Rides, Rainclouds and mishaps....Disney Style - Page 8 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Sounds like you had a fabulous day at AK!! Great photos! We really enjoy Flights of Wonder too. Glad Abby and Lenny were able to enjoy a swim before going to bed. Can't wait to hear more
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Great update...sounds like a wonderful day at AK. Abby looks like she was having a great time in the Boneyard. Glad everyone enjoyed dinner...can't wait to hear more.
Just caught up on your report... awesome! Sounds like your family is having a great time. Come back with more soon!
We were having a really great time. I think it's hard not to when you're at Disney.
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Another great update. Thanks for sharing with us.
I'm glad everyone likes it.
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Sounds like you had a fabulous day at AK!! Great photos! We really enjoy Flights of Wonder too. Glad Abby and Lenny were able to enjoy a swim before going to bed. Can't wait to hear more
I enjoyed what we saw of AK. I wanted to do more, but Abby didn't want to go back, so all the more reason to maybe plan a new trip. Abby loves her time in a pool, so I tried to plan that into each day. It didn't matter to her (or me) if it was 9 or 10 at night. It was still vacation and a time to stretch bedtime if possible.
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Great update...sounds like a wonderful day at AK. Abby looks like she was having a great time in the Boneyard. Glad everyone enjoyed dinner...can't wait to hear more.
That was the one (and only) thing she wanted. Even as early as after the Safari, she wanted the Boneyard next. I'm surprised she waited until after lunch for it without any kind of meltdowns because we did other things first. Dinner was good. The ribs were fall off the bone tender, the potatoes were creamy and the salad and corn bread were good too.
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Love the photos - you caught a lot of animals!
Thanks Cheryl. I had more, but I couldn't tell what I was trying to take pictures of so I ended up deleting them.
I think around Richmond we go right down the middle of the street. We were having dinner at the time so I couldn't get pictures.
It's Richmond. I used to drive to work down the Powhite Parkway in Richmond, and I always loved when a train would come right down the middle of the parkway.
Have caught up on your TR - looks like you and your family had a wonderful time! Can't wait to read more!
And thanks for posting about the auto train - have always been curious, but we've never gone that route as it's a 4-5 hour drive up to Lorton from home (Virginia Beach). When we've driven in the past, vote has always been to spend those hours getting into SC at that point (waving hello to Pedro, of course!). But my Dad is a train freak, and he wants to go to WDW in Feb 2010 to celebrate his 65th b-day, so this might be something right up his alley. Thanks again!
Wonderful update! You got to see a lot of wonderful animals on your safari trek. I can't wait to read all about Epcot!
Thank you. I was surprised with the number of animals we saw that day. Even though I was hoping to see a lot, I didn't actually expect it. As for Epcot, that's up next (if Abby ever lets me have my computer back).
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I'm just getting caught up. Love all the pictures.
Thanks. I had fun with the pictures. Now it's just tough deciding on which ones to use.
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Have caught up on your TR - looks like you and your family had a wonderful time! Can't wait to read more!
Yes, we did have a wonderful time. It's really nice to go to Disney where you can forget about reality for a while. And I'll post more today - when I'm on my computer.
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And thanks for posting about the auto train - have always been curious,
Not a problem. We like taking it and I know a lot of people have been curious. The one thing though that I can't stress enough to people is if you're serious about taking it, buy your tickets as early as you can - even if it's a year out. The sooner you book, the lower the fare will be. Unlike airfare, the train fare does nothing but go up as seats and sleepers sell out.
I was up early and doing laundry but I let Lenny and Abby sleep in. It was a cloudy day again so it was tough getting up and going. But we finally did get moving, arriving at Epcot around 10:30. We got through security and the turnstiles and then stopped and had our pictures taken. We started heading to Norway for our 11:20 lunch but by the time we made it to the Innoventions / water fountain area, it was starting to sprinkle a little. We donned our ponchos - at Abby’s request - and put a trash bag over the scooter controls. We continued on our way and it stopped sprinkling. By the time we reached Norway though, it started pouring. We checked in and we were allowed into the lobby of the restaurant. Lenny parked his scooter and put our ponchos away then we waited our turn for pictures with Belle. Once we were seated, I took out the camera, the autograph book and a couple of my postcards. There were no Princesses to be seen but I was ready for them.
The menu we were given wasn’t even close to what I had read online, and I think the cold buffet was different too but there were enough choices that we liked. I had the potato salad and Jarlsberg cheese and both were good. The chicken salad I think was a mix of light and dark meat so I didn’t care for it. Abby had Genoa Salami off the buffet and Lenny had a few things, but he piled it all together so I wasn’t quite sure what he had. For the hot food, Lenny had the ½ salmon sandwich and seafood chowder and said both were excellent. I had the BBQ pork sandwich, minus the corn slaw. It was very good but very filling. I think Abby had grilled chicken with roasted potatoes. She ate the chicken but Lenny took her potato for his chowder since it didn’t have any. Once Abby caught sight of the Princesses though, she didn’t pay any attention to her food. To start was an awesome surprise, Ariel as a human. I had read on the boards that seeing her as a human isn’t very common. Seeing her at lunch is even less common. She signed our postcards, took pictures with Abby, then moved on. Next came Aurora, then Jasmine - who we’d never met before. Then we had another surprise - Cinderella. I was very surprised that she was there. Being so visible at CRT and 1900 Park Fare, I had read she’s almost never at the Norway meals. All the Princesses signed our cards and once they were gone, our server brought out a family style dessert. I don’t know what everything was. One looked like a rice pudding with strawberries, one was something chocolate and the third was some sort of very thin layer cake with raspberry. Abby liked the chocolate and Lenny and I liked the raspberry. I don’t think any of us even tried the rice pudding.
