VERY FIRST FAMILY VACATION-JUNE 21ST -JULY 5TH - Page 14 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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Sounds like a good day at Epcot! Glad you enjoyed MS so much. It's a ride where you either love it or hate it. I enjoy the non-spinning green side but the orange side makes me a little light-headed so I've given up on that side! Your kids look like they're having a great time in the parks.
OH girl you haven't seen nothing yet, one of the biggest is coming up next. I think it was just overload for her and she didn't know how to handle it. Once we took a break then came back, she was in a much better mood. I think the word is overstimulated but boy oh boy was she a little she-devil when she got in her moods. Your son may not be like that, she's a little she-devil everytime she gets sleepy so I wouldn't worry too much about it.
You haven't seen the devil himself until you've seen my son in meltdown mode. He may have those gorgeous blue eye and a sweet smile, but...he's a handful.
He's starting to outgrow naps and we're trying to reinforce the afternoon nap until after Disney. He's going to NEED it (and so will we!).
I love the Seas...the girls could spend hours wandering in there...I almost had to pull them out for our CR lunch. Love the pics with Bruce...and the kids being creative....adorable.
Sorry the rain cut the afternoon short again but I am glad that everyone got to ride MS and that your other half came out with a smile on his face...
Dinner sounded very good and glad you had a nice place to relax when the rain came down in buckets...
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We woke up ate a really hearty breakfast of pancakes sausage and eggs then got ready for Typhoon Lagoon. We almost didn't go because of the impending rain again but I figured we'd just bail if it poured. We headed out there. It's a little farther than Hollywood Studios. Oh and did you know you don't have to pay for parking here? I don't know if I had information overload and forgot to factor that in but that's $11 added to my pocket. So we got there about 10 am, I know late again, and the first thing we did was find a place to lay our things. I love how they made the area around the wave pool like a beach with the sand and everything. Loved it. Ok so as soon as we found a place to lay our things we all jumped in the wave pool and began playing in the water. So we're just walking out deeper and deeper, all of a sudden we hear this ringing I think it was then WHOOOSH and what I saw made my eyes like saucers and had me running the opposite direction dragging kids behind me. sorry no pics, I didn't get my pictures back yet but the WAVE in the WAVE POOL was the biggest I have EVER seen. I'm still wondering if this is legal. My oldest son's eyes got wide for a whole nother reason. He's like I wanna go closer. I'm like oh hell no did you see that wave? So, my husband took him in and they rode the next couple of waves while I was biting my nails in horror. After playing in the water for an hour or so we decided to try the lazy river which was a lot of fun. The only drawback here is you really have to fight for a tube and I don't know if this is normal but I only saw one lifeguard the entire loop around. I could have missed one or two because we were having fun trying to catch up to each other and bumping strangers. LOL. My husband held my daughter, my Mom, one twin, and I another until they felt comfortable, then we put them in tubes we found just floating around. We stayed in there for a long time going round and round. When we finally got out we spotted Stitch! Of course we took a picture and of course I haven't gotten them back yet but trust me I will post them especially of the giant wave. My husband and son then went on the water coaster while we went in search of the mini slides for the kids. Ok, let me tell you how HARD this was to find. I'm looking at the map and thought I figured it out and nope it was RIGHT on the side of the wave pool but when we found it boy oh boy did the kids have FUN!! It was great and if you have smaller children, this little person slide will make their day. We met up with my husband and older son then went to the car and ate lunch. We went back and spent another couple of hours in the wave pool. It was really funny that everytime they would let loose the wave, my daughter would let loose a high pitched scream and demand someone hold her hand. And this is the time my husband thought it would be funny to DRAG me to the front of the wave pool in the way of the giant wave talking about yeh I'll hold you. Well me terrified is trying to get away until the wave let loose then I just shut my eyes and held onto him. Ok, I know I over reacted NOW but then I freaked out, almost drowned myself the water had receded but I'm sitting on the bottom of the pool like an idiot drowning. AND on top of it all, I had my glasses on and they went missing. Well he found them unscathed but then I wasn't talking to him well for a few minutes anyway. LOL.Oh you gotta try the frosty drinks at the bar. Yummy. I have to say we had sooo much fun at the waterpark. I can't swim therefore I'm not a big water person but I absolutely loved this waterpark and had a BALL!!! You will find that the day will fly by and we didn't even get on any water slides and they had plenty and we stayed until about 4:30 then left and once again as soon as we got back, the sky opened up so I cooked TACOS oh yeh TACOs and the kids watched television. We then did a little shopping later, purchased some autograph books and rain ponchos from Walgreens. F.Y.I. the parks now have these thin clear ponchos, I believe they sell for $8, don't quote me though. Well Walgreens have the yellow ponchos that are much more sturdy with the Mickey on the back, they have a pink Disney Princess one too and they are worth it. I didn't get wet AT ALL while wearing those things. Well, we made it an early evening because tomorrow was our early morning breakfast at Chef Mickeys. Now the breakfast was at 7:30, what was I thinking?
