A Universal Disney Fantasy in three acts - Rehersal Report in Progress - Page 4 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
That's a great surprise! We got that same package while on our honeymoon trip but sadly Tink never made it home in one piece. Still have everything else.
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.
Got a little busy, lets see if I can continue this rehersal report.
Before I continue though another part of the main show is now set up. I have booked us at Universal's Royal Pacific for Act 1. I think I am a bit more confused about Universal's booking process than I was before but hopefully that will all make sense in time. Since we are staying on-site we will have early access to Harry Potter and the Universal version of Fastpass. We will also have access to the American Express VIP lounge since I used my AMEX card to pay for it. Not sure what this lounge is (gonna have to look it up) but if it is a quiet spot to relax than I'm all for it.
Now on to the rehersal report:
We now have our first full day and today is all about MK. We arrive at MK just before the gates open. Once the gates open we head straight for the Merida M&G. Not much of a line yet so we wait. The M&G is pretty fun. The kids have activities while they wait like coloring and shooting a foam arrow at a target. We are kidless but it is fun watching others kids play around. We meet Merida and her three brothers. The brothers are in cub form and a lot of fun. Many times during the meet we watch them goof around and react to Merida. At one point they all hide and Merida and the little girl who is meeting her run around and try to find them. The M&G is well done.
Meeting Merida and her brother's
After the M&G it's time for the first cinnamon roll of the trip at Main Street Bakery. Heather gets a couple of chocolate croisants and we wander out and grab a table outside near the Ice Cream shop. This turns out to be a nice place in the morning. While most people are stalking out a table inside Main Street Bakery there are plenty of tables outside near the Ice Cream Shop. While this might not be ideal if the weather is hot or nasty, that morning the weather was pretty nice.
After breakfast we head to the new Dumbo area. This area is really nice. The new Dumbo rides look good. We get into line (no wait time) and to my surprise it heads into the tent. Inside the tent we are given the choice to head onto the ride or check out the play area. I wanted to check the play area out so the CM hands me a pager and we head into the play area. This area is really cool. The kids can run around and play while the adults relax. When it's your turn to ride your pager goes off and you head back to the line. This means your not standing in line forever. Disney gets huge kudos for this. As we are waiting an announcement is made that a large storm is heading our way and the ride might have to shut down. So we quickly make our way back and get in line. We are able to ride before the storm arrives. I'm not sure but to me it felt like the Dumbo vehicles are slightly bigger as both me and Heather didn't feel squished in. All in all a great new experience.
Inside the Dumbo tent. This is where you wait until your pager goes off.
We then wander around, check out the Casey's train water play area and the bathrooms. We then wander around the fence while take a few pics of what I can see of the new Fantasyland construction. I can't wait to see this area on our January trip.
A view of Beast's castle seen through the turrets of the new Fantasyland wall.
We decide to grab Fastpasses for Peter Pan. Well, it seems I broke one of the FP machines. I put my annual pass in and all I heard was a clicking noise. The CM opened the machine up and couldn't get my annual pass out. He called over a manager and after a few minutes they got my annual pass out. We got out Fastpasses at another machine while they started working in that one. The machine also popped out a surprise fastpass to Mickey's Philharmagic (not that we needed one, there was no wait time for it).
We then headed to Haunted Mansion, my favorite attraction at WDW. Have to ride this one at least once per trip. Afterwards we headed in to see Philharmagic. As we exited Philharmagic I noticed that two techs were still working on the Peter Pan Fastpass machine. Guess I broke it. Onto Peter Pan, we use our Fastpasses and head right on. I still like these old dark style rides.
From this point on my memory of the day is a bit fuzzy on what we did when.
I believe at this point we headed to lunch. Lunch is a Tonys. We have never eaten there before. Since we are trying to eat at every table service located in the WDW resorts we needed to try this one. While it wasn't bad we weren't that impressed either. I did really like the fountain of Lady and the Tramp located in the center of the room. We also got a anniversary dessert (the first of many) of vanilla gelato with mickey sprinkles and chocolate drizzle. While we were threre I wanted to try something I had heard about. I asked our waitress if it was possible to get Lady and Tramps autograph. I had heard that they sometimes help out. She asked if we had an autograph book (Heather did) and she said she would see what she could do. After a few minutes she came back with the book and Lady and Tramps paw prints were on one of the pages along with a CHef Tony signature on another. She said she had some trouble tracking them down as Tony doesn't like dogs in the kitchen. I responded that it shouldn't be a problem since they have a rat cooking in the french restaurant across the way.
