We Can Fly, We Can Fly, We Can Fly......We Flew Trip Report - Page 12 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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.
Another great day. We love the Princess Storybook Breakfast. Always filling and we have had great intereaction there (we usually see Ariel there as well). This was the first year we skipped it and at the end of the trip the girls said we need to make sure we get that on the list for next year.
Great fun at BB - we usually only last 4 hours or so at the WPs. We usually do them one or two days per trip but after a few hours we are usually ready to head out as well.
Yáll really packed a lot in to your days! Love reading about them. BB looked so refreshing. We haven't been to a water park with the girls (have been too young IMO). Not sure when we will get a chance to, as I am hoping for 2015 early December for all the Christmas festivities.
Did y'all walk over to ASMO since it was so close? I understand what you mean about the lights! Love your "early" night at 10:30pm. Abby is a trooper with early mornings, busy days, and late to bed. For the first time, we are not planning mid day breaks on our next trip. It's in Oct so not near as hot as June, but the girls are accustomed to daily swims.. so we'll see how it goes.
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.
Sounds like another great day!!!! Blizzard Beach sounded like fun. I think that is the park we are going with next year. Do you remember if there are other slides that more than one can go on at a time?
Another busy day! We did one of the water parks years ago and have never been back. I really don't know why. It sounds like you had a great time. Soarin is my favorite ride. It would be great if they changed the background and took us over a different part of the country. I love when you can smell the orange groves and also when you go over the ocean.
It was a busy day Olive but it was really enjoyable. I hear what you're saying about changing Soarin - a lot of people say that - but we do like it the way it is so we're okay if it doesn't get changed. We like the different smells too but the orange is definitely the best.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DMA
Sounds like BB was a great time! I was glad to hear all about it, as we've never been to either of the water parks but we've decided to try out BB this time.
I think you'll enjoy BB. Each park has its supporters but we like BB because it's newer and bigger with more things to do. Plus too, it is closer to our hotel but that only factors in a tiny little bit of our enjoyment of it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OneLittleSpark
Sounds like going to BB was a great choice in the heat. I think that is so cool that CM's go around the lazy river to take PP pics for people.
Yeah, it was definitely a good place to be with the heat. Even when it's that hot out, I can get chilled in water but not that day. We were there about 3 hours and it was being tired that got us out of the water, not me getting cold. I too think it's cool about the Photopass Photographers - and IMO it was quite funny to see him in his own tube. The last time we saw them (2009 or 2010), they were just standing there in one spot in the river, they weren't moving around.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
I'm glad you made that photo of Abby and Lenny your sig pic. It's a winner! I like your photo that shows Morocco and ToT together. Apparently they chose the color of ToT because they realized that it would be seen from Epcot and didn't want to mess up the theming. It works!
Thanks Laurie. I'm not sure how long I'll keep it as my signature picture though. Lenny likes it but he's requested that I put a picture with all 3 of us back. I got the idea of taking the Morocco/ToT picture from someone here who has a version of it as their signature picture. At Disney, I was explaining to Lenny how Disney really looks at things from all angles to make sure everything "fits" into where you can see it and this was the perfect example to show him. I figured I might as well snap a picture too while I was at it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jakesmom1118
sounds like an awesome 2 days!!! i love the pic of lenny and abbey on the little mermaid ride in MK. super cute!
Thanks - I thought it was a cute picture too but the one at 1900 PF turned out a little bit better because of Abby leaning on Lenny's shoulder.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lovewdw2
Darlene... I feel like I am on your vacation!
I LOVE the pic of Lenny and Abby! I think Abby's color is the dark pink! She really looks good in it!
Pssst: I think Abby looks like her Mom! : )
You should feel like you were on our vacation - you were for a while . You're actually not the first person to tell me that though and I know for me, I like TR's that do that. It's fine if you read about a TR but when you really get pulled into it and can "see" what's going on, etc, those are the ones that are more enjoyable.
Abby loves to wear pink so I agree, it's her color and she looks good in it. As far as looking like me, you really think so? I just don't see it
Quote:
Originally Posted by buzzspal2
You sure pack a lot in to a day. Love your new sig photo.
Thanks. Sometimes we pack a lot in by design, other days it just happens that way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by patclairesmom
No wonder you were nodding off in the lazy river, you guys did so much! BTW, I love your signature picture, it's really sweet.
Thanks. As I said above, I'm not sure how long the picture will stay put as Lenny wants one with all 3 of us. He may not be a member on the boards, but he's in the room a lot when I'm on here and he notices the signature picture quite often. As for nodding off, the hours I was keeping didn't help either - I had already put in a 12+ hour day by that point in time. Not that I'm complaining - it was my own choice to get up and do laundry but it's easier for me to do it in the morning than at night while on vacation (I am a get up and go person).
