The Great Disney Do-Over—PTR for Aug 2010 - UPDATED 8/2 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Glad that the kids all kept their cool through what sounds like a really long meal. Glad you were able to get a great view of Wishes. Sounds like those missed ADR's came in handy with being able to order some extra things to sample.
Glad to hear CG went so well, even if a bit long! I can't imagine getting up and going to a park the next day, so I can't wait to find out what is next!
Would we join our GG the next day? Or would we, once again, be anti-GG?
Our Day at DHS...
Before going to bed the previous night, we had all but decided we would skip out on lunch at Hollywood & Vine. Our plan was to sleep as long as we could. If that got us up and to DHS before the 11:00 ADR, we would go. Otherwise, we would meet the group for dinner.
Besides—we had dinner ADRs at the same place! (This is another ADR that I was not on board with. We wanted to do the character meal at H&V. We wanted to do the Fantasmic dinner package at Brown Derby. Somehow, the reservations were made for the same restaurant for lunch and dinner. I was never clear if it was the only restaurant that could accommodate our GG group for the Fantasmic package, or if they were trying to give us our vote of the character meal for lunch. But by the time I realized we had lunch and dinner ADRs at the same place, only 4.5 hours apart, there was nothing else available...on with the story…)
We woke up that morning to find ourselves immersed in Florida rainfall. We checked the weather and it looked like it would stick around most of the day. It was rain like I had never seen before. In MN, if it rains that hard, it is accompanied by pretty strong storms. This seemed like run of the mill HEAVY rain. We let the family know we would meet them for dinner at H&V and we would try to wait out the rain to make our way to DHS later that afternoon.
We thought we would stay close to “home” and check out the Café Rix, QS restaurant at our resort (CSR). We put on all the rain gear we could. We each had sweatshirts—rain jackets—ponchos—and umbrellas. It was not enough. During the walk (run!) from our hotel room to the main building we were SOAKED—to our undies! Good thing it was so warm or we would have been MISERABLE!
We really enjoyed Café Rix, once we found a CM who could explain it to us. The first few CMs we asked did not seem to speak much English and did not seem to understand our questions. Since we had been on the DxDDP, we had not ventured far from TS restaurants through most of this trip. I loved the variety offered at Café Rix. I also loved that the food was made fresh to order. DH ordered a Quesadilla and I got a Philly beef sandwich. Both were fantastic. The girls got chicken and DS ate DD’s left over pizza from CG.
By the time we were finishing our meal, the rain had lightened a bit—but if this was the rain I saw earlier, I would not have imagined it could be heavier! We went back to our room to change into drier layers, re-donned the ponchos and umbrellas and made out way to the bus stop. We decided not to take the stroller for the 2.5 year old. She often preferred to walk, and we thought a soaking wet stroller would be more of a problem than it was worth. Besides, we did not think we would last there very long in this rain.
We entered through the rainy gates of DHS around 2pm. It seemed that more people were leaving the park at that time than entering it! The Disney magic we passed along the day before (in the form of FPs that we were not be able to use) was returned to us by a young family giving us their WDW double stroller as they left the park with wet and crying kids. Those strollers are AMAZING! I could never justify spending $30 to rent the stroller for a day, but even with all 3 kids crammed in the stroller (littlest on laps) it felt like I was pushing air. We would be even more appreciative of the stroller later in the day…
Because of the heavy rain, all outdoor rides and attractions were closed—even the “honey I shrunk the audience” playground! Also because of the rain, the indoor attractions had HUGE lines. We got FPs for Star Tours and decided to split up. I took DD (5) to see Beauty and the Beast while DH took DS and DD (2) to see one of the stunt shows. I was having a very hard time finding my way to Beauty and the Beast. The rain made it hard to see, as did the crowds. My maps kept getting wet and falling apart. DD does not like being wet (sensory issues) and was beyond whiny. Because there was nothing else available for us to do, we got an early seta for Beauty and the Beast and dried off while waiting for the show. It was nice to sit in a covered pavilion while we waited. And with just her and me, she had the attention she needed and we were able to pass the time with drawing.
Like at Nemo the day before, it was fun to watch her watching the show. She sang along with many of the songs. Her body wanted to get up and dance along as well but she was able to stay in her seat. She was happy to see her favorite princess. I was happy to have some time alone with her to appreciate her magic.
After the show, it was already time to head to our dinner ADRs at H&V. The rain had lightened to barely a drizzle and it was more comfortable to walk without the wet poncho hoods.
I know H&V has gotten some poor reviews, but we loved it! Like the Tusker House, our review may be biased by the convenience of a buffet for our family. DS ate about 6 pieces of their carrot cake. He wanted me to get the recipe! Once again, the chef came out to discuss particular menu options for DD (2) with the milk allergy. Once again the chef made her a special plate so we would not need to worry about any contamination from the buffet.
Unfortunately, we got to see just how responsive WDW staff are when faced with an allergic reaction… I was sitting next to DD eating Macaroni and cheese (from the kids section—yummy!) when DH left to get some more food. DD (2) wanted to follow him and started getting herself out of the highchair. As she fell, I caught her (clumsily, somehow involving her face) and contaminated her with my mac and cheese. She reacted immediately by screaming “YUCK! CHEESE! POISON!”
Although I did not think it would have been possible for my food to enter her mouth, she must have gotten a bit of it…sure enough…the hives started within seconds. I instructed someone from my party to go find DH, as I was digging for the Benadryl and DD was screaming. By the time I was feeding her the first dose of Benadryl, there were (at least) 4 CMs standing by. One had a towel. One had a bag (medical supplies?). I am not sure what the others were doing. They all looked worried. One asked if I had an epipen. I told them I did but I hope not to need it. Another asked if we talked to a chef about food. I told them how it was all my fault.
