A 40th celebration to end the world! THREAD 1 COMPLETED 2/16 - Page 72 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Hey Cheryl,
Just getting caught up with your report. Loved the pictures of all of you at Tuttu Gusto- I never knew that place existed either. Looks like a fun place to go before Illuminations! ::
I am loving all of your photos, especially of Germany at night(reserving seats for Illuminations, classic), BCV and the main lobby(gardener shot kinda shocked me, though! ) I too tear up during Illuminations (The Lion King musical opener gets to me as well! )
We have yet to try CP for a character meal!! I know we've go to get there, Maybe next trip if DNiece and DNephews are interested. Loved all of your photopass pictures at MK!!!! Sooo looking forward to The Mine Train ride. It would be AWESOME if they get finished early!
I hope Mark's Appt. goes well! Looking forward to more!!
__________________
Disney Trips: BLT & Poly Bungalow 2016, VGF 2015, Fantasy 2015, Saratoga Springs Resort 2014, Grand Villa at VGF 2013, Fantasy 2013, BWV and Kidani Village 2011, BWV and Kidani Village 2010, BWV and Saratoga Springs Resort 2008,Beach Club Villas 2008,Villas at Wilderness Lodge 2006, BWV 2006, BCV 2005, HHI 2004,Polynesian 2003,Grand Floridian 2000/concierge, Honeymoon at Polynesian 1994,Polynesian 1980,Polynesian 1978
_______________
Sue
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Lovely of Mark to go all sly and get such great pictures for all of us!
Can't believe he was good to Piglet! When you said he was good the first time, I kept waiting for something snarky the next time, but nothing? He WAS sick! Guess it just means he'll have some catching up to do next visit!!
Hey Cheryl,
Just getting caught up with your report. Loved the pictures of all of you at Tuttu Gusto- I never knew that place existed either. Looks like a fun place to go before Illuminations! ::
I am loving all of your photos, especially of Germany at night(reserving seats for Illuminations, classic), BCV and the main lobby(gardener shot kinda shocked me, though! ) I too tear up during Illuminations (The Lion King musical opener gets to me as well! )
We have yet to try CP for a character meal!! I know we've go to get there, Maybe next trip if DNiece and DNephews are interested. Loved all of your photopass pictures at MK!!!! Sooo looking forward to The Mine Train ride. It would be AWESOME if they get finished early!
I hope Mark's Appt. goes well! Looking forward to more!!
So glad you're enjoying it! I got it wrong - yesterday was an appointment with the nurse, not the doctor, but at least he seems to be Ok (touch wood ) with the sinuses at the moment....
Lovely of Mark to go all sly and get such great pictures for all of us!
Can't believe he was good to Piglet! When you said he was good the first time, I kept waiting for something snarky the next time, but nothing? He WAS sick! Guess it just means he'll have some catching up to do next visit!!
I'm sure he will. I think, as well, part of his lack of misbehaviour was down to what the Cast Member said too... he certainly enjoyed that!
I can't wait for the Seven Dwarves Mine Train! That looks like so much fun! From all the pictures I've seen, I don't think I'm going to be too interested in the Storybook Circus area, either. I'm sure we'll walk through it to check it out, but once will probably be enough.
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One of the things I like best about Crystal Palace is the wonderful character interaction, which it looks like you all had. But I wonder why all the meat in the salads and pastas now. I helped a friend plan a brief MK/AK trip for Christmas. She and her family are veggan and I bragged on how they have several options without meat, so I hate to hear that these are limited at one of my favorite dining choices to recommend.
, Mark, for the terrific behind the scenes pictures of the mine train! I can't wait for it to open. Storybook Circus is well-themed, but I didn't feel it was terribly adult friendly. But then neither was ToonTown as we only visited the country homes.
Just caught up - great pics as always. Mark cracks me up. Hope he gets some permanent from the sinus issues.
I hope he does too. He's suffered on/off from sinus ever since I met him, over 16 years ago. Personally, I sometimes get sinus (usually from sleeping in the wrong way it appears), but I'm fortunate enough to be able to just pop a decongestant tablet and it's gone. I can't imagine having to suffer it all day.
