Party of Two - UPDATED 10/1 COMPLETE! - Page 11 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
What a great looking cake..... and chocolate too! although your seating looks so far . the window seat in a rain storm looks kinda of cool. What a great way to celebrate a birthday. Was that birthday gift card burning a hole in Mary Devals pocket?
__________________
Aug,1978- LBV;Apr,1987-Disneyland;March,1993-offsite;Jan,1997-offsite;Aug,1999- CBR;Sept,2000- ASMo;Aug,2001- ASSP;Aug,2002- ASMU/AKL;Jan & July 2003-POR;June,December 2004- PC;January 2005- ASMU; Aug 2005-PC;Dec 2005-AKL;Jan 2006-CBR ; July/Aug-Saratoga springs; Dec. PC;April 2007- Disneyland;Aug 2007-Disneyland & So Cal;Dec 2007-POFQ; Aug2008-POFQ & Nov 2008 PC,Y&B May 2009 ASmu, June 2009 PC ; Nov 2009 WL & POFQ;Jan 2010 BW & WL; June 2010 POFQ ; Aug 2010 Poly ;Oct 2010 WL; Jan 2011 PC
What a wonderful day and it's amazing that you did all that in just one day. Love the dress that Mary Devall is wearing. Looks cool, comfortable, but still dressy. Your room looks delightful and homey. It doesn't look like a hotel room. I think I would've crashed early too considering all that you accomplished, the weather, and that inviting room.
__________________
ºOº ~*~
Oct '99: CSR ~ May '02: CR ~ Nov '04: SOG ~ May '06: SOG ~ Dec '07: Solo @ Pop ~ May '08: Pop w/friends ~ Oct '08: SOG ~ Dec '09: Pop w/LeAnn ~ Sept '10: Solo @ Pop ~ Spring '11: AKL ~ Jan '12: Pop for 1/2 Marathon ~ Sept '12: 1st trip for DL 1/2 Marathon? ~ Feb '13: Pop w/pals? ~ Mar '13: Tokyo Disney w/PP's?
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.
What a great (and very long) meal at CM. Glad you had some great character interaction though and it looks like Mary Devall was having the time of her life celebrating her birthday. Love the cake...it is adorable. There is a strange break between birthday celebrations there as when we had ours the cupcake came out as we first got our plates of food so it ended up being sung over and blown out and then left for awhile
I think after such a long day and all that traveling heading back was a gret idea, what an amazing room. Can't wait to hear all your adventures after a good night's sleep.
When I woke up at 8:30, I realized that Mary Devall and I had slept nearly around the clock. We had been worn out last night, but a wonderful night of sleep in an “oh so heavenly” bed did the trick. Mary Devall woke up about the time that I stepped out of the shower. We were both soon ready and heading down for our first breakfast in the lounge.
I put my bag down at one of the few open tables near the television and then helped Mary Devall get her bowl of frosted flakes. Once she was settled at one of the children’s tables, I went back for my obligatory bowl of raisin bran. A little boy had just put his tray down at my table when his mother told him that someone was already sitting there. He ended up sitting at a table with Mary Devall while I invited the mom to sit at my table right beside them since there were no tables left. Her family was from Indiana and this was their last day. I really enjoyed chatting with her while eating my breakfast.
After our breakfast, Mary Devall and I headed for the bus stop to catch a bus to AK. We quickly realized that we had walked into the middle of a trivia contest being conducted by the CM stationed there. His name was Cory and he knew his stuff (and he looked a lot like Heather’s Brandon ).
Mary Devall was SO into this trivia contest. She wasn’t at all afraid to raise her hand and take a shot at an answer. She had missed a few questions when he finally asked a question that I figured was coming “What was Disney’s first full length animated movie?” My hand shot up and I answered “Snow White” when he called on me (a strict rule of the game was that you had to raise your hand and be called on before you answered ). I was rewarded with a button which I handed over to Mary Devall.
Cory declared that his next question was a toughie - - “After Snow White, Disney had the choice of making Snow White 2 or three more movies. He chose the three movies. What were they?” Mary Devall and I sat back and listened to tons of variations suggested, but we waited until we thought we had it. I nudged Mary Devall to raise her hand and Cory called on her. Slowly, she listed “Pinocchio . . . Bambi . . .” and then I whispered to her “Fantasia” which she repeated out loud. Cory repeated the answers and then announced that we were right! He also said that it was the first time that anyone had ever gotten that question right since he’s been doing this trivia quiz. Mary Devall and I were especially excited because, even though we love us some Disney, we are not exactly what you would call Disney aficionados! Cory gave Mary Devall a button which she promptly gave to me.
