Nala & pride "A Bucket Full of Magic" TR - Page 11 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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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.
Must share that after reading about your wonderful breakfast at Kouzzina I went and added it to Jooki's birthday trip, guess someone else must have been enticed becuase Jooki e-mails me and says...wow reading Nala's TR and her breakfast at Kouzzina's sounds delish so I added it on as a breakfast
Guess your TR was a very powerful influencer (and so was your description of the waffles...LOL)
Must share that after reading about your wonderful breakfast at Kouzzina I went and added it to Jooki's birthday trip, guess someone else must have been enticed becuase Jooki e-mails me and says...wow reading Nala's TR and her breakfast at Kouzzina's sounds delish so I added it on as a breakfast
Guess your TR was a very powerful influencer (and so was your description of the waffles...LOL)
Awww man! I got a little weepy reading that. I SHOULD BE AT THAT BREAKFAST! I hope it is a good for you as it was for us.
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.
Kiara and Grumpy headed to the quiet pool and I joined them for a while, but only as a spectator. Sarafina hung out in the room and rested, and as lunchtime approached, I volunteered to head to the food court to pick up grub for the pride. I went back to the room and asked Sarafina if she wanted to join me, and she was game. The two of us took the short walk to the food court and picked up a burger and fries for Grumpy, and two side salads for Kiara and Sarafina.
Since I had ate a big breakfast, I was nowhere near hungry, and I wanted to save room for what I knew I was going to be piling on my plate later that evening at Boma, so I didn’t get anything. We got our order to go and headed back to the pool. Grumpy loved his burger, some bacon, BBQ, chipotle concoction , but the salads left much to be desired.
They were picked out of the grab and go case, and I guess I should have taken a closer look at them before purchasing. Once opened out in the sunlight, it was easy to see some of the lettuce was brown and wilted and most of the veggies on top were looong past being fresh. Had we been in the food court, I would have taken them back to the counter and requested two others, but it wasn’t worth it to walk all the way back to demand replacements. Of all the food we had from the food court at POR, these salads were the only thing that were very disappointing.
And, a tad bit nasty.
Note to self: Carefully inspect packaged food at a food court before purchasing.
Once lunch was finished, Kiara looked as if she needed a nap, and Sarafina was up for one too. The two of them headed to the room and Grumpy and I hung out at the pool while enjoying a few adult beverages in cans and/or bottles from our room. It is rare that the two of us are able to spend time just relaxing and chatting, so this was a welcome change from life at home. A couple came and sat at the table next to us, and Grumpy struck up a conversation with them. I don’t know what it is about my darling husband, that causes people he has known for ten seconds to want to share their life story with him, but we soon had theirs. It was a fun and interesting conversation, and they clearly loved all things Disney, and shared stories of how the magic had touched their lives.
After our new acquaintances left us, Grumpy and I hung out for a while longer and then decided to get the girls up and ready for our evening. We decided to leave the Toaster in the parking lot, considering our adventure earlier that morning, a take a cab to and from the AKL. When everyone was ready, we made the walk to the lobby and out the front door to hail a cab. Unlike at deluxe resorts, as we had seen in the past, there were not cabs lined up and waiting. I asked a CM in the bell service kiosk to call a cab for us and he quickly got on the phone and made a call. Within minutes, a cab arrived and we all loaded up.
Our cab driver was very polite, but very quiet.
It wasn’t until Kiara made a comment that the ice was broken and he came to life. As we made our way out of POR, Kiara loudly asked “Is this the Cash Cab?” The driver chuckled quietly and said “Yeah, Cash Cab. That’s a great show”.
(For anyone who has not seen “Cash Cab”, it is a trivia game show on the Discovery Channel, where people are picked up by a cab, driven by the host, Ben Bailey, and quizzed all the way to their destination, racking up dollars for every correct answer. But, three wrong answers, are three strikes, and he pulls over and kicks you out. There are ten thousand cabs in New York City, but only one that pays you. So, what do you say? You in?)
Ummm, yeah, I am a die hard Cash Cab fan. And so is Grumpy. (And I guess Kiara is too.) It is one of the very few shows we both like and watch together.
Anyhow, after Kiara’s question, which gave us all a good laugh, the driver began to chat with us, and soon we were pulling up to the AKL. I was so excited to be here, as I adore this resort. We paid our fare and made our way through the huge doors and what I saw was a feast for my eyes. The lobby, that is breathtaking on a normal day, was even more so all decked out for the holidays. The soft, amber glow of the beautiful, African inspired chandeliers seemed to focus their light on the huge tree in the middle of the lobby.
