Living the Dream and remembering the Bagman COMPLETED 5/16 - Page 13 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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'm FINALLY caught up again (through three different boards! ).
Yay!
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It's so much fun reading this TR, because it's like being there all over again. I am so sorry we never got to meet up for the brief time I was at Disney, but I wasn't about to let you guys be in NYC and not see you!
Oh definitely not!
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So I'm not defending Google Maps here, but I was using the Panera app. I knew there was a Panera Bread right next to the Library. In fact, I'd eaten there before. I just couldn't remember where it was. The app did eventually show me where it was.
And now, I'm thinking another visit to the AMNH is in order. I just love that Museum (just don't ask me to find the restrooms ).
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Both the whale and the titanosaur are huge, wow! Very cool to see those. But not cool you couldn't find your way out!
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
Saturday 1 October – part ten: this is how a cab ride should be!
We headed back to the hotel, and chilled in the lobby for a few moments before heading down to collect our luggage. We were very impressed that the town car was already waiting for us, but he had to wait a little while, as we needed to put the items we’d bought today into the cases, and a few other bits and pieces too. Oh well, at least we wouldn’t have to worry about them being overweight. I doubt even we’d be able to fill them to 70lbs!
We were immediately helped with the luggage, absolutely no requirement for us to us to do anything. Now that’s more like it!
The guy was wonderful. He chatted to us almost the whole way through the journey to the airport, and when he saw I was taking photos through the windows of the car, he immediately told me I could wind down the window. What a refreshing change from the obnoxious cab drivers we’d encountered elsewhere in this trip!
Recognise this anyone?
He got a very good tip when we got to the airport. He was also as good as he could be at negotiating the traffic, although I bet the other drivers hated him, as he had a habit of going into lanes he knew would end, and then cutting in a few hundred metres further along. However, I never once felt anything but safe with him.
The traffic was appalling. We had been warned it would take about an hour to get to JFK and I think it took longer. I couldn’t believe how bad it was, given it was a weekend. I thought it would be terrible on weekdays, but not on a Saturday afternoon. Our driver explained it was like this the whole time. We said to him we just don’t know how he, and millions of others who live here, deal with this every day. I honestly thought the M25 was bad, but my goodness, it’s nothing compared to here. And heck, getting from our airports into the centre of London is a lot simpler.
We headed inside, and the first thing we saw was a sign saying that Upper Class check-in wasn’t where it usually was. Ok… so we needed to lug the suitcases over to another part of the airport. I was Ok once I started, just so long as no-one got in my way…
When we arrived, this is the scene that greeted us…
I was very glad that we were Virgin and not Delta at this point. I was even happier when I was told later that Delta’s lounge is nowhere near as good as Virgin’s. You even have to pay for food in Delta’s lounge apparently! Wow….
We were quickly checked in, and I mentioned that we were looking to eat in the lounge, then we’d just go to sleep once we were in the air. It was then that the woman told us they have a “snooze area” at the front of Upper Class. Ok… she said they had space there and it was perfect for those who wanted to sleep, and would we like to swap our seats? Well, that works for me!
Seats changed, we made our way over to security. We saw lots of people being turned away from the Delta Sky Priority lane, which we’d been told to use, but we were quickly ushered through…
We were through security itself in about five minutes, but Mark got into all sorts of problems. Firstly, he took out his GPS stand, which always sets off the scanners and put it on top of his hand luggage. He was told it should’ve gone in a tray, but apparently they’d run out. That would explain why each of his trainers came through separately then, as they weren’t in a tray…
He also got told off for putting the two laptops (don’t ask!) into one tray, and again, he did explain that there weren’t any further trays left, but I don’t think the guy got it. He was actually very nice about it, and I felt as if we’d got off lightly, if you know what I mean.
We headed downstairs towards the gates, and the first thing we saw was JFK’s impressive fleet of snow shifting machinery…
They have an interesting selection of shops here, many very high quality….
… but I was more interesting in the one that had the tacky I love New York stuff, as I wanted a fridge magnet to use up the rest of our dollars.
This airport was 100 times nicer than LaGuardia, and I really wish we’d flown in here yesterday.
So glad you had a much better experience driving away from NY than when you arrived. Even if the traffic was worse. Kind of sends you off on a high note.
JFK is looking pretty good! Can't wait to see what your "snooze" seats look like.
Oh, and no, I don't recognize the one photo there with the towers or whatever... what is that?
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
So glad you had a much better experience driving away from NY than when you arrived. Even if the traffic was worse. Kind of sends you off on a high note.
It did. It almost made me think "hmm... maybe one day we'll visit NYC again"... we'll see.
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JFK is looking pretty good! Can't wait to see what your "snooze" seats look like.
Oh, and no, I don't recognize the one photo there with the towers or whatever... what is that?
From the Men in Black movie - that's where I know it from. I won't say anymore about it right now, as I'm sure others know what it is - anyone?
You saw quite a lot with Sharon at the AMONH! Great exhibits there and especially the dinosaurs as I've been there several times. The traffic is always insane on the Van Wyck to JFK no matter what time of day.
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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!
Seriously? I thought for sure nearly everyone would know that... I'm going to hold off saying anything until tomorrow, but there is a Disney link to them...
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Snooze area sounds perfect! Lucky they could move you!
The traffic is always insane on the Van Wyck to JFK no matter what time of day.
I just seriously do not know how people can live like that. Yes, the M25 around London is a nightmare at rush hour periods, but at least there are times it slows down - like during the daytime, weekends or late evenings.
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