Amy's Fabulous Split StayTrip Report!!!! (Finally)... - Page 6 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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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.
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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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Great update. Isn't the F&G festival excellent! You got pics of some topiaries that we didn't notice there! (the one of Cindy and the prince dancing in front of Spaceship Earth!) Looks like you had lots of pins on your lanyard! Do you all collect pins? My little girls enjoyed trading this trip. I had bought some on Ebay and they had fun trading with the cast members.
I just read the entire TR written thus far. Thanks for sharing such great descriptions and pictures. My sister and brother in law just returned from staying at the CBR. They loved it too! Looking forward to more~
Great pics again. Thanks for the review on 1900 Park Fare. I think that we will do it this time and CP another time. My girls want to see Alice and the Mad Hatter. I have decided to do the DP so maybe I can do both CP and 1900 PF.
Can't wait for more reviews. I want to hear about Tutto Italia.
Great update. Isn't the F&G festival excellent! You got pics of some topiaries that we didn't notice there! (the one of Cindy and the prince dancing in front of Spaceship Earth!) Looks like you had lots of pins on your lanyard! Do you all collect pins? My little girls enjoyed trading this trip. I had bought some on Ebay and they had fun trading with the cast members.
Yep! We all collect pins- we started last year in fact, by fluke. DS15, then 14 was walking past a stand in Epcot and a Mickey pin with a NY Yankees emblem caught his eye! He asked to purchase it, and then he found one with a Mets emblem, then the Cardinals....and it took off from there!
So, now we each have our own "thing" we prefer to collect...
Me- Mickey, Minnie, princesses
DH- Jessica Rabbit, Muppets, Incredibles
DS7- Pixar Characters (Nemo, etc)
DS15- Baseball Teams w/Mickey, Ride/Attraction pins
It's gotten out of hand! I got a lot on Ebay before we left, and we traded about 12 with CM's this year, I had a hard time finding Minnie Mouse pins anywhere - at WDW, on Ebay, but I managed to trade some with CM's - I got 5! They are so cute. And, I bought a Mickey Lanyard Medal this year, he's wearing his Tux.
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Okay, so after Spaceship Earth, we headed over to Nemo, which is DS7's favorite at Epcot. He could ride it over and over again! I have to admit it is very cute. His favorite is Bruce, and the lantern fish. (for some reason, my child always likes the "bad guys"!) Anyway, here are some pics from the Nemo ride...
After Nemo, we went to Turtle Talk, and of course, you're not allowed to take pics during the show, but I did shoot some in the outside area, so I will post those. It's funny, because every single time we've gone to Turtle Talk, my family is chose by Crush! Matthew was sitting on the floor with all the kids, and Crush picked him out of the group, and I can't even remember what Crush asked him initially, but eventually he asked Matthew where his "parental units" were, and he pointed back to us, and the CM came back with the microphone and we got to talk to Crush too! Michael was sitting between Tony and me and Crush talked to Michael as well, so the whole family got into it, it was really cute!
Here are some pics that I shot of the outside area while we were waiting to go into Turtle Talk with Crush...
After that, we rode Soarin. The wait time was only 10 minutes! We got lucky. I was disappointed because we got stuck in the last row - I hate the last row - you see everyone's feet, and you're not up that high! To me, it's really not worth riding unless you get to sit in the front row! I love Soarin! But, I was so disappointed the first time I rode this ride last year and realized that unless you're in the front row, you're going to see feet! It really takes away from the experience. Some one really screwed up when they designed this ride - and they should find a way to fix it!
After that, we milled about Innoventions, and then rode Test Track. We love that ride too. The wait time was minimal - I want to say maybe 15 minutes at most, and most of that was in that bay area where they stick everyone until they send your group to get into the cars. It seemed they kept skipping us!
