Things Don't Always Go As You Planned TR 12/11 - 12/18/11 - Page 5 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
I would be afraid to surprise my kids because I would be afraid to not have the reaction. I liken it to finding out the gender of my first child before he was born....Knowing I would be excited all along....not knowing I risked ruining my own surprise...
Sorry about the rain, hope that you can reschedule it for another day. Actually the first time we saw it we had the Fantasmic package...it had been raining on and off but they said the show would go on....finally at the last minute (seriously the last minute) they cancelled it. We ended up redoing our schedule also because we had wanted to see it for the first time so bad. The changes ended up working out perfectly, hope yours will as well.
Hi folks, sorry I have been neglecting this trip report for months but once again life has gotten in the way. Even though I am itching to start my next PTR, I refuse to until this TR is complete. So even though it has been months since our trip and my memory is getting fuzzy I am determined to see this TR thru from beginning to end. I hope you all stay on for the ride.
How dissapointing that the rain ruined your night at Fantasmic. I hope that you were able to rearrange your schedule to fit it in later in the week!
Yes it was very disappointing but luckily we were able to work it into our schedule again.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jessie092408
Very sad that fantasmic was a dud due to the rain. Hoping you get to see it later on! Great TR so far!
Thank you!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lissybri
Sorry you missed the show. Hope you got to see it another night. It's our favorite. Still can't wait to see if we crossed paths at all.
Yes we worked it in another night.
Quote:
Originally Posted by benjiboo25
I would be afraid to surprise my kids because I would be afraid to not have the reaction. I liken it to finding out the gender of my first child before he was born....Knowing I would be excited all along....not knowing I risked ruining my own surprise...
Yes I was afraid of that too, that's why no more surprise trips besides I like including my kids in the planning it's more fun that way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcc0313
Sorry about the rain, hope that you can reschedule it for another day. Actually the first time we saw it we had the Fantasmic package...it had been raining on and off but they said the show would go on....finally at the last minute (seriously the last minute) they cancelled it. We ended up redoing our schedule also because we had wanted to see it for the first time so bad. The changes ended up working out perfectly, hope yours will as well.
Thank you everything workout in the end.
Quote:
Originally Posted by benjiboo25
Thanks for the MM review---We plan to try it for the first time this August...
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
OK since the title of my TR has to do with changes I figured I would start off each day with telling you what we originally had planned, then follow it up with what we actually did. So let’s relive day 2, shall we.
Day Two – Part 1, Monday 12/12/11 Original Plans: Our second day was suppose to put our park hoppers to use with spending the morning at AK, afternoon at the Poly and the evening at MK eating yummy desserts and watching wishes.
What we actually did: We woke up Monday morning to, yup you guessed it RAIN . I checked the weather on my phone and it said that the rain should stop by late afternoon. We had plans to go AK but there two things that I don't like to mix at WDW and that is touring AK and rain. I don’t know what it is, maybe because it’s my least favorite park to begin with but if it rains I do not want to be there. So a change of plans was in order for at least half of the day. So after a meeting of the minds over breakfast at Captain Cooks, we decided to do a little resort hopping at the GF and CR until the rain subsided enough to go to MK.
First stop was the lobby of the Poly to see their Christmas tree, it was OK, a little small definitely not as over the top as the other deluxe resorts but nicely decorated.
After some photos at the Poly we made our way up to the monorail to head to our next stop the GF. The GF is a beautiful resort and the Christmas decorations are to die for. The lobby was jumping with lots of people, so we made our way down stairs and took some pictures in front of the tree and the amazing ginger bread house.
My Mom and I waited on line to purchase something from the gingerbread house while DH and the boys waited nearby.
There was a bit of a wait but in the end I walked away with a chocolate snowman, Mickey gingerbread cookie and a Mickey chocolate lollipop at a total cost of $21.52. As of today the snowman and lollipop are still uneaten but I have come to the conclusion that I really don’t like gingerbread but it smells good though.
While we were walking around the GF I noticed mothers and daughters having fun at the Perfectly Princess Tea Party, I thought to myself that’s one thing that I will never be able to experience having two boys. Little did I know that my Mom saw it too and joked that maybe next time her and I should do it and I laughed because I was thinking the same thing too.
It was now11:30 and still slightly raining outside so we decided to continue our resort tour with the CR being our next stop.
When we arrived at the CR I snapped some pictures of the decorations in the lobby.
Mom and I decided that some shopping was in order so we went to check out Bayview Gifts and Fashions, while of course the boys waited in the lobby because shopping is no fun to them.
After browsing the store and wanting to take home everything, I limited myself to a few things to add to my kitchen collection and $54.00 later we were done at the CR.
It was now12:45 and it had finally stopped raining. We had a 2:50 ADR at LTT so we decided to head straight to MK and hit some rides and attractions before lunch, so once again we boarded the monorail and off we went. I did mention how much I love staying on at a monorail resort.
