An Animal Kingdom State of Being with Cam and Fam COMPLETED 9/18 - Page 35 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Just got all caught up!! Fantastic TR! Love all the pics, especially the ones of WWoHP!
Travis has already told me that if we ever go back to WDW, we take one day out to head to US!!
The crowds look CRAZY, but looks like ya'll manage to travel your way around just fine!!
Can't wait for more!!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Wow! That Harry Potter ride (and the whole area!) looks AWESOME! Man, if anything was going to get me to wait 2 hours for a ride, this may well be it! Great pics!
We waited the first time for about an hour to get on the ride, but it was worth it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by dwonderz
Crazy Crowds! Haven't been to Universal since they installed WWoHP - it looks really nicely themed !
US did get this park of their parks right! Well Done!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Irenaroo
Cam, you got so much done that day. Kudos to you. My DD was overwhelmed with the crowd and keeping her lil sis safe. They did buy Thing 1 and Thing 2 shirts. The next day, back in our WDW bubbble, they wore those shirts. 9 y/o got sick and spent the day in the villa. Older DD was at downtown disney and the CM's asked her 2 times where thing 2 was. She told them she was sick in the room and they both wished her well and hoped she was better soon. Sorry to the other poster about the rude CM's at US. The CM's at Disney were cute.
That is so cute about their shirts! Disney CMs are great!
Quote:
Originally Posted by goofysdtr
Those crowds are absolutely C-R-A-Z-Y! With so many fans of HP (and new ones every day, I'd imagine), I just wonder if the crowds will ever go down. Doesn't matter to me, someday I'm going!
I'm thinking that it is going to be crowded for a long time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
It looks like a sea of people!! And for Luke to be able to take pictures, he must have done it by magic!
I think it helps to be quite a bit taller than me, but it did do a fantastic job.
Quote:
Originally Posted by travismom
Just got all caught up!! Fantastic TR! Love all the pics, especially the ones of WWoHP!
Travis has already told me that if we ever go back to WDW, we take one day out to head to US!!
The crowds look CRAZY, but looks like ya'll manage to travel your way around just fine!!
Can't wait for more!!
We really did manage the crowds well, using good info from folks here.
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
Malfunctions and the Best Tomato Soup I’ve Ever Had
June 6 Part 4
We finally pulled ourselves away from WWoHP and moved into to Suess Landing. First, we got in line for The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train. With the Express Pass, we moved right up to the ride and were placed in line for a ride on the second trolley train to re-enter the station. Unfortunately, the ride had malfunctioned and we were left waiting. Initially, the TMs told us it wouldn’t be long, so even though quite a few others left, we just moved up to be next on the trolley. Another 10 minutes and it didn’t look like it was going to restart any time soon. Another 5 minutes and the TMs told us we’d have to exit. So off to new adventures. Next was Caro-Seuss-el. Luke grabbed a critter and Stefanie and I chose a car.
From the carousel we moved to One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, which is very similar to Dumbo, except with water spouts.
By now it was lunch time as we had a 1 PM reservation at Mythos. First of all, this restaurant is beautiful designed.
Luke was excited that we could see The Hulk from our table at Mythos.
At this point I was starving, so I wanted an appetizer so I didn’t have to wait too long to eat. Our server also brought us some bread that Stefanie and I thoroughly enjoyed, but Luke thought it had rosemary in it, an herb he does not like. For our appetizer, I chose the Tuscan Tomato Soup, with Italian sausage and basil. This was the creamiest and tastiest tomato soup I have ever had. Luke hadn’t felt he wanted an appetizer, but I got the full serving bowl as I figured he might want to share. When I told him how good it was, he decided to try one bite, but that led to many more bites. Totally beats a can of Campbell’s tomato soup hands down. [PS Sorry for the lack of food pictures yet again, but I did say I was starving. ]
I had also ordered their special cocktail of the month, a Summer Breeze (Vodka, Malibu rum, splashes of pineapple and cranberry juices). Right after I ordered, the waiter asked Luke if he wanted one, too, but he said he’d just try a sip of mine. When the waiter returned, we had two Summer Breezes, so evidently, our waiter had a little hearing issue. Luke decided since it was already there, he would have his own.
For our entrees, Luke chose a Buffalo BBQ Chicken Wrap with fries, Stefanie had the Chicken Fritters with fires and corn on the cob, which she finds yucky, so I ate it along with my Roman Panini with Parmesan and fries. This was a very delicious and filling (not overly so) meal at a very decent price. All three of us give this one a thumbs up for service and food both.
After lunch, we attempted to see Poseidon’s Fury, but due to another malfunction (supposedly at the best part of this attraction), we were instructed to evacuate through the back doors. Everyone initially stood there as we weren’t sure if this was part of the attraction or real. Some other folks exiting with us told us this was the point where this rather unexciting attraction would finally get exciting. We did a bit of a behind the scenes view of IoA, but we were not impressed. Two malfunctions and counting.
We headed back to Seuss Landing in hopes of riding the trolley train. It was up and running this time. I only wish now was that it was longer as it was a neat little ride overlooking this whole area, somewhat like the Wedway People Mover, but not quite as good.
With that success, we moved to Marvel Super Hero Island, so Luke could ride several thrill rides. He chose The Hulk as the first ride while Stefanie and I went into a shop.
