Marchin' Through the Grand Floridian TR - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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Oh I LOVE your pictures. GF is our favorite place to stay. It is so beautiful and relaxing. I swear I do not think there is a bad view in the whole place.
Did you ever think " oh...wish I were at the Poly"? We're staying GF in September an I'm so afraid I'm gonna be thinking that, and that view with the hammocks in the foreground is exactly what makes me think I might be thinking that while we're there! BTW, Those pancakes were looking so good! I might have to order some of those while we are there, now! I don't even have the GF cafe on my food list, but im thinking im going to ha e to reconsider! Great update! More please!
I stayed at the Poly for 2 nights in October and really liked it -- but didn't utilize the beach & only tried the pool one evening (and it was way too chilly that night to enjoy it), but I can't imagine that you won't love the GF's beach and pools just as much. And please do put the GF Cafe on your list for breakfast -- I'm betting it's not as crowded for breakfast as a lot of the other places -- like 1900 Park Fair.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mpwife153
What an adventure getting back to the GF . The Mama duck & her little ducklings were too cute!
I just GF Cafe for Breakfast . Thr grounds of GF are so peaceful, I could spend all morning just sitting on a bench, sipping coffee & relaxing.
You got that right! It felt relaxing every time I walked through those areas.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dwsandy
I'm so glad I checked to see if you had a TR. Your pictures are great! Love reading about your adventures.
Sandy, I almost sent you a PM to alert you to my TR, because of course you and several members of your FAMILY will be making an entrance soon. . . .
OK, now back to the GF for everybody wanting to see more pics of this truly lovely resort.
Those of you who participated in PassPorter's Decade of Dreams celebration at WDW in May 2009 will recall that I pushed past my "innate shyness" at not knowing a soul by pre-inviting everyone to join me for lunch at Crystal Palace. Well, I did something similar with this conference.
This was the first time I've participated in a PSMJ (named for Professional Services Management Journal, their first publication -- but basically it's an organization supporting Architecture, Engineering, & Construction) conference. So once again I would be meeting people for the first time. Since the conference was only 2-1/2 days long, I didn't want to wait until the first seminar to start networking. So as soon as I knew I'd be attending, I asked PSMJ to pass my email address to everyone else who would be attending, along with this note: "Cindy has booked a table for four at Citricos for 7:25pm the first night of the conference. The first 3 people to respond will have dinner with her."
I had my table filled in no time, and then after Wednesday's pre-conference seminar (which was terrific ) I invited another lone traveler to join us, knowing Disney would be happy to accommodate us for a table for 5.
Since Citricos isn't locked up during the day, I strolled through there in the morning & got these pics.
Citricos & Victoria/Albert's are on the second floor of the main building. They share this beautiful carpet which is in the entryway to both restaurants.
How great that you worked through that shyness to set up a dinner with some of your fellow conference-goers! I'm sure they all felt as though they'd won a lottery after dining with you!
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Those of you who participated in PassPorter's Decade of Dreams celebration at WDW in May 2009 will recall that I pushed past my "innate shyness" at not knowing a soul by pre-inviting everyone to join me for lunch at Crystal Palace. Well, I did something similar with this conference.
I asked PSMJ to pass my email address to everyone else who would be attending, along with this note: "Cindy has booked a table for four at Citricos for 7:25pm the first night of the conference. The first 3 people to respond will have dinner with her." .
There were several whimsical touches inside the conference center, which you reach by walking past the bus stop in front of the main building.
I want this chest!
Painted on the inside of the skylight:
And of course I took great delight in pointing out the Hidden You-Know-Who in the carpeting inside our conference room. Most of the conference attendees had never heard of Hidden Mickeys. Can you imagine a world without Hidden Mickeys?
Speaking of Hidden M's, here's a close-up of the wallpaper in my room. . . .
So, how was my dinner at Citricos? Simply marvelous! The food is pricy but great. Of course, Disney knew it was my birthday and I figured my companions wouldn't know what to think about THAT, but they took a chance on me and now had to pay the price.
