The Mighty Morphing Birthday Trip - Thread 1 - COMPLETE (last update 7/30) - Page 21 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
Melissa those were great pics. I love black and white photos so that one is my favorite as well. Also agree with alismom...you two make a great couple so you made it to easy on Robyn Lynn.
__________________
They caught us all smiling and looking at the camera!!!
I should go back and mention that after the boat ride for Andy's parasailing I felt like the nastiest, stickiest, stinkiest person around. And the windblown look my ponytail had going was just fabulous for tea
So, after our leisurely tea we headed back to POFQ around 3:30ish. That's one thing I love about the tea, you get to just sit back, relax, and take your time. There's not rushing tea
Once we got back to POFQ we rested a bit, but not for long. We had to get ready for our evening out. Andy had planned this as well, and I figured out the La Nouba bit a while back. It was just a random guess I made and Andy was so surprised that I guessed it that he had to tell me I was right. So I knew we were going there for the 6pm show and then I knew we had dinner reservations at 9:00.
The show was wonderful as usual. We haven't seen it since our honeymoon back in 2003 and we agreed that we have to not let so much time pass before we see it again in the future. There's just something so special about the show. I've had the soundtrack on my ipod for a few years and I love the music. Andy talked about how it made it even more special seeing it again and knowing the music. We had great seats as well. Andy did a good job picking them out. I'll let him tell you about that.
As for the show, it was magical as usual. The acts are just so romantic and beautiful. And my favorite is still the hottie in the white linen pants flying around the air on the red ribbons....
After the show Andy said we should go ahead and go to our dinner. We could check in early and enjoy a drink at the bar. We decided to drive ourselves to DTD and then to dinner to avoid any delays with Disney transportation. Andy had me direct him to the MK area and since I had paid attention on the bus earlier in the day I took us the way past Fort Wilderness which helped us avoid the MK gates. We saw a deer going right across the road in front of us at Ft. W and then we saw atleast 4 or 5 more on the side of the road just hanging out. It really is the Wilderness out there. Andy started telling me about some story Mark had told us before about almost hitting a deer??? I'll let Andy talk about that and maybe Cheryl remembers it???
So, by now Andy was thinking I knew where we were going....I had an idea, but there were quite a few places in the area it could be. When he said we were going to the Contemporary I was ready to jump up and down in the car. The California Grill was a first for us and he had planned it so we'd be there for Wishes Is he a great guy or what???
We parked and checked in on the second floor. I had no idea it was so hoitey-toitey in there that you had to be escorted up to the restaurant. Now that's high class folks!
When we stepped out of the elevator I almost fainted from the view. It is a fabulous restaurant! I took a few photos from the bar area out the window..
We sat at the bar and I had a glass of wine.
A view of the restaurant from the bar...
And then it was time for us to be seated...
We were taken to a fabulous table by the window....and the table had been decorated
We started off with the goat cheese stuffed ravioli appetizer and it was fabulous. We split it and they split it for us which was really nice.
It was sooooooo good...
And after looking at those 2 pictures back to back, it appears Andy did not move until the food was brought out
Andy had the pork tenderloin as his entree and I ordered the sun dried tomato and basil pesto flatbread as my entree and it was DELICIOUS!!! I couldn't finish it and I hated that
Andy took a picture of me at the table..
We were able to see the Electrical Water Pageant from our seat which was great. It brought back memories of seeing it from our balcony at the GF on our honeymoon I don't think we'd seen it since then.
Then it was time for Wishes. It was so amazing to see them from our seat...
For dessert I had this pineapple cake thing which was to die for! They decorated it up for me a bit. I liked the waiter telling me that the chocolate wasn't a part of the flavor something or other but I was thinking "Who cares?? It's chocolate!!"
After dinner was over we walked out back to take another picture with the statue. We wanted to get a picture of us together all gussied up.
And then we took one more in the lobby...
And then it was time to head back to the resort. Tomorrow our trip really kicked into full swing b/c we were checking into the WL and we had our park tickets
I told Andy it was very nice to have a couple days outside the parks to go slow and enjoy ourselves. But once I saw the MK out the window there at the CG, I told him it was like dangling candy in front of a baby.... It was so close, but you couldn't have it yet
We'll have to get Andy to give you his yum ratings on Raglan Road, Tea, and CG. He didn't get to give you a predictive yum on tea and CG as it was a surprise, but it's okay.
And I want to say thank you to him for planning such a wonderful night, heck, wonderful day! He has learned well And I appreciate his interest in what I love
Okay, here is Day Two Part Two's video clip. If you have been watching Destination Truth on the Sci Fi Channel (or USA) you'll know what we're talking about when you here "Naga"
OMG Melissa, what an awesome day that was. You guys are so great in knowing what it takes to surprise and please each other. You are a wonderful couple.
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.
Wow, Melissa and Andy, just getting caught up on the last few installments.
I love all the wonderful birthday surprises all around! Power sailing looked awesome, glad you were able to overcome your nerves.
GF Tea, La Nouba, and CG all in one day...now that sounds like an amazing birthday celebration!
Love, love, love the photo session...the pics look fabulous. I am so glad you had a great experience with it, too!
danielle
__________________
~Shoot for the moon, if you miss, you will land among the stars~
your trip report is the only thing that has made me smile on this retched day (i'm having a rough day... ) Thanks for the "pick me up". You two are so good to each other! I LOVE those photos you had done.... very special.
Melissa & Andy - I'm loving your TR so far! Coincidentally, I'm planning a surprise for DH for our upcoming trip and we are going to tea at the GF at 3:20 and then La Nouba at 6:00! Too funny! This will be our first time doing both and I just can't wait!
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Is he a great guy or what??? 
And after looking at those 2 pictures back to back, it appears Andy did not move until the food was brought out 
the suspense is killing me, I can't wait to read about your first day in the parks 
PassPorter Guide Author
And the professional pictures are beautiful 
) Thanks for the "pick me up". You two are so good to each other! I LOVE those photos you had done.... very special.
Linear Mode
