PTR....Universal Adventures of Dreams and an Expanding world part 2 - Page 7 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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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
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Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
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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.
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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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So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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This day is still kind of up in the air for me. My plan is to go to MK for the day. It's the day of the 1st Christmas party, which will mean that the park should actually be quiet during the daytime.
I also plan to try to get Claire a reservation for the Wonderland Tea Party this afternoon. We did this in 2009 and it has changed a bit since then, and she has expressed an interest to do it again. I can't make the reservation till 90 days out though. I have asked my sister if my niece would like to do this, but I haven't gotten a reply about it, and since we have about 3 months before I can make the appointment, I'n not going to press it...she still hasn't made most of her dining yet.
I also have thoughts of going to DHS this day. We'll see how it goes, as right now easyWDW has it listed as the first night for Osborne lights, and that may mean it will be crazy busy too. I am thinking this just might be a better day to take it slow and rest up a bit instead of trying to do too many things.
WE have an ADR tonight at Cape May for 7:25. Tis is a place I have wanted to try and with staying at the Beach Club, I figure now is the time to do it.
We may just do a bit of swimmming after, perhaps head over to epcot for an hour (I think it's open till 10 PM this night), or just go to bed. I don't want to over plan, so we'll see how we are doing.
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Once again, I planned something for this day...and they got foiled. LOL
Well not really, but I did have to change things a bit.
Our plan is to head over to DHS for EMH's. We'll see how this goes, because Claire is NOT a morning person at all. BUT, if my parents aren't moving too fast, I might head over and then have them call me when she wakes and come back for her.
MY origional plan was to stay at least half the day, then go back and swim, then over to MK....well things change.
My sister asked me if Claire was doing Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. I told her yes, but I had it scheduled for after they left. She said Alexis has informed everyone that she WILL be doing BBB.
She has planned her MK for this day and wanted BBB in the castle. Also we needed to do something for Abby. She will be 3 by then, but she is a bit of a handful and doesn't like much fussing with her hair (good thing she doesn't have a whole lot yet). We knew a sprinkling of pixie dust won't be enough, so we did make her an appointment. I know they will do colored gel for boys and short haired girls, so that is what the plan is for now, unless she decides she does want something else...and it's still over 5 months away, so a lot can change by then for her.
I called and got them in at 2PM. My sister also said, by then we will know if Abby is taking naps daily or not too and we can cancel 24 hours in advance if she is doing so.
So it looks like swimming will be out this day, but you never know with us...I've been known to change up plans as soon as we get there. Gail's family has an ADR at CRT that afternoon for early dinner. This is the only ADR she has set so far, and I am glad she called when she did, because she had very limited options at that point in time.
Claire and I have a dinner ADR at 'Ohanas at 5:05 PM. I am excited for this!
I have tried for this place many times and never have been able to get it (due to the fact we plan last minute) Well I have gotten it, but either the time was way too late and I canceled or we ended up canceling that trip.
This is one ADR I will not give up for anything. After we eat, we will head back to Mk and have a fairy late night with EMH's till 1 AM at this point. We LOVE late hours at the park. The later the better in my view..and I am actually hoping this gets extended another hour. If Claire is tired, I can take her back to the room with my parents, but last year she had that option and stayed out till almost 3 with me.....of course she konked out on the walk up to the buses. LOL
We will totally pass out this night when we get back to the room. 3 days at WDW already down...How did it go so fast?
Things will be changing this day. The rest of my family leaves for home. My plan is to get up early and tak our luggage over to Art of Animation...our next resort, and get us checked in before they have to leave. it will be easier doing this with a vehicle rather than all the transfering.
I'll let Claire sleep while I do this and just keep a carry on for what we made need to change her, etc. I can send that as a transfer to AoA then and not worry about it. If my parents have a later flight, then we can just take it over before they have to get going.
Our package starts today and we are doing it a little different than normal....we are going deluxe dining. I have read mixed reviews on deluxe dining, but it is something I have always wanted to try, and for 3 days I don't think it will tie us down too much.
Once we get Claire going, we'll say good bye to the Beach Club and head over to DTD.
