Stay Calm and Hakuna Matata TR (9/21/13-9/29/13) - Completed!! - Page 3 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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So sorry about the door. Glad you made it to Tusker House on time. I am also glad the Joshua was able to calm down. The best laid plans.....sometimes get changed. I can understand completely as our DS is very much like yours. Can't wait to read more.
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Glad you made it down safe and sound. Your evening at MK sounded great.
What a mess with the door. Glad it was something simple that Will could fix enough to get the door closed so you could head out.
Glad you made it out with the issues with the door. TH breakfast is one of our favorites!
TH is quickly becoming our favorite too!
Quote:
Originally Posted by taylan1
So sorry about the door. Glad you made it to Tusker House on time. I am also glad the Joshua was able to calm down. The best laid plans.....sometimes get changed. I can understand completely as our DS is very much like yours. Can't wait to read more.
The one big lesson I've learned on this trip is expect changes to plans...even if it's not what you expect.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tabitha34
Glad you made it to Tusker House! Sorry you had a rough start to your day.
Even though it was a rough start...the rest of the day went really well...
Quote:
Originally Posted by disneydreamer33
Glad you made it down safe and sound. Your evening at MK sounded great.
What a mess with the door. Glad it was something simple that Will could fix enough to get the door closed so you could head out.
My husband is pretty handy at fixing things
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Sorry about the rocky start to the day! But breakfast at TH looked wonderful.
Thanks. I really love their food...it's really delicious.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Glad you made it to Tusker House after the issues with the door.
After we finish eating our breakfast, we decided to ride Kilamjaro Safari. I was hoping to ride before breakfast before it started getting too crowded. However, the stand-by line wasn’t too bad, if I remember about twenty-five minutes. I so need to invest in getting a camera, my phone camera and I do not get along and with all the bumps and jerks, I wasn’t able to take any pictures, but we all enjoyed travels. Afterwards we checked to see the wait time for Expedition Everest and notice that their stand-by line was at 15 minutes so between the fastpass + that we had scheduled and the stand-by line, DH and DS went on three times. During this time I window shopped and collected their picture on our photo pass.
It wasn’t too long after their last ride, I informed that they would be getting really wet… on Kali River Rapids. I really don’t like getting wet so, I stayed behind and guarded the belongings. As I watch the troop come off the ride soaking wet, they came running up to me to give me a big wet hug...yuck! By now it close to 1 o’clock and we were all starting to get hungry. So we went over to our favorite counter service...Flame Tree BBQ. The seating area was pretty crowded, but we managed to find a table near the lake side. Joshua and I waited while Will went and ordered our lunch. On the way back, Will got bumped into by accident by someone not watching where they were going and his drink ended up spilling onto his food tray. I told him to go back, but he didn’t feel like it and just poured the extra liquid off and ate his ribs and chicken, which appeared no worse for the wear:
By now I realize if I'm going to obtain Rafiki’s autograph we are going to have to split the party up for a little while, since Josh wasn’t interested in doing a meet and greet and wanted to go on more rides. So, Will and Joshua made their way over to Dino Land, while I made my way over to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. Just as I made it over to the Wildlife Train: Africa station, a light rain started. In just a few minutes time as I was approaching the Wildlife Train: Rafiki’s station, the rain started picking up speed and by the time I made it over to the building…one would have thought that I had just gotten off Kali River Rapids! The line for the meet and greet wasn’t too long and I was able to get my autograph and picture with raffaki within a few minutes after arriving.
My plan was to meet DH and DS near Dinorama at our designated meet back time of 1:45; however the light rain turned into a downpour, so I texted Will and told him I had to find place to buy a Disney rain poncho, since he had taken the back pack and I forgot to grab mine out of there. While I was on my little trek, DS and DH went on Prime Whirl and Dinosaur.
I finally made my way over and met them standing under an overhang nearby. We decided to call it a day since it didn't look like the rain was going to let up and made our way back to the resort. DH took a nap while Josh ate an early dinner. A little while later, Will and I ventured out in our poncho to enjoy another meal from the Riverside Mill. That evening I had their make-your-own salad with beef and Will went for the Angus Beef Burger platter. I used my dessert credit for Joshua and got him his new favorite snack, Mickey Mouse shaped Goldfish. After dinner, I finished up my carrot cake from last night’s dinner, while working on the trip report.
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I set my alarm for 6 o’clock since I had a huge task to perform that morning. With all the rain we had yesterday, both my DH and DS’s shoes were completely soaked and they forgot to bring an extra pair. I wore sandals yesterday, which turned out to be a great choice since they dried completely overnight and were ready for another day out. So as they slept I headed off to the laundry room to dry shoes. When I got there, John and Sullivan were doing the morning rounds of laundry equipment check and told me to go ahead and put the sneakers in the dryer, which was already turned on and ready to go. It actually took two cycles to dry, but both times they let me use the dryer at no cost. I love those little Disney touches! Afterwards, I quickly headed over to the Riverside Mill to pick up Joshua’s meal for later. I then headed back to the room where, I was expecting to find two people awake and ready to go, instead they’re both still in bed asleep. So, once again, I knew my plans were going to be a little off in regards to time, but I wasn’t too worried since we were driving and we only ended up a few minutes behind our morning schedule.
We made our way over to Hollywood Studios, where once again we were greeted with a little bit of rain. We had scheduled our breakfast at Play and Dine that morning before rope drop, so we got a great opportunity for photo shoots on the empty street.
Breakfast at Play and Dine was decent, but not anywhere as good as Tusker House. I had the standard breakfast of pancakes, Mickey waffles, scramble eggs and juice. Joshua ate his Mickey Waffles, while Will chose the biscuit with sausage gravy. My honest opinion is that it’s about the character interaction, which Joshua thoroughly enjoyed doing that morning.
