A New Grade, A New House, and A Surprise! TR August 21-31 - Page 22 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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Today is the day!!! I Couldn't sleep very well last night (not surprised, I never do the night before!). DH didn't do so well either, so we were both up just before 4 . We watched a little bit of TV, then at 4:15, we couldn't wait any longer. It was time to tell the kids!
Grabbing the camera and video camera, we headed to the living room. We turned on some lights, and this did not please my little princess one little bit. She immediately started to moan and complain about it being too bright and asking what we were doing. Little man, however, wasn't budging. When he finally did, he popped his head up and was raring to go.
DH thought of giving them their new pins and telling them they'll need them today, hopefully prompting them to clue in to where we were going. We expected too much from their poor sleepy brains. Once we told them, DD just repeated, "No we're not" over and over - complete denial like we expected. DS was incredulous at first, then started planning which pins he was going to trade and what rides we were going on.
Once we got them up and going, the initial calm reaction wore off and they started bouncing off the walls. Sabrina was in the shower screaming and Alex kept saying "I can't believe we're going!!!".
My parents arrived around 5 (my dad was our 'chauffeur') and were asking us if we needed earplugs about 5 minutes later . We finished getting organized while the kids chattered away to my parents and were on the road by 5:30.
We made amazing time - absolutely zero line at the border (unheard of, even at this time!) and the roads were clear sailing. We checked our bags and zipped through the practically non-existent security line. DH said we were at Gate 73.....alllllll the way at the end of the terminal. Well, we get alllllll the way there and he was wrong. Gate 64 was the right one, so back we trekked, but not before stopping to buy DD the world's most expensive muffin at Caribou Coffee (really? $3.75 for a muffin??!!) We eventually made it there and settled in to wait.
DH and DS went for a walk and grabbed us some McD's for breakfast. We ate that and waited a bit later then it was time to board! We took off in time, had an uneventful flight and landed at 11:00 on the dot. We were in line at DME at 11:23 - not bad! We must have just missed a bus as there was a short line for the WL, Poly, and GF. After an agonizing 10 minutes, our bus arrived, and after another 10 minute wait on the bus, we were finally on our way.
Oh, that arch never fails to make me smile!
Passed this on the way to WL:
And we're here!
We were blessedly the first stop, and happily hopped off the bus. We were met by a lovely CM who brought us to the desk where we found our room was ready and waiting for us. We made our way up to the 5th floor where we found our room to be just a bit down from the elevators - in our opinion, a great location.
Alex trying to be Mickey with the towels - goofball!
Checking out the view.
The kids were crazed now and just wanted to DO SOMETHING NOW! We promised swimming after we had lunch (that sure helped speed up the eating process!) Sorry, no food porn, but the kids both had a cheese pizza, DH had a burger and I had a yummy turkey sandwich with dill havarti and homemade chips.
When we got back to the room, we got ready to swim and our luggage arrived. Woohoo!
The pool was heavenly - perfect temp and the kids were having a blast on the slide. Then the sky got dark, then a little darker and our fun was cut short by the whistle. Everybody out, electrical activity in the area! Well, I am more than happy to not get electrocuted, so while disappointed, I obediently got out of the pool. The rest of my family did as well, but not without tears -(and no, it wasn't DH crying). Both children thought the world was conspiring to keep them out of the pool. After convincing them that this was not indeed the case, we returned to our room, where I giddily unpacked. Giddily, you ask? Why yes! I usually spend our first night here unpacking after all other members of the fam drift off to dreamland, yet here I was in broad daylight, all peeps still awake, and I was unpacking! Nearly overcome with the excitement, I got us organized in a hurry!
Up Next: Will Dana find the Contemporary in time for dinner?
__________________
Stacey
Why do these kids look so pathetic?
Find out in: A New Grade, A New House, and A Surprise!Final Thoughts 01/30
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Congratulations on being "Home". and for your unpacking. Gld you had an easy trip to the airport, love the reveal....guess it finally hit them by the second video, they were so excited. Sounds like a great first day so far, yummy lunch and the pool!!!
The reveal was great! Great start to your trip, too!
Thanks Cam!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
Woohoo! It has begun! Love the reveal and then the excited reaction. I'm sure I'd react the same as Sabrina, "Seriously?" The kids are adorable.
I think they are adorable, but I kind of have too Thanks for the compliment
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
What a great start to your trip!
Thanks Cheryl!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great start!
Thanks Marnie!
Quote:
Originally Posted by shazza
Congratulations on a safe flight and good start to the trip. The reveal was fun!
Thank you! I enjoy re-watching and laughing at the sheer non-reaction followed by a LOT of screaming
Quote:
Originally Posted by mommapants
Great start. Updating a TR is always better than unpacking IMO.
I can just feel your first day excitement!
You bet it is! Really, anything is better than unpacking! LOL!
Quote:
Originally Posted by JKnott17
Great start! Minus the thundershower that made you leave the pool, it sounds like a great day.
