We're Dragging Daddy to Disney and He's Gonna Like It!! (November 24-December 5) - Page 39 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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the room, especially the kitchen set up! Another dinner! I am betting those water babies make good use of that awesome looking pool & slide while you were there.
Glad you are feeling some better! pixie: The 1-bedroom villa at SSR looks so beautiful and I do love the DVC king size beds, extra comfy. Dinner at the Turf Club looks very delicious! I plan on trying here the next time we stay at SSR.
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Strangely enough we were up early and ready to go to Epcot. We very rarely make it to park opening. While we missed opening ceremonies, we still got there in time to make the climb up Mt. Epcot with everyone else to get to Soarin. If you have never been to park opening to see this it's a riot. Honestly it cracks me up! We get to Soarin and have to make a choice. Get in the fastpass mob or just get in line. What to do??? What to do??? We decide to go for it and get in line as when we walk through the entrance it is stated a 15 minute wait. Not long after being in line did a friendly CM come over the speaker saying that the wait was now 45 minutes. I think that was if you were just joining the line. I would say all in all we waited about 30 minutes to take our awesome flight on Soarin. We loved every minute of it.
Next we headed over to get fastpasses for Test Track. We grabbed those and Zach noticed that Mission Space had a pretty short wait. I would say 15-20 minutes. He joined the line for that while the girls and I said no thanks. We browsed the shop and just people watched outside (which is ALWAYS fun!!) Finally his Mission was complete. He said he enjoyed his ride but it was intense.
By this time we were ready for a little snack and decided to head back to the World Showcase. We stopped in Mexico first for a little ride with Donald.
After that we headed to Norway to have a snack at the Kringla Bakery. We used our snack credits for: Almond Pretzel that Isabelle and I shared. Very yummy!
I thought Maddy and Zach would share a treat but noooooo. They each wanted their very own Chocolate Cake/Mousse. They let me have one little bite and that's it!
We kept making our way around WS stopping in to browse at shops. We took our time making it around as we had a 12:45 lunch reservation at Via Napoli. Zach and the girls in China Belle playing the bongos at the Outpost
We made it to Italy We found our way to Via Napoli. We checked in and the restaurant was quite busy. However it wasn't long before we were taken to our table. Over all the place was nice but it was very noisy and loud in there. We placed our orders: Isabelle checking the menu This was my appetizer it was a deep fried ricotta cheese blend. I think it was called Arancini. It was interesting. Maddy ordered the plain spaghetti This was my pizza. I believe it had spicy italian sausage on it. Kids pepperoni pizza Isabelle's dessert-some sort of ice cream cookie sandwich. She loved it! My favorite thing-Pistachio Gelato
Overall our lunch here at Via Napoli cost us one TS credit on the Deluxe Dining Plan. If we paid cash it would have been $122.48. Now we did indulge and order appetizers. Plus Zach had one beer. This was a new place for us to try this time. It's only my opinion, but I really wasn't that impressed. I don't think we will be back anytime soon.
We had decided at lunch that we would mosey back to Test Track and use our fast passes. Zach and Maddy took front seats again Isabelle and I took the back seat. We had a fabulous ride!!
After test track we were heading back to the resort for an afternoon break. While getting this photo a CM told us that Stitch was out front meeting guests. We headed out there to meet him. He is Isabelle's absolute favorite!
While we were waiting for our bus to arrive, the girls noticed that the sky writer was out. I believe he was writing Jesus 4 gives Jesus Loves U
Now memory fails me here on whether we just chilled out in the room or if we went to the pool. It seems to me that we went to the pool. Anytime these girls can get time to go to the pool they are there.
After the girls went swimming for a bit (i think) we got cleaned up and ready to go over to the studios. We wanted to be there to see them flip the switch and turn on the Osborne Lights for the evening. Plus we had reservations that night for the Hollywood Brown Derby-another new place for us to try!
The girls decided to wear the shirts that Heather (mpwife153) sent to them. Thanks again Miss Heather! I thought that would be perfect for the lights that evening! Me and the girls at Saratoga Springs (waiting for the bus)
We got back to the lights just in time to count it down and see the streets of america all light up! It was amazing!! I absolutely love this about Disney at Christmastime!
It was very crowded in the streets that evening. We took a little break and went over to meet Mike and Sully.
One more lights photos
Zach was a little cranky this evening. Not sure if was all the crowds or what. We had some time to kill and decided just to look at the wait for Toy Story Mania. Well it was over two hours wait there went that idea. We went into One Man's Dream and looked around for awhile.
Our reservation wasn't until 7:30p, but I decided that we walk over to see if they could seat us a bit early. It was around 7p at that point. We checked in at the Brown Derby and I would say we were able to be seated within about 15 minutes. Not too bad. Like I said this was another first for us. The girls loved looking at all the drawings on the walls. By no means did the girls feel out of place. They were very accomodating to children as well. We were seated at a large booth which was comfy but a bit crowded.
Let the feasting begin! Kids salad
Appetizer-Scallops These were so very delicious!
I think this is Zach's Duck entree.
Kids Hot Dog served with chips
Kids Grilled Cheese
Short ribs-fall of the bone and so yummy!!
Zach and Maddy passed on dessert Even though we were so stuffed. Isabelle and I ordered dessert even if it was just a couple bites.
Kids Yogurt Parfait
Creme Brulee-my absolute favorite dessert evah!!
Dinner at the Hollywood Brown Derby was four thumbs up from the Bosler Family! We really enjoyed our dinner this evening. Cost us 2TS credits. Out of pocket cost...$145.64 But well worth it!
After dinner we were so tired and ready to get to bed. Belle and Maddy wanted a photo with the big Christmas tree.
We headed to the bus stop and were back at SSR before we knew it. We had had a very busy day and it was absolutely fabulous!!
I was so impressed you guys made it to EPCOT so early!! You guys didn't have to wait very long for Soarin' at all considering how many people head there first thing!
Somehow I Knew Maddy would get plain pasta The pizza looked yummy! (but I almost all pizza)
I'm glad the girls liked their shirts. As soon as I saw them I just had to get them for your trip. & what a perfect place to where them to Osbourne lights ~ where it was snowing in FL
HBD is on my Must Try List. Glad to hear the girls liked it there...will have to try it on our next trip!
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the room, especially the kitchen set up! Another 
dinner! I am betting those water babies make good use of that awesome looking pool & slide while you were there.
pixie: The 1-bedroom villa at SSR looks so beautiful and I do love the DVC king size beds, extra comfy. Dinner at the Turf Club looks very delicious! I plan on trying here the next time we stay at SSR. 
love your pics, food looks great, nice room.
Honestly it cracks me up! 
We get to Soarin and have to make a choice. Get in the fastpass mob or just get in line. 
What to do??? What to do??? We decide to go for it and get in line as when we walk through the entrance it is stated a 15 minute wait. Not long after being in line did a friendly CM come over the speaker saying that the wait was now 45 minutes.
I think that was if you were just joining the line. 
We browsed the shop and just people watched outside (which is ALWAYS fun!!
) Finally his Mission was complete. He said he enjoyed his ride but it was intense. 
*Ginger*
there went that idea. We went into One Man's Dream and looked around for awhile. 
& what a perfect place to where them to Osbourne lights ~ where it was snowing in FL 
Susan
Teresa
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