Four if By Land, Six if By Sea Updated 3/29 COMPLETE - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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
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.
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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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And finally The Incredibles (or Credibles as Maddie likes to call them ).
Does anyone else find this hilarious? Just me? Okay, then.
I wanted to tell you not to do the Indy show after Maddie's "no fire" but alas, I was too late. She didn't seem too traumatized, though. And glad Thom was able to get the TIW card back. I really can't wait to hear what Mary Devall's 5th park is!
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
I love the pictures of the girls running up to the characters. I would love to be eating at Sci Fi right now (that'll teach me for eating lunch while I read your TR)!
So glad Thom was able to find his KTTK and TIW cards back. John never got TIW privileges - safer for me to hang on to things. All cards (APs/passes, etc) return to me at the end of each trip to put in a safe place for the next trip.
Looks like an action packed day! Going to have to try one of those Min & Bill's milkshakes on the next visit. And we HAVE to go to SciFi - required per Madison's instructions.
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What a great day at DS! You were able to see so many characters and you guys just look like you are having so much fun!
So glad Thom was able to find his very important cards! I must admit - I keep dh's AP with me at all times - just for that reason!
So, was Sharon right? Was that milk shake as good as you expected?
Another great update Jill!
We had a lovely walk back to the BW from DHS with Maddie napping away in her stroller and Mary Devall eating her cookie and talking to herself the entire way. She has such an imagination and loves to make up scenarios and act them out. The only thing is that you’re supposed to act as if you don’t notice her because she gets embarrassed if you look at her and comment in any way on her activity. So . . . I just minded my own business strolling Maddie and trying to suck up an ounce of milkshake through the straw. Sharon was not kidding about these shakes being so thick - - my jaws were aching by the time I finished it! It was de-licious though!
One thing that I knew Mary Devall wanted to do on this trip was to visit the Community Hall at BW. We had discovered this little gem of a place on our mommy/daughter trip last February and she had not forgotten it. One of the reasons why I wanted us to leave DHS when we did was to give her time at the Community Hall.
The Community Hall is right on the path from DHS at the BWV quiet pool. Once inside, I parked Maddie’s stroller in a corner while Mary Devall played computer games. Over the next hour, I played board games, foos ball and colored with her while Maddie continued to sleep. I knew that Maddie had to be tired because she slept hard the entire time that we were in there and that was with Cars blaring on the big screen tv and a fierce game of ping pong being played.
Thom finally sent me a text asking how to get from the Swolphin to the Community Hall. When I realized that he had taken the boat back from DHS and had gotten off at the Swolphin, I began to understand what was taking him so long. I had assumed that he had been riding RnRC over and over again, but come to find out, he only rode it once. I also found a receipt where he had stopped for a little snack before leaving DHS, so he had himself a good time.
When he finally joined us, I decided to take Maddie back to the room. I should have left her where she was because on the way back to the room, she woke up. We hung out in the room for a little while letting her wake up before we headed back to the lounge for a little dinner. Thom and Mary Devall finally joined us about 6 p.m. with Thom saying that he had to practically drag her out of the Community Hall (thus making the Community Hall Mary Devall's suggestion for a 5th park ).
Tonight’s hot appetizers in the lounge tonight were meat pies, wontons and spring rolls. We all really enjoyed the offerings and the chance to relax a little although we didn’t waste too much time because MK was only open until 9 p.m. tonight.
We went back to the room for our jackets and then headed back out to the bus stop where we waited only a few minutes along with one other chatty (yet nice) gentleman for an MK bus. As usual, we arrived at MK just when Spectro was ending so Main Street was packed. We cut through the stores on the right and then slowly shuffled along with the crowd until we hung a right at the ice cream parlor.
SM had a long standby and no FP’s left, so we continued on to Toon Town via the shortcut and rode Barnstormer. After riding Maddie’s favorite roller coaster, we decided to split up so that Thom and Mary Devall could ride BTMRR. Maddie had requested that we ride PP next, but I had another idea since we were so close to the Judge’s Tent.
I asked Maddie if she would like to see the princesses and received an enthusiastic response of “” The standby time was listed as 15 minutes, but we walked right to the front where the CM had just replaced the rope after letting people in. As soon as she saw us, she asked how many and opened the rope right up again when I said “Two.” Hmm . . . maybe they meant a 15 second wait instead of a 15 minute wait.
When we entered the room, Maddie immediately started jumping up and down when she spotted Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Belle. She was so excited, but then she suddenly said “Oh no! I forgot my book! I be right back!”
I quickly reminded her that she had finished her autograph book earlier in the day with The Incredibles. When I promised her that she could get the princesses’ autographs in June, she gave me a cheery “okay” and went right back to being excited.
We spent more time chatting with Sleeping Beauty than we did posing. Of course, we had to tell her the “Judy” story which she responded to with a giggle and a “That’s silly!” We also told her about Maddie’s southern version of “Bey-elle” and she told us that we had to make sure to tell Cinderella and Belle these stories.
Continued in next post . . .
