A Magical voyage across the pond TRIP REPORT UPDATED 12/31 - Page 52 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Nice photo op and found the two of you after looking around a bit. That was quite an interesting talk as something your so interested in made it even better! I like those mission statements.
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
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Thursday 13 September – part four: learning about Mickey’s ten commandments
We heard from some of the original Imagineer about what it meant to be an Imagineer, which was really interesting, but sad too, given that they’re all gone now – some more recently than others.
Then Gary took us through Mickey’s ten commandments and gave examples of each, which were fascinating.
The first one is about knowing your audience and here Gary talked about how it’s not just about appealing to a family, giving the example of the Rix lounge at the Coronado Springs that is aimed at convention goers and also talking about the Disney Cruise Line, which allows families to split up with the adult only areas and the kids’ clubs. As he said, it’s not usual in everyday life for families to be together 24 hours a day, so this helps to reflect real life.
Number two was walk in your guests’ shoes and here he talked about how they learnt from their mistakes, particularly putting queues in the hot Florida sun, then how they built new ones in the shade and created shade for others – i.e. the Dumbo project. That’s interesting, as I knew it was about adding capacity, but I always figured there was another reason for re-doing it.
The third was to organise the flow of people and ideas and here Gary showed us a study done in Zurich about how they could move people around the move. While this was fascinating to see, it was also scary as well, given they pretty much have the technology to enact it now with the MagicBands.
Gary also talked about the hub and spoke design and how you could pick which land to visit.
Number four was to create a “wienie” and I don’t think I need to say much about that, as I think you guys probably all know how that works. It’s something you see that draws you into the park, like the castle, Tree of Life and Spaceship Earth.
The fifth was to communicate with visual literacy. To illustrate this, Gary used an image of the entrance to Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and asked the audience if they understood what the ride would be about from just looking at it and we all agreed it did.
Number six was all about avoid overload, but create turn-ons. Gary admitted this was a contradiction, but to explain it, he used pictures of big cities at night and how much information they’re trying to get across to you. He then showed a photo of a Far Eastern city and made the point it’s even more when you can’t read the signs. He then contrasted that with the Wilderness Lodge, where there’s so much going on there, but there’s not a Cast Member there shouting it all out to you, as he said. He talked about the totem poles and the fireplace and something I didn’t know is that one of the advisors put fossils from his personal collection into it and if you want to find out more, they have panels explaining all about the fireplace on each of the five levels. Now I’ve never seen those on all our various visits there. Next time…
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Good info here - and I love how the first two points are about the people. People first, then the rest falls into place.
I feel like I remember that bit about WL, but never got a chance to go and see for myself. There's always a next time, isn't there?!
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Tanya
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and if you want to find out more, they have panels explaining all about the fireplace on each of the five levels. Now I’ve never seen those on all our various visits there. Next time… 
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