Eight Days a Week - The Bakelin Invasion **Updated 7/8 - COMPLETE** - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
Eight Days a Week - The Bakelin Invasion **Updated 7/8 - COMPLETE**
So we're back, and I've got a crazy week happening this week, but as MattUGA says "It's on!"
Andy's on the phone with T&K (aka his parents) right now, so I'll start us off. Friday got here really quick last week what with all the craziness going that week. I ran a few errands that morning (as in shopping for clothes....getting ill at Old Navy b/c clothes don't fit right....that sort of thing) and packed while Andy was at work.
He made it home on time and we hit the road by like 5:30. We stopped over at the Mircotel in Savannah where we stayed after our cruise back in November. It really is a nice Mircrotel. The rooms aren't actually mirco like the other Mircrotels we've stayed in. They're like regular hotel rooms. And it was CHEEEAP! Like $60 cheap!
We checked in around 9:30 or so, I took a bath, and we hit the bed afterwards. Well I had to make my mousekeeping envelopes before bed...... I had Andy print them so I had to cut them out and fold them up and crap.
As usual I had a night of "is it time to get up yet?" kind of sleep We got up around 6:30ish the next morning and hit the road by 7. We stopped off at McD's for a biscuit before we really set off.
At about an hour away the trademark Disney stomach started talking. It knew where we were.
It's like a dog in the backseat (like Seinfeld and Kramer) when the dog realizes it's going to the vet and not the park.
The Disney Stomach knew it was somewhere it might not have been ready for yet. But it wanted food. It perked up and said "Hey, I know this place.....I'm ready to EAT!"
One in the bubble we headed straight to All Star Movies to check in. We were in the bubble by 11 so we made great time! The line for check in was fairly long, but we didn't care. We were in our happy place.
Recently I've become addicted to Phineas and Ferb on the Disney Channel and I've made Andy start watching too. Something about "Perry the Platypus" and Dr. Doofenshmirtz just cracks me up!!! Well it was on the TV in the check in area so we just watched while we waited in line... (and made Perry the Platypus noises cause it cracks me up!!!)
We finally made our way to check in and our check in CM was........ get this.......MARTIN from CHINA! Stereotypical Chinese name if you ask me
He was really hard to understand and we just kind of gave up with questions. He pretty much told us what room we were in......he let on that we were in building 10, 3rd floor, which is exactly what I had requested.
We decided to pull around and park at our building and then grab a bus to DTD. We stopped off at the gift shop to buy a bag since I told Andy that he didn't need his backpack but then realized.....yeah he did....oops....Good excuse for a purchase
So a DTD bus was pulling up right as we walked up. We had our own private bus ...
and the scenic route
yes, we saw the Treehouse Villas..... I wanted to scream at the driver to go straight instead of turn....we were RIGHT there, but she turned anyway, and went around a back way so she could pull into the stop a certain way. But whatever, we were there.
We headed straight to Earl to grab lunch. I went with the Ham and Swiss again while Andy changed it up. He tried the Hawaiian BBQ Chicken and really enjoyed it. We do love our Earl!
It's sandwich time!!!
During lunch I got a text from Matt telling us they were still at DTD. We agreed to meet up at the Pin Store. So that's where we headed next.
We ran into Matt and Bethany and cutie Audrey there...
We chatted for a bit and then agreed to meet back up at Epcot later with the Bakers. I made my first purchase of the trip.... the LE Stitch 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea pin and a pin for Brandi with Chip and Dale and NUTS on it b/c she works at Chestnut Elementary and calls it the NUT.
Didn't it say something like "completely nuts"?
I think it did......
Anyway, after that, we headed over to Trend D.
This was where I made my next purchase
Brandi called me while we were in here to tell me that she was at DTD as well!! I had thought they were meeting us at Epcot, but they surprised us by meeting us there
We told them we'd meet them at Ghirardelli since that was our next stop.
They had parked over in the West Side so we walked through the WoD to kill some time...
Green Stitch Yoda it is
We came out of WoD and walked up to Ghirardelli just in time to see the Bakers waiting for us! We were uber excited! We were so excited that I don't have any pictures of the encounter! Oops....
So after the meet and hugs and all that great stuff, we decided to grab our first malts from Ghirardelli while the Bakers hit up the Earl for the first time since they hadn't had lunch yet.