But the heat had made me too tired to shop and Stefanie wasn’t even much interested in superhero souvenirs.. She and I moved outdoors in hopes of finding a seat. We ended up all the way down by Captain America Dinner, finding seating in the shade. Shortly after we sat down, Luke sent a text that The Hulk was experiencing technical difficulties, but he was very close, so he was waiting it out. Stefanie used the wait time to call Mamaw and her Aunt Betty Jane.
Eventually, he sent another text that it didn’t look like it was going to be working for quite some time and was heading to find us. A while after that Luke found us, though he had to do quite a bit of turning around to discover his two girls waving at him. He told us he was off to create a malfunction of The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman. We did seem to be on a roll with rides malfunctioning.
Stefanie and I kept to the shade as it was proving to be a very HOT day. I was also very sleepy, so no more midday alcohol for me unless a bed was nearby. Luke managed not to break Spiderman, but he did enjoy it. He even thought I would, too, but it was a no go by myself.
The Hulk had restarted while he was on Spiderman as I could see it from our table in the shade. So we sent him off again while we went in search of a mug refill. The Captain America Diner was already closed, so we walked a short distance to an ice cream shop where we refilled the mug for 89 cents, all the change in my purse. With a drink cooling us down, we did a bit of shopping, actually browsing. At the Oakley store a TM told me I wasn’t allowed. After my shock, he said the sore was for wizards only, not Muggles. I had forgotten my shirt. As we walked in the direction of The Hulk, I took some pictures of it.
Stefanie and I had just found another shady spot to sit when Luke arrived. He The Hulk and commented that after the launch, he had no idea where he was. !
Luke felt he was done with Marvel Super Hero Island, so we headed to the Trading Company to check out goods, but didn’t purchase yet as I was still hoping to find some Harry Potter items back at WWoHP.
Then we were off to Toon Lagoon where we rode absolutely nothing. We didn’t find a single thing we were interested in. Next was Jurassic Park for a river adventure. Thank goodness we hardly got wet as Stefanie and I are grumpy wet people. Stefanie rode with her head very close to me, but declared at the end that it was a good ride. I think that referred to her NOT getting wet. She was safely wedged between Luke and me. Luke loved my comment at the ride’s end, “Not as wet as I expected, but more than I wanted.”
Wow! That was a lot of ride issues for one day! I'm glad Luke got to ride Spiderman and the Hulk as both of those rides appeal to the thrill junkie in me!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
PassPorter Guide Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Southwestern Florida, USA
Concierge Level: 7
Posts: 39,153
Post Thanks / Like
Likes (Given): 39
Likes (Received): 114
Thanks (Given): 18
Thanks (Received): 46
Pixie Dust (Given): 1
Pixie Dust (Received): 8
I just love the pictures of Luke riding Caro-Seuss-el!! Too cute! :wink:
Your meal at Mythos sounds very yummy!
What a bummer about all of the malfunctioning rides! Poseidon's Fury is a cool attraction. It is too bad you weren't able to experience it.
I am glad that Luke enjoyed The Hulk! I rode it once and said that I would never ride it again! It make me very sick!
So glad you escaped getting soaked on Jurassic Park!
Great update!!
PassPorter Guide Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Southwestern Florida, USA
Concierge Level: 7
Posts: 39,153
Post Thanks / Like
Likes (Given): 39
Likes (Received): 114
Thanks (Given): 18
Thanks (Received): 46
Pixie Dust (Given): 1
Pixie Dust (Received): 8
I just love the pictures of Luke riding Caro-Seuss-el!! Too cute!
Your meal at Mythos sounds very yummy!
What a bummer about all of the malfunctioning rides! Poseidon's Fury is a cool attraction. It is too bad you weren't able to experience it.
I am glad that Luke enjoyed The Hulk! I rode it once and said that I would never ride it again! It make me very sick!
So glad you escaped getting soaked on Jurassic Park!
Great update!!
That's a lot of ride malfunctions!
But your lunch SOUNDED delicious (since you didn't deliver on any food porn ).
I hear you on no alcohol mid-day - especially in the heat - leads to a SLEEPY afternoon! But the drink sounded yummy - and probably pretty easy to concoct at home.
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Great update! My jaw just dropped when I saw that Hulk coaster in person. I think it's safe to say I won't be riding that one but I'm glad Luke enjoyed it! Can't believe all the malfunctions! That must have been quite frustrating.
Oh, and you can tell Stefanie I had some saddlecrap tonight as I ordered a Reuben sandwich for dinner - LOL!
__________________
15 total family trips with stays at the Poly, AKL, Wilderness Lodge, Beach Club, Swan, Dolphin, POFQ, Pop Century, All Star Music, Movies & Sports, and Coronado Springs.
Lunch sounded delicious, I am not a big tomto soup lover but your soup evem peaked my interest. Sorry you had so many issues with ride malfunctions, glad that Luke was able to get onto the Hulk though, I think just seeing the pictures was enough for me. I used to love rides like that but one bad trip on a ride at Grat Adventure turned me off of rides with inversions or corkscrews...I am mighty happy with my EE and ToT
For a while there it seemed like Luke was going to spend the rest of the day waiting for rides that broke down. Glad he got a chance in the end to get some thrills in. Doesn't seem like there was much for Stefanie to do at IOA. She was a really good sport to just hang out most of the day! Lunch sounded YUM. My favorite tomato soup to date is the smoked tomato at Boma.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
!
And for Luke to be able to take pictures, he must have done it by magic!
Will you create an online photo book?
Deb
We did seem to be on a roll with rides malfunctioning. 
The Hulk and commented that after the launch, he had no idea where he was. 
! 
~Megan~
PassPorter Guide Author
Linear Mode
