Is It Time Already?! OKW and POR, November 2013 - Page 20 - 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
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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I got behind. Your AK day sounded and looked fun. Sorry Y&Y was not as good as you wanted.
Sorry you were awakened again. Did you ever talk to the front desk about it, to see what exactly it was and if they could do something about it? I know the buses they can't, but if they are doing work around the resort, it seems ridiculous to do it when you will wake your guests up!
Glad Sophie got out of bed early so you could make breakfast at Olivia's.
Finally all caught up.
What is up with those Christmas trees? Those dark spots would've driven me nuts. Come on Disney, get to work!
Wasn't that strange? It's very un-Disney!
Quote:
Originally Posted by disneydreamer33
I got behind. Your AK day sounded and looked fun. Sorry Y&Y was not as good as you wanted.
Sorry you were awakened again. Did you ever talk to the front desk about it, to see what exactly it was and if they could do something about it? I know the buses they can't, but if they are doing work around the resort, it seems ridiculous to do it when you will wake your guests up!
Glad Sophie got out of bed early so you could make breakfast at Olivia's.
I did talk to the manager the next day, and I'll include the details when I get to that point in the TR.
__________________
Huge Disney Fan...Always Have Been...Always Will Be!
Disneyland 60th Anniversary Celebration TR here!
2013 WDW trip here!
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After breakfast, we were ready to head to DHS. Sophia really wanted to see Beauty and the Beast again, so that's where we headed first...but after we got a DAS return time from Rock n Rollercoaster.
Beauty and the Beast was great as always. Gaston was different today...I think I liked the last guy better. This Gaston "talked" the songs too much. He was very much in character throughout, but I like to hear singing during the songs, not talking, lol!
After the show, we headed over to Rock n Rollercoaster where I decided to sit this one out. I waited in the gift shop for the kids, checking to see any more shirts came in in their dad's size, but no luck. After the coaster, we went over to Tower of Terror to get a DAS return time.
After the kids made it to the concert, we headed back out toward Hollywood Brown Derby. We had a reservation there for 1:40, but Evan really wanted to see the Playhouse Disney show, and the only time that worked with our plans was 1:30. I asked at Brown Derby if we could change our reservation to a later time, but they told us they were completely booked. I told the CM my son really wanted to see the 1:30 Playhouse Disney show, and the CM said to go ahead and stop by after the show and they would try to seat us as soon as they could.
We headed over to the show and stood in line. It was still about 20 minutes to show time, but the queue is pretty wide and open, so Evan was fine waiting there since he could hop around when he got frustrated with waiting. There were some video screens set up throughout the line which weren't on when we first got there, but they started showing a few Playhouse Disney "commercials" after a while, which kept Evan and the other kids in line amused. Finally, it was time to go in. We watched the FastPass people go in, and then we headed in. We were seated about 2/3 of the way back in the center section, and then we watched as an endless stream of people kept marching in! The room was 100% full by the time the show started. It was tough sitting on the floor without much room to wiggle, but we managed. Evan had fun watching the show, so it was well worth it.
After the show, we hurried over to the Brown Derby and checked in. We waited maybe 10 minutes and then got seated. I was really looking forward to eating here, but unfortunately we were still full from breakfast! It didn't stop me from stuffing myself silly, though!
Sophia had the Cobb Salad, although in retrospect she should've ordered the appetizer size and not the full salad because she ate maybe 1/3 of it!
I had the duck two ways, which was very yummy!
Evan had the grilled cheese with apples, and a side of fries:
Evan got a great birthday surprise! Even though Sophia was celebrating her birthday as well, she didn't wear her pin much.
The dessert was so pretty!
I ended eating almost all of my meal and tried to help Sophia with her salad but didn't get far. I pretty much had to be rolled out of the restaurant!
__________________
Huge Disney Fan...Always Have Been...Always Will Be!
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2013 WDW trip here!
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You all managed well, getting in some attractions before lunch. So nice of HBD to accommodate you all so that Evan could see Playhouse Disney. Your meals look very delicious and have me excited that we get to eat here again in May.
Sounds like a great morning and a yummy lunch, even if you weren't hungry enough quite yet. Glad Sophia got to se Beauty and the Beast and Evan got to see the Playhouse gang.
