Castaway Cay Sandwich - 13 Glorious Days of Disney! - COMPLETED!! - Page 5 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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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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Your is my final TR to catch up on, so I can say that I'm glad you didn't get started earlier or I'd have been very far behind. Love the view from your room. Your dining experiences so far have looked very delicious. Looks like all of your are managing to have a great time, too.
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Signing on!!!! I just got through to the resort break after DHS. Your post reminds me of my 1st trip to WDW at age 21. My DSis (19 at the time) was a WDW veteran, and took me and my DMom on TOT. Except, I actually bailed! I got to the point where we were supposed to get put in our cage of death, and opted out. Took the Chicken Elevator. I wasn't able to ride till our 4th park day, when I rode about 4 times in a row.
Originally Posted by mom to 3 princesses and 1 prince
I call my son "Bubba," too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheAyers
My son is also "Bubba" lol!
Yay! Funny how they never grow out of it
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Your is my final TR to catch up on, so I can say that I'm glad you didn't get started earlier or I'd have been very far behind. Love the view from your room. Your dining experiences so far have looked very delicious. Looks like all of your are managing to have a great time, too.
Thanks - more good stuff coming up!
Quote:
Originally Posted by KimmyAnn1147
Signing on!!!! I just got through to the resort break after DHS. Your post reminds me of my 1st trip to WDW at age 21. My DSis (19 at the time) was a WDW veteran, and took me and my DMom on TOT. Except, I actually bailed! I got to the point where we were supposed to get put in our cage of death, and opted out. Took the Chicken Elevator. I wasn't able to ride till our 4th park day, when I rode about 4 times in a row.
Thanks for the flashback!
You're welcome ("cage of death" :rofl)
******************
(Sorry about the delay! We just got back from a fabulous week in Los Angeles. No, we didn't get to go to Disneyland but we had a great time anyway )
Friday, Sept 5, 2014
I had never heard of Disney's Youth Education Series before I read Lou Mongello's 102 Ways to Save Money for and at Walt Disney World. As soon as I finished reading that particular chapter, I checked the website and sure enough, we were able to save about $200 on park tickets with the discount. Since the kids would be "in school" at the time, I could justify to the kids why they would have a science class in the middle of vacation . Max was supposed to have a Chinese class on Wednesday anyway (even though that didn't work out...) And Hey! It's a class in the Magic Kingdom - Hello?! Titus would take the "Properties of Motion Physics Lab 101" and Max was taking the same, but labs 201 and 301. We had no clue what it was all about and I could find nothing on the internet about it.
So at 5:30 Friday morning, we blearily sucked down some coffee and made our way downstairs by 6:30 to wait for the taxi. I had called the desk to ask the best time to call for the taxi to make it to MK by 7am. Since this was our first time taking a taxi in Disney, I wanted a nice cushion of time. The driver was there on time and it only took about 15 minutes and I can't remember how much, but maybe $20 with tip? We got to the TTC early and we had no idea where we were supposed to be . After asking several random cast members, we got the idea we were supposed to wait "over there", by the benches near the bus stop over by the bathrooms. It was a little after 7:00 and we finally started to see a few families wandering around with the same confused look on their faces, so we knew we were in the right place. Finally a couple of cast members came over from a van, introduced themselves and rounded up the small group of families that were also there for the YES program. There were three other families, all with elementary students. There weren't any teen students for Max to be with , so he had to be in the class with everyone else. You can see how big he is, and being in the 8th grade, he felt a little uncomfortable. Cori, our group leader put him at ease and let him be her "helper" when the questions got a little tough for the younger set. It was a nice small group with a total of 6 kids, including ours. The website indicated that there had to be a parent for Titus and one for Max because they had signed up for separate age groups, but there really wasn't a need for Dh to be there. I was glad he was because we were in for a few surprises.
After we were all gathered together, Cori gave us name tags to write our names on and asked us to tell a little about ourselves and name our favorite character. It was a fun ice breaker. We all walked to the MK and used our Magic Bands to get into the park. It was well before park opening, but people were already there for the opening ceremony and early ADRs. Before we went in, Cori started the kids off with a warm up exercise.
Titus got the answer right, yay! Ok, I won't brag anymore, but I'll just say I was proud of my boys for remembering the things they had learned in science classes. The other kids did very well too
We headed into the park and it was the earliest I'd ever been in the Magic Kingdom. (Back in June, I had gotten in about 8:15.) Totally Awesome. It was a cool morning, and things seemed to glisten and looked freshly washed. I had asked Cori earlier if we could take photos and she said she would let us know when it would be alright. They don't want photos of things like trucks or cleaning supplies, etc. to be in pictures of MK on the internet, totally understandable.
