Gatlinburg ... a Practically Unplanned Adventure! June 27 - July 5, 2009 - Page 16 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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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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Very nice pix. Your school sounds interesting. My DIL is a teacher assistant in a 4 yr old preK special needs class. They have about ten kids but they are somewhat scattered out during the week. They never have all of the kids at the same time.
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Very nice pix. Your school sounds interesting. My DIL is a teacher assistant in a 4 yr old preK special needs class. They have about ten kids but they are somewhat scattered out during the week. They never have all of the kids at the same time.
Thanks! It is the Mothers Day Out program at our church, so we only meet twice a week. Yesterday was pretty bad - lots of tears!!! Try as we might, we couldn't get any of the other teachers to come help us. Apparently they were all having their own issues. Our cleaning lady stopped in and got one to stop crying, and later on our children's minister helped us out again. Hopefully it will get better. Especially since we already added a new child that we weren't aware of. So next month, when the little one starts coming we will already have a full room. So much for starting off slowly!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
What beautiful photos - it was obviously a lovely day. Fascinating about the trees being fused togeether.
Thanks Cheryl! Sometimes I wish the trail guide brochures would talk about stuff like that. Although there's probably not anybody who would have known how that happened in the first place.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
Looks like a very nice nature walk... although I'm not sure I'd enjoy seeing too many of those worms.
I think it's a good thing that we didn't see them until the end of the trail!
After picking up a few food items it was back to the resort, and time again to figure out what to do this evening. We cleaned up and decided to head down the road to another of our favorite spots to eat in Gatlinburg: The Alamo Steakhouse! Gatlinburg & Pigeon Forge TN Dining Alamo Steakhouse Restaurant
I had my camera out because I was hoping to get some pictures of the ducks that are always out front. But not tonight - they were asleep! Joshua liked the above-door decoration -
We were seated right away in one of the back rooms. They brought out a set of Wikki Stix with Joshua's kid's menu. These are bendable wax sticks that are different colors. They had instructions on how to make a cowboy, but Joshua didn't feel like playing with them. Jay twisted a few of them together but then we ended up putting them away. Our food was delicious! And way too much as usual. Joshua had a cheeseburger, I had "The Burger" and Jay had a ribeye with a salad and baked potato. They also offered a AAA discount like Bennett's did so we saved a few dollars. Jay finished his food but Joshua and I had about half of ours left over so we got a to-go box. (Mine was a 16-oz hamburger! )
We found the place easy enough, and went inside to check it out. The thing is, the skating rink is on the second floor of the building, and there was a go-kart track on the lower level. That immediately caught Joshua's attention and he said he wanted to ride the go-karts. We were mean and told him we didn't have enough money for both, so he would have to choose. We walked upstairs to look inside the skating rink, and I asked Joshua again what he wanted to do. He chose the go-karts, which no doubt made Jay happy. I know he wasn't looking forward to spending time in the skating rink! I was disappointed because I was hoping for Joshua to earn a lot of scout credits on vacation, but we will eventually build up enough skate time for him back home. (Even though our local rink is pretty nasty and this one looked nice.)
So we went back downstairs to look at the go-kart track. The one at this facility was a simple figure-8 track. But we noticed that it cost the same amount as the really cool-looking 3-story track next door. Joshua decided he would rather ride the multi-level karts instead. Pigeon Forge, TN – Fast Tracks
So we walked around and looked at it a little closer. They also offered a combo ticket for the multi-level track and the race-car-type track. But Jay said there was no need to do both tracks - just the multi-level one. I'm not a go-kart person so they got in line while I went to the observation area to take pictures. There wasn't much of a line so they were in the very next group, and got a 2-seater kart.
We parked and headed toward the toy store, only to discover that it was no longer a toy store! From what I could tell looking through the windows, it was selling women's accessories. So we went inside the large shop and started looking around at all the ornaments and decorations. I found out that they had moved the toys into one of the side rooms of this shop - I looked inside, thinking I might find some new Cars for Joshua, but they didn't have any. They didn't have much of a selection of anything, actually. So I went back to looking at Christmas stuff. I quickly found an ornament perfect for Joshua. It was the head and shoulders of a Cub Scout in uniform, with space at the bottom for his name. I showed Jay, and he went to have it personalized while I continued browsing. We also ended up getting a gold trumpet for Jay, an egg with the Christmas Place logo on it, and our vacation ornament for this year was a wreath with a black bear sticking his head out. They had a special - buy 3, get 1 free, so we didn't have to pay for one of them. Plus I had a coupon to get a free ornament - this year it was a snowflake.
After paying for our ornaments we went outside and looked around in the courtyard. Joshua posed
and we saw a bird from the Parrot Mountain attraction
and we watched the trains for a while.
And then it was back to the resort to get ready for bed!
Next up: Day 6, Over the Mountains and Through the Woods (but not to grandmother's house ...)
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Looks like you had a fun evening! That's too bad about the toy store at the CHristmas Place.
We went to Parrot Mountain in June with my family, and we quite enjoyed it. Did you all get to see it?
Sounds like a great night! Dinner sounded delish, and the go-karts looked like fun!
It was very delicious, just way too much food. I mean, really, a 16-oz hamburger - who eats that much? But, it was served on a rectangular bread and sliced in half. I managed to stuff one half of it into me, and had the other one back at the resort another day.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katara81
We went to Parrot Mountain in June with my family, and we quite enjoyed it. Did you all get to see it?
We didn't go this time. It looks really neat, it is on my list of "next time" places.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
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Dinner sounded delicious!!! Sorry Christie, I would have picked the go karts too. Maybe because I can't rollerskate, but also because they are so much fun!!!!
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Fascinating about the trees being fused togeether. 
Especially since we already added a new child that we weren't aware of. So next month, when the little one starts coming we will already have a full room. So much for starting off slowly! 
Joshua liked the above-door decoration -
We walked upstairs to look inside the skating rink, and I asked Joshua again what he wanted to do. He chose the go-karts, which no doubt made Jay happy. I know he wasn't looking forward to spending time in the skating rink! 
I was disappointed because I was hoping for Joshua to earn a lot of scout credits on vacation, but we will eventually build up enough skate time for him back home. (Even though our local rink is pretty nasty and this one looked nice.)
Joshua decided he would rather ride the multi-level karts instead. 
I showed Jay, and he went to have it personalized while I continued browsing. We also ended up getting a gold trumpet for Jay, an egg with the Christmas Place logo on it, and our vacation ornament for this year was a wreath with a black bear sticking his head out. They had a special - buy 3, get 1 free, so we didn't have to pay for one of them. Plus I had a coupon to get a free ornament - this year it was a snowflake.
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