Rides, Rainclouds and mishaps....Disney Style - Page 5 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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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.
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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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Thanks for sharing all of the great things you got to do on the first day. I also enjoyed the Auto Train info. I never even knew that there was such a thing. I am sad to hear that the only one is so far away from me. Can't wait to hear more about your trip.
Kristen
Awesome so far! Can't wait to read/see more. We're taking the autotrain home from Disney. I didn't even know it existed till you mentioned it a few months ago in one of your posts. So thank you!
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WOW! After a total 180 degree turn in life, I'm going back to Disney! SSR THV Jan. 8th, 2012 DB37, DS5, DSD7, DMom62 & DDad63, DFIL72. SOOOOOOO excited!!! PTR HERE
Read my COMPLETED Sept. 2008 pre-trip report HERE
Read my not finished Trip report from Sept. 2008 HERE
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One question.....are you going to appear in any photos? It's almost like you weren't there so far
No, I break the lenses.
But seriously, yes, there are a few photos that I will appear in that I will post but I did do most of the photo taking. Lenny took a few with his camera but they weren't as good as mine.
Quote:
I didn't even know it existed till you mentioned it a few months ago in one of your posts. So thank you!
You're welcome. And I had never heard of it until I read Passporters for your Special Needs (Open Mouse it's called now) 2 years ago so what better place to spread the word.
And thanks everyone on your compliments. I appreciate hearing them. I'm really happy how the pictures came out. Mom got it for me last year and this was our first big vacation since we got it so it's still new to me and I just kept playing with it. It's amazing some of the shots I got that I didn't think I would. Others I aimed for I didn't, but what I did get was a surprise - you'll see some of those too.
I was up early but I let Lenny and Abby sleep in. We were still in the park by around 10 AM though. Our first stop today was the carousel again. Abby wanted me to actually ride a horse with her instead of standing, but the outside horses were too high for me to get onto. Because Lenny wanted me to ride next to Abby as well, he got down on one knee and then had me use his other knee as a step.
After the ride, he even gave me a hand down even though I didn’t really need it (the horse finished low). From there we went and did Pooh, then Snow White.
Next it was lunch time. Once I told Abby it was another character meal, she was happy to go to the Crystal Palace. We checked in and had to wait for the buffet to get switched from breakfast to lunch. Once that was done, we were shown to our table. Before we could even sit down, Eeyore came over to see us. I grabbed the camera, but not the autograph book. After Eeyore, we had a few minutes to get some food. Like with Chef Mickey’s, I don’t remember what we got, but what I had was good. We had really good interaction here as well. Abby bounced with Tigger, gave Pooh pretend honey and gave Piglet big hugs.
I did eventually pull out the autograph book and got everyone to sign except Eeyore. But luckily, he came by a second time and we had the book ready and open for him that time. Abby liked that he signed his name with a rain cloud. After lunch we headed to Adventureland and the Swiss Family Treehouse. We did a quick walk thru and I took a couple of pictures. But not of the treehouse. I took some shots of the castle and Splash Mountain from up top.
From the treehouse, we left Adventureland and went to Fantasyland again. Abby has so much fun there that I couldn’t say no. So we did almost everything. IASW, Peter Pan, Philharmagic, Snow White, Dumbo, then Pooh. After Pooh, I did want out of Fantasyland for a while so I convinced Abby to go to Toontown. We did both Minnie and Mickey’s houses real quick but Abby didn’t want to See Mickey again. So we went to his garage instead. From there, Abby wanted to see the Princesses. That day, it was Aurora, Cinderella and Belle in her ball gown. While waiting in line, Abby asked for her autograph book. Good thing, I probably wouldn’t have remembered.
Once we were through the lines, we did some gift shopping at County Bounty. Abby found some things for herself while I looked for all the postcards I promised to mail. Loaded down with our bags, we left the gift shop. Last time in Disney, Abby loved Goofy’s airplane so I asked her if she wanted to do it. She said yes so we left all the stuff we bought with Lenny and went on it. Then it was back to Fantasyland for the tea cups and Small World (again). By now I was really tired of Fantasyland so I told Abby it ws time to move one. There was more to the MK than just Fantasyland. She agreed that Frontierland would be our next stop.
