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Moving on with the current of the years.
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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.
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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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OK, here is the promised trip report! For those of you who enjoyed my Christmas time TR...here is the one that was written for our May 2006 trip. I just realized that I also have a TR from a quick Disneyland trip in Sept. 2006. Again...I will only post if there is an interest...and I will post that one in the DL TR section. So, on with the story!
Just adding here that I have made up my own abbreviations in this report. I tried to make it clear what I was doing...but if in doubt...NF = New Friend...made up to protect the idenity of near strangers that unexpectedly ended up in our trip report.
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Stephanie in Idaho
Last edited by DeBestWife; 03-14-2007 at 01:16 PM..
Reason: Adding abbreviation info for TR
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I guess I will start right out with day 1! The only real pre-trip information is…can we go again…PLEEEESE? Oh, and…WOOHOO…We’re going to WDW again for our 11th anniversary!
May 2, it was up at 4:30 AM…quick showers…big kisses to the boys…and a pathetic good-bye to the dog. We were scheduled on the good, but early flight with United. We arrived and checked in with pleanty of time left for a bite to eat from McDonalds at the Boise Airport. As we were departing at almost the same time as some friends of ours, we did a little visiting with them after breakfast. We got their kids all jacked up and then headed back to our gate to await our flight. By the time we arrived in Denver we were ready for more food. We stopped off at KFC on our way to the gate, and grabbed a bite to eat.
The second half of the flight was as uneventful as the first, and before we knew it we were in Florida. Off the plane…and off to meet Bob, grab our luggage…and POP…ready or not here we come. By the way Bob, you and your company…Sunray Transportation are our hero’s. We love not having the stress of car rental chaos, and driving dilima’s. So thanks again for what you do!
Check in was a breeze, and after dumping the luggage in the room, and changing shoes…it was off to EPCOT. Oh wait, before we leave the room, let’s see if there is any chance they can squese us in at the Garden Grill in the Land. WooHoo, we’re in! Let’s roll! Fast passes for Soarin’…dinner with Mickey, Pluto, and the squirrels (sorry chipmunks)…lol, and a ride on Soarin’, life is good. It must be time to check out some flowers, find a beer, and stake out a place to watch Illuminations. Have I said that EPCOT makes me feel more at Peace than maybe any other place in the world. It must be a little piece of my heaven here on earth. We found a spot out on the lake across from Italy, and settled in to drink our beer. We had some great folks sitting next to us, and thouroghly enjoyed visiting with them. Happy honeymoon folks…wow that would be almost first anniversary by the time this trip report is done…lol.
Illuminations was nothing less than the fabulous show that I expect to see. We may have been up since 4 AM…but hey our bodies still say that it is only 7:30 PM by the time Illuminations is over…lets use one of those Pleasure Island tickets tonight! I had wanted very much to check out The Adventures Club, so off we went. The Adventures Club was everything that everyone said it was…and much more. I think I am in love…BG. As we started to feel exhaustion creep in we decided to head back to the POP. On our way out we stopped into Motion, and 8 Trax just to see what they were like for later in the week. Can I say neither said love to me like the AC…LOL.
A fabulous travel day…first day in the parks…and first trip to Pleasure Island! Now we all fall into a sleep driven by exhaustion…see you for more tomorrow.
It’s gonna be a great day! It’s sunny, warm, and we are going to Animal Kingdom today! The challenge…should we choose to accept it…is to ride the new Expedition Everest…and see the legendary Yeti! WooHoo…We Accept…We Accept! So obviousely the first thing to do is hoof it over to Expedition Everest for a Fast Pass. Fast pass in hand…We need food! Oh yea, ribs at the Flame Tree BBQ. Lunch is a slam dunk. With the added bonus of a little entertainment provided by Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy passing by in the boat and Everest in the background, we must be on vacation in WDW. Does it get any better than this?
Lunch is going to need a little time to settle before we see the Yeti, and Fast Pass time is not here yet, so we wandered over to Africa, and happened to catch a show with the Tam Tams of Congo at the Dawa Bar. This group is a hoot. They play drums and dance, and then drag unsuspecting audience members into the act. If you get a chance, take a minute, rest your feet, and hide behind a tree (lol) to watch the Tam Tams perform.