The next question was “What kind of fairy is Tinkerbell?” Mary Devall’s hand immediately shot up, but Cory gave another little girl a chance first. This little girl was probably about 11 or 12 and had raised her hand for every question even though it would take her forever to answer and then she would give some sort of strange answer (that may or may not have something to do with the question ). She finally gave up and Cory called on Mary Devall who answered “A tinker fairy.” He gave her a follow-up question asking what does a “tinker” fairy do to which Mary Devall responded “fixes things.” Yet another button was added to her collection.
The next question was “What is the name of Walt Disney’s brother?” This time I held Mary Devall’s arm down and whispered to her to give someone else a chance. Of course, the other little girl raised her hand. When no one else wanted to try, Cory called on her and, as usual, she hemmed and hawed until he told her that he needed an answer. She finally came up with (and I’m not kidding) “Walt.” Um . . . no.
Mary Devall was about to die to raise her hand. When Cory saw me holding her arm down, he told me to let her answer since no one else was. Mary Devall blurted out her pent up “Roy” and was rewarded with a bracelet this time. Cory had to go digging in his bag since she had finished off his stash of buttons.
An AK bus arrived about this time, so the trivia contest came to an abrupt halt. Cory made a point to tell me what a smart daughter I had and I told him that we both just loved Disney (but I did agree that she was a smart little girl ). I also told him that he was quite a gem, but was surprised when he told me that Disney wouldn’t put him in the parks. He had such a great personality and an obvious passion for Disney, so this floored me. I assured him that I would be writing a letter which pleased him to no end.
We waved to Cory and hopped on our bus. Normally waiting for a bus is a tedious affair, but Cory made it an event in itself. Mary Devall was still riding high on her victory as we made our way to AK and continued to talk about this experience throughout the rest of our trip and even at home. This was THE moment of the trip for her . . . when is the last time anyone said that about their wait at a bus stop?
Posing on the bus with her buttons.
Once at AK, we headed right for Dinosaur where we grabbed FP’s and then did a quick height check at PW. Mary Devall’s head actually touched the bar, but when the CM moved her head back and forth and saw that there was some wiggle room it was a no go. I have to admit being secretly relieved - - I didn’t know if I could take numerous rides on EE, Dinosaur and PW!
After that little bit of disappointment, we then went to EE where we hopped in the standby line with only a 25 or 30 minute wait (it was posted at 50 minutes, I believe). We had a great ride and survived the Yeti! By the time our ride was over, we could get FP’s again so we got two more for EE and then headed to Y&Y for lunch.
As soon as we checked in, we were ushered upstairs to a table overlooking the staircase. Of course, I ordered my Yak Attack while Mary Devall went a little wild with a Berry Limeade. Our server also suggested these which I had planned to order anyway since Mary Devall loves to play chef and serve me:
For our entrees, I chose another appetizer while Mary Devall went with her tried and true.
Seared Ahi Tuna - chilled, sesame-encrusted ahi tuna, wasabi aioli, and sweet chili slaw
Chicken Bites with applesauce cup and chicken fried rice
We had a great lunch filled with yummy food and drink and lots of silly conversation.
Although neither one of us was that hungry, we decided to have dessert. Mary Devall had chocolate pudding while I tried something that I had wanted to try for some time now:
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but it ended up being just like key lime pie except with a mango twist. I am a huge fan of key lime pie, so this dessert was right down my alley.
Since this restaurant doesn’t offer a TIW discount, the server took my AP for a 10% discount. When he brought the bill back, I noticed that the discount was only $2.18. I didn’t question him about it even though the discount was really 5% instead of 10%. Oh well!
Continued in next post . . .
__________________
Sometimes words aren't needed . . .
Last edited by Jillybean; 09-15-2009 at 03:26 PM..
While we were somewhat close to the safari, I asked Mary Devall if she wanted to head in that direction. She thought about it for a moment and then asked if it was okay if we skipped the safari. I had a feeling that today was all about EE and Dinosaur - - and that was fine by me.
We headed right for Dinosaur where we grabbed more FP’s before we rode. After a fun ride, we decided to stay in the area until the latest FP’s ripened. Mary Devall decided to do a little shopping in Chester and Hesters with her birthday gift card. After much consideration, she decided on a Webkinz blue jay and a Minnie pin.
We were soon riding Dinosaur again and then off to EE to wait for our FP’s to ripen.
The CM actually let us in a few minutes before the time (I guess they assume that you’ll be in line those few minutes) which was good since the dark clouds were rolling in. By the time we were sitting in row 2 and pulling out of the station, it had barely started to sprinkle. As we circled back into the mountain after the big drop, a big drop of rain actually hit me square in the eye!
