The Mighty Morphing Birthday Trip - Thread 1 - COMPLETE (last update 7/30) - Page 18 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
Sorry you hurt your foot Melissa But it seems like you still enjoyed yourselves. I hope it gets better soon and doesn't mess up all your plans. Can't wait for more!
__________________
Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
All night I kept waking up and moving my foot around to see what sort of movement I might could expect from it once I got up. When Andy finally came to (the guy sleeps like bear) he asked me how it was and I said "Look, I can do this..." and I showed him that while laying on my back I could left my body off the bed with my tippy toes, so that had to be a good sign.
Once I rolled out of bed we saw that my toes weren't as swollen and it wasn't as pitiful looking anymore, I just needed to take it a little slow so I could limp around on it. I already felt better than I did last night about my stupidity because I could tell that things were gonna be okay.
We packed up our things at the HRP and checked out around 8:30ish. Then it was off to hotel number 2 for the trip, the POFQ. We stayed at POR back in 2004 and this would be a first for us at the POFQ. We headed straight for the lobby and checked in, and lo and behold, our room was ready! We couldn't believe it! So we hopped back in the car and drove around to building number 1. We were in room 1336 and we were very surprised when we got to our room to see that we had a nice little view of the water. We had booked a standard room since it was just for the night, and Andy figured since it was just for one night that's why we got that room.
A couple shots of the room....
And some shots from our door
I had been getting VERRRRY hungry since getting up this morning... I guess some Harps and some Dalkey Duos don't hang around very long in keeping one full.... : So we walked to the main building to grab a bite at the foodcourt.
I have always heard about the fabulous beneigts (sp?) here so I insisted that we try them. And apparently everyone else insisted that they try them as well. There was a nice little wait while they caught up on making the orders. While we were waiting I kept thinking about the surprise I had planned for Andy. I wanted to tell him in case he wanted to back out. I didn't want to spring it on him and then him really not want to do it. So before I could slap my hand over my mouth I blurted out "Wanna know what you're doing today??" And of course he said yeah... So I started hinted at it... I told him it was something he's always mentioned he wanted to do, and then when I said that I wasn't doing it with him, he figured it out. (For those of you who didn't already know, I planned him a parasailing time at the Contemporary.) And then the nervousness appeared on his face. I got really worried there for a bit. I hoped I hadn't planned a bad surprise. But he insisted that he was excited....nervous, but excited. So we both nervously ate our HOT beneigts and then we headed out to catch the bus to the MK. His time was for 11:30 and by now it was close to 10:30. The plan was to ride to the MK and then walk to the Contemporary. It's a good thing I told him early though, because while we were waiting on a bus I got a call saying that the boat was being worked on briefly and they needed to change our time from 11:30 to 1:00. So, we headed back to the room to lay down for a little bit and rest. I kept telling Andy that if he really didn't want to do it this was a perfect way to get out of it. But he was adamant that he was going to do it.
So when noon rolled around we headed back out to the bus stops... took some silly pictures along the way of course
Then we were on our way
We got to the Contemporary and had to fill out all the "if you die it's not our fault" paperwork... I had to fill it out as well since I wanted to ride on the boat with him. We waited a few minutes until our time.....Andy was getting really anxious I'm pretty sure...
Then it was his time.....
Dead man walking???
Please notice Miss Cute Thang there strapping him in.....
And then before he knew it, he was off!
I'll let him tell you how it was up there and he felt about it, but I will say that I'm pretty positive he had a good time
Afterwards we took a photo here...
I should back track a bit and tell you this... Andy had planned lunch and dinner for today as surprises for me. This was our "Surprise Day". Well Miss Cute Thang asked what we had planned today and Andy told her that we were going to lunch after this, and she asked where..... we both laughed, I looked at Andy, and he just went ahead spilled the beans... AFTERNOON TEA!! I loved afternoon tea at the GF last year so I was soooo happy that he planned it again!!!
So here are some pictures from our tea party
Waiting in the lobby....Andy has this thing where he has to try out all the different chairs in the lobbys....
A self shot
I was just goofing off with this picture, but Andy really likes it for some reason...