You all managed well, getting in some attractions before lunch. So nice of HBD to accommodate you all so that Evan could see Playhouse Disney. Your meals look very delicious and have me excited that we get to eat here again in May.
It was great that HBD could still fit us in after arriving about 20 minutes late for our ADR. It was a late lunch time, and the place was constantly full the entire time we were there! I hope you have a great meal there in May!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
Sounds like a great morning and a yummy lunch, even if you weren't hungry enough quite yet. Glad Sophia got to se Beauty and the Beast and Evan got to see the Playhouse gang.
I really wanted to go to HBD, and so did Sophia. It was just a bit unfortunate that we weren't as hungry as we could've been...yet another instance when I wish we could've walked up at 3pm for a table rather than being "forced" to eat at 2! Evan didn't mind, though, he ate his grilled cheese without problem! It's no wonder that kid is almost as tall as I am...he's always hungry!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Principessa_di_Fata
I'm STARVING! I need to stop reading this when I'm hungry! LOL! Sophia's salad looked fabulous! Yummy!
Come on, Melanie, you know it's not a good update if I don't include at least one picture of food! You have GOT to come out and visit me again soon so we can go try some more new food!
__________________
Huge Disney Fan...Always Have Been...Always Will Be!
Disneyland 60th Anniversary Celebration TR here!
2013 WDW trip here!
2011 trip to Hawaii here!
After our late lunch, we meandered back toward Tower of Terror. I guess I've never really paid a lot of attention to the library, because there was lots of neat stuff on display. Unfortunately, this was the only picture that came out ok.
After another fun fall in the elevator, we decided to head out and park hop over to MK.
It was starting to get breezy, as you can kind of see in the palm trees.
This was one of my favorite window decorations!
Everything was looking very festive!
We took a bus from DHS to the TTC. From there, we hopped on the monorail to MK.
I'm almost positive I've seen the TTC spelled out at Disney as Ticket & Transportation Center instead of Transportation & Ticket Center, so I took a picture of this logo on a trash can. Of course I completely forgot to look around to see if I was right or wrong!
I tried to get a picture of the giant Mickey wreath at the Contemporary, but I had to turn back at a weird angle and barely caught it.
When we entered MK, we decided we wanted to try Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, so we got our playing cards and were instructed on how to use them. We had fun and did the quest through the Main Street area.
Then we did Pirates, which is fun but really confuses the heck out of me because it's so out of order from the one I'm used to in Anaheim!
Our next goal was Splash Mountain, and along the way we saw some characters we don't see out all the time.
Splash was fun, and the ride photo was hilarious! I still need to finish editing my PhotoPass pictures, but I'll post this ride photo for sure. Sophia busted up laughing when she saw it because it looks like the guy sitting in front of me is picking my nose!
After Splash, we went to see the Country Bear Jamboree, which was a must do for me! I miss this so much!!!
By now it was dark and getting cold. We walked over to New Fantasyland and checked out Gaston's Tavern. We weren't hungry in the least, but we did have a bit of the munchies. I got us a nice warm sticky bun and some apples with caramel dipping sauce for the kids. I think I just got milk for Evan, and maybe something like hot chocolate for Sophia. I didn't get a Lafou's Brew, but now I don't remember why.
Melanie, I was going to end this update a few paragraphs ago, but I had to make sure I got a food pic in before I finished!
A lot of others were getting the same idea of getting out of the cold while we were eating...the lines for food got a lot longer, and the tables were all full.
Evan really wanted to go see the Dumbo play area where kids can play while they wait for their turn in line...this was of course care of Stacy who insisted that we check it out!
The line wasn't very long, and I'm not really sure how the play area/return pager concept would work when the line was long. I guess when you get to that point in the line, a CM would give you a pager like the type you get in a restaurant and you go into the play area and run let the kids run around. After a set time, it pages you so you can get back into line? And if you don't want to step out, you just continue on in the line? How does that save the kid family from waiting? Since the line was short for us, we stepped out of the line at the play area and the CM said we could just get back in line whenever we were ready. Evan ran around for maybe 5-10 minutes, and then we got back into the line and waited another maybe 10 minutes or so until it was our turn.
