I definitely was NOT at Disney (Long rant) r - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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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
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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.
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So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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OK, a month and a half ago, I came to the disappointing realization that I would not be able to afford a trip to Disney this year. That depressed me a bit, along with some other things going on in my life at the moment, but I decided that maybe I would just take DD to our "local" (2 1/2 hours away) Six Flags. So being the internet junkie that i am, I went online and found out that a season pass would only cost $65 for each of us (a one day ticket for each of us would be $32 if I buy in advance and $47 if I buy at the gate). I also found out that Six Flags has a summer concert series on Thursday nights and anyone with a ticket (or season pass) into the park can enjoy the concert for free. Hmmmm, that intrigued me so I read on about the concert series. Turns out that last year they had the Jonas Brothers, Jojo, and a few other acts that DD would just LOVE to see. OK, let me think for a moment or two. Time's up, I decided to buy a season pass. I had to wait until I got paid again, but that was alright. By the time I got paid, I had found out that Raven would be one of the stars appearing for the concert series....a DEFINITE must do for DD.
Let's fast forward to yesterday. I realize that it was the Saturday before Spring break and only the third weekend that the park was open for the new season. There were LOTS of people there, but the park was in no way close to capacity. We arrived around 3:00 because DD had made a commitment to help with the Easter Egg hunt at church and didn't want to welsh on her promise. (Insert "Proud Mama glow" glow here.) So we didn't leave here until about 12:30. No big deal, our main goal in going this time was to activate the Season passes that I had purchased. We will have many trips to Six Flags this summer, with one DEFINITELY being the Rven concert.
As soon as we walk through the gate, I am struck by how absolutely un-Disney it is. There is trash on the ground, people are much ruder, and noone called us "princess"!! We head straight for the season pass building to get our pictures taken for our cards and get our discount books. (Some of the discounts in there are definitely worth the price of the pass.) As we are passing heading to the season pass building, I see another little building where they are selling "Flash Passes." Yes, I said SELLING them. When I checked out the board, I noticed that for DD and I to get the little electronic gizmo for the day (I probably should have said "renting" instead, but whatever) it will be a whopping total of $60. Now, granted, this Flash Pass would have allowed us to get on many more rides than we actually got on, but I just could not afford to pay that much for it, and I couldn't justify it to myself even if I could afford it.
Let's fast forward again.....season pass cards - 45 minute wait. Gully Washer ride - only a 10 minute wait until I realized we had gone into the Flash Pass line by mistake and the REAL line was over and hour wait. :doh: Bugs Bunny White Water Rapids - 45 minute wait....whoo hoo I actually got on a ride! (BTW the theming here was semi good, but I was struck by how people thought it was ok to climb through the barriers to let their kids get on the props like the throne and get pictures.) Scooby Doo's Ghost Blaster (think SD version of Buzz Lightyear ride) - 40 minute wait to find out the ride has now broken down and they are closing it for the rest of the day. FYI, we had originally intended on going on the Ferris Wheel that had a really short line, but we went into the wrong entrance again and decided to try Scooby Doo before the Ferris Wheel. By now we are hungry for dinner. My internet research had revealed that one meal was going to cost between $11 and $13 for each of us, so we had purchased sandwich stuff before we left home. We made our trek back to the car, ate a couple of sandwiches, chips, and a drink and then decided to move the car closer to the entrance since by now many people had started leaving for the day. Once back in the park, we headed for the Gully Washer again (in the right line this time) - 45 minute wait to watch all the floating ride vehicle get jammed up and it took 20 minutes to free just ONE. So we jump out of line and decide to head to Tony Hawks's Big Spin (Think Triceratops Spin) - 45 minute wait, get on the ride and DD cries the entire time, because she is so tired that she can't enjoy the ride. By now it is about 8:30ish, the park closes at 9:00. Since we are both pretty tired and I have a 2 1/2 drive ahead of me, we head to the front. But before we leave I need to stand in line to have them put 2 of the pictures we took with Bugs and Sylvester and Tweety onto a card so I can check them out at home. That line took me 45 minutes. And just as I am stepping up to the desk, some woman that has been off to the side for the entire time I've been in line steps in front of me and shoves her tickets at the clerk (who btw has "supervisor" engraved on his tag). When I tell her that it was my turn and I have been in line for 45 minutes, she responds with "I let that other couple in ahead of me because I can't stand in line for so long." The supervisor says nothing (even though there is a "strict" policy against line jumping) and then proceeds to help her for the next 20 minutes as she takes her sweet time deciding which picture to buy and what border she wants on it. When it is my turn, I say something to the guy about how that was rude of her to cut into the line, and he just shrugs. When he asked if I wanted to purchase any of the pictures, I just said "No, I'll take care of that online where I don't have to worry about people cutting in front of me in line."
