Rain, Sunshine & Cupcakes ~ June 24 - July 3 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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What a great time at the Studios - I love the face painting.
And how ironic, that's the second time in just a couple of days that I've seen Chip and Dale dressed like that in a trip report - I just hope we get to see them like that in December.
I was thinking the same thing, Cheryl! I don't recall ever seeing Chip & Dale dressed in those outfits before, and now I've seen it in two TRs!
Great couple of days, your meal at Y&Y looked delicious....we tried it for the first time this summer and really enjoyed it.
Think the break was a good choice on your Epcot day, definitely cannot enjoy when it is just so hot....especially walking around the WS. Glad you had a great dinner.
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Great pictures from your morning at DHS! Love the face paint!
Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by shnewell
So far so good at DHS! Two character meet & greets, a free coffee, and TSMM! Love the face paint!
We've never seen LMA. We thought we'd try to fit it in on our last trip, but just never got around to it. Doesn't sound like I'm missing much, but I'd still like to see it someday just to say I've done it. How cool that you got special FPs for it!
My boys love it. They enjoy the cars, the high speed chase, the action.But I've seen it so many times that I know it ny heart. Plus, they only have 2 shows a day which never fits with our plans. We saw it this time because they had a 11 am show and we had the fps. I think you should give it a try just to say that you saw at least once.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lazanya
Great day at DHS so far!
Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lfredsbo
Great update! sounds like a good day so far at DHS! I am one who can take or leave LMA........I did go last week's trip just so that I can see Lightning mcQueen!
I would've rather seen the Beauty & the Beast show, which by the way I've never seen.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
What a great time at the Studios - I love the face painting.
And how ironic, that's the second time in just a couple of days that I've seen Chip and Dale dressed like that in a trip report - I just hope we get to see them like that in December.
It's the first time I ever met Chip & Dale, so I just thought they were in their usual Hollyood garb.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DMA
Sounds like a great morning so far! I love the boys choices for facepaint! Very cool!
Their choices were very fitting.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcc0313
Great couple of days, your meal at Y&Y looked delicious....we tried it for the first time this summer and really enjoyed it.
Think the break was a good choice on your Epcot day, definitely cannot enjoy when it is just so hot....especially walking around the WS. Glad you had a great dinner.
We did need that break. And to think that the other times I've visited I stayed all day in the parks because I stayed off-site. I don't know how I did it, it's exhausting.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
Sounds like a great time at DHS. Love the boy's face painting!!
It was finally time for our adr at H&V. I chose this restaurant exclusively for Adriel. Since this trip was more focused on Abniel’s birthday, I wanted to do something special for my little guy.
I checked us in and waited a little more than 5 minutes to be seated. We were taken to our table and our server came and took our drink order. Shortly after our first character arrived.
Then the star of the show, the reason I booked this arrived. Adriel was in heaven. He was jumping up and down, so happy. I almost cried.
We had a little break from the characters so we went to get our food.
This is my first plate.
And my second plate.
Oh, and dessert.
The boys had huge bowls of ice cream.
Time for more characters.
June
Special Agent Oso
They then called up all the kids to do a little dance. Adriel was the only one who went up. He had a blast.
We settled the bill and went on our way. The food was good enough, not great. But to see Adriel, the happiness he had because he got to meet Jake, made it all worth it. I’ll do it again in a heartbeat just to see his face.
Arben, AJ and Abniel went back to the resort to start packing. Adriel and I stayed behind to meet Buzz & Woody. The line was pretty long but we spent that time taking pics.
Oooh, the claw!
After our meet we weren’t ready to leave yet. I was enjoying the alone time with my baby boy. TSMM had a 110 minute wait. Adriel showed some interest in riding. I was willing to do it but he decided to go somewhere else and come back later. We went on the GMR and got the gangster side yet again. I’ve never ever gotten the cowboy side. How do you get it? Is it pure luck or do you have to ask?
We passed by TSMM again and the wait time was 100 minutes. I asked Adriel if he wanted to ride and his answer was “Nah, forget it”. We then went to see if Mike and Sulley were out but they weren’t. Oh well! We'll meet them next time. We decided to leave the park but first we stopped at a gift shop where Adriel found a Mike Wazowski fluffy he wanted.
We got to the bus stop and a bus arrived almost immediately. Got to the room and found that almost everything was packed, except my stuff. Nobody touches my stuff!
I then realized I had forgotten to leave out the mousekeeping tip envelope. I quickly called mousekeeping and explained what had happened. They told me to just leave it out tomorrow with a little note.