We walked over to Liberty Square and did some cool activities there (I don't want to give too many spoilers). Cori made sure that all the kids were involved and got to take turns and share ideas. I was again proud of my boys when they let some of the other kids answer questions or do some things even if they knew the answer or how to do it - nobody likes a know-it-all . Cori encouraged thinking and imagination and the kids were having a great time, including the parents! After that, we walked over to Frontierland and the kids flexed their brains again with some challenges. ...And since it was a physics class, Cori surprised us with the first ride of the day - Splash Mountain! We were really excited, as we totally did not expect this, especially since the park wasn't even open. Dh didn't ride because he didn't want to get wet and Max isn't really a coaster fan, so he hung out with dad. Another boy also passed on the ride with his dad too. You could tell the other parents were just as excited as the kids to ride SM
We had the park all to ourselves... pretty magical.
An empty boat coming down.
Totally drenched. Good thing Dh didn't ride!
When we got on, we had a weird experience - there was NO sound! Just the sounds of the animatronics. Spooky! As we went along, the other parents and I led the kids in singing the songs (ok, I only knew a little bit). When the ride was over, we told the cast members that there wasn't any sound. "Do you want to ride again?", they asked. "YES!", we cried all at the same time . This time the music played and it was great! After the second ride, Cori talked to the kids about all the physics and imagineering involved. They did some more cool science stuff and then surprise! Another ride, this time on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - WOO! (one of my favs )
There were people in the park by now, but we still moved quickly through the queue so I wasn't able to get any pics, just this one on the ride...
When she demonstrated the basics of how animatronics work and classic Disney attractions, I just knew we were headed for the Enchanted Tiki Room. But no! Our last ride for the morning was going to be Pirates of the Caribbean - yo ho! (We got to ride together as a group.)
I didn't get any pics of POTC for some reason, but it was fun to ride because we had an assignment: we were to look for certain kinds of animatronics during the ride, then report back to her. (Oh yeah, Cori didn't go on any attractions, she stayed behind to stay with folks that didn't want to ride.) It was around 10am and time for the class to end. Before we parted ways, we had to turn in our stickers. You know, just in case we "accidentally" tried to go to the front of the line or something. It was a great morning, totally worth getting up before the sun. Cori was great - she was patient with the kids and encouraged them to mentally stretch a bit. If we get the opportunity, we'll definitely do it again
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The YES class sounds fabulous, even without wandering around an empty park. That just sent it over the top! Really, to do this and to save money, too? I need to borrow a child for my next visit!
Great review of the YES program. I got discounted tix for this on my trip last July, but the class (Physics of Motion for elementary age) was cancelled. I originally signed up for the discount, but I was still disappointed to miss the class.
Your review sounds great, and I like the idea of having a structured activity in the park. You scored!
The YES class sounds fabulous, even without wandering around an empty park. That just sent it over the top! Really, to do this and to save money, too? I need to borrow a child for my next visit!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Oh wow, it sounds like a wonderful experience for both the parents and the kids!
Oh yes, the parents were trying very hard to hold back from answering the questions and doing the experiments
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Glad you're enjoying the YES experience!
I'm so glad we did, we almost passed on it because it was so early.
Quote:
Originally Posted by melduckie
That program sounds wonderful! What a great find
Maybe we can do it again sometime before Max gets too cool for school
Quote:
Originally Posted by xwewhisper
What a cool experience! Thanks for sharing a little bit of what you were able to experience with us
You're welcome!
Quote:
Originally Posted by KimmyAnn1147
Great review of the YES program. I got discounted tix for this on my trip last July, but the class (Physics of Motion for elementary age) was cancelled. I originally signed up for the discount, but I was still disappointed to miss the class.
Your review sounds great, and I like the idea of having a structured activity in the park. You scored!
I'm sorry you missed the class! I wanted Max to take the photography class, but it was full. It showed us a different way to see the parks and attractions.
I don't know why some of the pictures come out too large, even though I've edited them down. The ones that appear too large are from Dex's phone, so there must be a way to fix it. I'm sorry if it's annoying
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but we had a great time anyway 
)
. Max was supposed to have a Chinese class on Wednesday anyway (even though that didn't work out...) And Hey! It's a class in the Magic Kingdom - Hello?! Titus would take the "Properties of Motion Physics Lab 101" and Max was taking the same, but labs 201 and 301. We had no clue what it was all about and I could find nothing on the internet about it.
. After asking several random cast members, we got the idea we were supposed to wait "over there", by the benches near the bus stop over by the bathrooms. It was a little after 7:00 and we finally started to see a few families wandering around with the same confused look on their faces, so we knew we were in the right place. Finally a couple of cast members came over from a van, introduced themselves and rounded up the small group of families that were also there for the YES program. There were three other families, all with elementary students. There weren't any teen students for Max to be with 
. Cori encouraged thinking and imagination and the kids were having a great time, including the parents! After that, we walked over to Frontierland and the kids flexed their brains again with some challenges. ...And since it was a physics class, Cori surprised us with the first ride of the day - Splash Mountain! 
We were really excited, as we totally did not expect this, especially since the park wasn't even open. Dh didn't ride because he didn't want to get wet and Max isn't really a coaster fan, so he hung out with dad. Another boy also passed on the ride with his dad too. You could tell the other parents were just as excited as the kids to ride SM 
)
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