Trip Report "Dreams Really Can Come True" 6/1/09-6/8/09 - COMPLETED 7/19 - Page 21 - 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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So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Greate update. You guys got a lot done by 2pm! I too LOVE Living with the Land. And I am so impressed with your enthusiasm for the pin trading. It is really making me want to try to get some pins for my boys to try this trip. (I'll just have to venture onto EBay...Never have before)
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I’ve been using the time stamps on my pictures and receipts to help me with my timeline. For some reason, I have a couple of blocks of time that I can’t account for here. What I think happened was that we went back to our room and futzed around a bit. The kids weren’t tired any more so they watched the animals. DH got comfortable with CNN and… oh yeah – I remember. I spent probably a good 30 minutes or so trying to cancel our ADR for Tokyo Dining and reserve somewhere else for Saturday. We were just too tired to make it for dinner at 7:15. We had been going pretty hard for 3 days now and I think we just hit the proverbial “wall”. We were getting hungry then and if we ate, the ADR for 3 hours later would be a waste. I had been looking forward to T. Dining for months, but it just wasn’t gonna happen. From our experience with Chef Mickey’s and getting to see Wishes anyway, I knew that we would’ve had enough time to see Illuminations, but I think we were just basically tired. I was disappointed, but not upset like I thought I’d be. (I made up for it just today at my local sushi joint – Ichiban! )
Anyway, I needed to make up this ADR and I knew it would be hard for the CM at reservations. We didn’t have dinner reserved for Saturday, and she was hard-pressed to find anything at a decent time. She finally came up with The Wave at the Contemporary. I had done no research on this place nor read any reviews, but I had to take it. (comfort zone ) We had good feelings about the Contemporary, so it was okay. I looked up The Wave in the PassPorter and it said things like, “organic” and “sustainable”. I tried not to think of bulgur wheat and soybeans (don’t get me wrong, I love tabbouleh and edamame!). I just told DH that “it’s a new restaurant that specializes in fresh, locally-grown foods.” That worked pretty well, I must say.
We needed some eats, so we went down to the Mara. (We never had a wait here!) This time we got the Bacon Double Cheeseburger, the Turkey Ciabatta, (no pic – doah!) and pizza and rotisserie chicken for the kids. (DH was on a mission with those cheeseburgers! We had been “cutting back” for about 3 months to get into Disney shape.) The turkey ciabatta was GOOD. It reminded me of a muffeletta sandwich from New Orleans – cold cuts on great bread with an olive salad. Also it was pretty big. I (almost) didn’t finish it all. I was happy that they had the rotisserie chicken on the kid’s menu. Unfortunately it was too dry. It came with rice, I think. I would give it a try next time – those heat lamps can be finicky… Again, the pizza was hot, but tiny.
We went back to the room and set the alarm for exactly 45 min. We closed the drapes, turned off the lights and crashed. I’m so glad we did. Even with that little nap, we were refreshed, if a little bleary-eyed, and ready to go back to Epcot.
We got back to Epcot around 7pm. While we were resting, it had started to get more humid and cloudy.
There was no line for Spaceship Earth so we rode that. I thought this would be boring for the kids, but they actually remember it was one of their favorite rides – go figure. We stayed to the “right” and ran into some displays left over from the Flower and Garden Festival.
Chip!
I knew we weren’t going to make it all the way around WS. DH had no interest in “exploring”, but it was okay, I was just happy to be there. (Making future plans in the back of my head - muuaa ha ha ha…)
It was time for sweets. Ooh what’s that over there? The Kaki Gori Shack! Okay that’s not the name, but it really is more like a shack than a “cart”. Yummm. Yes, I know honeydew melon is not really that color, but it tasted so good! The kaki goris hit the spot – it was getting pretty humid out there. It was time to find a place for Illuminations. It was about 8pm and people were gathering around the fencing and we could see the barges getting into place, but it was still light out.
This was a good spot for us, but we ended up moving a little further down in front of Italy, so that DH could have a good camera angle without overhanging branches. There was a good spot at the gondola landing, but it was closed off so we stood by the gate. We had seen a wedding party walking towards us, presumably towards Italy. We figured out they were going there because later, the wedding party came out to the landing for the show. We had our handy glow necklaces with us so we fiddled with those for a minute. (Tip: bring extra. Out of 8, 4 worked. We got them from Target.)