Three stops later we arrived at the MK gates and worked our way up Main Street. I just get this happy feeling as soon as I step foot on Main Street, so it takes us a little bit longer to get to the hub because I like to soak it all in and stop for lots of PP pictures.
As we approached the hub, we decided to take a right and hit up Tomorrow Land. First up was to grab FP for SPM because that was the boy’s top priority to ride. Monster’s laugh Floor was a walk on, so we headed in. We love this attraction because it’s a different experience every time, on our last trip DH was ‘that guy” and got picked on a lot. I texted Frankie’s joke, “What do seagulls fly over the sea?............Cause if they flew over the bay they would be bagels!” they didn’t use it, I thought it is funny, oh well maybe next time.
After a laughing good time, we went outside and saw that COP was also a walk in, so we headed on in. This is a great attraction but for some reason it makes me very sleepy and when I come out of there I am ready for a nap. However, no naps to be had today.It was getting close to our ADR and they were roping off for the parade, so we decided to head on over to LTT even though it was still a little early. I checked us in, it was very crowded and it took about a half an hour before we were seated.
We scored a great table on the left side of the restaurant in front of a window where we could catch occasional glimpses of the parade. I love LTT but do truly miss the character meals they use to have but despite that we had a great time. Our server, Russell, came right over to us and was very nice and friendly and it amazed me how he took our food order without writing anything down and everything came out just as we ordered it. The food was delicious as all ways, I had the Tri-corner sandwich,
Mom had the pot roast,
Frank and Frank had cheeseburgers, Justin had the pasta
and of course Christopher had his favorite pizza.
I must take a moment to tell you that my family thought I was crazy taking pictures of food during our entire trip, they just don't understand.
After a satisfying lunch we had a little room left for dessert, so I dug into the oooey gooey cake, Mom had the chocolate cake and the boys all had ice cream. Of course I didn’t finish it but I had to at least taste some.
We must have been the last lunch reservation because by the time we were done eating the place was empty and they were setting up for the dinner crowd but we were never rushed by the wait staff and was able to enjoy our meal.
Up next, a ride through space topped off with dessert and wishes.
Just catching up on your whole TR. Sorry that the surprise was not what you expected, but glad it worked out and was not to bad. I have seen others just get mad, lol that is just crazy too me. Strange about the issues with the Jet blue escort, you should write a letter and at least ask if it is SOP at the Orlando Airport for them. Glad you made it to your MM ADR without too much trouble, love that place and love the desserts . So sorry that Fantasmic got you totally soaked, we have yet to see it but it would be our luck as well that it would rain. Too bad it rained the next morning but happy you got to tour the resorts, they are always so pretty at the holidays. Your lunch at LTT looked really good, we will have to try it for lunch one time. We only did dinner and it was just okay. Can't wait to read more.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
![[SIGPIC]](signaturepics/sigpic27594_7.gif)
. I checked the weather on my phone and it said that the rain should stop by late afternoon. We had plans to go AK but there two things that I don't like to mix at WDW and that is touring AK and rain. 
I don’t know what it is, maybe because it’s my least favorite park to begin with but if it rains I do not want to be there. So a change of plans was in order for at least half of the day. 
So after a meeting of the minds over breakfast at Captain Cooks, we decided to do a little resort hopping at the GF and CR until the rain subsided enough to go to MK.
at the Poly we made our way up to the monorail to head to our next stop the GF. The GF is a beautiful resort and the Christmas decorations are to die for. 
The lobby was jumping with lots of people, so we made our way down stairs and took some pictures in front of the tree and the amazing ginger bread house. 
because I was thinking the same thing too.
so we went to check out Bayview Gifts and Fashions, while of course the boys waited in the lobby because shopping is no fun to them.
happy feeling as soon as I step foot on Main Street, so it takes us a little bit longer to get to the hub because I like to soak it all in and stop for lots of PP pictures. 
and when I come out of there I am ready for a nap. However, no naps to be had today.It was getting close to our ADR and they were roping off for the parade, so we decided to head on over to LTT even though it was still a little early. I checked us in, it was very crowded and it took about a half an hour before we were seated. 
me how he took our food order without writing anything down and everything came out just as we ordered it. The food was delicious 
as all ways, I had the Tri-corner sandwich, 
Mom had the chocolate cake 
and the boys all had ice cream. Of course I didn’t finish it but I had to at least taste some. 
PassPorter Guide Author
The food looks delish! 
. So sorry that Fantasmic got you totally soaked, we have yet to see it but it would be our luck as well that it would rain. 
Too bad it rained the next morning but happy you got to tour the resorts, they are always so pretty at the holidays. Your lunch at LTT looked really good, we will have to try it for lunch one time. We only did dinner and it was just okay. Can't wait to read more. 
,
Linear Mode
