Well That's not what I expected.....TR May 2011 - Page 7 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Wow - you got so much done and managed 3 sit-down meals, as well. You were really lucky with wait times, eh?
We have found the same thing as you did about TSMM right after park opening. The posted time is way way over the actual time for the line-up. We usually grab a FP and then go through stand-by in about 20 minutes regardless of what it says.
Great day - keep it coming! I had a dream about WDW last night and I think it's reading your TR has made my subconscious "homesick"
This morning was a little later since we were doing the world side and it opens later. We got 20min of extra sleep. Then it was up and off. We took a bus to MK then the boat to Wilderness lodge for breakfast at Whispering Canyon.
Whispering Canyon was yummy but or server wasn't awake yet. I made our ADR this day so it could be later and more lively. We did do the ketchup and got 9 bottles then just before leaving got to pass them to some one else. The kids loved that part. One of the runners pointed out I should let the kids have sharpies because they “must have colored on me last night” pointing to my tattoo. Devyn rode a “horse”. It was much quieter then I had thought it would be but that's was OK. We all said we loved the feel of the lodge and it would be nice to stay here one day.
Here is where we decided we decided wilderness lodge was not for us. DH said we should take the bus, I said boat to TTC. He won so we went to the buses. I don't like the line area. There is no line and buses going multiple places have the same pick-up spot. So we waited, and waited. Say many buses to HS (5) MK(3) then there was our bus to Epcot. Now since there was no lines people that just got there ran in front of those that had been waiting for a while. Next thing was we then had to stop at Fort wilderness. Yup it might not have been faster my way but at least we wouldn't be just waiting.
OK that's one of the 2 un-magical things of this trip. Not to bad just makes me remember why I like Pop.
When we got to Epcot It started raining. We ran into a nice CM that asked if we were having fun and I got to do something special for Disney, but I can't tell about it because I signed something. But it was cool. Sorry.
Hubby took the kids to see the American adventure while I did my thing then we meet up and watched the voices of liberty.
Rain had stopped
Since lunch was in Norway we went that direction. We stopped to see all the decorations, Becky loved the Tangled one. We stopped in China I need some chopsticks for part of my sister x-mas gift. I also got the kid ones with the cute people on top. Becky got me a fan with my name for mother's day. We were a little early so Hubby took Dev on the Maelstrom ride while I got the girls in the dresses. Then we checked in and was called right away. No wait for the photo and off to the table. We have done breakfast a few times and loved it. Lunch was even better. Now we will have a tough choice in the future.
The kids were doing at Car's 2 race thing so we went to Japan to get the sticker from there. I had been telling Crysta about the pick a pearl. So she wanted to do that. She got a nice soft white 7.5mm pearl. She didn't love any of the mounting things so we took it in the baggy. My mom is friends with a jeweler, so we will go see her to find something. Back to Epcot... We walked out of the store and the candy lady was right there. Great timing. We skipped over Italy because we were having dinner there and went to France. Crysta was looking for an Eclair, but the line was huge. So we walked throught the perfume garden and found Aurora. Becky had a pink “diamond” ring that she was saving for her so we got in line to say hi. One little girl and Becky was up. Aurora made sure she wanted her to have it and then wore it for the photo. When the kids were walking away she secretly slipped it to the photo pass guy.
Next we went to UK I wanted to see it the tea store had any tea I wanted. But sadly it was all the same I get at home and not even in cool packaging. Hubs took Dev to the sword store and The girls and I found them there. Crysta remembered the books in one of the stores so we went to see, instead we found Pooh and Tigger.
We got to listen to the concert while we took our shots and then watched for a bit before heading out. We did make a quick stop at the phone booths. Some how when Crysta got in one it rang, when she answered it was.............me. I had found the numbers before we left. The guy behind us was amazed and asked if he could use them. He took a photo with his phone and called his kids.
I don't remember where I found the numbers but I'll share.
As your are looking at them
Left: 1(407)827-9862
Middle: 1(407)817-9863
Right: 1(407) 827-9861
Out of the UK and off to Canada. We walked up the hill to the top. It's a good thing I have been doing weights. Pushing the stroller up that hill would not have been fun. We stopped in the store and found a peg board of pins. The kids were in heaven, this is their 3rd year and they are getting good at it.
We had time before dinner so Becky wanted to ride Nemo. On our way we stopped in the Fairies garden for some free drinks. Devyn liked the Italian one????? Their fave was the lemon one. We walked in the butterfly garden then cut threw the buildings and saw the fairies but they were getting ready to head back to Pixie hallow so we just waved.
Then we went to see our fish. I love that it says a 5 min wait and there is no one in line. LOL. After our clam ride we looked in the tanks. This area was a little busy but not bad. We had great views and saw a lot of fish. We even saw some divers, they played pattycake with Dev on the glass. And “The real Crush” was in the tank. See all the people????
It was getting close to dinner so we went to catch on of the boats over. We got on the one that goes to Germany so I could stop in the Caramel shop. It smelt delish the moment we stepped in. No time to sample we were going to Italy.
Dinner was fabulous. It was paced a bit slow (for 2 little hungry kids) but worth every minute. I found it odd that our waitress took our orders but never brought us anything. She had one guy bringing our drinks and another our food. But we were kept hydrated and full so I guess it works. Review in next post but as a teaser. Devyn LOVES calamari.
After dinner we found a nice spot for fireworks near the wishing well. And when they started Devyn and Becky shared the snack she had picked. Chocolate covered marshmallows and fireworks is there anything better?
Ok time to go home.....”WAIT! Mom what's that? “ What's what, Becky?” “That?can I do THAT?” That would have been Test track. Sure, It's magic hours and the time is 15min. So Crysta Becky and I jump in line. A nice couple talk to her about how she is so brave and how she's going to have fun. They were also impressed she was still up. OK our turn. She wants to sit in the back of the car OK easy fix, we trade with our car mates (they were happy). Did she like it,,,,,,, Nope she loved it. She asked if we could go on another ride. Um child you do know it's mid-night right? So we when to Soarin. Got in line, a long one 50min. And Crysta started to dance. Out of line we go. We tell Becky we will go on when we come back in a few days. One last ride before we head home. Space ship earth. Devyn was asleep so D got to hold him.
Bus ride home Becky stayed awake. We got back to the room and looked at the clock it was 2am. She had not been in the stroller at all, all day. (even when I tried to hide her from the rain). My baby girl walked from 7am-2am.
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.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Someone on another board posted the phone numbers of the UK phone booths. Said they call them occasionally from home just to see who might answer. Hmmm. Not sure I would do that, but several people commented how fun it was talking to someone in the World.
Never thought to just call from home. that might freak some one out. LOL. Now if I knew a PP was going to be in that area around a certain time I might (like before or after an ADR).
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