Lady And The Tramp Fountain inside Tony's
Lady and Tramps "paw"tagraph's
After lunch we wandered the park. Did pirates, Heather found a jacket she wanted at pirates that the girls will all wear during pirate night on the cruise. We rode Thunder Mountain, the train, and played some Sorcerors Of The Magic Kingdom and of course got the mandatory Dole Whip Float.
Soon it was time for dinner so we headed to Downtown Disney and to Fulton's Crab House. They were pretty good. There was one thing I loved though. On the appetizers they had lobster corn dogs listed. I had to ask, what in the world are those. It's basically lobster on a stick with a light seasoned breading and a couple of dipping sauces. I had to try them and they are fantastic. After dinner they brought out another anniversary dessert. This one was a chocolate cake and yummy.
During our Downtown Disney trip I stopped in Ghiridelli. I wanted to try a new dark chocolate and orange square they had. I wanted to get a bag of the squares but none of the bags had a combination I wanted. I asked a girl working there if you could create your own combination. The answer was yes and it would be the same price as the premade ones. Uh Oh. I got an 80 count bag with dark & orange, dark & mint, Sea Salt Soiree, Dark Sea Salt caramel and Dark & Caramel. Can you guess I like the dark chocolates. She even said I could sample any flavor I wanted but suggested that I didn't try to sample all of them. This might now be a new tradition each time we head to Disney now.
We wandered around Downtown a bit including a stop at Art Of Disney. That's my favorite shop. It's also the one that my wallet cringes when I walk in. So far I have been able to keep from buying too much there.
Afterwards we wandered back to the resort. A good day was over and time to rest up before Epcot the next day.
What a great day!! I never knew you could ask for Lady and Tramp's autograph, I will definitely have to try that on our next trip. Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip.
As a new days dawns today is Epcot day. However this day has begun with quite a bit of rain. That's ok because we came ready for the rain. We put on our rain jackets and head out.
Breakfast today is at Kouzinna's. I love this place for dinner and breakfast was pretty good. I decided to be adventerous (as far as breakfast goes) and ordered the Kouzinna stacked breakfast. It is sweet potato hash topped with two poached eggs topped with artichoke spread. A side of kalamata olive toast and a side of bacon. Turns out it is pretty good, especially when you break the eggs and mix it all together.
After breakfast we head back out into the rain and catch the boat to Epcot. We enter through the international gateway and make our way up to the front. On the way Heather spys a topiary of Phineas and Ferb so we stop for a quick pic.
We head to the land pavillion with the intention of getting fastpasses for Soarin'. As we get to the Soarin' entrance we are surprised to see a wait time of only 10 minutes. Guess the rain is keeping people away. We head on in. This is the first time I have ever walked through the standby line, we have always Fastpassed this ride. After Soarin' we head to The Land boat ride. I don't know why but I always enjoy this one, especially the greenhouses.
Afterwards we head back out into the rain and head to Mission Space and try to get a peek at the Test Track refurb. Not much to see on the Test Track refurb, just a few walls and maybe a few changes on the outside of the building but I can't be sure. Mission Space orange is great as usual.
Time for Spaceship Earth. Again, almost no wait. I could get used to that. As we exit Spaceship Earth the rain is coming to a stop. We head to The Seas and ride Nemo and check out the aquariums. Here we find our first line, Turtle Talk has a huge line. Guess we'll skip that one today. Instead we head into Innoventions for the Disney Visa character meet. This trip it's Minnie and Goofy. You couldn't pick two characters of different heights. Goofy is taller than me and Minnie barely comes up to my chin. A fun meet and we'll get our free pic after lunch. Speaking of lunch it's about time for it.
We head towards World Showcase for our lunch ressie at Le Cellier. It's yummy as usual. This place has my favorite version of creme brule, maple.
After lunch we wander around World Showcase for awhile and Heather signs up to do the new Agent P adventure. It's fairly similiar to the Kim Possible adventure it replaced but uses the Phineas and Ferb cast. Still a very enjoyable experience.