Where we will have lunch at T-REx for the 1st time at 12...another new spot for us.
We'll probably do a little shopping around.
Depending on time, we may head back to AoA for a quick swim.
Then we will head off to Hollywood Studios. The Osborne lights should be going by now, and this is the night I plan to catch them. I also hope to maybe get a cupcake from staring rolls.
Once we have our fill of DHS we still have on more ADR for the evening..a late one too, at 9PM. It's for Narcoosee's, which will be 2 credits from our deluxe dining. I am still debating this one because of the distance from where we are coming from. I looked at a few around the DHS resort area, but none of the menus are wowing me enough. I asked friends about a few of the places, and I got so many different opinions from best place ever to worse food I ever had....so I went with the menu that looked the most appealing to me. Flying Fish is actually more ideal for distance, but I don't see anything on the menu that makes me want to go there.
MK is open till 11 this night, but I don't know if we would make it with such a late ADR, but if the parade is playing at11, then maybe we would give it a try. I am doubtful though, it's another fairly long day and I have to make sure miss cranky pants gets some sleep during the trip!
I decided to switch to the Yachtsman Steakhouse at the Yacht Club.
I just think it will be easier to get there after the Osborne lights. Getting back to AoA won't be super fast, but we can take a taxi if it is too late.
I had originally had 50's Prime Time for this evening, but when I told Claire about it, she had a bit of a panic attack. She was so worried about getting scolded or being forced to eat something she didn't like and I figured it wasn't worth her having anxiety about for 5-6 months before we even got there. So that is when I looked at other options. Narcoosee's won because of the menu options for both of us, but it never sat well with me having to travel so far from one place to the other. I had totally forgotten about the Yachtsman steakhouse until I posted the last update (and thanks to Disfriend Karin for bringing it to my attention as well).
So that is the new plan for now.
Other happenings....I got some more clothing pictures to share.
My wonderful friend Jeanne was selling off some of her DD's outfits. She had a few that would fit Claire and I jumped right on them. These will be going on the trip...eventually I am going to have to make a clothing schedule for her because she will definitly have a LOT of clothes being brought down for the trip and I want to be sure she can wear all the special ones at least once.
It's funny, because my Mom keeps buying the girls sundresses and everytime she buys one she says, " that will be cute to wear on the cruise". Now if Claire wore everything my Mom has said that about, she would need to change about 3 or 4 times a day on the cruise. LOL Here is the newest we have added to the collection.
I am thinking this will be worn on our Nassua day. Once we get closer to the trip, I'll lay everything out and see for sure.
This will be worn to dinner one night most likely.
And this is for a parks day.
We also have 2 outfits from the Disney store being shipped. My Mom wanted to buy the 3 girls matching outfits. We found 2 that we really liked, both were in Abby's size, but only 1 size 10 was available for the older 2, and of course we had a few tears shed that they wouldn't be matching. When I got home, we looked online and sure enough, they had a 10 in each outfit, so we ordered those and now we have 2 sets of matching outfits in the Minnie line.
Once those arrive, I'll take a picture of Claire trying them on. We are going to use one for "boarding" day. The family has matching T's and now the 3 girls will have something cute too.
Now we need to decide for the 2 little boys in our group. One is a baby, so really it won't matter so much, but Jude is 3, so we'll either make him a T with an iron on or find him a cute Mickey shirt to wear.
My one Aunt, who is NOT going on the cruise with us...because Disney cruises are stupid....is so embarrassed that we are wearing matching clothes, so my Uncle is planning to make a banner at his work that says we are her family and get our picture taken with it and send it to her! We're evil, aren't we?
We are down to 5 months now! Lots more planning to do and of course, I'm sure I'll make a few changes yet.
Love the plans and a thumbs up on the dinner change, think the YSH will work so much better in your schedule and we have always enjoyed wonderful meals there.
Love the plans and a thumbs up on the dinner change, think the YSH will work so much better in your schedule and we have always enjoyed wonderful meals there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
Great plans!
Thanks. I am thinking less travel time will be good.
