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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Who
Myself – Mark (44)
DW – Michelle
DD – Alex (11)
Where
Disney’s Polynesian Resort
When
May 8th – May 14th
Why
Our first visit was in 2008 and we loved it. After 2 years of home improvements, it was time for another big vacation. Also, because it’s been a cold, wet Spring! And DD is in 5th Grade – we don’t know if we’ll be able to take her out of school in the future.
Preface
We stayed at POFQ in 2008. While we liked that resort, we were less than thrilled with all the bus waiting/riding. We did breakfast at ‘Ohana that trip, and the moment we walked into the Great Ceremonial House we looked at each other and said “we should have stayed here!” So we’ve known that our next visit would probably be at the Poly, and when we started planning we kept finding reasons that it made the most sense. It would allow me to do a fishing excursion, and we would be on the monorail. We knew we wanted to do ‘Ohana and Chef Mickey’s again, and to round it out for our only other resort meal we chose 1900 Park Fare to avoid having to cab or bus to another resort in the morning. We luckily had an unknown PIN for 40% off Deluxe, and that helped!
We had the Deluxe Dining Plan our first trip, and for this one I decided to do that again. I know that we don’t take full advantage of it (we ate a few QS meals), but I like knowing that we can do three meals a day and it’s paid for up front. Plus we do a fair number of Character meals. We learned a lot before and during our first trip (mostly from our PassPorter book and these forums) so our planning went smoothly. We quickly picked which days to spend where, and then booked our meals accordingly.
We had a 9:39am flight out of O’Hare Airport on United. Some of you may remember that we originally had a 7:19am flight, but United cancelled that one. The limo picked us up just before 7:00am, and remarkably we were ready. I had done online check in, so when we arrived at the airport at 7:55am we checked our bags with curbside baggage and trekked to the terminal. Security wasn’t bad at all, we didn’t have to do the full body scanners, and we were at our gate by 8:20am. DW had forgotten her headphones and I had forgotten the Y-jack for the netbook, so I went off to buy those at a Brookstone and get some orange juice and water. We boarded the plane and sat down. About 9:20 the captain came on and announced that in the routine preflight inspection they found a nick in one of the fan blades in the front of the engine. It would take them about 20 minutes to file it down. I know that is fairly common, but that is NOT what I want to hear when I’m waiting to take off!
We finally took off about 45 minutes late, and the flight was smooth. We arrived at MCO at 1:45pm and made our way to DME. That went smoother than our last trip, and we soon found ourselves in a short line for our bus:
The bus pulled out at 2:10pm, and after stops at the Wilderness Lodge and Contemporary resorts we arrived at the Polynesian at 3:00pm. Since I elected not to do online check-in, I went inside to get in line while my DW waited for her bag to be unloaded from the bus.
Let The Memories Begin!
The check-in line wasn’t long. There was one waiting at the online desk, and I was 2nd in line at the regular. While waiting DW also took this picture of the floor in front of the lobby fountain.
We’re starting to feel it!
When it was my turn, they were training a CM new to the system, so it took a little longer than normal but that was ok. I asked if there were any upgrades available and what the cost would be. They had to call someone, and the response was that there was nothing available. No problem. We did get our only request, which was the Tokelau longhouse, and also got the 3rd floor which was a nice bonus. We ended up with room 3913, which is the second-to-last room on the beach end, facing west towards the Hawaii longhouse. We had a good view of the lagoon and Grand Floridian since we were just past Hawaii:
I found out later that the last room (3914) is considered Lagoon View. So for the Garden View price, this was great!
We had the normal Mickey ears towels on the bed.
After changing into shorts and freshening up, we headed down to Captain Cook’s for lunch and to get our mugs. They didn’t have yellow, so DW got the blue and I took a black one. Along the way I stopped to take pictures of the newly-reopened Quiet Pool:
The food at Capt. Cook’s was ok, nothing really spectacular. I had a cheeseburger, DW a chicken sandwich, and DD a turkey club. The highlight was dessert – our first Dole Whips!
Some of you may laugh that I didn’t completely fill my cup, but I made up for it later in the week! We loved the Dole Whips!
After lunch we brought our mugs back to the room and finally headed to the bus stop to go to DHS. After 5 minutes of waiting, I decided to take a cab instead. LOL I am not a patient person, and at that point I just wanted to get there! So we walked over to the front entrance and hailed a cab. We were rolling on Seven Seas Drive before I saw the next bus pulling in. Cab fare wasn’t bad, $20 with tip.
One bag check and three fingerprint scans later, we were finally walking towards the Sorcerer’s Hat. It was at that point that DW & I looked at each other and said, “We’re HERE!” We posed for a couple PhotoPass pictures and then headed left. I pulled the rope a couple times at Indiana Jones and then we made our way to Muppets 3D.
I love this fountain!