The decorations on the tree were a perfect fit for the lodge and it was a beautiful site to behold, and I couldn’t help but smile as I looked at it. It was exactly as I had expected it would look. As we were admiring the tree, we noticed a Photopass photographer there and found there was no one in line waiting for him. I was quick to move the pride in his direction, and we all stepped up to the tree to have our pictures taken. I’m so glad we did, as we got not only some of the best group shots of the trip, but some of the only ones.
After our photo shoot, we decided to skip taking a look on the savanna, as it was now dark and I didn’t figure we would see much, and decided to head down to Boma and check in. We were early, but there were very few people waiting for a table, so I figured we might be seated ahead of our ADR time. Sure enough, I no sooner had our buzzy thing in hand and had stepped over to join the waiting pride, when it went off. We were escorted to our table and our server was with us in just a few minutes to take our drink order. Once it was placed, and our server left the table, the four of us wasted no time busting a move towards the pods.
The next hour was spent filling plate after plate of wonderful, interesting food. Everything was delicious, and I was very impressed with how adventurous Kiara was being with her selections. The time came for the four of us to admit we couldn’t eat another bite, and we paid the bill and wandered out. As always, Boma was a huge hit with the three of us, but I was thrilled that Sarafina, who confessed as we were leaving that she wasn’t looking forward to the meal, stated that she really enjoyed it and was pleasantly surprised. Boma got a big four thumbs up from us.
We were too full and too tired to wander out on to the savannah, but Sarafina and I were not too full or too tired to check out the gift shop. Grumpy and Kiara came along, and I was really hoping to find some interesting Christmas ornaments. Much to my dismay, there was nothing resort specific (as in animal print) other than ornaments that were made to decorate the gift shop displays. I wanted a dozen of two of those, but they were not for sale. Grumpy, being the brilliant man he is, told me to take a picture of one of them and make them myself.
Guess I will have to add these to my already long list of craft projects.
We slipped out the side door of the gift shop, ready to bid the AKL goodbye, and hail a cab, when it hit me what we had done. Before Grumpy could reach the bell service desk, I tugged on his sleeve and said “We just messed up”. He had a look of confusion on his face at first and then got a look of all knowing on it and said “Go back inside and touch the door”. I walked back inside the lobby, rubbed the door and walked back out to join the three of them. I had to do it, as a trip to the AKL would not be complete without rubbing the door for good luck and safe travels.
With that tradition completed, we all loaded up into the cab that had just pulled up. Our ride back to POR was a quick one, and we soon found ourselves making our way through Alligator Bayou to our room. Kiara and Sarafina were ready to curl up in bed, and the idea of that sounded good to me. Grumpy sat by the pool for a while, and when he returned to the room, I was the only one awake. Thankfully, Kiara slept through the fireworks this night.
When Grumpy climbed into bed, we had a conversation about how great and relaxing the past two days had been. It had been wonderful and POR was a really beautiful resort. But, I confessed that the past two days didn’t really feel like we were in WDW. I was willing to chalk it up to the fact that we hadn’t been to a park yet. But Grumpy pointed out the real reason I was feeling that way when he said “We are yet to be home”. I knew what he meant without him having to explain his statement. It was the Beach Club that was home to us. And tomorrow, we were returning home.
It didn’t take Grumpy long to drift off to sleep, and I wasn’t far behind him. Funny how a day of doing almost nothing can make you so tired. As sleep found me, I’m sure there was a smile on my face as I drifted off thinking about what tomorrow would bring. Tomorrow, we were going “home”.
Up next: Desperate need for a map (again) and a reunion I didn’t think would happen.
Great update! Reading about Boma has made me very glad we are returning here this coming June. the food here! I can't wait to see AKL some day during the holidays because this is "home" for me.
Sounds like a gloriously relaxing day which is not always so easy to do at WDW! Your meal at Boma sounded delish! I love the pic of the four of you in front of the tree...I am sure that definitely made it into the holiday scrapbook!
Looking forward to your trip home to the BC...I know what a special place that resort has in the hearts of all of you!
danielle
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~Shoot for the moon, if you miss, you will land among the stars~
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Oh my gosh, it looks like you are all having so much FUN!! 
I hope it is a good for you as it was for us.
The driver chuckled quietly and said “Yeah, Cash Cab. That’s a great show”. 
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