Halloween, Hawaii and holiday celebrations - THIS SECTION COMPLETED 12/27 - Page 55 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Some great photos of Fantasyland. It seems to be really coming together! Great photos within the shops as well! Interesting perspective on the ride queues and why the wait times are not that long! Possible good planning on Disney's part. Just wish they could alleviate some of the wait times at other extremely popular attractions throughout the parks!
If only...
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Can't wait to see the new Fantasyland! I'll definitely be there on my arrival day in late March in a few months!
I'm sure it will be very near finished by then - who knows, maybe even the Seven Dwarves coaster will be open for business?
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Saturday 2 November – part four: a very interactive Enchanted Tale with Belle!
We wandered past Be Our Guest…
… and as we still had some time to kill before our Fastpass + was ripe for Enchanted Tales with Belle, we had a look at 100 Acre Wood Gifts. Big mistake – I swear there’s less in there every time I go in there.
Instead, we thought we’d have a look in Sir Mickey’s, which has always had a good range of stuff we’ve liked. Not anymore! Now it’s mainly princesses, as is Castle Couture across the way. As Mark said, not much for boys here.
We figured we’d see what the wait was like for Mickey’s PhilharMagic, and it was 10 minutes, so we decided to do that.
For the first time ever, I felt a bit motion sick during the Aladdin section of it – I have no idea why, but I hope that doesn’t become a regular problem for me with this, as I do like it.
When we came out of there, we were good with our Fastpass + time, so we headed over to Enchanted Tales with Belle, and got in line. We probably waited about five to 10 minutes before we were let in, with Mark getting more antsy that the other line was being let in, but sometimes that’s the way it goes. He also kept asking me what it was – well, what the heck would you guys say? I really didn’t know how to describe it, so I just said a “show” in inverted commas. Well, it certainly was a “show”….
They did cram us in to the first segment with the mirror, and I was a bit annoyed that all the adults were told to keep moving across, and we did, then I didn’t end up with a particularly good view of the mirror, as I had to peer round a tall guy in front of us. Not helpful Disney!
In the next room, we found the most enthusiastic Cast Member I’ve seen in a long time. Honestly, he was bouncing up and down like a Tigger reject. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was the start of his shift, as opposed to the end…
Now when it came to assigning parts, I thought it was pretty much kids who got the parts. Well, it just goes to show how wrong you can be… When the Cast Member mentioned the palace guards, he gave it to one guy, who wasn’t exactly pleased to be chosen shall we say and Mark laughed, a little too loudly it seems, as he was the second one chosen!
I loved the final section, as the theming of the room was just fantastic, and Lumiere was beautiful to watch – the expression on his face during the whole thing was really quite something.
The Belle we had was not only sickeningly beautiful, but she really was in character as well. She was just perfect and absolutely charming.
And as for the starring role played by my husband, how did he do? Well, I’ll say he was more into it than the other guy, who pretty much just stood there, making it painfully obvious he didn’t want to be there and at least he got to have his photo taken with Belle, so I guess things worked out Ok in the end…
Here are my photos:
And the Photopass shots:
I was very impressed that he also took photos during the performance:
I bought my niece and nephew gifts at that 100 Acre Wood store, but you are right not much there. It was more of a thing where I needed to get something quickly. You see they had just been born the day before and of course I had to send them something from Disney World. My brother said my nephew already had a unibrow and so did Tigger so I found a cute onsite for him. Gotta love genetics. I got a Minnie Mouse onsite for the other one. I wanted something Eeyore!
Anyway, I love that Mark was chosen! I describe it as an interactive role playing show with some magic thrown in. Great pictures!
Just got caught up with your updates - I agree about a lot of the shops in Fantasyland as the product line seems very cookie cutter with nothing extraordinary different from shop to shop. Loved all the pictures of your Enchanted Tales with Belle experience. Mark made a very good knight I'm sure! We just got back from our trip to WDW last week and I also found the lines and crowd levels in the new part of Fantasyland much lighter than just our trip in early October. Maybe the "newness" is wearing off.
Yeah, 3D sometimes makes me feel queasy too. I could never sit through an entire 3D movie. Which is funny though, as I don't get motion sickness. It just plays with my head, I guess.
So cool Mark was chosen to play! He did an awesome job! My kids hid - they did not want to be chosen. : It's a cute little show!
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I bought my niece and nephew gifts at that 100 Acre Wood store, but you are right not much there. It was more of a thing where I needed to get something quickly. You see they had just been born the day before and of course I had to send them something from Disney World.
Well naturally!
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My brother said my nephew already had a unibrow and so did Tigger so I found a cute onsite for him. Gotta love genetics. I got a Minnie Mouse onsite for the other one. I wanted something Eeyore!
I can sympathise with that...
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Anyway, I love that Mark was chosen! I describe it as an interactive role playing show with some magic thrown in. Great pictures!
Just got caught up with your updates - I agree about a lot of the shops in Fantasyland as the product line seems very cookie cutter with nothing extraordinary different from shop to shop.
A very good way of putting it.
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Loved all the pictures of your Enchanted Tales with Belle experience. Mark made a very good knight I'm sure!
He certainly gave it his all!
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We just got back from our trip to WDW last week and I also found the lines and crowd levels in the new part of Fantasyland much lighter than just our trip in early October. Maybe the "newness" is wearing off.
Yeah, 3D sometimes makes me feel queasy too. I could never sit through an entire 3D movie. Which is funny though, as I don't get motion sickness. It just plays with my head, I guess.
So cool Mark was chosen to play! He did an awesome job! My kids hid - they did not want to be chosen.
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I agree with you about the stores in Fantasyland and really, all over WDW. There's not as much individual merchandising in the stores. It's the same stuff wherever you go. And with all the Pooh and Friends merchandise there is the 100 Acre Wood store has hardly anything. It seemed like they had a whole wall of the same stuffed animal over and over! Mind you, I still "need" to go into every store and look at every shelf! I can't wait to do Enchanted Tales. It's great that Mark was chosen. I think Luke was a knight in Cam's last report.
Looks like a great lunch at the Crystal Palace, glad you were able to get lots of love from your Donkey Boy and that mark got to get a lot of ribbing in on Piglet.
Pork ribs with a sticky sauce.
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Great photos within the shops as well! Interesting perspective on the ride queues and why the wait times are not that long! 
Possible good planning on Disney's part. 
Just wish they could alleviate some of the wait times at other extremely popular attractions throughout the parks! 
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Thank
Pixie Dust
Now it’s mainly princesses, as is Castle Couture across the way. As Mark said, not much for boys here. 
I really didn’t know how to describe it, so I just said a “show” in inverted commas. Well, it certainly was a “show”…. 
When the Cast Member mentioned the palace guards, he gave it to one guy, who wasn’t exactly pleased to be chosen shall we say 
Sorry the shopping selection was lacking!
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