Living the Dream and remembering the Bagman COMPLETED 5/16 - Page 6 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Wow! Your morning sure got off to a bit of a rough start! I hope your day gets better. Hat lady at the train station is what gives us New Yorkers such a bad rap! Honestly, there are plenty of decent people in the city!!
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Glad to hear you were able to leave your bags with bell services. When we're there, we have a 3 pm matinee Sunday, and I want to take the train back to D.C. Sunday night. Glad I won't need to drag a suitcase around all day, or trust it to a locker at the train station!
I never ever eat at McDonalds, but still noting not to go to the one you tried.
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That's one thing I'm concerned about is subway travel in the different cities we're traveling. I don't mind asking for help but if the people are unhelpful or rude it just frustrates me. I'm glad you eventually found your way.
Wow! Your morning sure got off to a bit of a rough start! I hope your day gets better. Hat lady at the train station is what gives us New Yorkers such a bad rap! Honestly, there are plenty of decent people in the city!!
Oh trust me, we do know that. I think this is now our third or fourth visit together and I've been a couple of times before that - once with my parents and once on my own, but unfortunately you're right, it is people like that who give New Yorkers the bad name.
Glad to hear you were able to leave your bags with bell services. When we're there, we have a 3 pm matinee Sunday, and I want to take the train back to D.C. Sunday night. Glad I won't need to drag a suitcase around all day, or trust it to a locker at the train station!
No, you'll be fine. They were very friendly and helpful at the hotel. I can't fault them.
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I never ever eat at McDonalds, but still noting not to go to the one you tried.
That's one thing I'm concerned about is subway travel in the different cities we're traveling. I don't mind asking for help but if the people are unhelpful or rude it just frustrates me. I'm glad you eventually found your way.
I'm hoping she was an exception to the rule, as you'd hope people on the New York subway would be much more friendly to visitors, given how many they get each year from all around the world.
I've been to that McDonald's before and it's quite crowded and can be quite unpleasant at times as you experienced! The MTA employees are not always the most helpful at times regarding the subways and sometimes it may be best to ask a stranger there.
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
I've been to that McDonald's before and it's quite crowded and can be quite unpleasant at times as you experienced! The MTA employees are not always the most helpful at times regarding the subways and sometimes it may be best to ask a stranger there.
Wow, there aren't many cities you'd say that about!
Saturday 1 October – part two: I don’t think we’ll be “seeing forever” today
We saw the One World Observatory…
I had a strange feeling looking up at it that we wouldn’t be “seeing forever” today, their catchphrase, as it looked suspiciously to me as if the observation deck was covered in cloud. Oh well, if it wasn’t meant to be, it wasn’t meant to be, if you know what I mean.
We made our way to the entrance, and sure enough, we were told by four separate people that there was zero visibility. Ok, no worries. We explained we only had today, so kind as it was to offer to swap us to another day, that just wouldn’t work for us, and in we went.
Once you clear security, you go through what feels like a never ending pre-show. I would imagine if it ever gets that busy (I know my friend visited last summer and said how quiet it was), that some of this would be used as a queuing area before the elevators…
The first show is all about those who built it, and how proud they were of their work in it, which was lovely to see. Then the next section was all about taking you through the “bedrock”, which wasn’t bedrock, as it was plastic when we touched it!
Then finally we were at the elevators, and this is a show in itself. It takes you through the site from 2000 years ago until today. I wasn’t quick enough, but there was a very moving piece, where it shows the World Trade Center standing for three decades or so, and then suddenly in 2001, it’s gone. It really reminded you of what happened, but didn’t labour the point, and was nicely done.
Then we thought we were there… oh my goodness, how foolish were we! We first had to go through the spiel about the iPad. Now I had read nothing but good reviews about these, but not for $15 on a day of zero visibility. So you’re going to rub it in and show me everything I can’t see today? I don’t think so. We passed, and I don’t regret that decision, especially given we could hear everyone else’s as we went round, so we had a reasonable idea of what we missed.
Then you had to have your tacky photo taken. We didn’t even look at ours, as I didn’t want a reminder of a zero visibility visit, and if you could’ve seen the cameras they were using. They weren’t even vaguely professional! I doubt the photos were very good…
Then we were finally set free into the observation level…
… and this is what we saw…
Then we saw a bit more of this….
…. And finally a bit more of this!
I kept looking down to see if it was showing any sign of clearing from below, but sadly it wasn’t. It looked as if it had set in for the day. Oh well, they told us zero visibility, and this time they were right about that. At least we could say we’d done it.
We headed back down in the elevators, and you get a totally different experience on the way back down, compared to on the way up….
That is one heck of a Disney store! I love that the peas were displayed right above the Eeyores. Our favorites! Bummer you missed Cirque but sounds like you made the right decision.
An adventurous start to the day with McD and the subway. Wow that's kinda cool that they have a movie of sorts while you're riding the elevator. But I can see how that would totally mess with my DH and his motion sickness. Actually, he would never even go up there due to fear of heights..... Bummer you were clouded in, but at least you saw all the displays and such.
My mom and I visited the World Trade center in June of 2001. We purchased the tacky photo, and indeed the quality wasn't stellar. But now I'm so glad we have it.
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Tanya
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I hope your day gets better. Hat lady at the train station is what gives us New Yorkers such a bad rap!
Honestly, there are plenty of decent people in the city!!
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Sorry for all the issues this morning. Hopefully things perk up from here!
Alaskan Mom aka Bonnie
PassPorter Guide Author
Oh my goodness, you are so right about that... 
The MTA employees are not always the most helpful at times regarding the subways and sometimes it may be best to ask a stranger there.
It really reminded you of what happened, but didn’t labour the point, and was nicely done. 
I doubt the photos were very good… 
I love that the peas were displayed right above the Eeyores. Our favorites! Bummer you missed Cirque but sounds like you made the right decision.
Bummer you were clouded in, but at least you saw all the displays and such. 
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