Nala & pride "A Bucket Full of Magic" TR - Page 26 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Allow me to warn you, this is one of those very long, rambling updates. That being said, here goes.
When Kiara and I had our fill of exploring the wonderful gift we came home to, we all realized we were hungry. Evening service in the lounge only had about a half an hour left, so we deiced we need to bust a move to claim some food. Most of the tables in the lounge were still filled, so we loaded up our plates and headed back to the room to enjoy our light evening meal. I really didn’t mind, as it gave me yet more time to marvel at all of the wonderful goodies on display for Kiara and I.
My plan for the evening had been to head to DHS to see the Osborne lights, and when I suggested heading there, Kiara protested. She wanted to swim. The evening was unseasonably warm, and I hated to deny her any pool time (as she hadn’t had any that day) and Grumpy said he was willing to take her to SAB while Sarafina and I went to DHS. As much as I wanted to see the lights, I much more wanted Sarafina to see them. And, to be honest, I was a bit apprehensive about Kiara watching them. Being so new to the epilepsy thing, and still unsure as to what a trigger(s) could be, I was actually relieved that Kiara would be skipping the display of millions of blinking lights. I was disappointed that she would miss them, but there was comfort in the fact that we wouldn’t be subjecting her to, what in my mind, may cause a seizure.
Sarafina and I said goodbye to Grumpy and Kiara and made our way down to the lobby and out the backdoor of the BC. She still was not to comfortable driving the scooter up and down ramps and parking in tight spaces, so we decided to skip taking the boat to DHS and take the walking path instead. I was fine with this, as I needed the exercise and it gave us a chance to chat along the way. We walked along the well lit path and soon were making our way towards the gate. I stopped to take some not so successful pictures of the tree.
As we approached, I noticed it seemed most everyone in the park was leaving the park, but it didn’t dawn on me why. Sarafina and I pulled out our KTTW and headed to insert them, when a CM looked at us and said “Ladies, the park is now closed”.
I was in shock. I, the planner, had totally failed to consult a times guide and had no idea the Studios closed at eight PM. I was so disappointed and the CM quickly started to tell us how sorry she was. I told her it wasn’t her fault we had failed to plan well and we bid her a good evening and slowly made our way back down the long path to the BC.
As we traveled along, something happened to Sarafina and I. We both started to get a bit goofy and were both struck with a bad case of the giggles. I don’t know if it was the glass of wine we had both had in the lounge, or all the excitement of the day, or a combination of both, but we were soon laughing hysterically over the littlest things. When a boat approached one of the underpasses and blew its very loud horn two times, causing me to jump a few feet in the air, Sarafina responded back by honking her horn twice. The tiny, little, itty bitty beep the scooter produced became another source of entertainment for us, and the laughter continued. By the time we made it back to the BC, we were both stating our sides were hurting.
While a walk back to the BC from the Studio wouldn’t normally make my list of top ten things I enjoyed on a trip to WDW, this walk was special. It had been a long time since we, as mother and daughter, had just let our hair down and took a few moments to be silly. Even though I arrived back at the BC with my feet extremely sore from the walk, my heart was filled with a warm, fuzzy feeling. As much as I hated being away from Grumpy and Kiara, I was so glad that Sarafina and I had this moment to ourselves.
When we reached SAB, we spotted Grumpy and Kiara still in the pool and we made our way to the table they had claimed to kick back and watch her play. SAB was virtually empty and they had the area she loves all to themselves. The area stayed quiet until a very large bridal party showed up and decided to continue their celebration at Hurricane Hannah’s. They were by no means obnoxious or rude, but we figured we should clear out and let them have the entire space. It was, after all, a special day for the bride and groom, and we knew the party would love to have our table.
We were able to persuade Kiara out of the pool with the promise of some sweet treats in the lounge, and the four of us headed back to the room. Grumpy and Kiara quickly changed clothes and when we headed to the lounge, we found it to be rather quiet. We were able to grab seats on the comfy new loveseat and the chairs around it to enjoy a few desserts.
Being one that never wears a watch, I was not aware of the hour. But, as soon as I heard a very loud boom outside the window, I knew it was now nine PM and Illuminations was just beginning. Thankfully, we were safely inside, but the noise of the fireworks were not completely buffered by the walls of the lounge. I looked at Kiara, who was sitting beside me, to see what her reaction was and I got exactly what I expected. Her beautiful, blue eyes were huge and wide and she said only one word. “Fireworks?”
I confirmed what Kiara was hearing was indeed the fireworks, and quickly offered to take her back to the room. Instead of taking my offer, she said something that shocked all of us. “Watch them out there?” and she pointed towards the balcony door of the lounge.
I was stunned into silence and it was Grumpy that asked her if she wanted to watch them outside. Kiara nodded, and Grumpy volunteered me to take her out on the balcony. I was more than happy to rise to the task, took Kiara by the hand and led her out the door. Once on the balcony, I pulled her close to me and put my arm around her to give her reassurance and together we watched the fireworks explode one by one in the night sky.
With every one that illuminated the darkness, Kiara marveled at them and stated how beautiful they were. But, I wasn’t watching the fireworks. I was watching Kiara. Once again that day, tears filled my eyes. There are not enough words to describe how vastly emotional that moment was for me. It was such an amazing, incredible feeling to be standing there with her as she braved a fear that had haunted her for so long. And to think that Kiara had initiated our view of the fireworks made the moment even more sweeter and more precious.
After about five minutes of keeping her eyes to the sky, Kiara turned and looked at me. Even in the darkness, it was easy to see the tears that were falling down my face, and with great concern, Kiara asked me why I was crying. There was no way to define the impact of what I was feeling to her, so I simply replied with something she could understand and said “Because I am so happy”. Kiara then gave me a big hug and said “I’m so happy too”. As if my day had not already been perfect, those moments with Kiara were icing on the cake.