Does anyone know what time it is?...Wrong answer it is NOT Tool Time it is Yeti time! Wow…now that’s a roller coaster! Scary Yeti! I’d run away…but the train seems to have done that for me! Can we do it again?...huh…huh. Ok other things to do and see maybe later this week, as all the fast passes are gone, and the line is 90 minutes long. It’s good, but not that good…lol.
One of the goals this trip is to see the Jamin’ Jungle Parade, and get some pictures, so I guess it’s time to stake out a piece of asphalt. Bonus plan…it’s next to one of the EEMH wristband locations, so we get a twofer deal. This was a great parade, and we got lots of pictures…especially of the jeeps, and hidden mickey lights! Ooops…poor planning on our part, if we want to catch a ride on the safari, we will have to follow the parade back there. Oh well…and duck and weave and wave and smile…we follow the parade and walk a mile!
Can I just say that I would love to drive a Safari rig! I never get tired of this ride, even with the little red story line! Everytime, it is something just a little different, and I see animals and details that I missed before. With plenty of time left we head off to Camp Minnie and Mickey for the EEMH showing of Festival of the Lion King. We haven’t made it to this show since our trip in 2003, so it is like a brand new show to us. Very good, we will have to make time to get the kids to this on their next trip.
Food…I need food again…I can go no further…OK I can make it to the Restrauntasaurus in Dinoland. Mickey D’s with style…cool! Yes now I can move on again. We finish off EEMH with a quick trip on Dinosaur, and close the place down on Kali. I lost track of how many times we rode after 3…very wet…dripping! Must change and head to Pleasure Island. The Adventures Club is calling me.
If we thought that we had fun last night we are in for a fabulous night tonight. As the AC is a very interactive place, it is expected that audience participation will be required. As we are getting our beer and getting settled in, one of the CM’s get’s things started. There are two women and 1 guy who seem to have become the center of attention. Low and behold they are from Idaho…NO WAY. Man…don’t tell anyone we are from there too, these folks are nuts. OK just the two women are nuts, the guy looks like he would like to melt into the sofa…LOL. OK, so maybe nuts isn’t so bad, when they came into the libarary behind us we told them we were from Idaho too, and soon we were busy getting to know each other. It turns out they have a weekend place just down the rode from us. Well, it is a small world after all…lol. We spent the rest of the evening with New Friend #1, NF #2, and NF #3. As if the AC isn’t fun enough on it’s own these guys made it awesome!
After seeing the last show at the AC we went over to 8 Trax for a little dancing. This is where we figured out that Disney has a real problem at Pleasure Island. There are bands of roaving men. They seem to have some sort of scary scam going. My DH the observer said, it appeared to be a system for finding, possibley druging, and taking advantage of unsuspecting vacationers. It was kind of scary to watch, from a mostly sober point of view. With that said we spent the rest of the evening protecting New Friend #1 from these preditors…she just wanted to dance!
With another exhaustion enduced coma imminent, we loaded the bus for the POP. For the most part we took a pretty slow pace today. As always the concesnsus was that it was a wonderful magical day…see ya tomorrow!
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Day 3 – How did May get so hot?…or…We’re shrinking and melting!
The most memorable thing about today was the heat index! Not that there weren’t pleanty of other things to remember…but it was HOT!
We moved like molasas today. Exhaustion from the previous two days finally caught up with us…and as noted above the heat would melt you on a good day. Shoot we didn’t even get out of bed until noon. I know we we will never be good commandos! We were hungry from the get go…so I had a glucerna bar, and DH had a cookie from the Everything Pop CS on our way to the bus.
Starting our day with EPCOT today, it was of course off to Soarin’. We were going to just grab fast passes, but the stand by line was only 25 minutes…short for Soarin’…so we got in line. It moved surprisingly fast, and it was kinda neat to see the queue rather than just doing a fly by in the fast pass line.