The kids were majorly bummed about the thundershower , I tried to reason with them that we can't control the weather, but they would have none of it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
Great start to your trip!
Thanks so much!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
Great reveal!! I'd be bouncing off the walls with the kids too!!
LOL! I was pretty excited to tell them
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcc0313
Congratulations on being "Home". and for your unpacking. Gld you had an easy trip to the airport, love the reveal....guess it finally hit them by the second video, they were so excited. Sounds like a great first day so far, yummy lunch and the pool!!!
Thanks for the congrats! And it was a good first day overall - we've never not hit a park and we enjoyed the relaxing start.
__________________
Stacey
Why do these kids look so pathetic?
Find out in: A New Grade, A New House, and A Surprise!Final Thoughts 01/30
Soon enough, it was time to head over to the Contemporary where our friend Mickey was waiting to welcome us to dinner at 'his place', but first a quick stop at the Mercantile for some browsing. Alex spotted a Halloween shirt that he HAD to have, but we held him off until later.
Obligatory picture with the totem pole.
The kids traded a few pins, then we went to the boat dock to wait. While waiting, we saw lightning in the distance. Here's where our daughter's love for us shone through. She ripped off her metal pins and tossed them at me, declaring that she didn't want to get struck by lightning. Now I am holding them, so apparently it's okay for me to! Oh the adoration....
Before she threw her pins at me....
We got to the Contemporary with time to spare and took a few pics around the pool area (still closed due to electrical activity!).
When we got upstairs, we had to defend ourselves against the kids barrage of "Why aren't we checking in?" questions while we waited for Dana and her family to arrive. It was inching closer to our check in time and I was growing mildly concerned that they couldn't find their way, so I called her. She was very frazzled and wanted to know if she was going to the triangle building or the circle Once clarified, I hung up the phone and watched for them.
Within minutes, a slew of children (okay, it was only 4) came around the corner from the elevator. The look on their faces was priceless. My kids jumped up and began hugging their friends, so excited to share their favourite place with them.
We checked in and were seated immediately (which has never happened for us here!) We were in the back corner of the upper level and had a super friendly server named Rebecca. We ate our fair share and the kids delighted themselves with the self serve ice cream and cookies. They all got up and danced, and Donald shocked Sabrina by taking her napkin to wave around - then he just dropped it on the floor and left it! She was a little surprised by this.
My goofy girl!
Dana decided that even though they were exhausted, they had to see the castle, so they were heading over to MK. We were going 'home' for the night, so we separated until tomorrow morning, but first we popped into the gift shops at the Contemporary.
They wanted new footwear
At the boat dock, we chatted with Captain Chris who was very friendly, sharing stories of his move to Florida and experiences with storms here at Disney. The storm topic came up because of Isaac brewing out in the Gulf and because we were apparently due for a doozy of a storm overnight (which we didn't hear if it did materialize!).
While getting the kids settled for bed, I wandered into the sink area to wash out our mugs. This is when the 'horror' began I happened to head to the sink on the right as this is where I had placed the dish soap earlier. Just as I turned on the water, I heard a noise from the sink beside me. Glancing over, I shrieked - "FROG!!!!!" - and scrambled out of there as fast as I could. I continued to shriek, "There's a frog in the sink!!!!!!!" as I jumped onto one of the beds (furthest one from the bathroom I might add). DH is laughing uproariously by this point and doesn't believe me. I made him go look, and he sees nothing.
Not to be proven insane, I tiptoed over to the entrance. There it was, squashed as small as it could make itself behind the faucet. Freaked out, but not enough that I was going to miss capturing this image for my PP peeps and my scrapbook, I grabbed the camera.
If you look closely, you can see its legs and webbed toes! Ewwwww!
During this time, DH tried to figure out how to get the poor (probably frightened to death by my shrieking) frog out of the room. He finally decided that I needed to call the front desk as he was not touching it. The CM at the front desk's reply when I told him the situation? "Welcome to Wilderness Lodge" I laughed and said the wilderness needs to stay outside!!!!!!
We only waited about 10 minutes before a CM showed up to scoop up our (and I quote) "Cuban tree frog, and a big one too!"
After our interesting escapade was over, we got the kids to bed and I searched the room for any other 'friends'. We still have no idea how that sucker got in there. Our best guess is that the previous room occupants had kids that caught a 'friend' who escaped. Alex's opinion is that it came up in the elevator
Up next: Dining with royalty (no, not Princess Sharon....)
__________________
Stacey
Why do these kids look so pathetic?
Find out in: A New Grade, A New House, and A Surprise!Final Thoughts 01/30
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. We finished getting organized while the kids chattered away to my parents and were on the road by 5:30. 
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Great start to your trip, too! 
PassPorter Guide Author
Holly: 
, I tried to reason with them that we can't control the weather, but they would have none of it! 
Never would have expected a frog in your sink! Great time at CM! 
So you didn't kiss it in case it was a prince then... 
This is Disney after all! 
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