Our fabulous little tea sandwiches... the grilled pear sandwich is da bomb!!
Andy impressed me by finishing ALL of his tea!! I came very close! And we were so stuffed! We both had the Buckingham Palace which comes with the tea sandwiches, scones and jam , and either two little pastries or strawberries and cream. We both chose pastries I absolutely LOVE having tea and I am so glad that Andy planned it for us! Thank you dear
I'm going to stop here and let Andy fill in his point of view. Then I'm going to work on a video representation of the day
Great start (well except for the fall and foot injury)! I can't wait to hear Andy's thoughts on the parasailing because I have always wanted to try it but have never felt quite brave enough! The tea at the Grand Floridian sounds wonderful - I will have to try it one day.
Okay, here's a little video clip show of our morning/afternoon... It's not as entertaining funny wise as the other video, but it does have Andy parasailing!
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.
POFQ was really cool, I loved the way it was laid out. My favorite touch was the paths that looked like streets, very clever. The room was also very comfortable as always with the moderates. The beneigts were very messy and by the end of the batch we had powdered sugar all over the place. It looked like Stevie Nicks house...oh, that was a low blow. Anyway...
So Melissa spilled the beans about parasailing and I must admit that I was initially terrified at the thought. She somehow didn’t know that I have a fear of heights, a wonderful phobia passed down from my dad. I don’t know how we’ve missed this vital detail after ten years of knowing each other. At any rate I was filled with fear and joy all at the same time, a weird emotion that I had yet to encounter. I had always wanted to go parasailing but I knew that I’d never have the guts to actually arrange the event; the fear stood in the way. This was my only chance, to be surprised and not wanting to let Melissa down, I HAD to go through with it! I was anxious the entire time right until I left the platform and then all at once I was calm and I thought, “Wow, this is amazing!” It was like nothing I had ever experience. Everything was so calm and quiet and the view was like non-other. Here’s a picture I took while up in the air:
Just joking! I was hoping to catch a glimpse of some of the old Nautilus subs that once hung out in the Bone Yard. I’ve heard that they don’t even exist anymore, that they’ve been stripped of everything of value and then destroyed. One however was just spotted behind Soarin’ a few months back, who knows?
Anyway, back to the TR. The view was great, I could see everything! I didn’t want to come down after my time was up. I’d love to do it again at some point. Thanks Melissa for my surprise, you’re the best!
This surprise day all came together because I wanted to give Melissa what would make her the happiest, another day at Disney! So the plan was to enjoy a day outside of the parks. Melissa surprised me with parasailing in the morning and I had the rest of the night planned out. I remembered how much she (and myself as well) enjoyed Afternoon Tea last summer so I decided to go ahead and plan another visit as a sort of late lunch. I think she really enjoyed it, as did I. I had some sort of “Nobo” tea, not sure If that is correct but it was awesome! I didn’t think I could drink the entire pot but I surprised myself. Melissa was also embarrassed to have Happy Birthday sung to her by the entire room while wearing a golden crown and blowing the candle out on a Mickey adorned cupcake. I do love embarrassing her!
__________________
Melissa and Andy, Charleston SC, February 2008.
--------
Coming up: July 2010 - Animal Kingdom Lodge for Mel's 30th Birthday!!!!!
Last edited by Brit_Invader; 07-17-2007 at 11:55 AM..
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
But it seems like you still enjoyed yourselves. I hope it gets better soon and doesn't mess up all your plans. Can't wait for more!
We couldn't believe it! So we hopped back in the car and drove around to building number 1. We were in room 1336 and we were very surprised when we got to our room to see that we had a nice little view of the water. We had booked a standard room since it was just for the night, and Andy figured since it was just for one night that's why we got that room. 
: So we walked to the main building to grab a bite at the foodcourt. 
, and either two little pastries or strawberries and cream. We both chose pastries 
and planned tea for you guys 
Looking forward to his thoughts 
I can't wait to hear about the parasailing...I've wanted to do that for years! Lovin the videos too...keep 'em coming 
Suzie
!! 
Linear Mode