Everyone changed in to their bathing suits and headed to the pool. I, on the other hand, headed to the laundry room. I can’t stand to get home with a suitcase full of dirty clothes.
I went to the pool one last time to have some fun with the guys.
I was tempted to go back to DHS since it had EMH but opted not to, mainly because no one wanted to go with me. We went back to the room and showered. I checked the boy’s luggage and realized it was not packed to my standards. Let’s say they took all the clothes and just threw them in. Oh great! Now I have to re-pack.
But that would have to wait because we were starving. On the way to Riverside Mill I took some more pics of the resort.
I don’t remember what everyone else had. I had the turkey meal.
Getting myself caught up. I am so glad you enjoyed Via Napoli. We have an ADR in Nov. On our last full day...so it will be awhile till we get there, but I have been wanting to try it for some time now. You food looks great.
I hear mixed reviews on H & V, but again. most go for the characters anyways. So happy he enjoyed his meet so much. It really does make it worth it when you see your child so happy. I had planned on canceling our CRT because honestly the food is not good, but when I suggested it to Claire there was horror on her face. I guess I will suck it up for her!
I am laughing at Arben patting the wrong kids head. too funny. I have seen kids start walking with the wrong set of parents, but most times you don't see the parent latch on the wrong kid.
The boys then went to the arcade to spend their complimentary arcade card with the substantial amount of 100 points. They spent that quickly in 3 games.
A couple of photos around the lobby.
We went to Fulton’s General Store to pick up some gifts. AJ wasn’t feeling to well so Arben took him back to the room. Adriel went with him because I had to get him a little prize. Now let me backtrack a little to explain this. Before leaving home my family made a bet to see how many time Abniel would get mad while on vacation. The person who guessed correctly would win a prize. Well Adriel won. He said 8 times.
I had quite a few things and was ready to check out. Since I spent x amount I was able to choose something for a special price. I chose the tote bag. I also made a donation to the Conservation Fund in memory of Stefanie.
Some photos around Fulton’s
I'll take one please!
With purchases in hand, Abniel and I trekked back to the room. I packed my stuff and re-packed the boys suitcase. Lights out at 11.
Tomorrow would be a sad day! I wasn’t ready to leave the bubble yet.
Getting myself caught up. I am so glad you enjoyed Via Napoli. We have an ADR in Nov. On our last full day...so it will be awhile till we get there, but I have been wanting to try it for some time now. You food looks great.
I hear mixed reviews on H & V, but again. most go for the characters anyways. So happy he enjoyed his meet so much. It really does make it worth it when you see your child so happy. I had planned on canceling our CRT because honestly the food is not good, but when I suggested it to Claire there was horror on her face. I guess I will suck it up for her!
I am laughing at Arben patting the wrong kids head. too funny. I have seen kids start walking with the wrong set of parents, but most times you don't see the parent latch on the wrong kid.
Via Napoli is great! The food is amazing and the servers are so nice.
H&V is not the best restaurant but like you said, I think people go because of the characters. Maybe next time I'll try it for breakfast, which I've heard is better.
How great is that that you got to spend quality time with your little guy! LOVE IT!! Those moments are so hard to come by! Sounds like you had a great time!
Hey - at least your family attempted to pack themselves............I only have 1 child and 1 hubby who CANNOT for the life of them pack themselves!!!
Okay - I am getting nervous that I missed something............I thought that you were going to be there for the 4th? what happened?
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
How great is that that you got to spend quality time with your little guy! LOVE IT!! Those moments are so hard to come by! Sounds like you had a great time!
Hey - at least your family attempted to pack themselves............I only have 1 child and 1 hubby who CANNOT for the life of them pack themselves!!!
Okay - I am getting nervous that I missed something............I thought that you were going to be there for the 4th? what happened?
No, I'd be escaping 4th of july madness the night before.
No, I'd be escaping 4th of july madness the night before.
AWWWW...........bummer - that is one of my favorite times to visit! We are already planning our next trip around it for 2013! Although, we usually avoid a park during the day time, and only go for fireworks -so we avoid most of the craziness!
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
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So glad that Adriel had a blast at H&V! I love those special magical moments. I love the photos from the queue for the Toy Story meet & greet -- very cute!
It's funny because we almost always get the cowboy scene on GMR. Someone told me that when you get to the front of the queue, you can tell the CM that you want whichever scene you prefer and they can hold you aside for the next vehicle if the current one isn't the one you want. I've never tried it, though.
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I don't know how I did it, it's exhausting.
Let’s say they took all the clothes and just threw them in. Oh great! Now I have to re-pack.
substantial 
I wasn’t ready to leave the bubble yet.
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