Our "Let's Try This Again" Trip Report UPDATED: 11/1 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 4 (8/11/09)
Sorry for the delay….life, health and computer problems got in the way.
We started at the Studios today. We watched the opening show from Hollywood Boulevard and then headed straight for Toy Story to get fastpasses.
The fastpasses where already for 2 hours later
The line was already long by the time we got the fastpasses so we headed back to RnRC and Tower.
Roger rode these by himself (since I passed out on Splash Mountain, I don’t think either of these rides would be a good idea for me) while I wrote postcards near by.
The view from the top of Tower
Roger on TSMM – Nice glasses!
We then rode Toy Story before heading over to 50’s Prime Time Café for our lunch ADR.
As it was already 93 degrees, the air-conditioned restaurant felt really good!
Cooling off at Prime Time Café
The food and décor were great as usual, but unfortunately our waitress didn’t play the part with us very well. Having eaten here before, we know how much fun the CMs can be and Roger, being the jokester of our family, loves to play along. We had more fun watching the CM at the next table play the part with the family next to us.
to be continued...
__________________
Some Day My Prince Will Come!
Katie - WDW - August 2011
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I ordered the smores. They are now serving half as many as they used to (which is still too much!).
Roger taking my picture on the streets of America
After lunch, we explored the Streets of America and then went to see the Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show. There was lots of action for sure!
Showing off the stunt cars
One thing happened we had never seen happen before. In the middle of the show, one of the cars blew a tire. They had to stop the show, take the car off the set by forklift, replace it with another car, and then start the show again. They played along like it was part of the presentation.
Here they are pulling the car with the flat off the “stage”
to be continued...
__________________
Some Day My Prince Will Come!
Katie - WDW - August 2011
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After the show, we exited the park and hopped on a bus to Animal Kingdom. We got there in time to watch Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade and decided to watch it from Africa so we could hop on the Safari right after the parade. Here is where my thread about getting stopped by AK security comes in. For those who didn’t see my other thread…..we are standing by the rope waiting for the parade when a security guy (dressed in a dress shirt and khakis and a Disney Nametag) comes up and asks if we are the Davids? Looking at each other like “What did we do and who wants to know?” we say yes. Kevin says he recognizes us from a picture on his boss’ desk (why is our picture on his boss’ desk???). Turns out that Roger had pin traded with his boss a couple of days before this when we were at AK. Roger had given him one of our thank you notes (that has a small picture of us from our last trip to WDW, A note of thanks, our names and where we are from) and the boss had shown it to his team. Not only did Kevin remember us from our little tiny picture, he remembered our names too! We were so impressed!
Kevin getting ready for the parade to come out the gate.
We watched the parade and then hopped on the Safari with no wait.
Here comes the parade!
Minnie brought everything, including her bathtub!
A little Monkey Business in the parade.
Goofy is pulling his Barbeque behind him.
to be continued....
__________________
Some Day My Prince Will Come!
Katie - WDW - August 2011
After the Safari, we went to Dinoland to watch Finding Nemo – the Musical. It was nice and cool in there and the show was great. The actor/actresses do such an amazing job with all the puppets! We were too far back to get any decent pictures of the show. After Nemo, we snuck in one last ride on Everest before the park closed.
The sun coming through the Dinosaur bones as we walked toward Nemo
Looking at Everest through the trees.
One of the many animal benches made of recycled milk jugs.
It takes 300-400 jugs to make one bench.
Back at Wilderness Lodge, we had dinner at Roaring Forks and then watched the Electrical Water Pageant and MK fireworks from the beach. When we returned to our room, we found Devora had made us Swans for our towel animals of the day – one in pink and one in blue.
Our towel swans from Devora
And with that we will call it a day!
More to come….
__________________
Some Day My Prince Will Come!
Katie - WDW - August 2011
I did not know about the milk jugs for the benches, great info!! Loved the Jammin Jungle Parade I can't wait to show the kids!! We leave in 18 days and I have not spilled the beans yet, they still have no clue.
What a wonderful morning at DHS and afternoon at AK! It is so that the CM remembered you and your name from your thank you card! BTW -- I love you new sig pic!
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Wat a lovely report!!! Those door decorations are really unique!! I have never seen anyone do that before, such an original idea. The thank you cards are cool too. I (being a former teacher) usually write a thank you note at the end of at trip for some people with little drawings on it, but what a fab idea of creating them beforehand!
Wonderful update, Tricia! It was worth the wait!
Hope health and computer problems are behind you!
Will be here waiting for more! Thanks for sharing!!!
I am so glad you are back with a new update!
I hope that all of your computer and health issues are on the mend!
What a great day! I love Roger's picture with his TSMM glasses on! So cute!
I am so impressed with how you guys do things! The extra little touches for those at WDW who make the vacations magical are just great!
I also am very impressed that Kevin remembered your faces as well as your name! How
Great update Tricia! I look forward to more!