As soon as we were back under cover, it started pouring. I had brought our ponchos with us, so we put them on in the gift shop and headed for the bus stop. It was raining so hard that I could have sworn the rain was coming through our ponchos, but we just held hands and slowly made our way to the front of the park.
Once we got under the cover of the bus stop, we removed our ponchos and found out that we were essentially dry. Only the front of my hair and the bottom of my shorts were the poncho didn’t cover were a bit damp. I had new respect for my WDW poncho!
A bus showed up within about 10 minutes, but we had a pretty long ride back to GF with stops first at BB and WL. When we finally made it back to Sugar Loaf, we picked up some cookies and drinks in the lounge and then went back to our room to relax.
What a wonderful morning. That trivia game sounded like so much fun. And you do have a smart little girl. The CM sounds like he really "got it". Mary Devall!
__________________
ºOº ~*~
Oct '99: CSR ~ May '02: CR ~ Nov '04: SOG ~ May '06: SOG ~ Dec '07: Solo @ Pop ~ May '08: Pop w/friends ~ Oct '08: SOG ~ Dec '09: Pop w/LeAnn ~ Sept '10: Solo @ Pop ~ Spring '11: AKL ~ Jan '12: Pop for 1/2 Marathon ~ Sept '12: 1st trip for DL 1/2 Marathon? ~ Feb '13: Pop w/pals? ~ Mar '13: Tokyo Disney w/PP's?
Since this restaurant doesn’t offer a TIW discount, the server took my AP for a 10% discount. When he brought the bill back, I noticed that the discount was only $2.18. I didn’t question him about it even though the discount was really 5% instead of 10%. Oh well!
The AP discount is only on the entree of your meal -- not any appetizers, drinks or dessert.
As for the trivia contest - I'm sorta glad I hadn't been there or Miss MD and I would've been duking it out to win all the prizes. (I'm bad at keeping my trap shut when questions are being flung out.)
Jill, you're an awesome Mom! I love reading about your mother/daughter time with Mary Devall. I would have loved that trivia contest! Last year while waiting for our table at Le Cellier, they had a Canada trivia contest in the foyer and gave stickers out for the correct answers. It sure helped to pass the time and I got alot of stickers too since there were 4 of us and everybody gave me theirs. I plan on using them on our Mousekeeping envelopes for this year's trip.
Just catching back up and I have to say that birthday cake was gor-ge-ous! That thing looked HUGE. No wonder you couldn't finish it. Now does anyone else find it odd that MD has been big enough for EE, Space Mountain, Splash, etc. for a while now but still isn't tall enough for PW? For some reason that just seems odd to me. I never realized it was such a wild ride I guess.
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
ºOº ~*~ 
Sounds like wonderful birthday celebration for Mary Devall.
We had been worn out last night, but a wonderful night of sleep in an “oh so heavenly” bed did the trick. 
Mary Devall woke up about the time that I stepped out of the shower. We were both soon ready and heading down for our first breakfast in the lounge. 
She had missed a few questions when he finally asked a question that I figured was coming “What was Disney’s first full length animated movie?” My hand shot up and I answered “Snow White” when he called on me (a strict rule of the game was that you had to raise your hand and be called on before you answered 
). I was rewarded with a button which I handed over to Mary Devall. 
He also said that it was the first time that anyone had ever gotten that question right since he’s been doing this trivia quiz. Mary Devall and I were especially excited because, even though we love us some Disney, we are not exactly what you would call Disney aficionados! 
). She finally gave up and Cory called on Mary Devall who answered “A tinker fairy.” He gave her a follow-up question asking what does a “tinker” fairy do to which Mary Devall responded “fixes things.” Yet another button was added to her collection.
). I also told him that he was quite a gem, but was surprised when he told me that Disney wouldn’t put him in the parks. He had such a great personality and an obvious passion for Disney, so this floored me. I assured him that I would be writing a letter which pleased him to no end. 
to Cory and hopped on our bus. Normally waiting for a bus is a tedious affair, but Cory made it an event in itself. Mary Devall was still riding high on her victory as we made our way to AK and continued to talk about this experience throughout the rest of our trip and even at home. This was THE moment of the trip for her . . . when is the last time anyone said that about their wait at a bus stop? 
I have to admit being secretly relieved - - I didn’t know if I could take numerous rides on EE, Dinosaur and PW! 
Our server also suggested these which I had planned to order anyway since Mary Devall loves to play chef and serve me:
I didn’t question him about it even though the discount was really 5% instead of 10%. Oh well! 
I had brought our ponchos with us, so we put them on in the gift shop and headed for the bus stop. It was raining so hard that I could have sworn the rain was coming through our ponchos, but we just held hands and slowly made our way to the front of the park. 
Mary Devall!
Dora
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
PassPorter Guide Author
Linear Mode
