The Surviving Deployment Trip Report, Updated 10/18 COMPLETE!! - Page 42 - 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
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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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So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Laura, I'm doing more catching up this evening. What a fantastic time at DHS! We love eating at Sci-Fi, too. I'm in awe of of Victoria's drawing skills, too. Incredible! on Prince Caspian!
Still catching up! So sorry that you were so sick for the last part of your vacation. But your day at DHS and Epcot still seemed to turn out well. So glad Jennifer was able to experience so many firsts.
CRT is truly in its own way, but we do have more fun at 1900 Park Fare. We haven't done dinner here since 1997 and at that time the characters did sign Stefanie's autograph book, but that was 12 years ago.
I've finally caught up with all you've written. I am amazed at how good you look in spite of feeling so terrible. Really it's hard to tell in the pictures that you are so sick. I love all the drawings that both of you did at Animation Studio. Sending now that you stay well for the next trip!
Laura, I'm doing more catching up this evening. What a fantastic time at DHS! We love eating at Sci-Fi, too. I'm in awe of of Victoria's drawing skills, too. Incredible! on Prince Caspian!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Still catching up! So sorry that you were so sick for the last part of your vacation. But your day at DHS and Epcot still seemed to turn out well. So glad Jennifer was able to experience so many firsts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
CRT is truly in its own way, but we do have more fun at 1900 Park Fare. We haven't done dinner here since 1997 and at that time the characters did sign Stefanie's autograph book, but that was 12 years ago.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
I've finally caught up with all you've written. I am amazed at how good you look in spite of feeling so terrible. Really it's hard to tell in the pictures that you are so sick. I love all the drawings that both of you did at Animation Studio. Sending now that you stay well for the next trip!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! It's good to know the characters at CRT signed at one point. I thought it was really strange that they didn't. It's the first meal I've ever been to where the characters didn't sign.
I hope I stay well during the next trip, too. Y'all have a safe (and healthy) trip as well!
I'm going to finish this up since I will be sneakily loading up the car tomorrow while Victoria is busy with homeschool work.
Overall, I enjoyed the trip. I love being with Victoria. We have always gotten along so well. I am truly blessed. It was wonderful having this mother/daughter time with her. She is a remarkable young lady, and I am so honored to be her mother.
I hated that I got so sick. It is the first time I have ever gotten sick on vacation. It stunk. Once I got home, I stayed sick. I stayed on Nyquil and slept and rested for a few days. It was dreadful. I just quit taking medicine three days ago! Yep. I was really sick. I guess I was making up for lost time because I hadn't been sick in almost two years. Geez! Hopefully it is all out of my system now, and I'll be good to go during R&R with Michael. I'm still blowing my nose a little bit, but that is nothing compared to the congestion and horrible cough I had.
I enjoyed the laid back approach to touring the World. We will probably be very laid back with Michael, too. He's been in Iraq for almost nine months, so being in civilization again could be culture shock. We have no idea. It's our first deployment. We don't know what it's going to be like to be together again. I hope we mesh and gel together like we always have.
Victoria and I both really enjoyed the DDP; however, it was too much food for us. I don't know if we would do it again. It was very nice having all that free food though.
Our new favorite restaurant is Le Cellier. I am SO glad we were able to get an ADR there. I will definitely try to get an ADR there for April.
Our new favorite character meal is dinner at 1900 Park Fare. We loved it and will most definitely be going back there.
We were surprised to be so disappointed with CRT. Maybe our expectations were too high. I don't know, but we won't be back any time soon.
I am so glad my cousin was able to join us. We had such a good time with her. It was nice showing her around Disney since she doesn't go very often. Sacrilege!
Victoria's sketchbook was a huge success, and I am so glad she did it. She is so blessed to have this natural talent. I'm glad the characters and CMs appreciated it. We also really enjoyed the animation class. It was nice being taught how to draw the characters. Even I felt like I could draw more than a stick figure.
It meant a great deal to Victoria and me to have Michael the Bear with us. He represented that vital third member of our family who means so much to us. If he couldn't physically be with us, he was with us in spirit and in the form of a cute little bear. I wouldn't have changed that one bit and can't wait to introduce Michael to his counterpart. We learned that vacationing without daddy isn't quite the same. Everywhere we went, everything we did, we were always talking about daddy and how much he would like this or that. Or we would talk about his favorite things to do there and ride and do things in honor of him. It will be so nice to go there with Michael again. It won't be much longer now!