After lunch, we went to the Puffins Roost for the pressed penny machine and to check out the Northwestern (of Deadliest Catch) stuff. Next we headed to Mexico where we rode the boat ride twice (there was no line for this) then did a little shopping. Abby chose a sombrero, a pinata and a maraca.
I had these sent to the front gate because I didn’t want to carry them and I knew Abby would want to play with them that night at the hotel. We then returned to Norway because Lenny wanted to ride Maelstrom and see the movie. There was pretty much no line and we got out quickly. We stopped in China for the circlevision and when we got out, it was raining again. We put on our ponchos and as we were leaving, I decided to run back inside for a minute. Inside (where you wait for the movie) was Mulan and Mushu. Abby didn’t want to wait for them but I still snapped a couple of pictures. From here we stopped in Germany, Italy and the Outpost for the pressed penny machines. At the American Pavillion, we noticed it had stopped raining again. Since we stopped to take off our ponchos (again - I lost count of how many times we put them on and then took them off again), we decided to stay and watch the show. We were treated to a performance by the Voices of Liberty while we were waiting.
Kodak Picture Spot taken by another guest
Once inside the theater, Abby did well for a while, but I noticed she was fighting sleep, so I patted my knees. She came over, climbed into my lap and fell asleep very quickly. Abby did well though. Sometimes she wakes up from a nap groggy and grumpy, but not today. She was happy and ready to move on.
Japan we walked right by as I’ve heard there are no pressed penny machines. We stopped again in Morocco. In all the years I’ve been to Disney, I’ve never wandered the countries, but in Lenny’s quest for pressed pennies, we did just that. I never knew how large some of them are. Morocco just seemed to keep going. In France, I didn’t know there was a little alleyway. I thought the whole pavillion was the fountain and the shops surrounding it. And I never knew the UK was so large either. But in our wanderings, we lucked out. We got quite a few photopass pictures in Morocco. In France I saw Belle and the Beast. And in the UK, I saw Mary Poppins and Alice come from a CM door. Abby and I followed them to their meet and greet area and ended up 3rd in line. By the time we got to Canada however, I was getting tired of the wandering and looking for pressed pennies. I did get a break for a few minutes though when I met Lisa again. We talked for a bit and when Abby was anxious to go, we said bye and went our separate ways yet again. Abby took this one, not photopass
Lenny and Abby didn't want to go in - it was too hot. My mom made me, my bro, my dad and my aunt go in years ago, so I felt it fitting I do it to my own family.
Abby in front of the totem pole.................I'm not sure what Lenny was thinking.......Look Lisa (Magic Mickey), Abby got a picture of us talking
We ended up going to Mouse Gear in Future World. Lenny just had to look for the pressed pennies in there, then he looked for souvenirs for himself. He found a t-shirt and a nice denim coat that he really liked. Paid for and being shipped to the front of the park, we left Mouse Gear and found an EMH bracelet stand. I didn’t plan on being in the park overly late that night, but I wanted to get the bracelet while we were there so I woudn’t have to search later for them. Once those were on our wrists, we went to the Seas with Nemo and Friends. We did the clammobiles twice, we did Turtle talk with Crush and Abby looked in all the fish tanks.
When we were done with that, it was a little past 8 so we headed to the Electric Umbrella. We ordered a couple of chicken sandwiches, a cheesecake, a brownie, a kids nugget meal and sodas. We took them to go and went in search of a spot to watch Illuminations. Abby and I were far enough back that she never saw the torches and she never noticed how large the fire portion got. She was also eating her dinner so maybe she wasn’t even watching it. Lenny had wandered closer to record it and I half ate dinner, half watched the show.
When Illuminations was over, Abby and I remained sitting on the cement planter that was in the middle of the walk between FW and WS and watched all the hundreds of people walking by. Lenny finally made his way back to us and once out of the way of everyone, sat down to eat his dinner. When the crowed finally thinned out, we cleaned up our trash and went on to Imagination, which had (no kidding) absolutely no line at all. Lenny parked his scooter where he was told and we went on the ride. When we got back, we found the scooter where we were told it would be, but before Lenny could get on it, we were approached by 2 CM’s. It seems that the pipe holding Lenny’s seat up had started to split at the seam and when the female CM got on the seat to move the scooter, the seat tilted and almost fell off. She said she didn’t fall, but it just scared the life out of her. Lenny wasn’t overly surprised, or concerned as we both knew the seat did move some. He looked at it real quick and said it would be fine (we didn’t realize until the next day the extent of the split in the pipe). We made sure she was okay and then went on our way.
Our last ride for the night, since Abby was getting tired was Soarin. Just an FYI for everyone though. I don’t know if it was just this night or every EMH night, but after 9 PM, there was no FP line at all, just a regular standby line. What made me notice was the fact the line was so long. I’d never seen a FP line that long for anything and that’s when I learned it was a regular standby line.
After Soarin, we remembered to go to package pickup where I got our stuff. It didn’t take long to walk back to the truck. By the time we got to the hotel, it was almost 11:30 though, later than I thought it would be. Abby was extremely tired and cranky so we got her in bed - she fell asleep almost immediatley - and then we went to bed ourselves.
It's a little blurry, but I liked this picture at Epcot's Package Pickup showing Mickey drawing Walt instead of the other way around.
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Wow! You got so much done! I love the picture of the sea horses. Too sweet! So glad the CM didn't get hurt from the scooter. Oh my! Abby is such a trooper. Can't wait for more!
What a great day in Epcot! You certainly got a lot done! We too saw Ariel and Cinderella at PSB lunch, but that was 3 years ago Love the pictures! Glad you ran into Lisa too!! More please
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Abby took this one, not photopass
Abby is such a trooper. Can't wait for more!
Love the pictures! Glad you ran into Lisa too!! More please 
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