We met back up with the Bakers at the Earl and sat with them while they ate.....
I LOVE this next pic........Pomegranate (as he's now called b/c of the calendar we made him for Christmas.....April was Pomegranate.....I think Pom Tree 'Palm Tree' is next ) But I think Pomegranate gets this look a lot!
After lunch we decided to go to the Design a Tee place b/c Pom wants a tshirt with Pete's Dragon on it but he can't find one anywhere...
Well he crapped out again....no luck in Design a Tee.....oh well.
Another pic inside the store...
After our shopping around we decided it was getting rather warm and we kind of wanted to see if our room was ready.
The hard decision making photo..... I don't make decisions but yet everybody looks to me to do it.....
I called and found out our room was ready and got our room number. The Bakers said they'd drive us back so we could unload our crap. On the way out we saw the Characters in Flight balloon.....but it wasn't running just yet..
When we passed Raglan Road we retold the "fall heard round the world" story from a couple years ago. Remember that one? If you don't, maybe I'll post it again at some point in time. But we passed the scene of the accident.........It still makes my foot hurt to see it.....stupid curb........stupid yellow painted so you pay attention to it curb......
Anyway......
The Bakers drove us back to the ASMovies and helped us unload our car. I unpacked a bit and then freshened up and changed clothes.....all the while being fussed at for being slow Oh well
The Bakers....waiting on me.....
Brandi busted out the "East-mas" presents as I'm calling them now.......they were from Christmas but she never sent them so she gave them to us for Easter. They were totally still wrapped in Christmas paper We got some gifts for the kitties....treats and toys. And then Andy got a Beatles book that he doesn't have, believe it or not.... and a Bumble (from Rudolph) Christmas ornament. And a set of 4 SWEET Beatles drinking glasses, each decorated for a certain song. I'm currently drinking out of Lovely Rita
After "East-mas" Pom decided that a clean room would not suffice, and opened his coke that he just DROPPED!
It blew up all over the floor......
We had to laugh though....... It was funny. And see that Andy just put a towel over it. Reminds me of Big Daddy and the newspaper.
So once we were all ready (well, once I was ready) we all headed out to Epcot....with the Bakers as our drivers
Laughing so hard right now at the Disney stomach where it's like when the dog actually realizes that it's going to the vet instead of the park.
I'm glad to see you've started your TR. I followed your PTR so I'm excited to read about the details of your trip. Hurry back with more!
Oh, and totally diggin the Big Daddy reference. We think about that everytime something spills.
I'm so glad that I'm not the only person over the age of 10 who likes Phineous and Ferb. Every time Andrew watches it on TV, I end up watching it to (and singing the theme song).
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.
Great start...as usual! Phineus and Ferb is HUGE in our house. I have never had one of them Ghirardelli malts...but lookin' at yours is makin' me think I gotta get me one on the next trip
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.
I'm so glad you started even though you've got so much going on!! I'm not sure if it's good or sad that I totally remember the "fall heard 'round the world" . . . . Feels like it was yesterday I the pic of Brandi shooting "the look" at Pom. That's hilarious. . . . Can't wait for more. . . .
Recently I've become addicted to Phineas and Ferb on the Disney Channel and I've made Andy start watching too. Something about "Perry the Platypus" and Dr. Doofenshmirtz just cracks me up!!!
Ben and I love this show too...I started watching it last summer when I was a nanny b/c my little nephew loved it ...but I am a fan its so funny!
When we passed Raglan Road we retold the "fall heard round the world" story from a couple years ago.
I too now have a story like that...I recently fell at EPCOT ...just my usual tripping over my own two feet...the funny this was that no one stopped to help me they pretty much walked over me to get to Soarin...lol
"Recently I've become addicted to Phineas and Ferb on the Disney Channel"
OMG my daughter loves P&F too & I am hooked!! I was so excited to see P&Fshirts at our local Disney store, but why not in adult sizes TR is off to a great start Can't wait to hear more!
About This Page: 
We got up around 6:30ish the next morning and hit the road by 7. We stopped off at McD's for a biscuit before we really set off.
) But I think Pomegranate gets this look a lot!
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
Love the Disney stomach! 
Sammi
I 
the pic of Brandi shooting "the look" at Pom. That's hilarious. . . . 
Can't wait for more. . . .
TR is off to a great start 
Linear Mode
