New House, New Disney Trip TR - COMPLETE 5/13!! - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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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Day 8- Epcot Flower and Garden Festival
We were up early again and off to Epcot for rope drop. I was so excited to see all the fun topiaries for the F&GF.
We attempted to do Spaceship Earth again and this time we were successful. Yippee! After that we headed straight to Innoventions and Sum of All Thrills. I had heard about this one and wanted to try it, but I knew that the lines got long early. We were able to go through twice in about 20 minutes! This was good because Ethan did not want to do inversions, but Natalie did, so we swapped kids on the second go around so we could each try it at its best. This is such a cool exhibit, and the simulator was amazing.
Then Richard and the kids did the game where you make your own video game. (I can’t remember the name.) it was cute and they liked it.
We headed over to the seas from there and did the Nemo ride and walked around the aquarium. We saw part of a dolphin demonstration as well. We watched the manatees for a little while. I have always loved those guys.
We walked over to the Land and Living with the Land actually had a wait time! That was the first I had ever seen that. We got snacks at Sunshine Seasons and then headed in to the line. It said 30 minutes but was really more like 10-15. We always enjoy this ride and try to get some good pictures every time.
After our boat ride, it was starting to drizzle so we headed over to the Imagination Pavilion to see Captain Eo. Richard had really wanted to see this, so I made sure that we got it in there. All I’m going to say is that it ranks right up there with the Tiki Birds- I’m glad I can say I’ve done it, but I never need to do it again.
When we came out of the theater the sun was back out, so we headed over to Bambi’s Butterfly Garden. So neat how all of the butterflies are just flitting around in there.
We walked through the rose garden and past the giant sand sculpture. That sand sculpture was pretty impressive, I must say,and they were still working on it.
By now it was getting very hot and steamy, so we were glad to have Le Cellier ressies for lunch. We headed in to its lovely air conditioning and waited just a short while for our table. This lunch was so good! I had the New York Strip with cream cheese mashed potato and a cup of Canadian Cheddar Cheese soup. Heaven! Our desserts were pretty yummy too!
We decided to walk through the countries again to see if there were any new topiaries or plants since we were here last on Monday. We found a few things to look at, but by the time we got to Norway, Natalie was looking pretty red in the face. As we were walking through the shop there, every time I stopped to look at something, she would sit down on the floor. It was pretty busy in there, so I kept having to tell her to get up. She looked at me just before we got to the troll and told me that she didn’t feel good. I got a quick pic at the troll and then we headed out to get her some shade and hydration ASAP. You can tell in the picture that she was feeling pretty low. You always know something’s wrong with Natalie when she won’t pose.
Richard took her and Ethan to sit in the shade outside Kringla Bakeri and I got us some drinks. I also went in to the restroom and wetted down some paper towels with cool water and wiped her face and neck down. It didn’t take her long to perk up, thankfully. She went on Test Track with Richard and Ethan while I sat in the shade. They got a GREAT photopass pic:
We headed off to catch a bus as it started to drizzle. We didn’t wait long, thankfully., since it was the middle of the day. I think Ethan must have been worried about his sister, as he kept checking in with her the rest of the day to make sure she was OK. I even got a pic of them being sweet on the bus:
When we got back to POR, we decided some pool time was just what the doctor ordered. The kids really wanted to try the main pool, so we headed over there. Richard and I got a drink at the bar, and I went in to concierge and paid off our bill with cash so it wouldn’t all go on our credit card. He watched the kids in the pool while I did that, and I was amazed when I got back that Ethan was going down the waterslide. We have never been able to get that child to go down a waterslide! They had a blast shooting down into the pool and swimming around. Richard and I were perfectly happy watching from the side.
We had had a late lunch at Le Cellier, but it was getting on 7 o’clock and we were getting hungry and the kids wanted to go to DTD. So we went back and got dressed and then hopped on a ferry. It was a nice ride to DTD, even though it was drizzling pretty good by then.
We walked around DTD and decided that since it was vacation, we could certainly have ice cream for dinner! Natalie, Richard and I ate at Ghiradelli’s. Ethan wanted nothing to do with ice cream, so he had popcorn. Go figure. We did some shopping at World of Disney and the Lego store where the kids finished off the money they had brought with them. We headed back over to the boat dock and walked right onto a waiting vessel. It was a nice, cool ride back. When we got to POR, we went in to the River Roost and watched some of Bob Jackson’s show. He is truly talented and so funny. If we didn’t have to get up early the next morning to check in for our flight and head to breakfast, we would have watched the whole thing. The kids were singing his songs long after we got home!
Terrific MK day! Love all the character pictures! Those hot dogs look so ! Might have to have one of those when we go in June.
