TR Feb 7 - Feb 9, 2016: Contemporary, Here We Come! (Updated January 12, 2017) - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
TR Feb 7 - Feb 9, 2016: Contemporary, Here We Come! (COMPLETED January 12, 2017)
I will assume that some of you only read the trip reports in this forum, therefore I will re-do the introductions of who all went on this trip!
BJ (me)
Nice PP picture with my own Nikon camera… apparently they’re the official Disney cameras now? I didn’t notice.
Mom
Cute pic!
Sunday, February 7, 2016: Contemporary People
After leaving our wonderful condo about 9:30 in the morning, we got to Disney Springs at around 11:00, parked over by DisneyQuest on the West Side, and we then set off for someplace to eat.
DisneyQuest
We settled on Fulton's Crab House, which is now a wholly different establishment.
Here we got onto the second floor, and actually I really enjoyed the waiter, Mo (who was from England), as well as the views of Saratoga Springs, Rainforest Cafe, and the like.
I had an IBC Root Beer and a Crab Cake BLT with lettuce wrap and Old Bay Fries, which was beyond delicious.
Then we walked around, I got a few pictures (not as many as I would've liked because it was JAMMED with people! In all the times I've been to what is now Disney Springs, I've NEVER seen that many people in one place!) There were also some construction walls still, so I couldn't get much picture-wise, but what I did get, here you go:
Maybe it’ll close by the next time I get down there, who knows?
But what I did also get here is... A Hanes Design-A-Tee T-shirt of the Contemporary Resort logo, no frills. I love that it comes in a color-coordinated bag too!
Then we went to the Contemporary Resort to check in. After getting into our room, we got some pics and then went down to the fourth floor to look at the Contempo Cafe, as well as the shops.
Then we took showers and changed our clothes and went over to Narcoosee's!
Before we sat down we had a little time to take some pics of the check in area and the porch.
For drinks I had a Coney Island Hard Root Beer, while my mom had a margarita. We split Prince Edward Island mussels and we both had grass-fed filet mignons with French fries and vegetables.
All of the meal was so delicious and I definitely plan on going back!
After that, we got on the monorail and got back to the Contemporary Resort and got ourselves settled in for the rest of the Super Bowl, and I updated my TR in between commercial breaks.
Great start for this portion of your trip, although it was very weird to see Fulton's and to know that it will be coming back sometime soon (I hope anyway) in a completely different incarnation.
Great start for this portion of your trip, although it was very weird to see Fulton's and to know that it will be coming back sometime soon (I hope anyway) in a completely different incarnation.
I know! That was just so weird to see after I'd gotten home.
Monday, February 8, 2016: The Future (World) Is So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades
After having a little coffee, we headed out on the monorail to Epcot to start our one in-park day... Only we took the monorail to the TTC, and took a bus to Epcot because the Epcot monorail wasn't operating within 30 minutes of opening on Monday.
Then, once we got into the parks, the first place we went to was The Land so we could get onto the Behind The Seeds tour.
Once we did, we hopped onto the Living with the Land boat ride.
And we managed to walk onto the Nemo ride...
Dunno why that looks so familiar… was that actually changed in the changeover from Living Seas? (I miss that hugely BTW)
BTW, before we got onto the Behind The Seeds Tour itself, I stopped over by Sunshine Seasons and got a pic or two and a strawberry banana smoothie to keep me going till lunchtime.
... And then, say hello to the Behind the Seeds Tour!
WARNING: I was a wee mite prolific with these pictures. This is but a selection of pictures.
The Mickey cucumbers were most delicious, by the way. I must say I’d love to be able to grow them in hothouses here in Pennsylvania
They look better than they normally taste…
Love the concept here!
BTW we had a Chinese woman on the tour with us and she said that these gigantic melons were from China, and were a Chinese delicacy, as it turns out.
Why wouldn’t I get a pic of that?!
Then on to the World Showcase, starting off with Mexico and the Gran Fiesta Tour, and FINALLY getting myself a T-shirt based on my favorite Disney movie of all time!
Boy am I glad they dragged these Audio-Animatromics out of cold storage for the ending of this attraction. Gives it a far more authentic charm than the weird movie thing at the end like when Gran Fiesta Tour originally was open.
FINALLY! A T-shirt based on my favorite Disney film of all time!
After that we went to find something to eat and went to Nine Dragons.
Enjoying the company of Xi, our server, I got a virgin mango daiquiri, a cucumber salad, and honey sesame chicken!
After that, I got to see the Mitsukoshi Department Store!
I love this, that never gets old.
“She will never turn her back on a friend…” Oops, sorry, I’m not supposed to quote the old Sailor Moon theme song from when it was first (disastrously) dubbed in English.
Pokémon Go in Real Life!
Doraemon! (I almost got this plushie, by the way.)
And then I got to taste my very first Joffrey's Coffee blend: the Peru Cafe Femenino blend! YUM! (With some of my sugar substitutes and a touch of half-&-half, obviously)
Never name a duck. No, seriously, we saw this duck in World Showcase…
And after a trip thru the Toy Soldier (which turned out to be a total bust), we finished our circuit of World Showcase and then went straight to Test Track to fulfill what turned out to be the one and only FP+ we got the chance to fulfill this trip!
