The way We do a Disney Re-Do ~~ Beach club Aug 13-22 - FINISHED!!! 1/20 - Page 6 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Great updates, I hope you made it to TSMM. Love the check in. We had the same experience when we checked in at Pop after on line check in during our July trip. My hubby jumped off the bus and they said are you the Piehl family? He was floored!
That's awesome! So it must not be a resort level thing but a crowd thing?
Sorry about the mix up with the pathways, it is pretty hard to decipher from the resorts. Epcot is so straight forward but trying to find that DHS path is pretty hard IMO. It is strange that there are not more signs in the resort area.
If you followed my pre-TR, you know we have access to a Guest Assistance Card (GAC) for our daughter who has Asperger’s. You also know we are reluctant to use it unless absolutely necessary.
Well, about now…it was necessary.
DD and I went into guests relations while DH waited with the other kids (in the rain). It took about 15 minutes for the CM at Guest relations to locate our file number and get the pass ready. It was written for the week of our stay. It was such a relief that we would not need to stop at guest relations at each park!
Something I have come to love so much about Disney is how easy they make it for families to travel. From the onsite transportation, to the DME to the airport luggage transfer, they take as much stress as possible out of the trip (good thing since families inject their own unique stressors!). The fact that they are willing to make accommodations for special needs—from dietary requests to disabilities—just endear me so much more to Disney! Through my “therapy” (aka my pre-trip report), other Passporters helped me to be more at ease with using the GAC. Ultimately, we would not have returned to WDW if it were not for the GAC--it is the only thing allowing our family to have a vacation experience many others would take for granted.
Anyway…back to DHS…
We made our way to TSMM. The stand-by line was about 70 minutes. We entered the FP line with our GAC and were on the ride in about 20 minutes. We liked it so much we did it one more time. At that point, DS and I had sore forearms from the intense battle, and DD wanted to do something else.
It was still raining hard outside so we ducked into the Great Movie Ride. We did not get a chance to ride this during our last trip, so I did not know what to expect.
We got into a front row right next to our tour guide, Mike. It was fun (for the adults) to see all the old movie scenes. Mike was engaging our youngest daughter with funny looks and comments in between the messages to our entire group. He would “hi-five” her, making her giggle.
Midway through our tour, we ran into a group of gangsters in the middle of a heist… “Mike” stopped the ride to take action…there were some shots fired…it appeared that “Mike” was taken out of commission and our vehicle was then hijacked by a tough gangster girl.
Since we were in the front row, she was now sitting right next to our youngest daughter. Delaney did not appear frightened but held a skeptical expression and kept her eyes on the gangster girl driver...
Our other kids were not as aware of our new driver…yet…
Ben was sitting on the side of the boat, and like boys are apt to do, leaned over the edge to get a better view. At one point, Ben started to stand up and the gangster girl yelled, in a perfect gangster tone, “SIT DOWN, KID!”
He sat.
And looked so scared we thought he would cry.
Ross and I could not help but crack up with laughter. Ben tried to make himself as small as possible to not be seen again. After a while, he crouched on the floor, trying to hide behind his dad’s legs. It was a relief to Ben when we later discovered “Mike” was alive and fine and he was able to take back control of our vehicle. Whew! Delaney was also glad to see the friendly driver return to her side.
Overall impressions of this attraction: girls were glad they did it once, but had no interest in doing it again; grownups had a similar reaction, and Ben declared that he would never go on that ride again. This is also when he decided he would want to get one of those toy guns as a souvenir; he figured the gangster girl would not have messed with him if he flashed his weapon…
Oh dear! I'm so sorry you had trouble finding your way! I laughed at the part where your DS plastered his fake grin on Hope you make it onto TSMM!!!
I only wish he would adjust his attitude that quickly every day at home!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by saibot0001
I too laughed when you said DS put his fake grin on! Bless his heart. lol...The picture you painted of your family running through the rain made me think of the very first time we went to Disney and the rain POURED down on us at AK (just after my dh and dd got back from changing their clothes from getting soaked on Kali River Rapids). .
I suppose most WDW fanatics have running in the rain stories...thanks for sharing your connection!
Quote:
Originally Posted by islandgirl
Oh my! Sorry that you had so much trouble finding your way. Hope you get to ride TSMM & can't wait to read about your dinner at CMC.
I thought I would get to that today...I need to write faster! (Or remember less...)
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
Great updates! Such a Magical check in. Sorry you had trouble finding DHS.
It was magical!
Quote:
Originally Posted by B.M.
Sorry you had such a difficult time getting to the Studio's! I'm very directionally challenged and have gotten lost/mixed up plenty of times..... Glad yall were still in good spirits when you arrived, I think I may have gotten a little on the cranky side after all that....
Don't let me fool you...I was gettin' a bit cantankerous!
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Fun trip report! You guys have a great attitude about touring in the rain! I don't think my good mood would have survived all that traveling/walking in a downpour! Glad you made it onto TSMM! Can't wait to hear more!
__________________
A Fairy Godmother wannabe -
Look what a little Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo can do!
Glad you made it to TSMM! We have never been on this and look forward to doing it on our next trip! I kiddos reaction to the bad guys made me smile, especially ds wanting the toy gun as a souvenir. lol
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From the onsite transportation, to the DME to the airport luggage transfer, they take as much stress as possible out of the trip (good thing since families inject their own unique stressors!). The fact that they are willing to make accommodations for special needs—from dietary requests to disabilities—just endear me so much more to Disney! Through my “therapy” (aka my pre-trip report), other Passporters helped me to be more at ease with using the GAC. Ultimately, we would not have returned to WDW if it were not for the GAC--it is the only thing allowing our family to have a vacation experience many others would take for granted. 
Ben tried to make himself as small as possible to not be seen again. After a while, he crouched on the floor, trying to hide behind his dad’s legs. It was a relief to Ben when we later discovered “Mike” was alive and fine and he was able to take back control of our vehicle. Whew! Delaney was also glad to see the friendly driver return to her side. 
Hope you make it onto TSMM!!!
.
Hope you get to ride TSMM & can't wait to read about your dinner at CMC. 
"Sparky"(My first trip.)
Waiting to eat with Goofy - DLR May 2010
PassPorter Guide Author
Cassie
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