How funny that Lenny wanted to be all spiffy for the princesses at breakfast!!! Glad you got in for your ADR despite the timing snafu. I'm kind of an hour/half-hour gal myself; for some reason I have a harder time remembering an "odd" time that falls anywhere in between!
Glad you liked the revamped TT. I haven't seen it yet so I'll withhold comment but I really liked it as it used to be, so I'm already "meh" simply on the fact that it's been changed. As long as it still goes screamin' around the outside track, I guess it'll be ok (my favorite part!).
Great pics from the water parks! Love that they now also have noodles for the lazy river. Sounds like an enjoyable day there!
.
What's funnier is Lenny doesn't even remember making that comment - but I wrote it soon after he said it so I didn't make it up even though he thinks I did. We too usually get meals on the hour or half hour so I thinks that could be why I was thinking 8:30. We got in so alls well that ends well. TT still goes really fast outside so no worries there. Just go in with an open mind and you might still like it. I had read a review stating that if you didn't like TT before, you still wouldn't like it but I didn't find that to be the case at all so maybe where you did like it before, you might like it more now.
We did enjoy our time at BB and it was really nice that they had the noodles. Lenny really appreciated them as he could use it and be more submerged in the water than he would have been had he used a tube.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mom24Girls
Wow! I am tired just reading your report! Love your new signature picture... that is a keeper for sure! All of your photos are great and I love hearing your reviews of the food too! Looking forwarding to reading more!
Thanks. I'm wishing now I had taken food photos to join my reviews but oh well. Something to do next trip I suppose (it'll be quite some time but it doesn't stop us from hoping for another trip).
Quote:
Originally Posted by KHarrod
Wow! I'm exhausted reading your TR! I better toughen up because we leave this Saturday! I've really enjoyed reading about your adventures and your pictures are just great! Can't wait to hear more!!
Enjoy your trip. My report won't be done before you leave but it gives you something to look forward to when you get home, right?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roxie2006
Reading this post taught me there really is more to do than the Parks. Reading all the fun you guys are having, makes me want to redo all of the itinerary for our 2014 Trip already. Even the different Restaurants we have never thought of trying sounds great. DH loves everything buffets!!!!! But, BB sounds the best to me. Just a half day totally relaxing sound marvelous!!!!! Really enjoyed this post!!!
Thanks - I'm so glad you're enjoying my TR and learning what else Disney has to offer. We're not water park people so half a day does us just fine - and it really is relaxing. It was a great way to just cool off and talk about things we had already done or things we wanted to do on our trip. Since we've been home, Lenny has commented we have to try out more different restaurants at the other resorts because we did enjoy doing that this year.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kingfamily1129
Sounds like you all had a fantastic day at EPCOT and BB. Even Lenny got in on the fun, which is nice to hear It looks and sounds like you three are having a very fun time on your trip, which you all deserve
Now that Lenny knows and "understands" Disney, he really does have a good time once he gets going. I don't know how to start vacation so we can avoid his crankiness but I can keep trying, right . We did have fun on our trip so you'll just have to keep reading to find out about the rest of it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HiddenMickey
I find it hard to get hungry at WDW in the summer too. We spend a lot less on food during the hot month trips.
Now that we don't do the dining plan anymore, it's nice having all that "freedom" from credits. I no longer worry whether we've gotten our moneys worth in terms of meals. The "prepaid" aspect was nice but I do the same thing here at home. We don't go unless I have the money in the bank beforehand. My credit card statement just cut and every dime we spent on vacation will be paid as of tomorrow when my payment gets applied. I love going to Disney and not having any bills when I get home because of it (yes I have the one bill, but as I said, I pay it in full once I get it).
Quote:
Originally Posted by manticorjenn
I am so glad to hear that things went so well at Epcot and BB. Looks like lots and lots of fun!!
It was a lot of fun and I'm glad you're enjoying my TR.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
What a great day! I haven't been to BB in a long time, I should really go back. I love that they now take pictures on the lazy river!
It was a great day. I too like that they take Photopass pictures there (and not just in the lazy river) but I know certain times of the year they don't so I'd hate for you to go expecting them and have there be no photographers available.
Another great day. We love the Princess Storybook Breakfast. Always filling and we have had great intereaction there (we usually see Ariel there as well). This was the first year we skipped it and at the end of the trip the girls said we need to make sure we get that on the list for next year.