This was a two Dumbo selfie!
After Dumbo, we were ready to call it a night! We had done a lot this day! I can't remember now which FP+ we had, but we made good use of it along with a few DAS return times. Even without the return times, we would've done a lot because the crowds weren't huge yet.
We headed back to the room, exhausted but happy!
__________________
Huge Disney Fan...Always Have Been...Always Will Be!
Disneyland 60th Anniversary Celebration TR here!
2013 WDW trip here!
2011 trip to Hawaii here!
What a great day you had! I love that the Cast Members were able to accommodate you so you could still fit lunch and Playhouse Disney in - now that's what I call great service.
How neat you got to see all those characters out - that's something you don't see often. I also love your selfie pic on Dumbo, how fun!
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What a great day you had! I love that the Cast Members were able to accommodate you so you could still fit lunch and Playhouse Disney in - now that's what I call great service.
How neat you got to see all those characters out - that's something you don't see often. I also love your selfie pic on Dumbo, how fun!
I'm glad we were able to fit in the show and the meal! Plus, it gave us an extra 20 minutes to digest our breakfast before we dug into our lunch!
The kids don't like the characters enough to stand in line to see them (or so I thought until near the end of our trip), so usually we would just snap a few pictures if we saw them out and about.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
I love when the "unusual" characters are out and about. Great selfie on Dumbo and that sticky bun looks so good.
I don't think I've seen Clarabelle at DLR in I don't know how long! We also saw Horace Horsecollar (I think that's his name), but he was almost backstage at that point so I only got a picture of his back! We still see some of the Country bears at Disneyland which I find funny since that's ride been gone for 10 or so years!
That warm sticky bun was extra good on a cold evening!
Quote:
Originally Posted by xwewhisper
Sounds like you managed to squeeze quite a bit in! So glad they were able to get you in for lunch still too!
This was probably one of our fullest days! Looking back, it didn't seem like we did much on most days, but this was definitely not the case today!
Now I need to go catch up on your PTR!
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Huge Disney Fan...Always Have Been...Always Will Be!
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2013 WDW trip here!
2011 trip to Hawaii here!
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What a great day at DHS and MK! I've the pictures! Your meal at HBD looks delish! Glad they were able to work around your schedule and you got seated do quickly! More please!
Oh you little stinker! You just HAD to post the sticky bun! What a great day! You got a lot done, and I'm definitely noting Gaston's Tavern for one of those when we go... SEVEN weeks from today!!! WOO HOO!
I cannot wait! And then I'll post my OWN sticky bun pictures to torture you!
I can't wait to come out there again, but as I JUST got hired for a full-time office job, I'm thinking it won't happen for a while. I know I won't be able to take Spring Break off, so I'm hoping maybe a long weekend around fall break. *fingers crossed*
What a great day at DHS and MK! I've the pictures! Your meal at HBD looks delish! Glad they were able to work around your schedule and you got seated do quickly! More please!
I had made an ADR for HBD for 1:40pm long ago, and as our plans turned out, we decided we wanted to spend time in MK that evening, so I had made FP+ reservations for MK in the afternoon. That meant we didn't have a lot of wiggle room for extra shows/rides at DHS. Thank goodness HBD was flexible with when we could start our lunch!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Principessa_di_Fata
Oh you little stinker! You just HAD to post the sticky bun! What a great day! You got a lot done, and I'm definitely noting Gaston's Tavern for one of those when we go... SEVEN weeks from today!!! WOO HOO!
I cannot wait! And then I'll post my OWN sticky bun pictures to torture you!
I can't wait to come out there again, but as I JUST got hired for a full-time office job, I'm thinking it won't happen for a while. I know I won't be able to take Spring Break off, so I'm hoping maybe a long weekend around fall break. *fingers crossed*
I couldn't stop giggling when I posted the picture of the sticky bun!
I can't wait for you to torture me with your food pics!
Congrats on your job! That's super exciting! Bummer I might not see you until the fall, but I'm SO excited you have full-time work now! Send me some of that good luck!
__________________
Huge Disney Fan...Always Have Been...Always Will Be!
Disneyland 60th Anniversary Celebration TR here!
2013 WDW trip here!
2011 trip to Hawaii here!