One of the things I like best about Crystal Palace is the wonderful character interaction, which it looks like you all had. But I wonder why all the meat in the salads and pastas now. I helped a friend plan a brief MK/AK trip for Christmas. She and her family are veggan and I bragged on how they have several options without meat, so I hate to hear that these are limited at one of my favorite dining choices to recommend.
I don't know what it is - it could be just down to the chef on that particular day.
Quote:
, Mark, for the terrific behind the scenes pictures of the mine train! I can't wait for it to open. Storybook Circus is well-themed, but I didn't feel it was terribly adult friendly. But then neither was ToonTown as we only visited the country homes.
That's a good point about ToonTown - I hadn't thought of that before, but we rarely visited it, as it didn't hold much interest for us.
Monday 10 December – part six: what is that man doing?
We wandered over to the other part of Fantasyland.
In the old Fantasyland, it’s a bit odd, as there are walls that just seem to be in the middle of the place with no rhyme or reason. I’m sure it’ll be fine once it’s done, but it was just plain weird.
As we walked into the other part, I have to confess I just wasn’t blown away by this part of Fantasyland either. I think it had a lot to do with the construction site for the Seven Dwarves Mine Train. To me, this just didn’t work with a huge building project right in the middle. It’s not something I’m used to with Disney and part of me says I wish they’d waited to open this until everything was ready.
The line to get into Be Our Guest was seriously insane – it was all the way across the bridge. Oh well, no way we’ll be getting in there to take a look around then.
We wandered across to Gaston’s Tavern, and got some photos…
… then we popped into the shop just as it started to rain, and it tipped it down for about five minutes. As you can imagine, everyone descended on the place, which made browsing very hard. Please – it’s only rain guys!
When we came out, we couldn’t believe the sight we saw – yes he is in the fountain!
We were staggered and I went to talk to a Cast Member, as I didn’t think it was acceptable and people didn’t look very happy at this behaviour. He told me that he didn’t know what to do and my reply was that I didn’t care, but he needed to do something. I pointed out that any kids seeing this would think it was OK to do this and it wasn’t. Mark told me in the end it was the cleaner who got him out of there. I heard other guests muttering that he should be thrown out of the park, and I have to be honest, I had some sympathy with that view… what a jerk!
We wandered over to the Little Mermaid ride to get some photos of this area. It was beautiful, but the wait for the ride was just insane!
As you can see, the sky was still looking ominous!
It all looks so beautiful, doesn’t it… then you look the other way and see this:
We wandered back towards Be Our Guest, as there didn’t seem to be a line now, but we soon discovered why. It was closed. I guess they close between lunch and dinner.
We did find a Photopass photographer though….
Next: our first time in a one bedroom villa at Bay Lake Tower
Yes, those gates to nowhere are very strange right now! I think I liked the new things (aside from the circus area) a bit better than you did, but do agree that there's no way to get a real feel for the place until that huge eyesore in the middle is finished up. I agree with Cam, and will pretty much ignore Storybook Circus as I did the old Toontown.
Don't they train the CMs on what to do about inappropriate guest behavior? Or at least give them a number to call for security? It's just crazy that they let that guy stand there in the fountain. In one of your photos it looks like he was washing his head!!
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Mark's ninja skills! I'm really excited now that I've seen the track.
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I got it wrong - yesterday was an appointment with the nurse, not the doctor, but at least he seems to be Ok (touch wood 
) with the sinuses at the moment....
I think, as well, part of his lack of misbehaviour was down to what the Cast Member said too... he certainly enjoyed that! 
, Mark, for the terrific behind the scenes pictures of the mine train! I can't wait for it to open. Storybook Circus is well-themed, but I didn't feel it was terribly adult friendly. But then neither was ToonTown as we only visited the country homes.
Personally, I sometimes get sinus (usually from sleeping in the wrong way it appears), but I'm fortunate enough to be able to just pop a decongestant tablet and it's gone. I can't imagine having to suffer it all day. 
I think it had a lot to do with the construction site for the Seven Dwarves Mine Train. To me, this just didn’t work with a huge building project right in the middle. It’s not something I’m used to with Disney and part of me says I wish they’d waited to open this until everything was ready. 
Mark told me in the end it was the cleaner who got him out of there. I heard other guests muttering that he should be thrown out of the park, and I have to be honest, I had some sympathy with that view… what a jerk! 
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