Great fun at BB - we usually only last 4 hours or so at the WPs. We usually do them one or two days per trip but after a few hours we are usually ready to head out as well.
We really enjoyed the breakfast there so I think it'll be a repeat meal if it's still offered the next time we go. We too only do a few hours at the water parks - that's why we wait until the afternoon. By then we need a break from the heat and those that have been since WP opening are starting to leave making for a quieter park.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Huntermom
Sounds like another great day. i love the picture of Abby and lenny in your signature. To me it is a great daddy/daughter pic.
It is a really good picture of them - and I don't often get a good one with the 2 of them together.
Quote:
Originally Posted by elisa1006
Yáll really packed a lot in to your days! Love reading about them. BB looked so refreshing. We haven't been to a water park with the girls (have been too young IMO). Not sure when we will get a chance to, as I am hoping for 2015 early December for all the Christmas festivities.
Did y'all walk over to ASMO since it was so close? I understand what you mean about the lights! Love your "early" night at 10:30pm. Abby is a trooper with early mornings, busy days, and late to bed. For the first time, we are not planning mid day breaks on our next trip. It's in Oct so not near as hot as June, but the girls are accustomed to daily swims.. so we'll see how it goes.
As I said somewhere, sometimes it's by design, other times it just happens all the stuff we get done. You'll eventually get to a water park, especially with kids. I'm sure they'll eventually start telling you they want to go. That's how we went the first time, Abby kept asking about it.
We were in building number 10 at ASMu, so yes, we walked over (well Abby and I walked and Lenny used the scooter). From some of the buildings at AS Mu, it would have been quite a walk to go there but since we were so close, it wasn't bad. We didn't really even "explore" which could be why I didn't say how we got there or what we saw. We stuck to the main path and with the big icons, it was almost like we were at our own resort. I know, really - early at 10:30 - but for me, that was early all week. Most nights it was between 11 and midnight.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
You all really did a great job of enjoying BB.
We did. It would have been a disappointment if we didn't enjoy our time there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bee
Loving the trip report...
Thanks, I'm glad you enjoy my TR.
Quote:
Originally Posted by phoebec
Sounds like another great day!!!! Blizzard Beach sounded like fun. I think that is the park we are going with next year. Do you remember if there are other slides that more than one can go on at a time?
It was. At BB, there was the family raft ride and I know there are a couple of other slides where you can use a double inner tube and go down 2 at a time. I forget the name, but there is a "race" slide where I think 8 people go down at a time, face first, on a mat (it ends as a slide, not a pool of water) so that you could do as a family as well. I know over in the "tween" section, they had the small slides that adults were going down as well so that's always an option. It was single tubes but it was short enough you could stand at the top and see your kid at the bottom which was a very shallow pool. If my memory is correct (we didn't go to that particular section this year) the pool wasn't more than a foot deep, if even that deep.
I am another one who could fall asleep on a lazy river (if the kids would ever let me!)
I have always had a hard time with wave pools - sometimes I enjoy them, but especially when the kids were little they were more frightening than anything else and I found it hard to keep close to the kids. We had a waterpark open up near our home recently, and a lifeguard told me the trick - You need to be a little deeper - it's actually easier to stay on top of things and keep track of the kids. My problem was that I was always trying to keep the kids in where it was more shallow thinking it would be safer there... There is actually a painted mark on the wave pool that shows the sweet spot here. We are planning a trip next fall to WDW and plan to hit a waterpark so I'll see if they have done the same thing.
Wednesday morning, my eyes popped open at 5:30. I didn’t have to do laundry but I did wake up to wash out our mugs. I got Lenny up at 6 and Abby at 6:15. Today was our Tusker House breakfast at 8:15 and even though we’re close to AK, we still needed time to park and assemble the scooter. Plus with it being a morning EMH, I figured we would need time to make our way through the crowds. At 7:20, we approached the toll booths which all had red lights but only one was open. The rest were blocked off by cones. As we got closer, we noticed a sign that said "please proceed to your destination" so we drove through and parked.
Busses getting ready to roll out of AK
Once we got close to the turnstiles, it was a mad house . I made my way through as best as I could and asked a CM where the entrance for breakfast reservations were. She told me I had to wait in line with everyone else. I was not happy about that - it takes a while to get from the turnstiles to TH when you don’t have to wait for the masses in front of you so I figured it would take twice that (therefore making us late for our meal) to get there that day. Now had the CM told me that they start letting people through the turnstiles 15 minutes before official park opening time (that day 8 am for EMH), I wouldn’t have been so mad but she didn’t. I only found out about that when I heard music playing and I saw people entering the park at 7:45. I was happier then but when it was our turn at the turnstiles, I had a CM tell me to hold my card up to the Mickey Head RFID turnstiles. I told her we didn’t have that kind of ticket but she told me to try again. After standing there like an idiot doing what I knew wasn’t going to work, she finally asked another CM what to do as our tickets weren’t working (told you they wouldn’t). Someone else with some sort of scanner/tablet thingy (I’m real technical, can you tell) came over and moved us out of line and helped us out but what a pain that was. At least the other 3 parks (as of our vacation) had regular turnstiles that accepted our tickets. Even BB wasn’t that difficult for us to get in with only the RFID turnstiles.