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Sometimes words aren't needed . . .
Last edited by Jillybean; 03-28-2009 at 07:24 PM..
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We had so much fun with Cinderella that the family behind us ended up having to jump ahead to Belle which they didn’t mind since we were the only ones in the room and no one was rushing us.
Belle actually came over to escort Maddie to her spot which was so sweet. We had an equally good time chatting away with her.
Continued in next post . . .
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Sometimes words aren't needed . . .
Last edited by Jillybean; 03-28-2009 at 01:50 PM..
No other families had entered the room, so Sleeping Beauty and her handler continued talking to us after we visited with Belle. Maddie showed them her Toy Story t-shirt from the cruise and Sleeping Beauty named the characters for her. When she got to the pig, Hamm, Maddie insisted that it wasn’t the right name. It was funny listening to Sleeping Beauty and her handler come up with alternative names like Pork and Bacon. At one point, Sleeping Beauty whispered something to the handler which I assumed was something very non-princess like.
We finally waved to all of the princesses. I’m not sure if they enjoy having such “chatties” at the end of the evening, but it was a wonderful last minute treat for us!
From there, we continued on to our original destination, PP. It was listed with a 35-minute standby, but since Wishes was about to start I doubt that we waited more than 15 or 20 minutes. While we were in line, Thom sent a text that he and Mary Devall were off BTMRR, so they were waiting on us at the PP exit.
We went across the street to IaSW and then decided to split up again so that the girls could each enjoy their favorites. Mary Devall and I decided to bite the bullet and just get in the 50-minute standby line at SM while Thom and Maddie took off for the TTA and Buzz. These are pictures that Thom took from their adventures.
Maddie Koenigs showing off her key card - - this 3-year-old is proud!
Mary Devall and I walked and walked and walked through the standby line and, just when we thought we were going to walk to the front, we hit the line. We didn’t move for another 10 minutes and then, the next thing we knew, we were in a rocket. We had no idea why the line was moving like this , but just glad that we didn’t have to wait for 50 minutes.
The park was closed after our ride through space, but there were still plenty of people milling about. Thom and Maddie must have been on the bus that pulled off as we approached the bus stop because Thom sent me a text asking what we wanted from the lounge. Mary Devall gave me an order that took forever to text which I followed with “and a big ole glass of Baileys.”
We didn’t wait too long for a bus and we were even able to snag two coveted seats on the back row. We sat in the middle of a bunch of college students from Orlando who had parked at BW and used the bus service to save on parking. A drunk guy from Chicago insisted on taking a picture of one of the birthday girls and told her that he would put it on his Facebook page. He was absolutely hilarious - - I actually think he was more tipsy than drunk and just naturally a free spirit.
I couldn’t help but think of Lesley when he said “I’m from Chicago where we arrest all of our governors.” At Mouse Fest, Lesley, Eileen and I had a similar conversation with a guy on a bus from MK one evening.
Thankfully, we were entertained on the bus because the driver must have totally been lost. Even the local college students were commenting on how long it was taking to get back to BW!
We finally made it back to the room a little after 10 p.m. Mary Devall was upset when she saw that Thom only managed to grab a couple of cookies and none of them were what she had “ordered.” Thom sounded just as upset when he explained that with 20 minutes left before closing, there was only a plate of four cookies left in the lounge. When he asked one of the CMs when they were going to be replenished, he got a reply of “They’re not.” Ooooh, he was almost as mad about this as he was about the “Great Red Wine” incident at WL in October. He never wrote a letter about it as he did about the red wine injustice, but we did just receive a survey to complete about our stay at BW so I imagine there might be a word or two about that.
I remembered that Mary Devall still had about half of her chocolate chip cookie left from DHS, so I pulled the wrapped cookie from underneath Maddie’s stroller where I had placed it when we reached the Community Hall. Suddenly, our little girl was all sunshine and happiness again. Thom had successfully snagged a glass of Baileys for me so I was all sunshine and happiness too.
We finished off our night with a little tv watching before we turned out the lights for our final night at Disney.
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I had assumed that he had been riding RnRC over and over again, but come to find out, he only rode it once. I also found a receipt where he had stopped for a little snack before leaving DHS, so he had himself a good time. 
After riding Maddie’s favorite roller coaster, we decided to split up so that Thom and Mary Devall could ride BTMRR. Maddie had requested that we ride PP next, but I had another idea since we were so close to the Judge’s Tent.
” The standby time was listed as 15 minutes, but we walked right to the front where the CM had just replaced the rope after letting people in. As soon as she saw us, she asked how many and opened the rope right up again when I said “Two.” Hmm . . . maybe they meant a 15 second wait instead of a 15 minute wait. 
We also told her about Maddie’s southern version of “Bey-elle” and she told us that we had to make sure to tell Cinderella and Belle these stories.
to all of the princesses. I’m not sure if they enjoy having such “chatties” at the end of the evening, but it was a wonderful last minute treat for us! 
, but just glad that we didn’t have to wait for 50 minutes. 
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