I ordered a yummy rum beverage and was rewarded with a Mickey straw to boot. The drink was called a "Star" something-or-other. It had a coconut-pineapple flavor that was quite delish.
Now, what's impossible to see in the flash photo above is that I got one of those glow cubes in my drink:
And it would change color:
The food at Citricos is so good -- everybody liked it. I loved the Pear and Endive Salad and the Filet of Beef with Quattro Formaggi Crushed Potatoes. For dessert, one of my dining companions chose this.
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i did the same thing for our disney convention--booked a table for six at fulton's--but then we never found anyone to join us. but we didn't do the email thing (i don't think that would have been possible).
you seem like so much fun--i bet the people who joined you had a blast!
A conference attendee at a nearby table had this wonderful chocolate thingy and so I had to order one as well. Of course, the GF brought me a birthday dessert -- but it was mostly whipped cream (since they knew I'd ordered dessert). You see my glow cube burning orange in this photo -- I wanted to make sure the cube made it home with me so removed it from my drinky-poo at the end of the meal.
So here are "both" of my desserts. In the foreground is my Warm Chocolate Banana Tart with ice cream and caramelized bananas -- and yes, it's as good as it sounds.
Most of the people who had accepted my dinner invitation had just arrived Wednesday afternoon for the main conference which would begin Thursday morning -- including Kathy (below) -- during dinner we discovered that we're both March 26 babies, which is pretty even if I am 12 years older than she is. DME had dropped her off just in time to meet us for dinner, so afterwards I went with her to the registration desk to get her things and a nice bellman snapped our
The next morning, I took this pic of the conference center, which has its own dropoff area in front of it. As you can see, the conference center blends in seamlessly with the architecture of the whole complex.
Another gorgeous carpet:
Late Thursday afternoon, I stepped out on my balcony and the fellow in the next room engaged me in conversation. Then I noticed that I had a good view showing Spaceship Earth behind the Poly. This shot is zoomed for your enjoyment.
As I met more people on Thursday, several expressed regret that they hadn't responded to my dinner invitation for Wednesday. Well, of course I had also made a dinner ressie for Thursday night at Narcoossee's but figured I would choose my dining companions later.
That turned out to have been a brilliant idea. Kathy toyed with the idea of going into Epcot for a couple hours (and I was willing to take her there) but it would have cost her $50 at this point -- not worth it. So I told her about my dinner ressies and she said "Let's do it!" At the end of the seminars on Thursday we all had an appetizer & cocktail thingy out on a back patio, so Kathy and I surveyed the lot and ended up inviting 4 more women to join us later for dinner.
None of them wanted to spend money to go into the parks, so I suggested a free ride around the property on the monorail, figuring we'd get back about the time of the ressie (7:30). Yippeee!!!!!!! Everybody liked that idea, so we piled on.
Then I handed my camera to Kathy, who is about as bad as I am about shaking the camera. But do you like my little daypack? I got it at the San Diego Wild Animal Park last summer and knew it should be my bag for trips to the AK. It's perfect! I think it's meant to be a child's pack, but it's great when you only want to carry a few things.
Looking at our resort through the Contemporary's window:
I had timed it perfectly, so when we got back to the GF it was time for our dinner. One person dropped out at this point because she was more tired than hungry, so once again the GF just had to change my 4-person ressie to a 5-person.
While we waited for our buzzer to go off, we stood on the back deck facing the MK while the sun set. Here's the Contemporary (and BLT, where Sandy and her family were staying -- but I'm getting ahead of myself).
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. The Mama duck & her little ducklings were too cute!
GF Cafe for Breakfast 
. Thr grounds of GF are so peaceful, I could spend all morning just sitting on a bench, sipping coffee & relaxing.
at not knowing a soul by pre-inviting everyone to join me for lunch at Crystal Palace. Well, I did something similar with this conference.
but we didn't do the email thing (i don't think that would have been possible). 
even if I am 12 years older than she is. 
DME had dropped her off just in time to meet us for dinner, so afterwards I went with her to the registration desk to get her things and a nice bellman snapped our 
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