choose what animal friend I wanted. I didn’t want to do the typical bear and once I saw the turtle, I knew that was the one.
Now Chuck decided that it was his job to document the making of my new friend and the things I had to do in the process. I had no idea how the process went but the girls in the store were more than happy to help me out. I bypassed putting a sound in my turtle. I handed my turtle over to the girl working the stuffing machine. She handed me his removable shell and proceeded to get him ready to get filled with stuffing. She had me step on the peddle that fed that stuffing through the tube and told me to stop when he was full. She then told me to pick a heart out of the bin. Once I did, I had to go through the heart blessing ceremony. I don’t think it was called exactly that but it works for my discussion. I had to rub the heart on my head, my cheek, and my arm and then place it over my heart.
Getting all sewn up!
Next up was the cleaning station to get all the extra fluff off of my turtle. Basically, a lot of air and a brush, but it all was a really cute set-up.
Now it was time to get my little dude all dressed up. I went and picked up the Eeyore outfit but it just didn’t fit his personality. Yes, I know it is a stuffed animal. But they all have personality. I’m not crazy. Really. Ahem…moving on. So, I went looking around at all the options. I knew that my turtle was a boy so I bypassed all the girly stuff and princess stuff. I decided to go pretty basic and went with some jean shorts, a t-shirt, and some little hiking boots. Once I picked all that out, it was time to get him dressed. Chuck thought my techniques for dressing my turtle were quite hilarious. Once I saw the pictures, I understood.
So, next was to go to the computers and start the adoption process. I had to come up with a name and Trent kept getting stuck in my head so he became Trent the Turtle. I entered in all the information and my birth certificate would be waiting for me when I checked out.
While we were in line to check out, the little boy behind me told me that he really liked my turtle and then introduced me to his Golden Retriever. His mom told us that he had to get a Buzz outfit for him since that was his favorite ride so far this trip. He then told me that it was way past his bedtime and he needed to get back to the room to change him into his pajamas. It was too cute!
Trent fully dressed! (You can see the little boy in the bottom corner!)
We got up to the register and got Trent settled in his box for the trip to the hotel. Definitely something I would have never thought of doing but I Trent!! He is standing proudly on my mantel in my office and I smile every time I glance that way.
We left the store and decided to grab a drink and a Wetzel Pretzel!! We sat on a bench and listened to the performer who was right in front of the store. It was all instrumental and on drums, every type of drum imaginable. I forgot to get a picture of his sign but he was really good. Chuck contemplated buying a CD but he was charging $25 for a CD with 8 songs. Nope, Chuck wasn’t going to go for that. We finished up our yummy pretzels and headed toward our next stop…..
… the Lego Store as Chuck was so looking forward to roaming around. He was just amazed at the stuff they have come out with and would point out what he had similar as a child (and still has in storage containers). I just looked around and took a couple of pictures.
Chuck looking in awe!
He resisted all temptation in buying something, and we decided it was time to head back to the hotel. We ended up going back up to the room and watching something on TV…can’t remember what. I grabbed my shower and then snuggled down in bed. I so love the tucking they do of the blankets and sheets. Chuck checked his email from work since he was now without his Blackberry. Once again, I was out before he finished up.
Coming Up: Our Breakfast @ Storyteller’s and Heading into DCA!!!
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What a great morning!! And a yummy lunch 
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My score was 42,000 and his was 23,900. Here are the pictures to prove it. 
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We sat on a bench and listened to the performer who was right in front of the store. It was all instrumental and on drums, every type of drum imaginable. I forgot to get a picture of his sign but he was really good. Chuck contemplated buying a CD but he was charging $25 for a CD with 8 songs. Nope, Chuck wasn’t going to go for that. We finished up our yummy pretzels and headed toward our next stop…..
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