Our "Let's Try This Again" Trip Report UPDATED: 11/1 - Page 9 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
On your tour (maybe you can answer this, if not it's okay) where they explained that they put faces on the animals but not humans-did they say why? That has me very curious!
You're standing next to my favorite princess-Snow White! Unfortunately I never found her last year @ the F&G festival. Guess that means I need a re-do!
One of the selections for her graduation trip is the WL-so if you have any more pictures of the room we'd like to see them! We always eat at Whispering Canyon and have a blast-they really embarrassed the heck out of my daughter on her 16th birthday!
Next on our tour we went behind the scenes at the MK. We divided up into our two groups to tour two different buildings. Our group went to the MK laundry facility first. WDW has so much laundry now, that they have more than one facility. This one is responsible for thousands of “costumes” or castmember uniforms. The system inside is amazing! The dirty laundry arrives by truck from all over the resort. It goes up a conveyor to the second floor, is sorted by fabric type and color and put into huge bags. The bags line themselves up so that 4 bags of the same type are dropped into the washer together. The washer knows which chemicals to use to clean them based on the bar codes on the bags. From there – laundry literally goes flying around the building! When they come out of the washer, some get dried, some not. Then they are put on a bar-coded hanger which sends them to other possible stations like ironing and mending and then sorts them by resort or theme park to be re-delivered. It is an amazing thing to see (just don’t get hit in the head by flying costumes)!
We then had to pick up our safety goggles before heading off to the machine/wood/paint shop. Here they create and refurbish attraction vehicles and other things (even trash cans) for the parks and resorts. While we were there, a lot of the Space Mountain vehicles were in there for refurb. We also got to see a Winnie-the-Pooh honey pot and Peter Pan ship. It is amazing the number of paint colors they create to make sure every detail is exactly right.
From there, we were taken by bus to the backside of Main Street at MK. We got to go down in the utilidors to see everything they accomplish “underground” so as to preserve the magic on stage. They mostly use it for transportation to get castmembers to their correct lands without having to walk through other lands to get there. They also store and transport supplies, issue pin lanyards, collect trash and have a few offices down there. Because Florida is swampland, they actually had to build the utilidors on the first floor and then build the MK on the second floor (ever notice how you have to walk uphill to get to the entrance of the MK from the boat dock?).
We then went back up on stage to watch the Celebrate A Dream Come True Parade. The cool part about watching it with our tour guides, is that they were pointing things out to us in our ear pieces while we watched. They were showing us costumes we had seen in the costume department and where the float drivers were sitting.
Here is where the float driver of the princess float is sitting – in the screen area in the center of the photo
There is another float driver underneath where Peter is sitting
Cinderella in her parade dress which is more detailed than the one she wears to her meet n’ greet or breakfast. We got to see this one up close in the costume department!
Belle’s parade dress. Not only did they have a full scale model of it in costuming, but they had a tiny replica of it that was made during the design phase of the production.
Arial’s parade dress has “scale-like” ruffles all around it.
We then walked down Main Street to check out the windows which are painted with names of people who were instrumental in building the Magic Kingdom.
to be continued....
__________________
Some Day My Prince Will Come!
Katie - WDW - August 2011
On your tour (maybe you can answer this, if not it's okay) where they explained that they put faces on the animals but not humans-did they say why? That has me very curious!
You're standing next to my favorite princess-Snow White! Unfortunately I never found her last year @ the F&G festival. Guess that means I need a re-do!
One of the selections for her graduation trip is the WL-so if you have any more pictures of the room we'd like to see them! We always eat at Whispering Canyon and have a blast-they really embarrassed the heck out of my daughter on her 16th birthday!
Hurry back with more please!!
The "not putting faces on the humans" had something to do with not being able to make them look real enough in plant form and not wanting to confuse small children.
We saw the Snow White topiary at the Studios this trip too.
I do have a ton of pics. of WL. When I get a chance, I'd be happy to sort some out for you.
__________________
Some Day My Prince Will Come!
Katie - WDW - August 2011
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I just read through your whole TR Tricia and it's AWESOME!! I can't wait to hear more! Sounds like you had a wonderul anniversary and the tour sounds amazing! You and Roger are definately Energizer bunnies! I'm tired just reading! I am in awe of all you two can do in a day!!
Your trip sounds wonderful.
I'm only on page three of your report.
I can't wait to continue reading.
I have a few questions to asked, I'm afraid if I wait until I done reading all the pages I will forget some of my questions.
People are saying they like your TR. What does TR stand for?
What do you and DH have hanging from your neck. I am sure it is something to help you stay organized. I love organization. Maybe it will help me. (I want to get a erase board before my trip in 23 day.)
I think you wrote you were at opening ceremony at MK, Epcot and AK. If we are at the parks by opening time will we see the opening ceremonies you talk about?
I will probably have more questions as I read futher.
Welcome to the boards Mary. I hope Tricia doesn't mind if I jump in and answer some of your questions.
TR stands for Trip Report (PTR stands for PreTrip Report). You'll find that there is alot of shorthand talk here. Sometimes I have to really think about the letters to figure out some of the rides people talk about. I think there might actually be a thread that has a list of the abreviations, but I am not sure where it is. Maybe someone else can let us know.
Alot of people wear lanyards with card pockets on them to hold their KTTW (Key To The World). The lanyards are great for holding pins if you want to do pin trading, too. If you are not into the pins, PassPorter offers a great pouch that will hold all kinds of goodies and it ships quite fast (I got mine in only a couple of days!). PassPorter PassHolder Pouch -- Store and Safeguard Your Cash, Cards, and More! You can go there to look at it.
If you want to see opening ceremonies at the different parks, you need to aim to get there about 30 minutes before opening time. The ceremony starts 10 or 15 minutes before opening and is sometimes a bit crowded, so getting there early is always a plus.
Tricia - I am loving your tour update and all of your pictures!! GREAT parade shots!!! Can't wait for more!!!
__________________
Betty Sue
Affiliated with CruisingCo.Com/MouseEarVacations.com
Disney Destination Specialist/ BettySueS@cruisingco.com August '09 Trip
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Liz 
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Pixie Dust
so much for giving me a little taste of it before that day comes! 
Love hearing about your trip, can't wait to hear more!! 
Love being Goofy on Space Mountain!! LOL 
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