We made really good time, it was only 11:15! So, we decided to try Kim Possible before our lunch ressie. We went over to Innoventions, there was an electronic kiosk there with a computer screen and a thing that you slide your park ticket into, and it spits out a Fast Pass for a reservation for your time to Play Kim Possible, then at that time slot you report to the Kim Possible station near the bridge to the Internation Gateway. You give your Pass to a CM there and they will answer any questions you have, give you your Kimmunicator, and you're on your way. The Kimmunicator is a Verizon cell phone that's been rigged to only perform the Kim Possible missions, and it's very user friendly, easy to navigate, easy to understand, and to hear. We had a lot of fun with it. Your mission will take place in one of 7 countries in World Showcase, and we did ours in the UK. When you are finished, it will tell you where to deposit the Kimmunicator, or you can actually continue on by choosing which country you'd like to complete a mission in next - we chose to do a second mission in Japan. Each mission takes about 30 minutes.
By then it was time for us to make our way to Morocco to have lunch! It was our first time eating at Restaurant Marrakesh, and it was delicious! The restaurant itself is really beautiful, and the entertainment was something else. The music is wonderful, and boy that bellydancer . She was just gorgeous, and so exquisite. DH and DS15 were just smitten with her, and I really couldn't blame them at all!
She was moving so fast I could not get a clear picture!
I wish I had taken a picture, at one point, she brought four little three year old girls out on the floor with her and they were belly dancing with her too! It was so cute, and this one little girl was totally in to it!
Our food at Restaurant Marrakesh...
ME:
Chicken Bastilla (I liked it, it was different, had cinnamon)
Beef Couscous (loved it, huge portion, great spices)
Moroccan Symphony (great pastries, not too sweet)
DH:
Beef Brewat Rolls (he loved them, devoured them!)
Shish Kebabs (he said they were great, tender, good spice)
Morrocan Symphony
DS15:
Jasmina Salad (he said it was good, interesting)
Roast Lamb Meshoui (he loved the lamb & the couscous!)
Baklava (he said it was heavenly & sweet)
DS7:
Kefta (hamburger) & Fries (he said it was yummy and wanted more)
Ice Cream (he said it was "very vanilla-ey")
Needless to say, we all enjoyed our meal, and the boys REALLY want to go back next year, although, I am not sure whether they mean for the food, or the entertainment?
__________________
~Amy~
Last edited by Buffalogirl18; 05-11-2009 at 03:05 PM..
After lunch, we decided to circle World Showcase, and we rode the Maelstrom, one of our favorites at Epcot, as cheesy as it may be, and then of course we had to do that thing that every one does when they get off the ride and head in to the gift shop....
Then, Matthew asked if we could go to Mexico and ride his other favorite ride, "The Three Habaneros".....yes, I know it's Caballeros. But, is that not the cutest thing you've ever heard a seven year old say?
Ok, so where were we? We finished up riding Buzz 2.479 Million times in a row, and then we headed to the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. Let me just tell you, my DH has wanted so desperately to be "THAT GUY" .... it just not even funny anymore. We will get in to the queue line and listen to Roz yell at everyone with her raspy annoying voice, and he says "okay, I think I've got it this time, let a bunch of people go ahead of us, we need to sit in a row that has lamps, probably the second or third row on the right side of the stage, and I have to sit there very somber and unassuming"..... Yeah Right! My DH is anything but! And, this is DS7's most favorite attraction at MK, he laughs (probably too much and too loudly) at the entire show, and Buddy Boyle is his favorite in the show. Anyway, we saw Laugh Floor I think 6 times total this trip, sitting in different areas near the front, and DH never got to be "THAT GUY". It was always someone in the front area, but there was no rhyme or reason to where they were sitting or anything of that nature....just that they were usually bigger guys with ugly shirts and overgrown facial hair! Well, my DH is about a Metrosexual as they come - I told him, he just doesn't fit the bill!
I told him next year he should wear one of his ugly Hawaiian shirts that he only wears to crazy parties, and maybe a hat of some sort, then maybe he will get noticed!
My dad wears this awful straw hat (I'm sure you can notice in some of my facebook pictures)--it certainly got him noticed...he was "that guy!"
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And, I bought a Mickey Lanyard Medal this year, he's wearing his Tux. 
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I was disappointed because we got stuck in the last row - I hate the last row - you see everyone's feet, and you're not up that high! To me, it's really not worth riding unless you get to sit in the front row! 
I love Soarin! But, I was so disappointed the first time I rode this ride last year and realized that unless you're in the front row, you're going to see feet! It really takes away from the experience. Some one really screwed up when they designed this ride - and they should find a way to fix it! 
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