While Illuminations had more to go, Kiara had had enough, and asked to go back inside. I was happy to take her there and we joined Grumpy and Sarafina back in the lounge. We snacked a bit more on the desserts and then decided it was time to head to the room. Sarafina and Kiara were more than ready for bed, as each of them took turns in the bathroom changing into their PJs and climbing into the comfy bed, but I could tell Grumpy was a long way from calling the day done. He then suggested something that I wanted to do, but was a bit on the fence about doing. Go to Jellyrolls.
Grumpy had been there several times in the past during our stays at the BC and really loved the place. More than once he had stated he wished we could go there together because he knew I would love it. But, our parenting style, that of never leaving Kiara with a sitter, had prevented us from enjoying the place together. Sarafina, who was cuddled up in bed with the now dozing Kiara, caught our conversation, and my protest, and insisted the two of us go enjoy ourselves. I was a bit of a hard sell on the subject for many reasons.
For one, we didn’t bring Sarafina on this trip to be a babysitter while Grumpy and I ran wild. And for another reason, the fear of something happening to Kiara while we were not there was terrifying to me. Between Grumpy and Sarafina telling me it was OK to have a little fun, I finally, while somewhat reluctantly, agreed. I quickly freshened up and by the time Grumpy and I stepped out of the room, Kiara was fast asleep and Sarafina was deeply engrossed in her book.
As we closed the door, I was hit with a mix of emotions. On one hand there was the worry of leaving our child behind. But, I knew she was in the best hands possible with Sarafina. And, there was comfort in knowing that we were only a short walk away from our room in case there was an emergency. On the other hand, I was excited to be going on a date, of sorts, with my beloved husband.
The reason I was so excited to be on a “date” with Grumpy is that it had been NINE years since the two of us had done anything together without Kiara. Both of us were raised by parents that were of the school of thought that if their kids couldn’t come along, they didn’t go. When we learned that Kiara was coming along, Grumpy and I agreed that we would be the same kind of parents ours were, at least in one aspect, in that we would operate as a family unit. I can barley fill up the fingers on both hands with the amount of times we have left Kiara to do something together, and several of those times were for a funeral. With that being said, it is easy to see why I was so looking forward to some one on one time with Grumpy.
We were in Jellyrolls for less than a few minutes and I knew Grumpy was right. I loved this place! It was so much fun to watch the piano players and they were both very talented and entertaining. As well as enjoying the show, I also very much enjoyed Grumpy’s company. Time passed too quickly and before I knew it, the last call was being made. I was shocked that we had officially closed Jellyrolls down!!!!!
Grumpy and I made our way back to the BC and it was amazing how quiet and deserted everything was. But, I guess that is the norm for 2 AM. We slipped quietly into the room and crawled into bed unnoticed by Sarafina and Kiara. Sleep found both of us quickly, as it was WAY past our bedtime, but as I drifted off, I knew we would both pay for our “date” in the morning!
And so my most magical Disney day ever had come to an end. While our day at the AK had been sprinkled with tons of pixie dust, and Kiara and I had returned home to an incredible surprise, it was the way the evening went that made the day all the more magical. Having the opportunity to have some one on one time with not one, not two, but all three members of my pride was a precious gift. I will never forget how hard I laughed with Sarafina, I will never forget standing by Kiara as she watched Illuminations from the balcony and I will never forget the rare moment that Grumpy and I had a date.
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What a wonderfully perfect day!! And talking about Kiara watching the fireworks really struck me; as I have a child that cannot do fireworks also.... he is actually a teenager now, so I had written off that ever happening... but reading about Kiara makes me think you never know......
Looking forward to more...
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Definitely had to grab the tissues more than once during this installment. Kiara is absolutely amazing! I only caught a glimpse of her fear of fireworks a couple of years ago, but I could see the terror in her eyes. That she could not only watch them, but have such enjoyment in the experience must have been overwhelming for you. Add that to all the other magic you had that day and it's almost too much!
What an amazing update of a magical day. I am sorry that DHS was closed and that you missed the Osborne Lights but what you did have was so much better. I had tears in my eyes as you described Kiara wanting to watch Illuminations and even more tears at her response to your tears. What a perfect moment...
You were able to have some mother / daughter magic on both ends...does not get better than that.
I am so glad that Sarafina and Grumpy were able to talk you into going to have a "date" night. Sounds like you had an amazing time...and you even closed down the house. I am so glad that this day was filled with such special magic for you...you greatly deserve it.
I always love your trip reports because your family is what makes Disney special-your love for each other and appreciation of small things is so magical. As usual, I did need tissues to get through. I am so happy that your lovely daughter is growing so much.
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That being said, here goes. 
I, the planner, had totally failed to consult a times guide and had no idea the Studios closed at eight PM. 
I was so disappointed and the CM quickly started to tell us how sorry she was. I told her it wasn’t her fault we had failed to plan well and we bid her a good evening and slowly made our way back down the long path to the BC.
By the time we made it back to the BC, we were both stating our sides were hurting. 
and with great concern, Kiara asked me why I was crying. There was no way to define the impact of what I was feeling to her, so I simply replied with something she could understand and said “Because I am so happy”. Kiara then gave me a big hug and said “I’m so happy too”. As if my day had not already been perfect, those moments with Kiara were icing on the cake. 
And for another reason, the fear of something happening to Kiara while we were not there was terrifying to me. Between Grumpy and Sarafina telling me it was OK to have a little fun, I finally, while somewhat reluctantly, agreed. I quickly freshened up and by the time Grumpy and I stepped out of the room, Kiara was fast asleep and Sarafina was deeply engrossed in her book. 
ºOº ~*~ 
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