Nope, I was definitely NOT at Disney. Oh well, I will go back, but since I have the season pass and I get summers off, we will be taking advantage of the (hopefully) smaller crowds during the work week.
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I think a well-written letter to management would be in order. 45 minutes to get your season passes?!? That's just nuts.
No wonder they only charge $65 for season passes....it sounds like they don't have enough employees to keep the guests moving and the rides operating properly.
We rarely go to Six Flags - or King's Island which is closer to us. I think the kids have been to each once or twice! It's not Disney. It's a nice thing to do if you have never been to WDW, though.
Hope your next trip is a little better. At least you get to see Raven for free.
A beloved park in my hometown (started out as Geauga Lake, was sold to Six Flags circa 91, then re-sold to Cedar Fair just to be shut down last summer ) was like that for the years it was known as SF.
Since we're adrenaline junkies though we always had a good time-and since I work just 3 12's a week we could go during the week and miss the crowds that went just on the weekends. Back then I could even renew our passes online in the off-season for $50. We always got more than our money's worth.....especially around Halloween time when they made haunted houses & fright zones......those were the good ole' days.
All of this was before I was bit by the Disney bug just 2 years ago though-so nothing comes close. Sure there's rude guests at Disney but no one keeps their parks up (nor staff who love their jobs) like them.
I went to a Six Flags park in California once many years ago and wasn't very impressed with it and haven't gone to one since. I'm not sure where the nearest one is for me.
So sorry to hear about your bad time. We have a Six Flags park about an hour away and once was enough for me. Rude people, dirty, long horrible waits, bad food, and the cost is just not worth it to me. I would rather save the money for Disney.
I'm sorry you had a bad time.. We can relate- 2 years ago we bought season passes to six flags(in mass) we used them 1x- the park was packed, food was more expensive than Disney and pretty dirty--blech
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That depressed me a bit, along with some other things going on in my life at the moment, but I decided that maybe I would just take DD to our "local" (2 1/2 hours away) Six Flags. So being the internet junkie that i am, I went online and found out that a season pass would only cost $65 for each of us (a one day ticket for each of us would be $32 if I buy in advance and $47 if I buy at the gate). I also found out that Six Flags has a summer concert series on Thursday nights and anyone with a ticket (or season pass) into the park can enjoy the concert for free. Hmmmm, that intrigued me so I read on about the concert series. Turns out that last year they had the Jonas Brothers, Jojo, and a few other acts that DD would just LOVE to see. 
OK, let me think for a moment or two. Time's up, I decided to buy a season pass. I had to wait until I got paid again, but that was alright. By the time I got paid, I had found out that Raven would be one of the stars appearing for the concert series....a DEFINITE must do for DD.
(Insert "Proud Mama glow" glow here.) So we didn't leave here until about 12:30. No big deal, our main goal in going this time was to activate the Season passes that I had purchased. We will have many trips to Six Flags this summer, with one DEFINITELY being the Rven concert. 
Now, granted, this Flash Pass would have allowed us to get on many more rides than we actually got on, but I just could not afford to pay that much for it, and I couldn't justify it to myself even if I could afford it. 
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