Sue and the DoD trip that "Just might end up on the Internet somewhere" report!--COMPLETE 6/5/09 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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What wonderful updates. I love the welcome you got at Old Key West - Mark will be delighted to hear the Cast Member from Manchester was a Liverpool fan!
That was such a great evening with you guys and yes, I did send that text - I couldn't believe it, having to walk so far, but boy it was worth it when I saw you both.
By the way, you must send that photo of myself and Angie to me - it's a great shot.
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Mark will be delighted to hear the Cast Member from Manchester was a Liverpool fan!
Quote:
Cough, splutter; cough, splutter.
Do I detect a bit of a rivalry here?
Thanks everyone, for your nice comments! I'm not quite up to Cheryl standards in my photography, but it's a hobby that I love and I was told by a very accompolished photographer that I have "the eye"!
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
love the pics and the reporting, sue! it was fantastic to meet up with all of you. one of my favorite memories is of our ride on splash...ha ha ha...and the photo of it...i am not going to give it away...but it is one of my favorites! more report, please!
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
We started our day with our "Disney Alarm Clock!" No, this was not a call from Mickey, but rather the loud and screaming children in the room next to us. 6:45 AM and they were in FULL gear! I got up and made coffee, and sat on the balcony with my coffee and my Passporter, enjoying the morning!
We got dressed and headed over to the MK. We missed rope drop by about a minute. I had been texting Cheryl in the morning, and we were going to meet at the Main St. Bakery. They were running a bit behind, too, but hey, we weren't on any deadlines. I also texted Sara, who was getting off the cruise that morning. She was at the airport awaiting Shawn ad Ryan's arrival!
We stopped into the Main St Bakery, and Angie spied an old friend at the Plaza:
After a few pictures, we went back to the Bakery in search of our favorites: me, the yogurt parfait, and Angie, the fabled french toast loaf. Alas, we were to be sorely disappointed. There was no french toast loaf to be seen, and the yogurt parfaits were pre-packaged in plastic take-out containers with lids. Angie got a ham and cheese croissant, I got a pre-fab parfait, we paid our bill and...OH! what do my eyes see? A MANAGER!!! Izzy from the Bronx, come on over here and talk to the current and the ex-New Yorker about these changes. Izzy was very nice, and genuinely surprised about the uprising over the french toast loaf. He told us that it often went unsold, which we both found hard to believe, as often it was already sold out early in the morning. He also said that the reason the parfaits went pre-packaged is that because the guests took a survey and they didn't like the way it looked in the big bowl where it was scooped out fresh. Umm... who are these guests and why don't I ever get these surveys? He took our comments to heart, and I gave him one of my Passporter business cards with our website on it. So I am hoping that he at least sees the feedback here.
We walked down to the Plaza area, grabbed a table and waited for Chez and Wendy. They were soon there, and with them was Joy! (GrumpyGal) I had met Wendy for one brief shining second in the Beach Club lobby in 2006 (don't ask... ) and now I was meeting her for real! And Joy and I had met on a very emotional Illuminations Cruise in 2003 that one of our dear former members, Liz (versafax) was supposed to be on before she lost her battle with breast cancer. There were hugs, laughs, and...candy!!!
Courtesy of Cheryl, all the way from the UK!
We had a great breakfast, and sat for I think almost an hour! One thing I was doing (surprise surprise) was taking some pictures of the park and our group. Although the morning shots didn't turn out too well and I ended up deleting most of them, I was overheard to say "Hmmm...that'll end up on the Internet somewhere!" And so...a trip report title was born!
Group shot: (me, Angie, Joy, Wendy, Chez)
From there, we wandered around the park, and I did take a few pictures that I liked!
Because I don't have any pictures of the castle, I took another:
Love, love, LOVE this shot: Joy looked back at exactly the right moment!
I do believe we rode the Jungle Cruise:
We were heading back towards Frontierland when I heard my name being called! I looked over next to FrontierLand Fries, and there was Janine (FanofMickey) and Peggy (POOH)!! They were fresh from the cruise and ready for land! OMG it was good to see them! More hugs, and we moved out of the area as we were getting a bit rowdy. But it was all good...suddenly we ran into...Lesley (WDWfan)! And with her were Sharon (PrincessSharon), Larry (LlafinPlace) and Bob (UncleBob)! What a great reunion right in the middle of the Magic Kingdom!
We got fast passes for Splash, as the wait was like 6 bazillion minutes or something, and wandered aimlessly around. I say aimlessly because we were all chatting and catching up and just generally having such a great time that I don't think we had any destination or plan in mind. No obsessive planning here, it was just so much fun hanging out!
Lesley, Bob and Larry (and maybe some others) decided to brave the wait for Splash, but the rest of us went to the Hub to see the new show, "Move it, Shake it, Celebrate it!" It is really energetic, really well done, and...um....there are pictures....
Waiting for the show:
SOMEBODY has to take the pictures:
Couldn't resist a flower shot or two:
And then the show began:
And yes, there are pictures of Angie, Sheri and Sharon "shakin' their groove thing" :
The show was great, and I do believe there is some video, too. I'll have to work on that!
By the time it was done, our Fastpasses were good, so we went back to Splash. At some point during this time, we met up with Terri and Chris, who were also joining us on Splash! We told the CM at the front that we were a group of 12, and we were trying to be on the conjoining boats. She put us back to back, and it seemed like it was going to work, but for some reason, we got seperated, 4 in one boat and 8 in another! But it still made for some photo ops:
In line:
In the ride:
It's the truth...
And here they are:
After our ride, we walked towards Crystal Palace, where our lunch extravaganza was next!
Next...a lunch filled with Passporters, and we get our laynards!