Live, Laugh, Relax with Cam and Fam Completed 7/31 - Page 76 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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For some reason, Luke and I were both attracted by the crystal shop on Main Street, so we stepped inside to check out their wares. We love so much of this art but never purchase any. We came out to rain, put on our ponchos, and then removed them by Tomorrowland as the skies had cleared. We hadn’t ridden Space Mountain since the refurbishment so this was first on our list. The standby wait was at 80 minutes when we arrived, but went down to 70 minutes just as we walked under the sign. In actuality it was only 50 minutes and we got to try out the new interactive games in the process. Luke was great; I was mediocre.
The plan was for me to ride first while Luke went with Stefanie to the exit. I quickly made friends with the family in from of me who was from Houston. Deion was going to have to ride by herself as the rest of her family was in groups of 3. She told me we should just be partners. Yeah, a riding buddy! Shortly after this decision, a CM called a for 2 riders. She looked at me, I nodded, and we skipped way ahead in line. Deion was a really sweet lady who screamed and laughed as much as I did.
Luke caught this shot as I came to the exit. Deion is the lady behind me.
I am so glad that the next time we ride Space Mountain, I’ll be able to add our ride photos to our PhotoPass card.
Luke was then off to travel through space. I tried catching him as he came into the exit area, but I couldn’t get the camera focused in time.
Back outside, we picked up a Coke and Red Powerade in the shop where the ride empties out. Now we were off to ToonTown for a visit to Pixie Hollow and our favorite fairy whom Stefanie had not seen yet. The posted wait time was 90 minutes, but was right at 55 minutes as I was given a wait time card at the entrance to hand back to the CM at the end. We were shrunk to pixie size and meet Iridessa first, who loved that Stefanie was dressed all in yellow. She even showed Stefanie that she had on yellow pants, too.
Tinker Bell was totally full of herself, chattering away to Stefanie and me. She joined in on Iridessa’s conversation about pants and yellow, saying that green was a much better color and that pants were itchy to wear. Then Iridessa and Tink laughed that Peter wore tights. Terence wears them, too, and became a bit indignant.
Something was very funny!
Three pixies
Terence was also sweet and even dusted Stefanie before we left.
Once we were people size again, Luke needed a restroom break while Stefanie and I tried to browse. This store and all of ToonTown had gotten way too crowded while we were off in Pixie Hollow. We needed to evacuate.
Our next adventure took us to Winnie the Pooh where we had a bit of a wait, but I used the time to begin my notes. I finally saw the portrait of Winnie the Pooh with Mr. Toad. Luke pointed it out, but I did see it.
Dumbo was too busy, so we headed out of Fantasyland to Liberty Square and Haunted Mansion. Just as we got to the queue it began to rain, and we were glad to move under the canopy quickly. Good timing! We had a short wait, and then moved into the stretching room. We were stuck once very briefly in the hall with the glowing eyes, which was actually pretty cool. We also noticed the shadow of the ghost playing the piano for the first time. And I still love the Tomb Sweet Tomb needlework.
Next up was the Hall of Presidents where we always enjoy the audio-animatronics. Impressive! I love Morgan Freeman’s narration of our country, its presidents, and its people. Very well done!
At 8:15 we felt we should get closer to Tomorrowland Terrace for our Summer Nightastic Dessert Party. We did not want to be blocked in by Disney’s Electrical Parade. We all made a visit to the restrooms nearby and then waiting until admission (time I used again to catch up on notes). We were seated in C section, a great location. The three of us had some of everything, but our favorites were donut holes, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate mousse, fresh fruit, chocolate pie, and chocolate truffles.
The view of the castle from our table!
Our table with Luke and Stefanie
I practice taking pictures before the fireworks started and came up with an improvised stand on our table that acted as my tripod. I got a few really good pictures that way.
I even caught a blurry Tinker Bell fly down from the castle.
The PhotoPass photographer who took our picture at the dessert party had had to put up her camera about 10 minutes before the fireworks started, but promised she would not leave until we came back at the end for our photo. When we finished, she gave us some insider information. According to her, in the near future PhotoPass video will be offered in character meet and greets, beginning in Pixie Hollow. Who knows if the information is accurate or not?!
When the fireworks were over, we set off on a mission for Melissa (mestitch). She had just read somewhere earlier that day that the TTA had resorted some of the original narration and wondered if we knew if the rumor was indeed truth. Sure enough, we heard, “Paging Mr. Morrow, Tom Morrow” in the part of the ride where it enters Space Mountain. As we entered this area we noticed that lights were on and discovered that Space Mountain was down (thank goodness we had ridden it earlier in the evening). Luke got a few good photos of the ride with the lights on.
By now we were a very tired trio and would have to check out tomorrow. We got a bus back to the Beach Club where we finished packing and it the sack by 12:50.
Cam,
I LOVE that the Tink you met was the same one we met last year. I hope she is still at Pixie Hollow when we return in a few weeks, as I would like to have her sign the photo of DH trying to give her a kiss on the cheek. She of course, would have nothing to do with this "sparrow man' and his silly "grown up ways".
__________________
My 19 year old hero! Hurry home! (A.K.A. D_Stitch)
Last edited by Dale_Loves_Mickey; 07-26-2010 at 09:02 PM..
How cool that you got a picture of Tinker Bell coming down from the castle. I think the view from the dessert party is fabulous! My friend and I did it when we were there in December and we are going with the kids in October.
I am very sorry that your TR is coming to an end. It is one of the things I look forward to reading every day.
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Love your photos, especially the fairy ones! My DD's were Iridessa and Rosetta when we did the BBB and we loved visitng Pixie Hollow. Tink said "Wo: you look just like my friend Ro!" (to DD dressed up as Rosetta) She was so funny and in character.
Sorry your trip is coming to a close. I'll have to get a book out of the library now for my evening read. I much prefer your Disney stories!
What a wonderful last evening. I love the shot of Tinkerbell coming down from the castle, even if it is a bit blurry. The colors were amazing. So glad you got to ride the TTA and hear some of the old recording....
I'm so glad that you were able to get the Wishes Dessert Party for your last evening I think it was the perfect way to say goodbye to the MK and cap off what sounded like another amazing trip.
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Great picture of you in Space Mountain! Luke is a great photographer!
I love all of the pictures of Pixie Hallow! It is such a fun experience!
It looks like you had great seats at the dessert party! That is a great picture of Tink flying from the castle!
I can't believe your last day is almost here!
I look forward to reading something new every day here on your trip report!
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Great update! I took one look at you in the ride at Space Mountain and confirmed it is not for me. I can to do the one at Disneyland... though I don't actually enjoy it. Not WDW however. The cars are completely different. Good for you though! Love the pics of the Fairies. My boys would not have tolerated it, so I guess it's okay we missed it LOL. Love the Dessert party pics. Brought back some great memories of what a fantastic show it was. It even made my husband speechless, and that is rare!
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