A Hop, NO Skip, and Many Mishaps to a Disney Dream - Page 55 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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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.
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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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The bad boy came out next. Now they didn’t say it was Tillikum, but we ‘knew’. All the trainers got off the stage and platforms and came to the ground in front of the tank. This guy was HUGE and he knows how to throw some water, as you can see in this video.
You can hear a little of Claire squealing in the background. I think she was actually saying something about wishing she was in the rows that were getting wet…I on the other hand am very thankful we were up high!
Like I said before, I have done some research on the whales since I have been home. It’s kind of depressing. I can’t believe the number of whales that are performing that were actually captured. I guess I assumed all were born in captivity now. (they no longer can actually go out and capture them anymore) And it’s really sad, as many whales they first captured lived a very short time. Some only days. And they would actually kill other whales while trying to get to the babies they wanted to capture. And I didn’t know this, but only 1 whale was actually named Shamu. And then one was called Baby Shamu, but I don’t think it lived very long. Many whales that are born in captivity don’t live very long lives either. For a long time they could get them born, but they would die with in a few days. Now they do live longer, but still a lot seem to dye much earlier than they do in the wild. And then I researched good Ol “Free Willy” and that is a very depressing story. Basically the movie story of him being in a seedy marine park with a tank too small was the truth. He was very sick and not till after the movie was he taken to another park and was able to gain weight and get some of his health back. But as you may or may not know, he was set free, near Iceland, but didn’t want to be free and swam to Norway and tried to interact with Humans. He ended up dying.
OK, enough depressing whale stories. It was nice to see the show, and I will not be doing depressing research again after watching something like this.
One more of the big guy!
The show ended and we decided to just sit back and let the place empty a bit before trying to fight our way out. But that didn’t last long. Claire had to go potty….NOW! So I told Mom and Dad that we would go and find them later. We fought our way down, but I wasn’t familiar with the area. From the map I had, I thought I knew where the bathrooms were, but I actually went the wrong way and couldn’t get to them once I got outside. I headed towards the Happy Harbor and figured there had to be some there. And there was! Disaster was averted and Claire felt much better. Now for the task of finding Mom and Dad. We hung around the area and took some pictures while waiting. I believe Mom called me and they eventually made their way to us.
Mom and Dad joined us. I think it was about 6:30 now and the park closed at 7 for a private party. Dad was on a mission to leave NOW. I told him we would walk the long way back and do some browsing and shopping. That got a bit of grumbling, but I had the car keys. LOL! We stopped off and made a few purchases. I got Claire a keychain that she picked out that looked liked a flipflop. Mom bought Claire some bracelets to give to the girls in her class. I think they were 2 for $5 and we got 10. We should’ve gotten an extra packet though. Claire wore hers that day and then put it back in the bag. When we got home, I sent all of them to school with her. There are 9 other girls in her class. Well Claire gave them all out and then one to the teacher, which I told her NOT to do. But it was my fault as well, as I didn’t specifically tell her that her bracelet was still in the bag either. One girl in her class lost hers right away, so the teacher gave hers to her. Claire came home and told me about it, and then I had to break the news to her that her bracelet was in the bag as well, and now she didn’t have one. Of course that produced a lot of tears. Actually a bit of a tantrum. I told her next time we go we would get her one again. I think that is one of the reasons she keeps asking to go back to Sea World. My goal was to find a small Shamu plush for Claire, but so far all we could find were ones that talked (or made some sort of noise), ranging in the $25 price. That was more than I wanted to spend. So we kept looking. Mom did a bit more stopping than us in the shops (Dad was thrilled, LOL) and I took a few pictures while we waited on her.
I saw this guy, and he looked so cute, so I took a few pictures. We had seen squirrels all day, and I kept joking that it was the same one following us around because we looked like such a fun family. Dad thought it was dumb to be taking a picture of a squirrel and as soon as he said it, another lady came up and took one too.
We found a rather big store closer to the entrance to the park and that had a small Shamu. Claire gave it lots of love and was happy. I believe Mom started going crazy here too. I think she bought some stuff for Paige, maybe a t-shirt and shorts. We left the store with a little less money in our pockets, but happy. I was sad that we had to leave already; I really missed a lot of the park. There were parts I had said were must dos that I never even saw, let alone have the option to do. There is always next time!
A few departing shots!