Yesterday was a hard day. My mom had called me before 7 AM, which is very unusual. I was supposed to come over and house sit while bunk beds were being delivered in the afternoon (for when the grandkids spend then night). I thought that was a bit early to have her call and remind me.
But that wasn't it. Years ago, after my grandma died (she lived on the same property with a couple of barns separating our houses), her half of the property was sold to my cousin. Our side was left with the house and a big pole barn and grain bins. Her side had all the wood barns and my grandmas house. She lived there a couple of years and sold it.
It was sold to a guy named Jim Bob (yes that is his name LOL) and he and his wife (and I think 1 kid at the time) moved in the house. They had it rewired since it was old and took off for a trip to Florida for vacation and the house burnt to the ground. It was hard on my dad and Aunt because they grew up there. But Jim Bob built a new house further away on the property. A few years later his business burnt to the ground. Eyebrows were raised (I also think his parents have had 2 fires as well). Well Tuesday around 1:30 AM, my Mom woke to what sounded like a Canon going off.. She looked out the window and the sky was full of light. She realized after a few seconds that one of Jim Bobs barns was on fire. This is the barn closest to my dads pole barn, which is big (81 feet long) and then my parents house is next to that. Dad called 911 and 4 fire departments came. The wind was blowing out of the north east, which meant it was blowing it towards the pole barn. Jim Bobs side of the property was safe.
The fire department told my Mom to shut all windows in the house if any were open because the way the wind was blowing, it might go to the house and they were going to soak the house if it got close. Thankfully it never did.
They told my parents that if it was 10 minutes later when they called the house would've been burnt too. The pole barn is still standing but is damaged so badly. The metal ceiling fan melted to look like a droopy flower inside. My dads work benches are unusable. Totally destroyed. Ladders melted. My Dads truck and trailer was in there and could not be gotten out because the door opens to the barn on fire. It was too hot to get in even and they had to bust a door down to get air in there. My Dad has a lawn mowing service and he was worried about his mowers. They do start, but he hasn't tried using them yet. His mirrors on the pick up melted a bit, the roof of the trailer melted and bubbled. We're pretty sure the pole barn is totaled. Dad only has $50,000 insurance and we are sure to rebuild the barn it would cost more than that.
Where was Jim Bob during this?...sleeping. They had to call and wake him up. His property is completely fine. There was a building backing up to the other side of the burning barn with out a blemish on it. It was the strong wind that made it get our barn. You would be amazed that 90 feet away from the burning barn (back side of pole barn closest to their house), my Dads pole barn has melted insulation. It was much worse than I thought it would be. I feel so bad for my Dad. Jim Bob's insurance should cover it...except he only has homeowners and he think he only has $15,000. Dad said his insurance company said they will "work"..or fight with Jim Bobs to get payment, but you know how that is.
Jim Bob normally has horses in that barn, but he had taken them somewhere because of the dry grass around here. He does this a lot, so that’s not odd. Luckily, it was mostly just junk in the barn, not a lot of valuables, but some old trucks, but he thinks the fire could've started from a battery. He had hooked up a battery charger to an hold truck the night before and they think the battery exploded as of now. Not only is it hard for my Dad because of his pole barn, but also because the barn that burned was built by my grandpa, at least 80 years old. Even though Jim Bob owned it, it was still in our minds as "our barn" after so many years.
I'm sure there will be some sort of investigation since this is Jim Bobs 3rd fire. This guy must have the worlds worst luck...or an arsonist in his family. (and there are rumors he does have one in his family, but why they would burn there own property is beyond me...no insurance on the barn to gain anything)
Dad is worried about his truck too. It's fairly new. and he even made the comment that this would be the last truck he ever buys because he is 65 and will retire in a few years. The windshield is all clouded and someone told him they think some windshields have plastic mixed in the glass, if that’s the case, then it melted. Also some things under the hood are soft when they should be firm. Lets just hope things work out and they don't bet screwed over by insurance companies.
I was going to take pictures, but stupid me got half way there yesterday afternoon and realized I left the camera at home
I took pictures this afternoon and will post some later
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