Cam- I just wanted to express my sympathies about Stefanie, and I am glad you are still going in June. Obviously I have never met you or Stefanie, but like everyone else I felt like I knew her from your TRs. She was a special young lady and I'm sure that she would be happy that you are going. I will be so glad to meet her one day in heaven!
Sounds like you've had an awesome time, great photos too Glad you had some cheddar cheese soup, Le Cellier is a must-do for us every trip. Thanks for the Harry Potter photos too, I've not been to IOA since it opened.
Just spent the better part of the morning reading your TR. What a wonderful family you have! Looks like you've had a fabulous time so far. Looking forward to more
Day 9- Our Last Day.
Today we were up early to check in for our flights, check our bags, and head to the MK for breakfast with Pooh. We have never been able to do any park time on our last day before because we always fly out too early. We decided this time to fly out late afternoon and spend some time at a park in the morning. We headed over and the kids loved that we got in before the park actually opened. We got some great shots on Main St and in the hub with very few people around:
We had never done breakfast at Crystal Palace before, and we were delighted! The buffet was amazing, and we had seen all the characters in the first ten minutes after we sat down. Ethan even got in on the character action, too, which he hadn’t done much all week:
We got out of breakfast right around opening time, and headed over to Fantasyland to get those rides in that the lines were too long for the other day. We did Peter Pan, Pooh, and got one more ride in on Snow White before it closes. The kids headed over to do the Mad Tea Party, but Richard and I were still too full from breakfast for that. I was glad we declined, because they spun themselves so fast, they both got off with headaches! After that ide, we spotted the White Rabbit, who we had never seen before:
We wanted to see Rapunzel, but her line was ridiculously long, and we had limited time, so we skipped her. We headed to Tomorrowland and did Monsters, Inc. all together. Natalie and I wanted to get some more princess autographs, so Ethan and dad stayed in Tomorrowland and did Stitch and a few other things I can’t remember while Natalie and I headed off in search of Tianna. The Princess and the Frog is one of my faves, so we had to find her. She is a tough one to find tucked in the corner over by Liberty Square, but we managed to catch her:
Natalie and I headed up to the front of the park after that and went into the new area for the Princesses. We only waited about 15 minutes, and then we got to see a few:
After that, we met back up with the boys and had to say farewell to our beloved Magic Kingdom. We headed out to find a bus to bring us back to POR. The kids were sad we were headed home:
We got back to POR and headed to the food court where Richard got the pasta again:
After that we headed out to wait for our DME bus. While we waited, we got some pictures of our autographed tote bag with all of the new stuffies in it. They are all Natalie’s with the exception of Patrick Star:
Our bus arrived around 1:15 and we stepped on. It was pretty crowded. Out bus driver was pretty funny, and once we were off property the movie started. I had been looking forward to watching it as we had missed the arrival one, but the motion of the bus and my exhaustion took over. Natalie and I slept the entire way to the airport! We made it to security, where we were entertained in the long line by the TSA guy. He was pretty funny reminding everyone that drinks should be finished quickly and belts and shoes had to come off. I can’t remember exactly what he said, but he had us laughing. As we walked through security, everything was fine until my backpack went through the Xray machine. They stopped everything and made an “assistance” call to the Police. Richard was looking at me funny, and I couldn’t figure out what was in my bag that had them so worried. The police officer came over and looked at it- I had a small metal flashlight with a rounded end in the front pocket of my backpack. The officer thought it was funny, the TSA lady seemed perturbed that I had it there. She told me that it looked like a bullet! We were all cleared and allowed to leave. Once we realized it wasn’t serious, we laughed about it too, but I was nervous there for a minute! It’s like getting called to the principal’s office when you know you haven’t done anything wrong! The funny thing is, it was in the same spot in my bag when we left Logan and no-one there said anything. I don’t know if that’s good or bad!
We had an uneventful flight and even caught the sunset on the plane, which was beautiful:
We were able to catch a shuttle bus back to the hotel pretty quickly. We retrieved our car and headed home. Richard got stopped for speeding for the first time in 15 years on the way through NH! The police officer was very nice, though and admitted it was a bit of a speed trap there. He said they really sit there to catch the drunk drivers and let us go with just a verbal warning.
We made it home around 11:30. We were all exhausted but so happy to see our pups that we ended up staying up for a while when we got home. We all agreed it was a great trip and can’t wait to go back again some day!
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Love the pics! 
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Pixie Dust
! Might have to have one of those when we go in June. 
Glad you had some cheddar cheese soup, Le Cellier is a must-do for us every trip. Thanks for the Harry Potter photos too, I've not been to IOA since it opened.
PassPorter Guide Author
so much for the kind words, too.
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