Slow down, you move to fast...you've got to make the memories last! TR Nov. 2012 - UPDATED 1/3 - Page 6 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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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.
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Glad you made it home safe but wish you could have stayed longer. I enjoy reading your exploits Miss Alex's pin board getting nicely filled I see Can't wait for next update on it
The photo book arrived yesterday. For the most part it turned out good. There are a couple pictures we weren't so happy with, like the one a 'Ohana where my eyes are closed. I guess we picked the wrong picture for that one. It is difficult to see the details on the website with the thumbnail pictures.
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Just found your TR. Great trip. How did you make your pin board? I want to upgrade from the cork boards we are using.
Here's the link of the original post when I did it. I made the frame myself. It is 1-3/4" deep. I used two layers of the 1/4" white foam board, covered one all in the red felt. I then used a third piece of foam board to cut out the Mickey head. That took some experimenting to get the proportions correct, but I think I read somewhere it is a 5:8 ratio for the ears to head. I covered the Mickey in black felt and glued it on.
There are 3/8" thick wood spacers to keep the board off the glass. The glass is non-reflective picture glass from Michael's that cost more than all the pins combined. The back of the frame is notched to hold these turn buttons recessed so they don't touch the wall:
They hold the foam boards in. Having them recessed means I can't turn them, but I prefer to have the frame sit flush against the wall. It's fairly heavy, so I have it hung on two screws with plastic anchors in the drywall.
OMG! It occurred to me that I never posted the wrap up for our trip. I've been swamped at work and have been working a lot on reworking my website. I put up a page with a lot of our pictures and also some of the videos that made it to YouTube. You can see them here: Disney World 2012
On with the recap:
Wrap Up:
This trip was our first trip anywhere without our daughter since our honeymoon 5 years ago. We were celebrating Michelle’s 40th birthday and our 5 year Anniversary. As it got closer to our departure I was beginning to get worried that Michelle would really miss Alex and regret taking a vacation (esp. a Disney one) without her – this was the longest she had ever been apart from her. But she never expressed regret and I was happy for that. I think with cell phones, the internet, and all the daily communication with Alex it made it seem like we weren’t that far away. There were a few times where I missed her, and some things around WDW that I couldn’t do without thinking of how she was missing them (like MVMCP). But overall I was glad we decided to experience the World just the two of us. It was very enjoyable and a lot easier with only two people making the decisions.
Even though this was our 3rd trip in under five years, there were a lot of new experiences for us:
Attractions New Fantasyland – This was a highlight of the trip! During the Summer we were concerned that we would miss this since the official opening was just days after our trip. But as it got closer we knew they were doing public previews so we knew we probably would get to see the new attractions. We loved Under The Sea. We liked Enchanted Tales with Belle and will probably do it again if the line is short or so Alex can see it on her next visit. Jungle Cruise at night – This is a favorite of ours and it really is different in the dark. Dumbo – Michelle had been on it once, this was a first for me. Classic Disney! Magic Carpets of Alladin – a first for both of us. Underwhelming. Fantasmic! – The first time it worked out for us to see it, and we were quite impressed. Kilamanjaro Safari – My first time and it alone is enough to make me want to visit AK on every future trip. Festival of the Lion King – We’re not big on shows, but I now understand why everyone talks about this so much. It was very impressive.
Dining Be Our Guest – We thought we would miss this and were disappointed knowing it would be so close to opening. We got lucky to get in for dinner and this is now a “must-do again” restaurant for future trips. The atmosphere and food combined for one of our best WDW meals yet. Narcoosee’s – Our first Signature Dining experience. It was very good, but I think I was expecting more. ‘Ohana dinner – As a meat lover, this was nirvana for me! Mama Melrose – This was my preference over H&V, and we really liked it. This is the kind of restaurant we find appealing and would be happy to make it a regular stop on future trips. Crystal Palace – Standard buffet, but for us a better option than CRT for a pre-RD MK breakfast. Kona Café – We enjoyed our meal here, but I can’t see us eating here again if we aren’t staying at the Poly. Yak & Yeti – Another pleasant surprise. I was a bit nervous I wouldn’t find the menu choices appealing, but I really liked the food and the atmosphere.
Events MVMCP – We expected to enjoy this and we were not disappointed! The parade, the snow on Main Street, and just the festive atmosphere were fantastic. I imagine it would be even better closer to Christmas than before Thanksgiving. Boat rental – What a great way to spend an hour and see the resorts and MK from a different perspective! Pick A Pearl – Clearly this was geared more for Michelle, but I enjoyed watching it happen and getting to see more of a WS pavilion.