I gotta tell you, having been on the old version a great many times, I think they did a bang-up job on the refurbishment! I really enjoyed this one!
After getting outta there, we went back to the hotel and got ready for the California Grill!
This was good.
This was bizarre looking but was totally delish as I recall.
I think this was filet mignon, but I don’t recall.
After that, we packed up and then we went into the Magic Kingdom for my now-traditional last ride, last treat, and last show (PotC, Dole Whip / Citrus Swirl depending on which way I go, and MSEP respectively), which now has gone 1/3 bye-bye after the announced hard-end of MSEP at WDW.
I think I’ll have to do a second attraction (like Haunted Mansion maybe) to replace MSEP in this tradition at the end of my WDW trips, because any nighttime parade has to live up to the combined legacies of MSEP and SpectroMagic and I have to admit I don’t think Disney is very up to the task.
After that, we got to see the Electric Light Parade on the lake while we were waiting for the monorail. I need to see that again in full.
No pics of my MK last hurrah because a) I wanted to take it all in and b) there were SO MANY PEOPLE!
We then went back, basically crashed, and that was the end of the day and the trip.
Tuesday, February 9, 2016: Is it over already?! (Aka Future BJ becomes Present BJ)
BTW I have to let you guys in on this one... When I was writing my TR while I was on this trip, I used the term "Future BJ" to remind myself to put in the pictures of my trip and basically finish off my TR! So Future BJ becoming Present BJ means that I not only was able to write my TR while I was actually ON my trip, I was able to finish my TR fairly shortly after I got back home from the airport!
So, at the extremely early hour of 5:20 (actually 20 minutes later than I got up for my trip to Florida), I got up, hit the shower really fast, packed my goodies, and then got everything setup and ready to rock and roll. We checked out remarkably fast, and even got to fill up before we got to the airport and the rental car return. We got there, got our bags checked, and then we had to go our separate ways.
But then I got thru one heck of a TSA line (I guess the cheerleading competition that just so happened to be at WDW at the same time is over too), I made it through, and got myself sufficiently coffee'd and at my gate about 2-ish hours early. I then got the chance to finish the main portion of the writing portion of my TR while I was waiting for my plane to board.
After that I got on, and after getting wheels down in PHL and to baggage claim, ... I then got onto the SEPTA train and got home and unpacked and began recovering from the trip as well as going through all my pictures!
So, if you got this far, thanks for following this TR, and sorry for all the pics (and the huge delay in finishing this)!
If you enjoyed this TR, then I'm BJ Wanlund. If you didn't... I'm John Jacobsen. Sorry, had to throw that Jungle Cruise-esque joke in, since our Behind the Seeds tour guide did too.
BJ
P.S. PRO TIP: Resizing pictures in Photobucket one-by-one is a gigantic, royal pain (and delayed the end of this report HUGELY). If you can, make copies of your pics, resize them in a separate folder, and THEN upload them. That’s probably what I’ll do next time.
You may have had a short time in WDW, but you made excellent use of your time. I love all your photos and never felt like there were too many. Thanks for sharing your trip with us!
BTW -- I have installed Photo Gallery on my laptop to resize photos before uploading them to Photobucket. So much faster and easier and takes up less space on Photobucket. It's free from Microsoft. I just did a Bing search to find it. The latest version is 2012.
Like the TR and the two of you are enjoying your time so much in the parks and some very good meals at some of WDW's best eateries! Love the photos!
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
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.
You certainly packed a lot on your short trip. Enjoyed all your pictures!
Yes I did! I'm hoping to get back there sooner rather than later. Glad you enjoyed the pictures!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Thanks for sharing your trip BJ! Another one who resizes before putting them on Photobucket. So much easier!
Yep, planning on doing that in the future. Seriously, that will give me 100x less stress. Thankfully there are a ton of options on the Mac for me to explore.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Wow, that was a short trip, but my goodness, you certainly packed a lot in! Thanks for sharing it with us.
And by the way, I am so with you about Photobucket - I resize everything before I upload photos, so much simpler.
Thank you Cheryl, I did pack in quite a lot. I definitely plan on doing that in the future.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
Like the TR and the two of you are enjoying your time so much in the parks and some very good meals at some of WDW's best eateries! Love the photos!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
You may have had a short time in WDW, but you made excellent use of your time. I love all your photos and never felt like there were too many. Thanks for sharing your trip with us!
BTW -- I have installed Photo Gallery on my laptop to resize photos before uploading them to Photobucket. So much faster and easier and takes up less space on Photobucket. It's free from Microsoft. I just did a Bing search to find it. The latest version is 2012.
Yeah, I'll need to find something similar for my Mac... and yeah I am an expert in getting the most out of ridiculously short trips to WDW, because I've done it so much!
Also I took way more pictures than that... so sizing them down to just 10 or so a place was a wee bit of a challenge.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
No, seriously, we saw this duck in World Showcase…
I love all your photos and never felt like there were too many. 
Another one who resizes before putting them on Photobucket. So much easier! 
Linear Mode