One lesson I learned is to pack every sort of medicine you might possibly need so you don't have to pay the exorbitant prices charged at WDW. I have already packed everything I own for our upcoming trip.
Another lesson I learned....notes are a very good thing. They help you remember those little things that meant so much at the time. I will definitely take notes from now on. I missed having notes after I got sick. But when I was sick, I simply didn't care anymore.
So there you have it. We are surviving deployment. We function well as a family of two. We function better as a family of three. I can't wait to be a wife again, to feel like a wife again. And I know that Victoria is ready to be daddy's girl again. We miss Michael greatly, and we are surviving this first deployment the best that we know how. One thing we did to take our minds off of it was go to the happiest place on Earth. What could be better than that?
Sorry to see this come to an end. What a nightmare with DME - and I'm glad you made your connecting fight, although my goodness, that was tight! Great final thoughts!
Wow Laura, what a nightmare with the DME busses! Crazy! And sorry your flight was delayed as well!
Thanks so much for sharing your report with us! I'm still amazed at home much you got done since you were feeling so sick! And thanks to Michael for all that he does for our country! I'm so excited for you guys and your next trip! Much deserved! :luck
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Excellent finish, Laura! What a wonderful trip you had. It sounds like your relationship with Victoria is like mine with my DM (we got along great even when I was a teen). Glad you had a wonderful time and glad Michael the bear joined you, because I think that really added to the magic! It was a pleasure reading along and I look forward to reading the next adventure!
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
Laura - just got to catch up on your final posts. I am so sorry that you felt so sick those last few days, Victoria was definitely the trooper (and a great nurse) that day you stayed in but you are a great trooper as well. You made it through those last fews days making sure Victoria had a great time even though you were not up to par.
Glad you were able to spend some time with your cousin Jennifer, it looks like you and Victoria had a great time with her sharing in many firsts. I really loved how much character interaction you both had...and I am sure that the characters will never forget Victoria's scetchbook, she is so talented and can do so much with her talent, glad you got to talk to the CM about the college program, it definitely might be a great opportunity for her in a few years.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful trip, you both looked to have a wonderful time, but most importantly sharing time together. Looking so forward to hearing about your R&R trip.
Great final day, other than the DME problem.
I hate plane delays with a layover. I am a nervous wreck when I fly, so that is all I need is to worry about making a connection. That is why I have decided to always fly out of DFW nonstop and spend the extra time driving to my sister's than flying out of Tulsa and connection at DFW. It was much easier this last trip.
Earl of Sandwich looked delish. Definetly going to try that next time.
Not much longer and you will be reunited with your hubby. I am so happy for you and Victoria. Have a great trip with Michael.
Oh yeah!
I know what you mean about the sickness. I just finally got over mine last week and here I sit in bed sick again. I don't think this is going to be a good winter for me.
Stay well this trip.
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What a wonderful trip! Thank you so much for sharring. Its a shame you got so sick put you really pulled through and seem like you had a good time. I know you are getting ready to leave again so I hope you and your family have an extra magical vacation with your DH finally home again. Cant wait to read all about it!
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in its own way, but we do have more fun at 1900 Park Fare. We haven't done dinner here since 1997 and at that time the characters did sign Stefanie's autograph book, but that was 12 years ago.
now that you stay well for the next trip!
Yep. I was really sick. I guess I was making up for lost time because I hadn't been sick in almost two years. Geez! Hopefully it is all out of my system now, and I'll be good to go during R&R with Michael. I'm still blowing my nose a little bit, but that is nothing compared to the congestion and horrible cough I had. 
We learned that vacationing without daddy isn't quite the same. Everywhere we went, everything we did, we were always talking about daddy and how much he would like this or that. Or we would talk about his favorite things to do there and ride and do things in honor of him. It will be so nice to go there with Michael again. It won't be much longer now!
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Great final thoughts! 
And sorry your flight was delayed as well! 
I'm so excited for you guys and your next trip! Much deserved! 
for your final thoughts! I'm sad to see this trip over, but not too sad as there is another to follow very soon! 
Liz 
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