One of the surprise highlights of our first trip was the 3D movies, and this one holds special meaning. When my DW and I were dating, I would sometimes watch DD while she worked on Saturdays. I have had The Muppets Show DVD boxed set for years, and we would always watch a few episodes. Now 5+ years later, DD still brings that up on occasion. After reading all the Imagineering Guide books, I made a point to look around at more things and enjoy the extra things that are everywhere. We didn’t have long to wait here though.
Next up for us was The Great Movie Ride. This was a first for us, and we enjoyed it. DD obviously wasn’t familiar with nearly as many movies as us adults, but she really liked seeing the Indiana Jones and Wizard of Oz scenes. We then hit TSMM. At 7:00pm the wait said 40 minutes, and we knew we would be pushing it for our dinner reservation but decided to go for it. It ended up being only 32 minutes, and I enjoyed the queue. I rode with DD, and quickly got the hang of pulling the string. I scored 149,000 points, beating DW & DD handily. They would make up for it later in the week! We all loved this ride! It was something I’ve looked forward to for 3 years since we just missed its opening on our first trip.
We were late for our 7:35pm dinner at 50’s Prime Time Café, so we hustled over there. (after I had to ask for directions! I forgot to look up exactly where it was at. ) We arrived only 10 minutes late, and were seated by 7:55pm. We weren’t all that hungry since it hadn’t been that long since lunch, but since we were on the DlxDD plan we took advantage of it. I had the lettuce wedge and meatloaf, DW had the seafood salad and pot roast. DD had the chicken noodle soup and an adult-sized portion of chicken nuggets. At 11 she’s considered an adult for the dining plan, but she’s a picky eater and usually still chooses off the kid’s menus. Our server was nice enough to offer the chicken nuggets. For desserts we ordered the S’mores, brownie sundae, and cheesecake and shared them so that everyone got a taste. The food was delicious! We would definitely go there again. Our server was not very animated, but the others around us were so we got the experience.
With full stomachs we headed over to Sunset Boulevard. EMH started at 8:00pm, and the park was not very crowded at this point. We walked right onto ToT. DD and I took the chicken exit after getting to see the all the theming. That was great, and I’m glad we did it. When we got to the elevators and the CM asked “how many?” we told him 1 (DW) and that we were too chicken. He had another CM take us to the exit, which turned out to be a regular elevator that took us down one floor. On the way down he said, “See? You can still tell all the people back home that you rode the ‘elevator’ at Tower of Terror!” LOL We waited for DW to return (she loved the ride in the darkness of nighttime) and then headed over to RnR. This time DD and I just looked around the shop while DW rode. In 2008 the speakers in her car weren’t working, so this time it was even better for her.
At that point we were starting to run out of steam, so we headed back to Hollywood Blvd. to do some more shopping and take a few more PhotoPass pictures. We had a 5 minute wait for the bus and left DHS at 10:35pm. Back at the Poly, we unpacked our suitcases and I headed down to fill our mugs and grab some water for the room. (I might have snuck another Dole Whip! ) It had been a long day - I hate airports and flying commercially - and we were all sleeping by midnight.
It was a successful first day! We were disappointed that we didn’t have more time to spend at DHS since our original flight got cancelled and we arrived at WDW two hours later than originally planned. An extra hour added to the calendar by Disney helped, and the only thing we missed doing was the Backlot Tour. We had figured we might go back to DHS after breakfast on Friday if we needed to, but after getting to do TSMM we decided we were ok with not going back.
__________________
Mark
Last edited by Mystic6; 12-02-2012 at 05:35 PM..
Reason: fp754
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The bus pulled out at 2:10pm, and after stops at the Wilderness Lodge and Contemporary resorts we arrived at the Polynesian at 3:00pm. Since I elected not to do online check-in, I went inside to get in line while my DW waited for her bag to be unloaded from the bus. 
Let The Memories Begin!
We’re starting to feel it!
I found out later that the last room (3914) is considered Lagoon View. So for the Garden View price, this was great!
Some of you may laugh that I didn’t completely fill my cup, but I made up for it later in the week! 
We loved the Dole Whips!
We posed for a couple PhotoPass pictures and then headed left. I pulled the rope a couple times at Indiana Jones and then we made our way to Muppets 3D. 
I love this fountain!
) We arrived only 10 minutes late, and were seated by 7:55pm. We weren’t all that hungry since it hadn’t been that long since lunch, but since we were on the DlxDD plan we took advantage of it. I had the lettuce wedge and meatloaf, DW had the seafood salad and pot roast. DD had the chicken noodle soup and an adult-sized portion of chicken nuggets. At 11 she’s considered an adult for the dining plan, but she’s a picky eater and usually still chooses off the kid’s menus. Our server was nice enough to offer the chicken nuggets. For desserts we ordered the S’mores, brownie sundae, and cheesecake and shared them so that everyone got a taste. The food was delicious! We would definitely go there again. Our server was not very animated, but the others around us were so we got the experience.
) It had been a long day - I hate airports and flying commercially - and we were all sleeping by midnight. 
I visit WDW for the peace and quiet, it's the only week each year that my kids don't fight and argue with each other!
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