The real point of being at EPCOT today was to check out all of the booths, flowers, and events related to the flower and garden festival. So after Soarin’, we headed over to Festival Central. I picked up directions for some of the different flower displays, including floating baskets, hanging baskets, and flower groupings. Then we headed off to see the world…The World Showcase that is. I wanted to see all the topiaries, and flower arrangements so that I could get some ideas for our place. Things didn’t seem as profusely filled with flowers as last year. I guess the drought was even messing with Disney.
We hadn’t seen the movie in China since 2003, so we figured it was about time we reacquaint ourselves with the wonders of China. Then we snagged some lunch at the Lotus Blossom Café. It was very good! The boys called to check up on us during lunch, and we had a nice visit with them while we watched the birds drink from the leaky drinking fountain.
We had ADR’s at the Concourse Steak House, so we jumped on the monorail and headed for the Contemporary Resort. As we had given ourselves more than enough time to get to dinner, we had about 45 minutes to wander around and enjoy this resort for the first time. I don’t think that I would want to stay here, but after a fabulous dinner, and great service, I know we will eat here again.
It was a good thing that we had a big meal, because now it was time to shop till we drop! To Downtown Disney…and beyond! Yea well, up until now we had not bought even one suvenier. That was all about to change…from one end of DD to the other we bought stuff. DH bought me a new Mickey watch for our anniversary…and I bought him the Mickey and Policeman poster. With everything on it’s way back to our room…we headed for Pleasure Island. We tried out the Rock N’ Roll Beach Club. Love the band here! The music is a flash back to many of the sound tracks in our lives.
By the time we were done enjoying the band, that coma was moving in on us again…so back to the POP…and asleep before our heads hit the pillows.
Today is our 11th anniversary of our first date…Cinco De Mayo…and oh yea, another day in WDW! The plan was to set alarms, and be at the Animal Kingdom at opening. Well, for any of you who have read my previous trip reports, you know that…A. We don’t do alarms on vacation…B. We don’t do mornings on vacation! So, the alarm went off…we turned it off…and fell promptly back to sleep. Oh well so much for Rafiki’s and Safari first thing…lol.
We did finally get going, and did get out to Rafiki’s in time to see the last Vetranarian procedure of the day. Very cool! I could spend a whole morning watching them check out the animals…now I just have to figure out how to get up early enogh…lol. We also went into one of the booths and enjoyed the Sounds of the Forrest program. This was really good, another one that we have to get the kids out to. With your eyes closed you could really see yourself there! Before we head back over to Expedition Everest DH attempts to buy every Tigger souvenear at the gift shop. I think that if you look at the receipt, he actually did buy it all…lol. OK enough seen and bought, time to head out to Expedition Everst. I believe we actually grabbed fast passes prior to heading to Rafiki’s, but I am not positive. What I do know is that we knew we had to ride again.
We ate lunch at Tuskers for the first time. The food here is fantastic, but the crowds were horid. Note to self eat here again…but next time at an off peak hour. After lunch we saw It’s tough to be a bug. We were exploring the base of the Tree of Life after the movie, and found a great quiet spot with a bench. We promptly sat down, and enjoyed the feeling of being alone in the World…lol. It still amazes me that you can be in such a busy place and still find a spot where you can see and hear no one.
We relaxed and watched the birds until it was time to go over and catch Pocahontas’s Show in Camp Minnie Mickey. This is a really cute show! It would be especially good for little ones. Nothing is scary, and the real live woodland creatures are darling. I don’t know if we will take the boys or not. I don’t know that our 14 year old would think it was as cute as we did, but that said if we go, he will too. He is great at humoring us.
Well, that seems to be everything for one day at the Animal Kingdom! It must be time to head over to EPCOT for a bit. We had just enough time to see some more flowers, and head over to France for the Impressions De France show. Again we hadn’t seen this in several years. I thought it was a great movie, and I already knew I loved the musical score. DH thought it was also great, at least a great cool place for a nap…lol. He leaned his head on my shoulder, and was soon softly snoring in my ear. Oh well, it didn’t stop me from enjoying the show.
Time for a new dining experience! Although we had stayed at the Beach Club, we had only eaten breakfast here. We decided we would try the buffet out. The Cape May Clambake is maybe the best buffet on property. We are really scoring big time with the new restaurants this trip. Just a great selection of really good food. Definatly a do again with the kids.