Things we missed – We still haven’t really explored World Showcase. It was my #1 goal this trip, especially since it was just us adults and the weather would be cooler. But circumstances cut our Epcot days shorter. So we still have more to look forward to. With Alex getting older, I’m hopeful that she will also find it interesting and not get bored.
I’m also more intrigued by Animal Kingdom than ever. We’ve always treated this as a half-day park at most, and now I think we’re selling it short. The more trip reports I read from Cam and Cheryl with the great pictures they post, the more I want to take the time to explore Rafiki’s Planet Watch. We have spent so much time in MK now in our three trips (clearly our favorite) that I think we are ready to devote more time to AK and Epcot and not feel like we are missing out.
For two trips in a row we have made ADRs for Coral Reef and not eaten there. It is still on our list of restaurants we want to try. There are also quite a few other places in Epcot we want to try, and I think our next trip we might try staying at Yacht or Beach Club with the intention of eating many more meals there. This trip and the last, with staying at Poly we concentrated on MK and monorail resort locations out of convenience. We’ve also talked about renting a car for the next trip which would make it easier to visit other resort restaurants. The thought of buses or taxis to resort hop just isn’t appealing.
This was our first visit in November. For me the weather was perfect. I liked not being all hot & sweaty every day. Michelle would have preferred warmer temperatures. Obviously you can’t predict the weather, and it could have been warmer in November than our past trips in May. It was an interesting difference in this trip for us having to wear jackets and avoiding water rides. One thing we didn’t like was that it got dark so early. I think that makes it feel even later than it really is when you are there at night.
Our first two trips were planned about 60 days out. That caused problems with ADRs, forcing us to take some later meal times than we would have liked and blocking us from some places we wanted to eat. This trip was booked over 200 days out. While that made getting all our desired ADRs easy, the wait for the trip to arrive was awful! Sure, it was nice having something to look forward to. But after all the planning was done there was a few month long stretch where it was still so far away I couldn’t stay excited about going.
I will say that we definitely noticed the crowd levels were higher than anything we’ve experienced before. We were probably spoiled on our first trip in ’08 being that the recession had really reduced park attendance. We noticed an increase in 2011, but this year we really saw it - especially that first weekend. I think this is probably something we are just going to have to learn to deal with and plan around.
The Polynesian again was awesome. We really love this resort and the convenience of being on the monorail. Unfortunately, it is getting too expensive. I’ll be honest here – we are accustomed to up-level accommodations. I don’t think we’d enjoy staying at a Value resort. We’re not upper-class by any stretch, but we like to splurge on vacation and I don’t mind spending more if I feel I am getting something special for my money. And I certainly will pay for convenience. But it has gotten to the point where the cost is prohibitive. We’ve already talked about our next trip and we may even drop down to a Moderate. It is hard to justify spending $300-$400 per night more just to be at a monorail Deluxe. We may also stay fewer nights.
Overall this trip was a huge success. We had a lot of fun and we took it at a more leisurely pace. We were still tired at the end of every day from all the activity, but I didn’t get back from our vacation feeling like I needed another one just to recover. It will be awhile before we go back without Alex, but now we know we can and still enjoy it – and some parts maybe even more because of it. That bodes well for the future!
Very nice wrap up Mark. Have to agree that AK can be underrated and estimated we plan on devoteing 3 or 4 days to exploreing here this trip. WS in Epcot is definately a fav. for me love to just walk around and whenever I can stop and watch live entertainment taking place in each pavillion. As for changeing to a Mod drop me a line and I'll give you an indepth on Cabins in FtW if you are interested just a quick boat ride away from Monorail at CR
BTW I am sure young Alex will be addding to her must do list after hearing your adventures
Very nice wrap up Mark. Have to agree that AK can be underrated and estimated we plan on devoteing 3 or 4 days to exploreing here this trip. WS in Epcot is definately a fav. for me love to just walk around and whenever I can stop and watch live entertainment taking place in each pavillion. As for changeing to a Mod drop me a line and I'll give you an indepth on Cabins in FtW if you are interested just a quick boat ride away from Monorail at CR
BTW I am sure young Alex will be addding to her must do list after hearing your adventures
She absolutely will! She's already mentioned several things after seeing our pictures.
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The back of the frame is notched to hold these turn buttons recessed so they don't touch the wall:
Obviously you can’t predict the weather, and it could have been warmer in November than our past trips in May. It was an interesting difference in this trip for us having to wear jackets and avoiding water rides. One thing we didn’t like was that it got dark so early. I think that makes it feel even later than it really is when you are there at night.
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