When we got to Liberty Square, Lenny asked if we should get a locker for our stuff. It had been a pain on the tea cups and SW getting on and off the rides with the stuff. We knew it would be worse once we got to Splash Mountian (our next ride). So loaded down with our bags, a park map and some money (rentals are $5 plus a $5 refundable deposit) Lenny went to get the locker while Abby and I continued to Thunder Mountain. Lenny wouldn’t ride this so we chose to ride it while waiting for him. We got through the line fairly quickly and once we got to the exit, we started to look for Lenny. Sometimes he was easy to spot in the crowd because his scooter seat is higher than most which makes the canopy he uses noticeable above the sea of heads. Today was an easy day and we spotted him making his way up the little hill to Thunder Mountains exit. I thought this was a cool shot of the bridge on Tom Sawyer's Island and the line for HM from Frontierland
From Thunder Mountain, Abby wanted to do Tom Sawyer’s Island. I know it usually closes about dusk and since this day was cloudy, I wasn’t sure when that would be. Once Lenny parked his scooter and grabbed his cane, we got in line. When we got ready to board the raft, I asked the CM what time the island would close. She answered about 7 PM. That gave us apporximately 45 minutes to explore. More than enough time I thought.
We did end up spending every minute of those 45 there though. Mainly because we didn’t rush. We took our time walking so Lenny could keep up. He did really well. He walked with us and only needed to rest a couple of times. We did the caves, the fort and the suspension bridge. Lenny kept away from the barrel bridge however when Abby and I went on it. When we’d done everything, Abby’s comment to me was "Let’s go back to the MK now." I chuckled at that as we made our way back to the raft. It ended up being perfect timing on our part. As we exited the raft back "in the MK", a CM put a rope across the ramp that said "closed." From here Abby decided she wanted to do Splash Mountain.
It was fun as usual and Abby wanted the picture at the end, so we stopped and got it. We were offered a "special" deal. Instead of just the picture for $20 and change, we could get the picture and a Splash Mountian 8 x 10 frame for $28 and change. Abby liked the frame so I went with the deal.
By now Lenny and I were getting hungry and we wanted to stop and eat. Abby, for some reason said she wanted the food court at the hotel, so we started making our way out of the park. Then she came out with "Wait, Can we do one more ride please?" I said okay and the last ride of the night was Peter Pan. Abby got off happy, smiling, and ready to leave the park. We were able to get out before the crowds for the parade got too crazy and soon we were back at the truck packing up the scooter.
Once at the hotel, we dropped our stuff in the room and headed to the food court. Lenny and I both had the baked chicken fillet with veggies and a roll. Abby had the chicken nuggets with fries. We went to the register without desserts but the CM was really friendly and helpful. She told us we could either get something from the grab and go portion or we could pay for an ice cream item from the counter portion and come back for them later. She recommended we do this as it was the more expensive option but still covered by the dining plan so that’s what we did. Dinner itself was really good. The chicken was a good size breast fillet that was juicy and tender and the veggies were really good. Abby ate up her nuggets and fries well (she liked them I know because she asked for them all week). She didn’t like the pudding that came with the kids meal so I went to the counter to get our ice cream desserts. I got the cone we paid for filled with Cookies and Cream (Abby’s favorite) and I got a vanilla milkshake. Abby and Lenny ate up the cone so it didn’t last long and all of us shared the milkshake. It would have been better with plain vanilla ice cream instead of the vanilla bean, but it still wasn’t bad.
After dinner, Lenny and Abby went swimming and I did some laundry since there were some machines available. After swimming, Abby went to bed and Lenny and I followed suit shortly thereafter when the laundry was finally done.
All caught up. Wow what a lot of things you have accomplished. Love the photos. Thanks for all the info on the Auto Train. I'm thinking about if for our next trip. I can't believe we live so close to it and have never seen it before. Great updates, can't wait to read more. Hurry back.
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
Wow what a lot of things you have accomplished. Love the photos. Thanks for all the info on the Auto Train. I'm thinking about if for our next trip. I can't believe we live so close to it and have never seen it before. Great updates, can't wait to read more. Hurry back.
Abby isn't one to take breaks, so we went at her pace. Thanks for the compliments on the photos. For the Auto Train, book as early as you can. The closer your vacation is, the more expensive it will be. I booked 10 months out, but you can book 11 months out. I'm going as fast as I can.
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WOW! After a total 180 degree turn in life, I'm going back to Disney! SSR THV Jan. 8th, 2012 
I thought this was a cool shot of the bridge on Tom Sawyer's Island and the line for HM from Frontierland
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