Another August Adventure with a shot of Testosterone...TR Completed 2/19 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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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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Great day so far Meg! Love the room, and the pictures! How great to meet up with Heather! Congrats on getting 2048 (the kids got me into that as well)! Now you have to try 2048 5x5, which is even more addicting!
Great start to the TR and glad Photobucket is finally cooperating! I posted in my TR yesterday afternoon and had no probs with PB!
Don't know how you had the energy with so little sleep, but that's when the Disney Adrenaline kicks into overdrive! Great time and meal at Sanaa. Love the bar there and especially those comfy seats in the left corner away from the bar!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Hooray! You've started your TR! I can't wait to hear all about it! I can just imagine the look on the boys' faces when they walked into AKL!
Bummer the rain interrupted your plans...hopefully you made it in time for your FP+ ressies!
Glad you had a great lunch with Heather! Sanaa looks wonderful!
The boys were definitely amazed. Hugo who has been to Disney has never step foot in a resort so he was truly was in another world, he is already trying to convince his parents they need to stay on property for their next trip.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JKnott17
You've arrived! I can only imagine the looks on the boys faces when you walked into AKL. Did they just love the savannah view? Too bad you had some rain this afternoon, but it didn't really seem to put a damper on anyting. Hope you made it in time for your SE FP!
I don't think they truly understood the concept of zebras in "their backyard". they both spent a good deal of time on the balcony.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hugmonster
Great start!
Quote:
Originally Posted by disneydani
You have arrived! As always, your energizer bunny ways have me completely exhausted....and you haven't even made it to Epcot yet! . So glad the trip is off to a smashing start. Love Jasmine's directions.....make sure her first car is equipped with a top of the line GPS!
Danielle
Jasmine lives by GPS on her phone even when she is walking
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Sanaa sounds like a great way to start a WDW vacation and having Heather for company is always fun. Love the confusion of Once Upon a Toy or WoD. :rolf: Hope the rain moves on out.
Having lunch with Heather was a great way to start the trip. Jasmine's mix up with Once Upon a Toy and WOD was not her only directional flub of the trip. After a while it just became comical.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
You did all this on an hour and 15 minutes of sleep?? Wonder Woman. I can only imagine how amazed the boys were at the Jambo lobby. It's a great start to your vacation!
Laurie, funny thing I did not really feel tired but it definitely hit me when I finally laid down for the evening.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kenny
You've started and I'm here! (What Laurie said!) Great start, Meg!! Here comes Epcot... I gotta pay attention now!
We love starting the trip in Epcot, this way our first full day we can enjoy the MK in all its glory.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
My goodness, I can't believe how well you were able to keep going on so little sleep!
The batteries definitely wore off once I finally laid down
Quote:
Originally Posted by shazza
Sounds like a good travel day and arrival is going well so far. Like others have said, the adrenaline must be keeping you awake at this point!
I followed the weather report during this time, so curious to see how rain impacts your trip in the coming days.
We definitely had our daily rain, only once did it really interrupt our plans and one time it even added to the fun.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great day so far Meg! Love the room, and the pictures! How great to meet up with Heather! Congrats on getting 2048 (the kids got me into that as well)! Now you have to try 2048 5x5, which is even more addicting!
I will definitely have to try 2048 5x5, the game is so addicting, it keeps me busy on the subway into work every day.
Quote:
Originally Posted by disneydreamer33
I have no idea how you are still going!!!!
It sounds like a great day so far, especially since you got to have lunch with Heather!!
Seeing those Disney gates definitely gave me a recharge. Lunch with Heather was a great way to begin the trip, it is always so nice to see her.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DMA
Just joining in. What a great first day! Can't believe how much you did with so little sleep!
The day did feel endless in a weird sort of way. It was a great first day.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
Great start to the TR and glad Photobucket is finally cooperating! I posted in my TR yesterday afternoon and had no probs with PB!
Don't know how you had the energy with so little sleep, but that's when the Disney Adrenaline kicks into overdrive! Great time and meal at Sanaa. Love the bar there and especially those comfy seats in the left corner away from the bar!
I love Sanaa, I was sad when they removed the short ribs but then hearing they were back on the menu, it was a definite must do
August 7th - Part II - Did we make our first FP of the trip?
The bus seemed like it took forever to finally get there and by the time it came the bus was pretty crowded. I was just happy to finally be on a bus. Of course when you are trying to get somewhere it seems like the time flies by when you are not getting anywhere.
We got to the park with about 5 minutes to go in our FP grace period, we did a quick stop for our first Memory Maker photo and then sprinted over to Spaceship Earth.