Unpaid interships? Why not, I'm in.
As we wander around World Showcase I notice something odd. We are near Mexico/World Showcase entrance and I look across the lagoon at Morocco. It takes me second as my mind registers a building that shouldn't be there. I realize that from this angle you can see the Tower Of Terror over at Hollywood Studios. I guess Disney knew this because the building fits in fairly well with the other buildings in Morocco. I'm going to have to remember that one the next time I'm there with my regular camera (didn't have it due to the rain that morning).
After a bit more wandering around Heather is starting to feel a bit off so we head back to the resort so she can rest before dinner.
Dinner tonight is a Cape May Cafe. This our first time here and I really liked it. Of course anywhere that has all-you-can-eat crab legs and keeps them hot and fresh is a winner in my book.
After dinner we head back to the boat dock. Tonight has EMH at Hollywood Studios so we decide to see what we can ride. It takes a few boats before we get on one (most were full of people leaving Epcot and going to Hollywood Studios).
We get to the Studios and wander back to check out the wait time on Toy Story. 110 minutes, nope, we will wait until the next day and grab a Fastpass for it. Instead we head to Star Tours and ride it with almost no wait. As we head through the line I glance at the droid doing the x-ray luggage check (my favorite) and notice that the x-rayed luggage has the droid from The Black Hole in it (the little droid). I love those little touches of detail.
After Star Tours we decide to head back to the resort, we are both tired. Time to get a bit of rest before we return to the Studios the next day.
Actors Update:
5 leads remain...a cut down from 11.
Wolfhunt-WH
Puzzlewoman-PW
Dew-D (DH)
Cheeser-C (me)
Gloria- G (my MIL)
Behind the scenes...Act 2 is being prepped.
Head Seamstress:
Laundry is complete. Ressies are PIF and double checked. Clothing shopping done. Toiletries and Supplies (Only 2 things left on the list: Nasal Strips & Gum). One button repair left to make. Suitcases need packed. Lists need checked.
Set Director:
WL and GF Checkin online complete courtesy our delightful TA: Wolfhunt.
Delta checkins for final part (C,D,& G) can be complete in 21 hrs, 6 minutes.
3 sets of luggage tags have all just arrived...within 3 days of departure (Whew...that was a close one!)
Cash deposits made on cruise staterooms complete. Remy ressies made, Snorkeling and Rainforest ressies made. Palo Brunch...SCORE! Excursions booked!
Act 1: Scene 1 starts;
Cheeser rolls out of bed...at O'DARK THIRTY: She has 15 minutes to dress and prep for pickup service of WH and PW.
6:45am...it's a cold, damp morning...Cheeser pulls up in front of the Townhouse condo of WH and PW. PW drags out some suitcases, quickly followed by WH. 3 very large suitcases bundled into the cavernous backseat of Cheeser's minivan. 2 small carry on suitcases quickly follow. PW returns to the residence to lockup while WH makes himself comfortable in the front passenger seat of the van. The heat is cranked...windows quickly fog up...from the body heat of the new passengers.
WH: Wow...is your seat always laid back like this?
C: For some reason...Dwayne practically reclines when he's riding in the car.
PW returns to the car...and the 30 minute drive to CVG(Cincinnati Greater International Airport) commences without incident. Cheeser quickly pulls up in front of terminal 3.
WH: Go ahead and pull in here in front of American...
C: Ok...I was just heading to right in front of Delta...but here is open.
Cheeser quickly pulls to a stop and puts the van in park. All exit the vehicle as she heads back to the trunk...and opens...the door. WH and PW unload their luggage and then look at 3 lg suitcases, 2 carryon for just 2 people...Cheeser wonders...will they make it to luggage drop off?
She quickly waves goodbye.
C: See you Friday at Ohanas.
WH: 7pm...6:55, I believe.
She hops back into her van and moves back into traffic heading into the dreaded office. A giant green monster sitting on her shoulder...taunting her...why didn't you save up extra and go down early with them. Dew and Gloria could have made it to Florida without your guidance...no...she quickly shakes her head...You cannot rely on those 2 to handle that.
Back at Center Stage: WH and PW....
__________________
Cheeser. Maleficent of the Vacation Villians!!!
Partying with the Parrs December 5, 2015:
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Linear Mode