It got dark pretty quickly and it started sprinkling. (The photographers had an umbrella for the bride and groom.) The torches were lit and soon Illuminations started.
Again, these are from my iphone:
It started to rain in earnest right at the end of the show. We broke out our good ponchos for us and the cheap ponchos for the kids. (Sorry boys!) The next time it rained, I had the Disney ones ready. I think the rain worked in our favor, because in spite of the warnings about the stampede to get out of Epcot, it wasn’t that bad. Folks must have left early. (Another tip: Crocs or Veggies are slippery on wet pavement!)
This would have been nice if I had had a tripod:
We got back to the resort and did a little late night browsing in the marketplace. Then it was lights out. Tomorrow we’ll be in Animal Kingdom – I couldn’t wait!
Greate update. You guys got a lot done by 2pm! I too LOVE Living with the Land. And I am so impressed with your enthusiasm for the pin trading. It is really making me want to try to get some pins for my boys to try this trip. (I'll just have to venture onto EBay...Never have before)
Thanks! Don't worry, I never had a problem and the pins we got were nice. We got about 30 pins (2 sets of 15 from 2 different sellers) for a good price and they were good quality (some limited editions, lots of hidden mickeys, etc.) Have fun!
Sorry you missed out on Tokyo Dining, but that can go to the top of the list for "next time" And glad you got a kaki gori! You got some good photos of Illuminations. Watching from near Italy is one of my favorite spots.
__________________
Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
You got some awesome IllumiNations pics from your iPhone!
Thanks! I was surprised. My digital has had it...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
What a great relaxing night! Great pictures too!
I was so glad we relaxed and napped. It really made a difference!
Quote:
Originally Posted by PrincessSharon
Sorry you missed out on Tokyo Dining, but that can go to the top of the list for "next time" And glad you got a kaki gori! You got some good photos of Illuminations. Watching from near Italy is one of my favorite spots.
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I am all caught up now. So far so good. Doesn't sound like you waited too long for anything.
Glad you were able to snag another ADR. Sorry you didn't get to Tokyo Dining. There's always "next time".
I am wanting to ride Mission Space, but I am a little claustrophopic and I get sick easy. How was the green side?
Can't wait for more.
Your days sound like such fun! It is great that you guys are being so flexible and staying so "in tune" with the needs of the kids! Really enjoying this.
__________________
Betty Sue
Affiliated with CruisingCo.Com/MouseEarVacations.com
Disney Destination Specialist/ BettySueS@cruisingco.com August '09 Trip
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
I just spent the evening reading your TR. You are a great writer!
I am a teacher too. I love the way you try to bring out the "edutainment" side of Disney..LOL..me too!
We are staying at AKL this August for the first time (not first time to WDW) and I've enjoyed reading your review of the resort.
Your boys are so sweet. My boys (except for DS9) are big teenage lunkheads and although they still enjoy Disney it is not quite the same. Enjoy this age even if you do sometimes venture into crankyland and whineytown (or is that crankytown and whineyland?).
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and reserve somewhere else for Saturday. We were just too tired to make it for dinner at 7:15. We had been going pretty hard for 3 days now and I think we just hit the proverbial “wall”. 
We were getting hungry then and if we ate, the ADR for 3 hours later would be a waste. I had been looking forward to T. Dining for months, but it just wasn’t gonna happen. 
From our experience with Chef Mickey’s and getting to see Wishes anyway, I knew that we would’ve had enough time to see Illuminations, but I think we were just basically tired. I was disappointed, but not upset like I thought I’d be. (I made up for it just today at my local sushi joint – Ichiban! 
)
comfort zone 
It reminded me of a muffeletta sandwich from New Orleans – cold cuts on great bread with an olive salad. Also it was pretty big. I (almost) didn’t finish it all. I was happy that they had the rotisserie chicken on the kid’s menu. Unfortunately it was too dry. It came with rice, I think. I would give it a try next time – those heat lamps can be finicky… Again, the pizza was hot, but tiny.
I’m so glad we did. Even with that little nap, we were refreshed, if a little bleary-eyed, and ready to go back to Epcot.
We stayed to the “right” and ran into some displays left over from the Flower and Garden Festival.
PassPorter Guide Author
And glad you got a kaki gori! 
SE.
Liz 
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
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