A Little Trans-Atlantic Magic - The (somewhat) LIVE TR! -updated 07/03/13 - Page 20 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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
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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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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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Finally, it was here! The day we'd been waiting for! It was HERE! At 7:45am, I walked Meri to school for her very last day of first grade. That done, mom and I had some coffee and then puttered around for a few. At 8:45am we headed off to the airport in my car. I had booked a one-way car rental through AAA from Memphis to Houston... now in hindsight, had I been SMART, I'd have set it to return to Galveston, but... well... I wasn't. It worked out ok, though, because we got to see Tammy! But I'm getting ahead of myself...
We got to Budget, and filled out all of the paperwork, adding me as another driver, and verifying that we had requested a booster seat. When the car pulled up, and the Budget employee got out to give us the keys, it turns out that it was my friend, Bree! What a great surprise!! Mom drove the rental home while I drove my own car back. Once we got home, I packed up the car, and got it all ready to go! We agreed that mom would drive first, so I arranged the passenger seat with my stuff, and got Meri’s stuff settled in the back seat.
At 3pm, Meri dashed straight home from school! I don’t think I’ve ever seen her move so fast! She ran into the house, changed into her PJ’s and did a quick bathroom break, and we were in the car before ten minutes had passed! We stopped quickly at our local McDonald’s to grab something to eat, and then hit the road!
About 25 minutes down the road, I realized I had forgotten two things. My favorite black pants that I was going to wear with most of my shirts, and my white pants from the tailor! *doh*!!! Mom suggested that we turn around, but I absolutely hated to waste nearly an hour (round trip) for two pairs of pants. Really I should have done it – those two pairs of pants went with just about every shirt I brought – but oh well!
We drove and drove and drove and drove… only stopping for a food / gas / potty break twice. Mom drove for the first four and a half hours, then south of Jackson, I took over. The roads in Louisiana were positively awful, let me just tell you! We were so glad to get into Texas, for a number of reasons. No offense to you Louisiana folk, but good heavens, we were shaking our heads at the manic drivers. Not a turn signal in sight, lol!
By just before 1am, I was just done for. I just couldn't keep my eyes open anymore, so when mom offered to finish the last hour, I was glad to let her! We FINALLY made it to the Holiday Inn on JFK Boulevard around 1:45am, and man I’ve never been happier to see a hotel in my entire life! We unloaded everything from the car onto a luggage cart and went straight up to our room.
I called the front desk for a wakeup call at 6:45am, and then set my phone for 6:50am, just to be on the safe side! We left the loaded luggage cart in the room and all climbed straight into bed.
I'm going to go ahead and post the next day also... working on resizing some photos, and it'll be up in maybe an hour or so! I will hopefully update a few days every day! But we'll see!!!
Great start! Your luggage pile is smaller than what I was envisioning. Too bad about forgetting the pants. Isn't there just always something that gets left behind ?
Woo hoo! I'm so excited to read this. What a shame you forgot the two pairs of pants. I agree, your luggage collection doesn't look as bad as I'd thought, but the boxes hiding in the back make it more of a load!
great start!! I know how it feels to forget something that you really need. Our vacation in 2012, I forgot my tennis shoes at home so I had to walk around WDW in sandals for a week...not fun :
Sorry for the delay in posting! I ran up to a friend's house to drop off souvenirs and thank-you gifts (they fed the cats) and then photobucket has been SO SLOW... it's taking forever to edit and load the stupid pictures! But I'm determined and it can't foil me!!!
Day 2 – Saturday, May 18, 2013 - Part 1
It turned out that it was a darn good idea to set my phone alarm! The wakeup call never happened! D’oh! The beds were comfortable, but the pillows were so fluffy that I woke with a crick in my poor neck! Nothing that was going to create a problem, but it was definitely annoying.
We got a text from Tammy at 7:15am letting us know that she was in the parking lot, but not to rush. We were already pretty much ready anyway, so we finished up and headed down to see her!
After all of the hugs and introductions, Meri and I climbed into Tammy’s car and mom got into our rental, and we headed off to the airport. It took a little longer than expected to return the rental, but then we were on the road to Galveston!! Mom sat in the front passenger seat, and I sat in the back seat in the middle, between Meri and Grayson. Of course, as you would expect, we hit traffic, and sat for a while!
I snapped a few photos, including one of Grayson. After that, every few minutes he would say, “Another!” Needless to say, I took plenty of photos of him! He’s just TOO cute! During the drive, I read Grayson his favorite Curious George book. It was so cute how excited he got about the book.
We were on a bit of a timetable, because Tammy had to drop us at the port at 10:30am in order to get back to Houston for her baby shower! But no worries, we made it to Galveston with plenty of time to grab breakfast! As we passed the port, we got our first view of the Magic!
We were so excited, and glad to have arrived!
Tammy found us a great breakfast spot, and we parked and headed in!
Breakfast was delicious, and we had a great time chatting. At one point, I couldn’t find my check card, and I went back to the car, and then came back empty-handed. Turns out it was underneath my chair! Oops!!! I was just darn glad I FOUND the thing! Would have made for a stressful vacation if I had lost it!