We made the walk out to the van and got situated. We decided to head back to Residence Inn and ask where a Best Buy was near by. I don’t like Best Buy at all. I think they are usually over priced, and I really don’t like that they are always pushing warranties on you. I actually bought my first computer from them many years ago and got the warranty, but when I brought it in to be fixed, everything they said “would” be covered was not. Since that time, I actually pretty much boycott them if possible. I do know they have gotten better over the years though. I chose Best Buy though, because I knew they would be the best chance of finding a charger for my battery. I didn’t want to jump from store to store looking and hoping to find one. Remember, I wanted it to be an early night. HA! We took off out of the parking lot and I went to turn left. Dad swore I was going the wrong way. I told him no, our Hotel is just over that way, you can almost see it, we’re so close. Nope, I was wrong and he was right….in his mind. I went with my way though. And I was right. We were just around the corner basically and in no time we pulled up to the front of Residence Inn. I jumped out and went up to the desk and asked for a near by Best Buy and if there were places to eat near there as well. The guy gave me directions, and also named a few restaurants in the area. One he named was the Cheesecake Factory. I had never been there, but I have read some reviews of it, and it sounded great….just what I would like. I hopped back in with the family and suggested that to them. Mom said fine, but Dad said he ate at one in Chicago once and wasn’t thrilled with their version of cheesecake. I guess we kind of ignored him. LOL!
You really made the most of your Sea World day! I agree with you about the treatment of the whales. I went to the park in San Diego about 20 years ago and found out that the whales were wild captures and decided never to go back.
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Great day at Sea World. Never knew about the whales. That is so sad. Hope you were able to get the charger. My wife and I have had good luck with warranties at Best Buy. We have had a camera replaced (due to a drop) after almost 4 years of use. And I had two Sony computers that required repair after several years of use. All done at No Charge.
Seaworld looks like it was an interesting day. A secret about the super pink flamingos--I learned at my local zoo that when they are that neon pink color they are adding a dye to the feed, rather than feeding them the shrimp shells that color them in the wild.
You really made the most of your Sea World day! I agree with you about the treatment of the whales. I went to the park in San Diego about 20 years ago and found out that the whales were wild captures and decided never to go back.
I can see yoru point, I have mixed feelings on the whole thing. I definately will go back, but I keep thinking it is probably wrong of me to enjoy these creatures, but at the same time, if we boycott them, they will have to shut down Sea World, then o course these whales wil lbe sold to other parks who do not take care of them as well, and they can't be released back into the wild....so it's a catch 22. I do like Sea World though, and I will be going back in the future, but looking at things differently, I guess.
I am not even about to read up on dolphins. LOL!
Quote:
Originally Posted by rhinohunter
Great day at Sea World. Never knew about the whales. That is so sad. Hope you were able to get the charger. My wife and I have had good luck with warranties at Best Buy. We have had a camera replaced (due to a drop) after almost 4 years of use. And I had two Sony computers that required repair after several years of use. All done at No Charge.
My older DD, Paige, has had good luck as well, but my son and I both have been told basically...too bad for you!
Quote:
Originally Posted by ilovedisney247
Seaworld looks like it was an interesting day. A secret about the super pink flamingos--I learned at my local zoo that when they are that neon pink color they are adding a dye to the feed, rather than feeding them the shrimp shells that color them in the wild.
I wondered. I knew it had to do with there food, so I wondered if they fed them something different or what the deal was.
We started out of RI and quickly realized that there wasn’t an on ramp to the expressway for the direction we wanted to go….something the guy at the desk didn’t mention. Oh well, we just kind of followed the highway till we found one. Soon we found the Mall (which I am having a blank on the name right now). I parked and ran into Best Buy while the family sat out and waited. I think Claire wanted to come along, but it would’ve just slowed me up. I asked a worker where I could find a battery charger for the battery of a Canon 50D. He helped me look and we found one….the VERY last one they had……and the price…..drum roll please!................ $70.00….yep, it was that much. I asked if a battery came with it too, and he said no, but it was a double charger and could do 2 batteries at a time. It also had attachments to do several kinds of batteries, none of which I own. And it also could be charged in your car as well. So to put it lightly, it came with a bunch of cords and attachments……...which for me means more things to lose. LOL! I sucked it up and paid for it, of course with tax it came up even higher. And of course, as luck would have it, I had to wait in line forever. There were 2 registers open and both had troubled customers. One was doing a bit of arguing about something, while the other was having some sort of problems with how she wanted to pay, so it was rang up, then canceled out, rang up partially then she used the wrong credit card, canceled again, etc. Finally I was checked out and I ran back to the car, with a grumbling Claire waiting for me. I think Mom about fainted when I told her how much it was. I think she felt bad, but there was nothing I could do, I needed it and I wasn’t sure my other had been found. We drove the quick drive over to the mall and I dropped the family off at the Cheesecake Factory. I went in search of a parking spot. This Mall was hopping and open spaces were far and few between. I did finally find one though. And I seem to notice a pattern throughout Florida. The parking spaces seem much narrower than I am used to in Ohio. I squeezed her in a spot with very little room to actually open doors. I then opened up that million dollar charger and found the correct attachments and started charging the battery I had with me. I was happy now that I had one battery on its way to being charged for the next day. I grabbed my point and shoot and went in the restaurant to find the family had already been seated. We browsed the menu….which was more like a book. I swear, it was like 20 pages. So hard to make a choice, but we knew Cheesecake was going to be ordered for sure. We figured we would take that back to the hotel with us. Yes, we were looking at Dessert first….Nothing wrong with that! I decided on pizza. Mom wanted to share, and that was fine by me. She also wanted quesadillas, so we decided to share those as well. Note to self…that was way too much food!