I am happy to say we made it to the "Big Globe" at 6:29 PM with a minute to spare
We made it through within 5 minutes, it seemed that everyone was riding Spaceship Earth at this time, the standby was 25 minutes so I was glad we had the FPs.
Soon we were all in our seats and heading in for our tour of "The Progression of Communications". Jasmine rode with Leeor, Angel and Alexa rode together and Hugo and I rode together....we decided to mix things up for a bit and we listened in Spanish. I am happy to say that in the dozens of times I have rode this in English and no matter what combination I have tired I could never get the Conga Line, in Spanish we got the Conga Line
It was pretty funny as it took me half the ride to realize that not only were our selections in Spanish but so was the commentary.
Our next Fast Pass was for Test Track but with the rain the ride was down , we had some time until our next Fast Pass (7:35 PM - 8:35 PM) so we decided to go grab some food over in Sunshine Seasons as we were all pretty hungry.
No pictures today, I do know that I had rice with sweet and sour chicken, it was ok. The boys had the spicy beef which they said was really spicy (I thought it was mild but then again these boys cannot handle anything spicy....Leeor says it gives him heartburn and Hugo says it makes him break out). Their adversity to spice always makes us laugh as when they order wings with Jasmine she gets super hot and still uses hot sauce, she has to get plain wings for them....LOL
Jasmine had the veggie sandwich which she enjoyed. Alexa has the chicken and rice like me and Angel had...you know I don't remember. the chef made her some sort of rice and chicken meal.
While none of us were overwhelmed with dinner it was food so we were all happy and once dinner was done we decided to head out to see if Test Track was back up.
No such luck so we decided it was time for the boys to experience Club Cool.
The only one I could catch in mid-Beverly was Alexa, I am sure by her face we can all tell how much she enjoyed it. They were very good sports and tried each and every flavor.
We finally split up since Test Track was still not up and running and it was time for our next FPs, Jasmine and I stopped off at the Character Spot and the rest of the group headed over to Mission Space (green side) as Angel was still unsure of the orange side and they all wanted to ride together.
Jasmine and I had a great time visiting with some of our favorite characters, and I...well what better way to start a trip then with a hug from Goofy.
We finished up at the Character Spot and headed over to meet the rest of the group at Mission Space....and then suddenly we saw a surge. Yes....finally Test Track was back up and running. Jasmine headed to the line and I saw the rest of the group and flagged them over. It was a LONG FP line as the world had now returned as it seems that the ride had been down for quite some time, but it moved pretty quick once we got through the initial swipe of the bands.
I think it took us about 15 minutes to make it onto the ride which was easy sailing compared to the standby line that was showing 100 minutes.
We all had fun designing our cars but then there was a mix up and they had an extra person at the beginning of our line (she had swiped her band already) so they moved her but when we got to the car, even though we swiped our bands the only car that showed up was the other girls, so we had no idea whose car won
However it was a great ride and the boys loved the ride. Alexa who had not been at WDW since she was 8 had no memory of this ride, but she loved it. Of course between Angel videoing and everyone with our hands up you can't see any of us in our photo but you can be assured we all had a great time.
Everyone was having fun testing out the cars after our ride.
Pretty scary thinking that in the matter of two years these two will be taking Drivers Ed
The girls also had fun posing for the picture fun.
It was close to 9 but the long day was catching up with all of us plus we wanted to unpack so with one last picture of Spaceship Earth we headed out, leaving the crowd to watch Illuminations.
We got to an empty bus stop (a bus just left) but within 5 minutes another bus rolled up and soon we were heading back to AKL.
We got back to AKL quickly and we headed down to the Mara. The girls and I got once refillable cup to share, Alexa picked one up as well. We had ordered some snacks (chips and Oreos) and water from Garden Grocer but we were all in the mood for a Mickey Bar, Angel settled for one of her fruit bars and we headed upstairs to unpack (I hate seeing suitcases when on vacation).
The girls were excited as when we were out they had delivered the girls basket.
Not sure why I cannot get the orientation right, but Angel and Alexa got Olafs, Jasmine got Sven as she says he is underrated and deserved some love. Angel and Alexa also wanted to do Epcot Passports so those were in the basket as well.
With everyone having a new friend we left Sven with Jasmine and we headed to our room where we unpacked, showered and by 11 PM we were all out before even hitting the pillows. Wow the bed felt so good to me at that moment.
After only 1 1/2 hours sleep in the past 48 hours I was definitely in need of a good night's rest.
Up Next: An early morning breakfast with Jasmine's favorite Donkey
What a great time at Epcot! I took notes. [emoji3] I love the pictures, and you can definitely tell Alexa has met Beverly! Lol
I am, of course happy to see Jasmine's smile and Angel having fun.
A fun update. Now, get some sleep, for goodness sake!!!
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