We finished our breakfast a little past nine. As we exited out of the restaurant, Will knew we were headed over to ride TSMM and asked which way to go? I just started laughing and told him to just follow the massive crowd that was running towards Pixar Place in the hope of either snagging a legacy fast pass or making it through the stand-by line before it went to double or triple digit wait times. Since we had a fastpass+ we just strolled on over at a leisurely pace. I have to admit I wasn’t really sure of why this attraction is a huge drawer of crowds and then we went on TSMM. Even though we only got to ride it once, we now understand why…it’s like any arcade game where you just want to go back and see if you can beat your own score or get revenge against someone else’s score. By the way I totally blew away Will’s score. Afterwards, DH and DS went on Tower of Terror, while I sought out Sofia, who was inside the Animation Studio due to the light rain.
The wait time for meeting Sofia was about twenty minutes, so afterward I head back over to check on them to see how they were getting along. They went on three times during my meet and greet and after the third time, Joshua was ready to ride something different, so they headed over to Rock n Roll Coaster, during this time I decided to head back over to get my picture with Sorcery Mickey, who was quite impress with my character autograph book which at that point only had three blank pages left in it.
Afterwards, I headed back over to meet up the crew.
As I approached, I could see Will was trying to talk Joshua into going on Rock n’ Roll coaster again, but Joshua decided he wasn’t interested and wanted to go on another ride and asked us for a new ride, so we headed over to Star tours, something he’s never been on before. The only time that we had any difficulty during the course of our day was while we were waiting our turn to board star tours. There is a gate right before you enter the lanes. Now we're use to having the safety gates locked, but in this case this one didn't and the people in front open and josh rush through. Will had to go get him and bring him back. Joshua was a little confused at first by the whole situation, but soon understood that he had to wait just a few minutes longer before we could all enter the ride.
It’s been quite a long time since Will and I have been on this ride ourselves, in fact I believe it may have been before we had Joshua. We couldn’t remember why this was until after we rode it and then we remembered it doesn’t really agree with Will, who got a slight headache and felt queasy afterwards. I probably could of have handled it one more time, but it would have been pushing the boundaries even for me. So we only rode it once. We made our way back to our room about 1:30 to allow us all an opportunity to relax after a fun filled morning. DH walked over to the food court to see about getting us some lunch. I had the make your own pasta. I had fettuccine with shrimp and mushrooms in a pesto sauce. Josh ate his plate of pancakes that I picked up for him earlier that day and DH had the barbecued pork sandwich with French fries.
YAY for a little Disney magic early in the morning with the dryers! We came a week later and never saw any rain...so sorry it is messing with your plans!
I went to Tusker House for the first time this trip...and it is now a favorite!
You all had a really great time at DHS this morning, getting in all the big rides!
Thanks! I have to admit I'm a huge fan of the fast pass+, since it allowed me to schedule everything in advance for that day. DHS right now doesn't offer alot for Joshua, who right now is not interested in shows, so being able to go on the big rides made his day.
Quote:
Originally Posted by momabaarjo
YAY for a little Disney magic early in the morning with the dryers! We came a week later and never saw any rain...so sorry it is messing with your plans!
I went to Tusker House for the first time this trip...and it is now a favorite!
I usually don't mind the rain too much, except when I forget my poncho I really wished Tusker House wasn't located inside AK, so I could have breakfast there more often.
Our plans for Tuesday’s evening was to head out to the Magic Kingdom for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, however when it came time to go…both DH and DS decided they didn’t feel up to going back out again! I was to say the least very disappointed and a bit upset over the circumstances, but decided against it since it would accomplish anything other than getting everyone including myself more upset. I decided to take the bus and leave DH the car, just in case they suddenly had a change of heart and wanted to adventure out. So with my autograph book in hand, I walked over to the west depot lot and waited for the bus, which was about fifteen minutes. After stopping at the other depots, I was on my way to the Magic Kingdom and arrived at their gates around 5:30. I made my way inside and took my place in line for my covet meet and greet….Jack and Sally. While I’m in line my husband calls me and tells me there is another storm approaching and of course the only thing that I forgot to do before I left the resort was to of course bring… my poncho!
Luckily, the rain held off while during the time I stood in line for my covet meet and greet that night. I finally met them around 7:30 and was able to get a few shots with my cell phone along with the photo pass. Even though the wait was over two hours, I passed the time talking with other Jack and Sally fans. During this time I was also chatting online with some friends, who wanted to pictures of me with Jack and Sally, along with writing down who was next on my meet and greet night out list.
No shortly after I left Jack and Sally, the rain started pouring down again! I passed a little time in the shops in the hope it wouldn’t be long, but after looking at the radar weather report, I realized I was going to have buy yet another Disney poncho! I did feel bad for other folks who came in their costumes that night having to cover up too. Well, with poncho on it was time to venture off to Adventure land, where I met up with Tarzan, Terk, and Jane. The wait time there was about 25 minutes for each set. Afterwards, I went next door to the Tinker Bell’s Magical Nook, which had a non-existent line and with a few minutes, I was able to obtain my picture and autograph with Terence. Due to the heavy rain, The Villian’s Mix and Mingle was canceled, so I was unable to obtain any pictures of the villains, which was kind of a huge bummer. However, I still managed to have fun and found a few more characters out and about that evening before calling it a night, which I believe was around 10:45.
By the time I got back to the room, both my DS and DH were sound asleep. One thing I’ve learned from this experience is you will not be able to do everything at MNSSHP, especially if you’re interested in meeting rare characters, which for me was a tremendous amount of fun, even in the rain!
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.