I think Dad had a steak. I didn’t take a picture of his. I have to admit again, that the lack of sleep was catching up to me, and I would forget to take pictures sometimes, or the camera was becoming heavy! LOL!
The bread was REALLY good here. Claire was going to town on it, and would yell at us if we went for some. We asked for more and some went back to the room with us as well.
Our quesadilla after we had already started to attack it.
It was good. Not the best one I have ever had, but still very good.
Claire went with the corndog and fries. She loves corndogs (after all it is in the hotdog family) and really enjoyed this meal.
Our pizza arrived and we attacked it before I even thought to take a picture. It was very good.
We boxed up half of the quesadilla and the pizza and received our cheesecakes to go. We were stuffed, and I couldn’t even imagine how we were going to eat those wonderful desserts. And sadly I never took a picture of them. I got Reeses Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake Cheesecake and it was fabulous and rich. Dad got UltimateRed Velvet CakeCheesecake™ and Claire got strawberry cheesecake. All were great, though it took us 2 days to eat them!
I don’t know what this cost. Mom paid for us all. I offered to pay the tip, but she told me not to worry about it since I had just spent some money (much more than I wanted to) at Best Buy. I was very happy to try this place. I wish there was one close to me. I will definitely try to find one in my travels in the future.
After we were super stuffed (and Dad actually loved his food), we rolled out and back to Residence Inn. Well coming back I missed the exit for Sea World because it was NOT the exit for our hotel. And sure enough there wasn’t an exit for our hotel, so I got off at the next one. My Dad was having a fit. Why did I miss the one, we should’ve known from when we left there wasn’t an exit from that direction, etc. I asked him if he had to be anywhere at a certain time, and he said no, then I said, why care about it. We will just take a nice leisurely drive through Orlando and see the sights and in the mean time work our way back to the hotel. LOL! And we did make it!
I had kind of hoped to take Claire for a quick swim before going to bed, but it was pretty late at this point, (I think around 9:30 or 10) so we skipped that idea. We got her bathed and a good hair wash and got her into bed. But she was FULL of energy. I couldn’t believe it. The room we got here had a bedroom with 2 queen beds and then the living room/kitchen area. (I did eventually take pictures of it) My Dad was watching TV and my Mom and I went down to start some laundry. I couldn’t believe she was still hopping around in the room when I came back up, so we shut the door on her and told her she had to sleep and she went out then. The laundry was washed and Mom and I each threw our loads into the dryer. It was taking forever to dry. I had just had it for the day. Again, I had very little sleep the night before, so I was running out of gas fast. I told Mom that I was just going to leave my laundry in the dryer till morning. There were many dryers and I highly doubted someone would need the one I was using in the middle of the night. I hit the sack and went out fast. I think it was around midnight then. The beds were very comfy here as well and I slept like a rock!
And that is the end of Day 6. Only one more full day left……Boo Hoo!
Glad you had a good day at sea world, I would have been upset about the camera charger too...but we have done that as well, leaving things in the room (we actually just did it on our most recent trip with a phone charger). Glad you were able to find another one, even though it did seem quite expensive. Looks like a yummy dinner!
Sorry the charger was so expensive. We're ruled now by all these electronic gizmos, wires and chargers. Hard to keep track. I have a drawer full of wires from I don't know what! They really do give you a lot of food at Cheesecake Factory! I have one just a couple of blocks away and have never tried the pizza. Looked very tasty!
WOW! I can't believe the charger was so expensive!!!!
I used to work at a Cheesecake Factory about 6-7 years ago and there were 260 menu items!!!! My advice, go for items that are exclusive to CF, they are delicious. Items you can get elsewhere (Chinese, Mexican, Italian) are so so. Their salads are the bomb!! Wish I had one close to me right now!
All caught up - so sad the stories about all the whales. I didn't think they still caught them from the wild but I guess 34 years ago they did - I think they are all breed in captivity now??
The Cheescake factory near me is always super crowded. The last time I went was only because I had a gift card and we waited over an hour to be seated - no thank you - no cheescake is THAT good.
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