After breakfast, we piled back into the car and headed over to the port! I was buzzing with excitement, and so was Meri. She pulled up to the curb, and we unloaded the car with the help of a porter. Then we said goodbye to our bags, and goodbye to Tammy () and got into line to check in!
First we had to go through security, which was pretty fast! Funnily enough, they made mom throw away one bottle of water she had in her hand, but the other one she had in her purse (which she'd forgotten about - she wasn't trying to sneak), they said nothing about! After we got through security, we were directed to a check-in line, where we got our photos taken for our key cards. We were in boarding group 7, so we had lots of time before we could board. I got Meri registered in the kids club, and she got her wristband! Then we went to go meet Minnie, who had no line whatsoever! My photos were blurry because it turns out my camera was on the wrong setting!
The entire first day’s photos were not all fabulous, because of the setting, but I did get it sorted out by the second day. Anyway, before long, we were boarding, and we were so excited! It moved so fast! I was shocked but at the same time, not surprised!! Disney’s efficiency is legendary!
They announced us in the atrium, as we entered, and then a crew member (are they cast members or crew members? Oh well, either way, they’re CM’s, right???) walked us into the atrium a little further, and chatted with us for a few, answering any questions we had. I really liked that, because it took away the overwhelming-ness (new word, like it? lol) of the first few minutes on board. We knew from reading our first day’s navigator (which they gave us at check-in) that we had to hurry and sign up for the Tea Party with Alice, so the CM took us over to Guest Services where we handled that immediately and got our tickets! PHEW!
With the most important thing done, we decided against a ship tour, because I had so much junk with me. I didn’t feel like wheeling my suitcase all over the ship, plus lugging my tote, plus Meri’s bag! So, we universally agreed to eat at Parrot Cay and then head up to deck 5 to tour the Oceaneers Club / Lab, and then go to our stateroom.
There wasn’t much of a line for the restaurant, and soon we were seated at a table with a lovely couple. I waited at the table with the bags while Mom took Meri through the buffet, and when mom returned – no Meri! It turns out that Meri made herself at home with another family that we had met in the waiting area at the port! They’re a family that I befriended in our Facebook group page for the cruise, and so Meri was already “best friends” with them. Too funny! Mom told me that Meri had been disappointed that there was no pizza on the buffet, and apparently a CM overheard her saying something to mom, and the CM told her to hang on… and he disappeared for a few minutes, and then brought Meri 5 slices! In hindsight I knew he went up to Pinocchio's pizza, but at the time we weren't sure where he went. We just knew that he went away and came back with pizza for her. Now that’s service, I tell you what. Mom was thoroughly impressed and talked about it more than a few times throughout the trip - and more than a few times to friends at home, too!
Meri shared her pizza with her new friend, and I ate with mom, and then Meri came back to join us (ok, I had to kind of threaten her a little, lol, because she didn’t want to leave her friend, but I won that round).
Yummy!
After lunch, we took the elevator up 2 levels to deck 5, and then paused to say hello to a friend!
Then we spent about half hour between the club and the lab. We were fully impressed by both! Just wow, guys, just wow! Now THESE are kids clubs! Ya know?
The Oceaneers Club:
A dress-up trunk!
Many times throughout the cruise, I'd come in this room to get Meri, only to find Belle sitting in here, reading a story to a handful of kids! It was so charming!
And the Oceaneers Lab:
Aren't they cool??? The club seems to sort of skew slightly "younger" even though the age groups for both are both 4-12. It's more of a playground setting, and there's a lot of storytime type of stuff and games stuff, lots of arts and crafts, too. The lab has a lot more computers, and it's got an entire "Lab" area (hence the name, lol) where they do fun science experiments and the like. There's board games and arts and crafts here, too, but it's just slightly more cerebral, if that makes sense.
Up next:
Getting settled into the room, and our first dinner!
OMG!!!! I can't take it, how am I going to get through this next year, I want on that ship, NOW!!!
OK, note to self, run to sign up for the Alice Tea Party........got it. I will be taking notes of this TR.
I love seeing Meri with just one missing tooth now
So great of Tammy to pick you guys up, and nice for you gals to have a nice little get together!!
You're on the ship already! It was SO nice of Tammy to pick you up and drive you to the port--and her shower was that day? Grayson is so cute! Hilarious but predictable that Meri disappeared with friends in the first few minutes on board. That's a great story about the pizza, too. The CMs on board are outstanding! The kids clubs look amazing and I love that Belle reads stories in there. Meri's missing tooth is adorable and I look forward to seeing her in all her new outfits.
Oh, I miss that ship!!
Originally, the club was for the younger school-aged kids, and the lab was for slightly older. They may have done away with that when they added the tween club. No other cruise line compares, though.
I love that Meri had lunch with another family!! She is not shy, is she?
No wonder Meri loved the clubs so much! When we sailed last year, DS was too small for them so we didn't bother exploring. Now I can't wait for our next cruise.
Oh wow! I love the pics you've taken so far The kids club/lab area looks awesome, no wonder Meri didn't want to leave haha You're making me wish our cruise was coming up faster!! Ahhh!! Can't wait to read more!!
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I will hopefully update a few days every day! But we'll see!!!
Melanie
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