Once we were finally allowed into the park, we got our maps and times guides, went to TH and had our pictures taken with Donald. Either my stomach had gotten much better than how it used to be or Disney is cooking much better now (less oils/fats) because I didn’t do any special dietary needs for myself this year and I didn’t have any problems at any meal. At TH, I went up to the buffet, took what I wanted and enjoyed breakfast. We all enjoyed it actually. Even the character interaction was good as always. The restaurant wasn’t overly busy so we finished early but Abby wanted to hang around for the parade so we had to sit and wait. The first one this year was at 9 but I could have sworn in the past they did them every half hour starting at 8:30 .
One of the details on the wall I thought was picture worthy
Abby was very happy to be in the parade and since we had already paid the check, we could just leave. Before we did that though, Lenny and Abby headed to the bathroom (I had already been when I finished my breakfast) while I waited at the scooter. While I was, Mickey came walking up to me, asking if he could use the scooter, I said sure but the handler told Mickey he’s not allowed to. He didn’t listen to her and sat down on the scooter anyway. What a riot that was - Abby came out of the bathroom and saw him and thought it was funny. Then when he went to get up, his ear caught the canopy and of course we all tried to help him out. Then Mickey was telling me that I had to call him so he could use the scooter again and I told him I would. Lenny missed it all but the interaction was just so fun. Things like that make the meals worth it IMO. When Lenny came out of the bathroom, I told him what he had missed and even showed him the picture.
A hidden Mickey Abby found in the pavement
From here, we did our usual ride of the Safari. I liked it much better without the poaching storyline but it seemed like every time the driver said he would stop for photos, he’d literally stop for a second and then go - there was not time to take photos (although I don’t know how Abby manages to do it - the pictures are hers again).
Several times, Lenny told me "Disney needs to put all these drives on a vehicle with cameras and have someone else drive so they can experience what the guests do." I agreed but after hearing it 4 or so times, I didn’t want to hear it anymore. After the safari, Abby wanted to go to Flights of Wonder. Even though we had to wait a little while, it was on our way to everything else in the park so we stopped for that.
These two are a training exercise they do only twice a day. They have a set of Macaws (Scarlet Macaws this time) fly from FoW to a trainer in Africa then back again. It was hard to get the photos but I’m happy with these two.
We saw it one other time and even though it’s the same show, it was still good. That’s not mentioning it was in the shade too. It was early in the morning but it was pretty bad out.
Abby wasn’t ready to do Kali or EE and Lenny wanted a cigarette so we sent him ahead to the Finding Nemo area while we got the only four pennies we hadn’t gotten at AK - the ones inside the Yak and Yeti restaurant.
When we joined up with Lenny, we went to Nemo where the CM told us we’d have to wait in the standby line even with the GAC. That wasn’t overly appealing to us (we didn’t want to stand in the sun) but the CM went on to say "there’s some shade and a fan over there if you want to wait there for about 20 minutes." We went "over there" where Abby sat on the ground and I went looking for something, anything that might help keep us cool. I found an ice cream cart and instead of having just the frozen strawberry lemonade they also have an orange variety. I got two of the Edy’s Dibs that Abby likes and one of the frozen orange for us to try. The Dibs were good but the orange was really good and refreshing. I was very glad I had gotten it to try. Not even 5 minutes after I got back to Lenny and Abby, the line opened up for Nemo so we put our snacks in our cooler and we got in line (what very little there was left of it). Instead of being directed to the lower entrance that we’ve used in the past, we were directed to the upper entrance which had us wondering how good of a view we’d have. Since the doors weren’t opened yet, we took out our snacks out again and finished the Dibs. The orange was a little too frozen and cold to be able to finish it so we stuck that back in our cooler when it was time to go into the theater. Despite being in the very back, the seats were pretty good - if anything, I think they might have been a little bit better than the lower seats as we could see everything. Nothing was too close to see well (the actors who come out into the middle for example) like it was at times when we sat lower.
Abby enjoying the last of the frozen orange slush.