Don't Cut the Cheese, Please! - Trip Report - UPDATED 9/9 - Page 7 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Hi Aimee! I just found your TR again and how exciting that you were able to work out another trip before your November trip!!! Also, how great that you were able to change from Pop to AKL and get an upgrade Savannah view!!! I can feel your excitement through your writing. I sure hope your DS wasn't sick too long from the shrimp dinner. Hurry back with more please.
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.
First off, thanks to everyone for reading my report! I must figure out how to respond to several people in one post, but until then, please know I appreciate all of your comments! Also, sorry for the delayed update. It’s been crazy around here getting the kids back to school, but they’re off () and I hope to pick up the pace a bit. It’s tough, though... I find myself distracted reading all of the other awesome trip reports! Anyhow, here we go....
Saturday, August 23: A Rocky Start to Day One
After finally getting off to bed with great anticipation for the day ahead, I awoke at about 3 a.m. to find Alex next to my bed saying “Mom, I don’t feel so good.” (Oh *&!*#... this wasn’t in my Passporter plans! ) He was complaining of a bad stomach ache and said he felt horrible. Now mind you, Alex has unfortunately inherited the anxiety gene from me, so he can have a tendency to get himself worked up, especially when he’s sick. Come to think of it... that could be a bit of the “man gene” coming through as well, as DH can also be quite the drama king when he’s under the weather. But I digress...
I am relieved to find Alex has no fever, so I’m inclined to believe this is food-related. (Not too long ago Alex woke up the same way after eating a batch of greasy curly fries at our town fair right before bed, so it would appear that late nights and fried food are not a good combo for him. ) I do my best to comfort him, hoping that a trip to the “throne” might help. No luck, but he does manage to relax and agrees to try going back to bed. Just not HIS bed. He says the bunk bed is not very comfortable, so would I mind if he slept in my bed. Of course not, but there’s no way the three of us are sleeping in one queen size bed! I tuck him in next to DH, put a garbage bucket on the night stand (just in case!), and crawl into the bottom bunk. Seems comfortable enough to me, especially at 3:30 a.m., and off to sleep we go!
Thankfully, Alex sleeps straight through the rest of the night. Stitch calls right on time at 7 a.m., and no one moves a muscle except me. (How do they not hear that loud phone???) I feel Alex’s head to make sure he’s still cool (he is) and then get showered and ready, remaining optimistic. I brew a pot of java and enjoy watching the animals before waking the rest of the gang. I am oh so happy to find Alex is feeling much better -- no more more tummy ache -- and appears to be his normal early-rising, grumpy self! (As some of you may know, adolescents and early mornings aren’t a good mix either!) I manage to get everyone moving and out the door by about 8:45 -- a little later than I initially hoped, but no matter as I am incredibly relieved that Alex is not sick!
We pull into MK by 9:15 and head straight over to Guest Services for a birthday pin for Alex. He is very excited to wear this and loves the extra attention he will get over the next several days! First stop is the Main Street Bakery, as we had never tried this before and heard such awesome reviews. The kids had breakfast in the room, but I ordered a french toast pastry (OMG.... so good, it was a crime! ), DH got a cinnabun and after much hesitation, we got DS and DD each a donut. Of course I did not want to get Alex something so junky after the night before, but DH was convinced that the donut wouldn’t make a difference... if he was going to get sick, he was going to get sick, and he may as well enjoy the donut first. ( What??? Turns out he was right, and Alex was absolutely fine the rest of the trip.)
We are in no rush, so we mozy on over to Tomorrowland and hop on Buzz Lightyear. There is absolutely no line, so we board our cars in no time. I ride with Alex and score a pathetic 14,000 points compared to his 300,000 plus. I don’t know why I am consistently so terrible at this. I’ve tried every technique possible... keeping the trigger pushed in, pushing the trigger in-and-out as fast as I can, aiming for the distant targets, trying to go for the “sure things.” My conclusion: I just stink. Oh well! Here are some pics on the way out...
After Buzz, we board the TTA for a leisurely cruise (always one of our favs!) and I begrudgingly agree to forego COP for the time being, since DH isn’t quite ready for his snooze (He falls asleep on this ride EVERY TIME!), and DS decides his stomach isn’t quite ready for Space Mountain. Here’s a shot having fun in Tomorrowland...
Next up is Goofy’s Barnstormer, which the kids rode twice -- by themselves!
Then it was over to Fantasy Land, where Carly and I rode the Carousel and Snow White before torturing DH and DS with It’s a Small World and then heading over to Thunder Mountain to squeeze in a ride before lunch. One of the best parts about being frequent WDW guests is giving up the commando-style touring. It really is nice, sometimes, to just ride whatever you feel like without the pressure of feeling like you need to get everything in!
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.
Great update!! Glad Alex wasn't sick!! Glad you found the bunk bed comfy Great pictures!! More please
Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rainbowy
I love reading your trip report and I am dying to find out how the weather was after we left on the 23rd! And what do you mean STRANDED? Hurry back!
We were pretty lucky with the weather. We did not have the consistent rain you suffered from Fay, though we did have the typical August thunderstorms. I promise not to leave you hanging on the "stranded" for long!
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
I'm enjoying your trip report. Can't wait to find out what happens next!
Thanks so much... I'll be back soon!
Quote:
Originally Posted by dsteiny23
Great update...I know what you mean about the TRs. I'm addicted!! I haven't decided if I am going to do a pre-TR. But, I think I might try it.
You should totally do a PTR... I'll read it for sure, and I know others will too!
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Sounds like my DH! 
Also, how great that you were able to change from Pop to AKL and get an upgrade Savannah view!!! I can feel your excitement through your writing. I sure hope your DS wasn't sick too long from the shrimp dinner.
Hurry back with more please.
Aimee! Just found your TR and am all caught up and waiting for more!
I must figure out how to respond to several people in one post, but until then, please know I appreciate all of your comments! 
Also, sorry for the delayed update. It’s been crazy around here getting the kids back to school, but they’re off (
when he’s under the weather. 
But I digress...
) I do my best to comfort him, hoping that a trip to the “throne” might help. No luck, but he does manage to relax and agrees to try going back to bed. Just not HIS bed. 
He says the bunk bed is not very comfortable, so would I mind if he slept in my bed. Of course not, but there’s no way the three of us are sleeping in one queen size bed! 
I tuck him in next to DH, put a garbage bucket on the night stand (just in case!), and crawl into the bottom bunk. Seems comfortable enough to me, especially at 3:30 a.m., and off to sleep we go! 
Stitch calls right on time at 7 a.m., and no one moves a muscle except me. (
How do they not hear that loud phone???) I feel Alex’s head to make sure he’s still cool (he is) and then get showered and ready, remaining optimistic. I brew a pot of java and enjoy watching the animals before waking the rest of the gang. 
I am oh so happy to find Alex is feeling much better -- no more more tummy ache -- and appears to be his normal early-rising, grumpy self! 
He is very excited to wear this and loves the extra attention he will get over the next several days! First stop is the Main Street Bakery, as we had never tried this before and heard such awesome reviews. The kids had breakfast in the room, but I ordered a french toast pastry (OMG.... so good, it was a crime! 
), DH got a cinnabun and after much hesitation, we got DS and DD each a donut. Of course I did not want to get Alex something so junky after the night before, but DH was convinced that the donut wouldn’t make a difference... if he was going to get sick, he was going to get sick, and he may as well enjoy the donut first. (
What??? Turns out he was right, and Alex was absolutely fine the rest of the trip.)
Oh well! Here are some pics on the way out...
Aimee
Dreams, Wishes, Hopes... these are the parts of childhood we should never lose.
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