A Disney Family Christmas 2009 - Trip Report - Page 8 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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 evening! It sounds like you got quite a bit done. I like PP, but have never understood the enormous lines that form there! Sorry about the chilly weather! Score on finding a place to watch Wishes and Spectro on short notice. Your "blue" castle shot is just lovely. I would hang that one!
I don't know how I missed this, but I am all caught up now.
I am loving your TR. You guys are so cute.
I should have made notes so I could comment on some stuff, but oh well.
I think we had the same spot as you did for Wishes in Sept. We couldn't see too much due to the trees.
I like WDW when it is a little cooler, especially at Christmas time. It makes it feel more real. We went in Dec of 2007 and I loved it. We are going back this Dec and I can't wait.
Great report, can't wait for more.
Thank you so much for the review. We are planning a trip there very soon. Try this product out for call tracking. Thanks again for all the great pictures..
Cheers.
Last edited by KoryLGriffin; 01-12-2011 at 02:29 PM..
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Great nighttime shots! Sounds like you all managed a lot this evening!
We do so much better in the evenings at the MK. It is definitely our favorite time of day there!
Quote:
Originally Posted by ilovedisney247
Great evening! It sounds like you got quite a bit done. I like PP, but have never understood the enormous lines that form there! Sorry about the chilly weather! Score on finding a place to watch Wishes and Spectro on short notice. Your "blue" castle shot is just lovely. I would hang that one!
Thanks, I am no photographer by any means. By my little point and shoot can take some good ones sometimes!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Wonderful photos of the parade!
Thanks! Although my mom gets credit for a few.
Quote:
Originally Posted by disneydreamer33
I don't know how I missed this, but I am all caught up now.
I am loving your TR. You guys are so cute.
I should have made notes so I could comment on some stuff, but oh well.
I think we had the same spot as you did for Wishes in Sept. We couldn't see too much due to the trees.
I like WDW when it is a little cooler, especially at Christmas time. It makes it feel more real. We went in Dec of 2007 and I loved it. We are going back this Dec and I can't wait.
Great report, can't wait for more.
Thanks, I am glad you are enjoying it. I definitely prefer cool over hot too. But I wish it had been just a touch warmer sometimes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KoryLGriffin
Thank you so much for the review. We are planning a trip there very soon. Thanks again for all the great pictures..
Cheers.
Glad to help. I hope your trip planning goes well. This is a great site for it!
Just got caught up on your trip report! What a great report! It sounds like you all had so much fun. We are planning a Christmas trip for 2011 and now that I have read your report I am thinking maybe it will be a pre-Christmas trip...we usually go in September when the crowds are low and I think "1,000,000 of our closest friends" might be a shock to our system!
I love all the pictures!
This would be our last day in the parks. We tried to get up early, but of course that didn’t happen . We decided to try Studios in the morning and get in some more rides on our favorites (RnR, ToT, and TSMM). We also wanted to catch the LMA show because no one except me had seen it.
We ended up getting to the Studios around 10:30 and it was NUTS . All the streets were filled with people. We tried walking down Sunset Blvd and could barely get through. We checked the wait times on our phones and waits for EVERYTHING were over 100 minutes .
We decided that we didn’t want that to be our last experience for our trip. I knew that Epcot was the park that handled crowds the best so we decided to head that way. I took one photo before we headed out and caught a boat toward the Beach Club.
CROWDS!
We got off at the Beach Club and decided to walk to Epcot. We love the BC and stayed here on our last family trip in December 2004. It is definitely our favorite resort and I think we all missed it this trip . We knew we had to get some FPs fast if we wanted to ride TT today. So I headed over that way and managed FPs in the 5-6pm time frame. The crowds were definitely out at Epcot too but it didn’t seem quite as oppressive as the Studios.
I met up with my family at SSE and even though the wait was 60 min, the line was moving at a steady pace so we decided to wait it out. I like the updates to this ride and luckily I got a good photo even though my mother was waving at the camera in front of us and nearly blocked my face .
Amusing ourselves in line:
Photos of my family on the big screen:
After SSE we were getting hungry (and a little grumpy ), so we decided to find somewhere to sit down and eat lunch. We decided on the Rose and Crown and were lucky enough to find a table big enough for all of us in the pub section . I was so thankful to be sitting as I had decided to wear my cute pink shoes today. While they are cute and look like they could be comfortable, they were not :. My feet were killing me!
Ready for food!
We all enjoyed some beer and fish and chips and then decided to head around the WS. We headed toward France because I wanted to try the Gran Marnier slush. Andrew decided to make a run for Mission Space FPs, so we all got a drink and waited for him. I really liked the Gran Marnier slush . My dad got the Grey Goose slush and it was good, but mine was better.
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Mosy and Meander and our three princesses
. We decided to try Studios in the morning and get in some more rides on our favorites (RnR, ToT, and TSMM). We also wanted to catch the LMA show because no one except me had seen it. 
. All the streets were filled with people. We tried walking down Sunset Blvd and could barely get through. We checked the wait times on our phones and waits for EVERYTHING were over 100 minutes 
.
. We knew we had to get some FPs fast if we wanted to ride TT today. So I headed over that way and managed FPs in the 5-6pm time frame. The crowds were definitely out at Epcot too but it didn’t seem quite as oppressive as the Studios.
.
), so we decided to find somewhere to sit down and eat lunch. We decided on the Rose and Crown and were lucky enough to find a table big enough for all of us in the pub section 
. I was so thankful to be sitting as I had decided to wear my cute pink shoes today. While they are cute and look like they could be comfortable, they were not 
:. My feet were killing me!
. My dad got the Grey Goose slush and it was good, but mine was better.
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