Our Stop and Smell the Roses (a.ka. ditching the itinerary) Trip Report- COMPLETE!! 2/16 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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I picked up my tassle purse this week and just love it. I am really debating calling down and getting the tote also but I loved looking at the patterns and don't want just any one. I can't wait to see what yours looks like!!
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what a great report. Loved the pictures of your DD with her new hairdo. Cant wait to read more!
Thanks! More is on the way shortly...
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Originally Posted by debrabrown
I hope your "hunt" ends with just what you're looking for. I don't blame you for being picky considering the price tag. Great pics of the fireworks!
I think part of the fun was the thrill of the chase -- I wanted to see every one they had available, because each one is a little bit different.
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Originally Posted by elisa1006
Great photos from MK at night!
I'm getting antsy for the next update!
Not much longer!!!
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Originally Posted by chezp
Great shots of the fireworks and Spectro!
Thanks!
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Originally Posted by Cam22
Great pictures of SpectroMagic and Wishes! I the fairies from Sleeping Beauty, too!
Yay, another fan of the SB fairies!!!
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Originally Posted by a&a's mama
I picked up my tassle purse this week and just love it. I am really debating calling down and getting the tote also but I loved looking at the patterns and don't want just any one. I can't wait to see what yours looks like!!
I totally hear you! Pics will be in my next update!
We decided to sleep in again today. We definitely don't get as much done as other folks due to our late starts, but the extra sleep sure does keep everyone's energy level and mood up so I figure it's worth it.
I took a turn going down to get breakfast this morning. More yummy pastries -- this time cheese danish and strawberry turnovers. Deeee-lish! And DD discovered that she likes croissants. How fancy.
Instead of taking the monorial to the TTC we decided to walk over there via the Poly. It's a pretty walk and helps work of some of those daily pastries. The line for the MK monorail was ginormous, which was a little surprising given that it was well after park opening. The Epcot monorail had no line, which was good for us because that's where we were headed.
We started of at Character Connection.
The line looked long but it actually moved pretty quickly and within 20 minutes we'd met the Fab 5.
Next stop was the Living Seas. I love these guys -- mine, mine, mine!
We've never explored the upstairs here so we went up and saw the manatee and the aquarium. We'd just missed the dolphin feeding, which DD would've liked to have seen. For some reason I took zero pictures of this part of the day. Not sure what happened.
By now it was lunch time and I was craving something from Sunshine Seasons, which is one of my all time favorite CS locations. I opted for my old-standby, a platter from the Asian station. I noticed that they changed the choices -- looks like they no longer offer the two entree/two side combo plate. Now it's one entree/two sides. I had to choose between the ginger beef and the sweet and sour chicken, both of which I love. Since I'd been eating alot of beef this trip I opted for the chicken. DD got the kids lunch box, which had an uncrustable, a juice box, carrot sticks and applesauce. Not quite sure what DH had, I seemed to have missed it.
Not sure if I got a bum serving or if they've changed the quality of the chicken they use, but what I got was very fatty and it seemed to be all dark meat. I didn't even finish it all, and usually this meal leaves me practically eating the plate! Too bad.
Inspite of the hustle and bustle in here, I always find it relaxing.
After lunch we went to see the Circle of Life movie. This was a new one for me although not for DH and DD. Sadly The Land -- one of our faves -- was down for refurb. On our way out of the pavilion we grabbed FPs for Soarin' to use when we returned for date night. The time was already up to 4:15 - 5:15 p.m. so that was perfect.
Next we headed over to the U.K. to catch the Tigger and Pooh meet that we'd missed earlier in the week. This must be a well kept secret because there was no one in line! Cool!
At this point we asked DD if she wanted to do another KimPossible Mission since she'd enjoyed that earlier in the week. She wasn't interested, which surprised me, but I didn't push it. We decided to exit through the International Gateway at this point so we could pick up some pressed pennies from the BC arcade. I was hinting big time that maybe we could stop at B&C for sundaes but no-one took the bait.
Our plan was to take a bus from BC to MK then get the boat back to the hotel. As we were waiting we saw a DTD bus coming and DH said, "why don't you head down there now to look at the purses by yourself." Ummmm -- okay! I jumped off the bench and ran for the bus like a woman on a mission! And I was! DH said he'd take DD back to the hotel for some pool time.
The bus made good time to DTD and I started off at TrenD where they had tons of selection in the bag I wanted. While I was waiting to be helped I spied one that, from the front, had two of my key criteria -- an unobstructed Mickey and a "Walt Disney World" banner. My heart was racing just hoping that no-one in line in front of me would ask to look at that one. Finally it was my turn and the CM was so nice and patient, pulling down many for me to look at (they have them hanging off oversized decoratitve clipboards).
After looking at a bunch of bags I decided on the first one I'd seen while waiting in line. I had to give up the ghost of getting everything I wanted in the pattern -- this one didn't have a full castle on it -- but it had so much else of what I wanted, Mickey, the banner, a Mickey bar, Cindy's slipper, ears and a full Tink on the bottom. I was grinning ear-to-ear once the purchase was complete. I told the CM that if my DH were there he'd probably hug her just to have this ordeal over with.
So without further ado....meet the newest addition to our family:
Isn't she perty???
I made a quick stop at WoD to return the wristlet and then I was off to catch a bus back to the GF. It wasn't long before the bus came but then it turned out to be the longest. bus ride. ever.
It took an hour to get back to GF. First we stopped at Pleasure Island for quite some time because the drivers were switching shifts. Then we got moving and found out the bus needed to make a stop at Typhoon Lagoon before heading to WL, Poly then finally GF. On the way in I took a few pictures around the entrance.
Cool vintage cars:
Pretty flowers:
I went over to the pool to let DH know that it was mission accomplished! He was so very happy!
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Awesome TR!! Sounds like you had a great time so far.
I totally understand the tears over the Narcoosee (sp) debacle! I probably would've done the same thing! It's bad enough to have your plans derailed, but to have it done by someone who clearly could've made it right would've made me feel like it was personal!! I'm glad you were still able to relax and enjoy the evening.
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the fairies from Sleeping Beauty, too!
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. The line for the MK monorail was ginormous, which was a little surprising given that it was well after park opening. The Epcot monorail had no line, which was good for us because that's where we were headed.
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