I was frantic. Worried. Embarrassed. Very embarrassed. My heart was racing. The adrenaline was pumping. The third dose of Benadryl made her hives stop progressing. They began to dissipate with the fourth (her max) dose.
The rest of the group seemed to quickly move on and forget what happened, but I could not relax. I was watching her every second. They kept saying, “It’s over. She’s fine.” Even DH was telling me to relax about it. I needed to stay vigilant--someone had to! I have seen the hives return. I have seen her face swell. I was beyond anxious—and yet, I was with my DHs family and could not let myself appear to be a crazy freak I felt. It was a very difficult moment for me.
This was the moment that led to the “Mommy melt down” later that evening. The breaking point, for me and possibly our family.
OMG!! I am ss about your DD reaction, definately scary!! Glad to hear she was okay though. Dont worry as a mom, I can understand, as most all moms can, with the worrying. My DD doesnt have any allergy issues, or otherwise, but I can imagine the panic and worrying that comes along with it. Epsecially with one that severe, that little bit and how quick.
Also that is great you got some one on one time with your DD-5 to enjoy her magic. Isnt that the best??!!!!
I cant wait for the next update, I am enjoying it and was happy to see in my inbox that you had posted a new installment.
So sorry about your daughter's reaction, we have allergies here too so I can totally understand the panic, glad the benedryl worked so quickly. Hope that everyone was able to enjoy the rest of the day (epsecially you...I know how hard it is to breath after that especially when everyone else is already calm and moving on to the next moment).
OMG!! I am ss about your DD reaction, definately scary!! Glad to hear she was okay though. Dont worry as a mom, I can understand, as most all moms can, with the worrying. My DD doesnt have any allergy issues, or otherwise, but I can imagine the panic and worrying that comes along with it. Epsecially with one that severe, that little bit and how quick.
Also that is great you got some one on one time with your DD-5 to enjoy her magic. Isnt that the best??!!!!
I cant wait for the next update, I am enjoying it and was happy to see in my inbox that you had posted a new installment.
Thanks for the encouragement. What i thought would be a couple of posts to review our last trip has turned into the therapy I never had to process the experience! Sorry I am not keeping up well...
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Yw!! No apologizes neccesary. Gives me something to look forward too! I can relate about the therapy, it's like a journal of what happened on your trip. Gives you time to reflect about the good and the bad, to make adjustments for next time. I definatley think that the moments like the one with your daughter make all the "bad" ones seem so small and insignifigant. It's those that you will always treasure.
Just wanted to let you know you still have an audience here, great job and we patiently wait to hear more.
I was so glad to see an update on your TR! I had been looking forward to it. Wow, I can understand how you got so anxious about your daughter's reaction and I'm really glad it wasn't more serious. And I also understand about how you couldn't relax after that. I know that feeling when you are frantic with worry and concern for your child. You just can't immediately calm down after that - it's like an extreme "fight or flight" reaction and the stress keeps coursing through your body for some time afterwards. Can't wait to read more - although the "mommy meltdown" doesn't sound good
__________________
15 total family trips with stays at the Poly, AKL, Wilderness Lodge, Beach Club, Swan, Dolphin, POFQ, Pop Century, All Star Music, Movies & Sports, and Coronado Springs.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
Susan
If that got us up and to DHS before the 11:00 ADR, we would go. Otherwise, we would meet the group for dinner.
(This is another ADR that I was not on board with. We wanted to do the character meal at H&V. We wanted to do the Fantasmic dinner package at Brown Derby. Somehow, the reservations were made for the same restaurant for lunch and dinner. I was never clear if it was the only restaurant that could accommodate our GG group for the Fantasmic package, or if they were trying to give us our vote of the character meal for lunch. But by the time I realized we had lunch and dinner ADRs at the same place, only 4.5 hours apart, there was nothing else available...on with the story…)
In MN, if it rains that hard, it is accompanied by pretty strong storms. This seemed like run of the mill HEAVY rain. We let the family know we would meet them for dinner at H&V and we would try to wait out the rain to make our way to DHS later that afternoon. 
The first few CMs we asked did not seem to speak much English and did not seem to understand our questions. Since we had been on the DxDDP, we had not ventured far from TS restaurants through most of this trip. I loved the variety offered at Café Rix. I also loved that the food was made fresh to order. DH ordered a Quesadilla and I got a Philly beef sandwich. Both were fantastic. The girls got chicken and DS ate DD’s left over pizza from CG.
Like the Tusker House, our review may be biased by the convenience of a buffet for our family. DS ate about 6 pieces of their carrot cake. He wanted me to get the recipe! Once again, the chef came out to discuss particular menu options for DD (2) with the milk allergy. Once again the chef made her a special plate so we would not need to worry about any contamination from the buffet. 
I was sitting next to DD eating Macaroni and cheese (from the kids section—yummy!) when DH left to get some more food. DD (2) wanted to follow him and started getting herself out of the highchair. As she fell, I caught her (clumsily, somehow involving her face) and contaminated her with my mac and cheese. She reacted immediately by screaming “YUCK! CHEESE! POISON!” 
Very embarrassed. My heart was racing. The adrenaline was pumping. The third dose of Benadryl made her hives stop progressing. They began to dissipate with the fourth (her max) dose. 
"Sparky"(My first trip.)
Linear Mode
