A 40th celebration to end the world! COMPLETED 6/24 - Page 74 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Friday 28 December – part four: wow, this is insane!
Then it was time to head out of the park. Oh my goodness, this was quite the scrum, with literally thousands of people trying to get into the park. The lines snaked right across where the park exit was. Why on earth Disney didn’t stop this happening, I do not know. I dread to think how long it would take these people now to clear security…
We wandered through the World of Disney:
We headed back to the room, and I got the rest of the Photopass pictures edited up, so we could order the CD, and hopefully soon it would be on its way and then we called bell and valet services. We had the nicest bell services guy ever, who was so helpful, and chatty.
Soon we were on our way. Instead of going straight over to Palm Springs, I’d suggested going to Griffith Park first, and then maybe if we had time, we could go to the Huntington as well. We’d see how it goes. The GPS took us a very different route to get to Griffith Park, as there were huge delays on the other route, and it gave us a nice, alternative view of Los Angeles.
Gotta love carpool lanes!
Soon we were coming towards Griffith Park, and entering a very nice neighbourhood, with nice houses. I dread to think how much some of these cost…
We arrived in the park, and began to climb gradually…
The signs said that all traffic for the Observatory should use the tunnel, so we did.
Oh wow, when we came out of there, it was like hell was breaking loose. The traffic was insane. The main parking lot by the Observatory was full, which I guess for the Friday after Christmas, really wasn’t that much of a surprise, but there was just nowhere else to park. We decided to turn around, and give up, although Mark pulled over a couple of times, so I could quickly grab some photos. At least we’d had a glimpse of Los Angeles below from Griffith Park. Maybe one day we’ll see it properly, and that Hollywood sign from here. I’ll add that to the “to do” list for a future visit…
Friday 28 December – part four: wow, this is insane!
Then it was time to head out of the park. Oh my goodness, this was quite the scrum, with literally thousands of people trying to get into the park. The lines snaked right across where the park exit was. Why on earth Disney didn’t stop this happening, I do not know. I dread to think how long it would take these people now to clear security…
We wandered through the World of Disney:
We headed back to the room, and I got the rest of the Photopass pictures edited up, so we could order the CD, and hopefully soon it would be on its way and then we called bell and valet services. We had the nicest bell services guy ever, who was so helpful, and chatty.
Soon we were on our way. Instead of going straight over to Palm Springs, I’d suggested going to Griffith Park first, and then maybe if we had time, we could go to the Huntington as well. We’d see how it goes. The GPS took us a very different route to get to Griffith Park, as there were huge delays on the other route, and it gave us a nice, alternative view of Los Angeles.
Gotta love carpool lanes!
Soon we were coming towards Griffith Park, and entering a very nice neighbourhood, with nice houses. I dread to think how much some of these cost…
We arrived in the park, and began to climb gradually…
The signs said that all traffic for the Observatory should use the tunnel, so we did.
Oh wow, when we came out of there, it was like hell was breaking loose. The traffic was insane. The main parking lot by the Observatory was full, which I guess for the Friday after Christmas, really wasn’t that much of a surprise, but there was just nowhere else to park. We decided to turn around, and give up, although Mark pulled over a couple of times, so I could quickly grab some photos. At least we’d had a glimpse of Los Angeles below from Griffith Park. Maybe one day we’ll see it properly, and that Hollywood sign from here. I’ll add that to the “to do” list for a future visit…
Those crowds coming into the park look insane! Good time to be leaving, probably. Glad you got to Griffith Park, but sorry the crowds were there as well. Griffith Park is so huge-- before I saw it I thought it would be a small city park, but it's enormous and there are so many different things to do.
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Those crowds getting into the park were just crazy I'm sure that was not fun to navigate through. Too bad the crowds were big at Griffith Park and you couldn't get into the observatory
It's a shame the food at breakfast didn't match up with the character interaction, but it could have been worse with bad food and bad characters. And it looks like their World of Disney is a lot less crowded than Disney World's, or maybe it was just because it was earlier in the day?
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Wow, the crowd waiting to get into the park was insane!!! Beautiful pictures of Griffith Park. Sorry the parking was insane and you were able to see the Observatory.
Those crowds coming into the park look insane! Good time to be leaving, probably. Glad you got to Griffith Park, but sorry the crowds were there as well. Griffith Park is so huge-- before I saw it I thought it would be a small city park, but it's enormous and there are so many different things to do.
That certainly seemed to be the case from what we saw. One day, we'll get to visit it properly...
It's a shame the food at breakfast didn't match up with the character interaction, but it could have been worse with bad food and bad characters.
That's certainly true!
Quote:
And it looks like their World of Disney is a lot less crowded than Disney World's, or maybe it was just because it was earlier in the day?
I think you're right - I think a lot of it had to do with the fact we were in there in the morning, which is usually quieter in shops outside the parks, as everyone's in the parks.
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I dread to think how long it would take these people now to clear security… 
and then we called bell and valet services. We had the nicest bell services guy ever, who was so helpful, and chatty. 
I'm sure that was not fun to navigate through. Too bad the crowds were big at Griffith Park and you couldn't get into the observatory 
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