After a great dinner we hooked up with NF #3 & NF #2 for drinks, wandering around the World Showcase, and scoping out a new place to watch Illuminations. We finally settled on the balcony outside the Teppinaki Restaurant in Japan. We were told that it didn’t block the diners view so we jumped on it. This really is a great place to watch Illuminations from. It is a very different perspective. You are level with most of the fireworks and lasars, rather than being below them. I don’t know if it was better than anywhere else, but it was deffinatly good.
We said good-bye to NF #3 & NF #2, and got our wrist bands for EEMH. We took in the American Adventure Show and Journey Into Imagination. At this point we did some more shopping, and decided that we could go on no more! On our way out we did Spaceship Earth. It was going to feel good to get into bed tonight!
Day 5 – The Hokey Pokey & the Hoop Dee Doo…are you ready for this one?
Well, after the failure to launch with the alarm yesterday, we just gave in to sleeping in today. The MK closes at 7:00 PM today so that the Grad’s can get in and celebrate surviving 12 years of mandatory education. Not a problem for us as we have Hoop Dee Doo tickets for tonight. So what can we see by 7 PM?
We are both starving so first thing on the list is lunch. Cosmic Ray’s is the place for lunch. Not bad here, but there are places we enjoy more. After lunch it is off to my favorite ride in all of WDW…The Carousel of Progress. I hope that this classic will continue to have a place in a Disney Park somewhere. I am not a hard core “Keep the old…just add new” kind of person, but I would like to know that I can go somewhere in the world and see this show forever. The rest of the day included…in no particular order: Space Mountain, Stitches Great Escape, It’s a Small World After All, Philharmagic, Snow White’s Sacary Adventure, Pooh (AKA The Tigger Ride), The Hall of Presidents, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, and last but not least…The Jungle Cruise.
The Magic Kingdom was really pretty quiet today. I guess that a lot of people had issues with being kicked out at 7 PM so they just went somewhere else. It worked for us, we were able to see a good chunk of the MK in only one afternoon. Mixed in with all of the rides and shows, we also managed to do too much shopping! While we were over in Frontierland, we even got to do the Hokey Pokey with a bunch of kids and the Country Bears. Why are all of those other adults just standing around and watching? Do you think they forgot how to do the Hokey Pokey? They must have grown up to be Pirates…cause we never grew up! (at least not on Disney trips…lol) We did talk to some of the CM’s on the way out…and were able to find out that our DS’s can participate in Grad night. This is cool, cause so many things like that are not available to Homeschooling families. Grad night 2011 & 2015 here we come!
After being chased out of the MK…lol, we jumped on a boat to Fort Wilderness. We went over to the little gift and grocery store to do a little looking around. We were never going to make it till 9:30 PM Hoop Dee Doo on our empty stomach’s so we grabbed an Ice Cream Sandwich Cookie, and some water. We took our snack down to the picnic area at the boat launch. It was a great place to snack, catch up on trip highlights, and watch a beautiful sunset in the World.
We skipped the picture this time. We knew we wouldn’t buy it…as we planned to buy the Photopass CD before we went home. Unbelievably we got the table for two…front and center. I don’t know if this show would be as good from anywhere else at this point. Who in the world gets front and center two years in a row? We know we didn’t complain…but the couple that wanted our table was pretty upset that we were in what they called their spot…lol. It was a great show…and great food…as expected. Our server however…well, let’s just say he could use a little Disney Magic, and take a little more time with his tables! No biggy though, he definitely didn’t ruin our night. Time to find a bus and head back to the POP. Another fabulous day in the World!
What a great trip report, looks like the two of you had a blast on your Honeymoon trip. I will be going back in just a few weeks for my 18th Anniversary Honeymoon Trip........... I enjoyed reading your trip report.
1991 - Disney vacation with family
1994 - Honeymoon WDW... the works
1997 - Disney with hubby
1999 - Son's first Disney vacation!
2006 - Daughter's first Disney vacation with hubbys family, all 14 of us!
2007 - Disney vacation with the family and friends!
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