Up next...will we make our reservation?
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Not long now....August 22-August 28, 2011. Fort Wilderness Cabins!
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I'm enjoying your trip report. My son is 5 also and I'm having the same problems of him not wanting to go in the ladies room with me. I've gotten a few stares as I've been glaring at the men's room door waiting for him to come back out. It's nerve racking, but he knows the rules of don't talk or look at anyone and if anyone touches you to scream bloody murder.
What a great update!!! I've been to WDW over 40 times and have never gone to the water parks but you've made me see that I have to go on my next trip. Hurry back with more.
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Well I woke everyone up at the crack of dawn. No lie and we headed out early to Magic Kingdom to catch the monorail to Contemporary. There were no cars in the parking lot I believe we were the fifth one, no kidding. And we headed towards the Transportation Station or whatever they call it. Here are the kids very first monorail ride. We did request to sit with the captain but they already had a family waiting.
They did however score some stickers from the CM loading the monorail which made them happy. Although I thought we were early, we ended up getting to the resort at around 7:30 which made us on time which made us a little late for our 7:30 ressie at Chef Mickey
They gave us a pager and directed us to where you get your picture taken by the plate, well we got in line behind another family and as soon as it was our turn, the pager went off so we decided to go ahead and get seated and take the picture later.
LESSON NUMBER ? 3 I THINK: Do what you want to do when you see it, we said a million times we'd do something later and never did. Do it first or you may never do it later as in this case. We did not go back to have our picture taken. LOL.
Ok I know I'm going to get gasps of disbelief with this next statement BUT I really, really didn't like the breakfast selection at Chef Mickey's. I mean I guess it would have been alright if we only paid a few dollars for it but they raised it to holiday pricing so it was like $30 a person and I am sorry, it certainly wasn't worth that. I did however like the character interaction. Here are a few pics:
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Not long now....August 22-August 28, 2011. Fort Wilderness Cabins!
cont.
I think my daughter fell in love with Donald because he kissed her hand. She thought it was funny and kept laughing and giggling everytime she saw Donald after that even in a picture.
Too bad I didn't take a picture of when I got the bill...well this is what it looked like
I actually realized later that they charged Bria and she is 2 so that did make a big difference. Anywho, after settling that, we headed to Magic Kingdom. There were a LOT of families waiting when we came out and more coming up asking about availability. There were none so if you would like to eat here, make advance reservations. Also, this meal probably took us about two hours in case anyone is wondering how long it takes for each character to come over. I forgot to ask about sitting with the captain on the way back besides it was really crowded. Anyway, I sent my husband and son to start their adventure at Space Mountain and work their way around the "big" rides while we started where every toddler wants to start, Fantasyland. I will do a pictorial to show the rides we went on and you guys try to guess.
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Not long now....August 22-August 28, 2011. Fort Wilderness Cabins!
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I'm still wondering if this is legal. My oldest son's eyes got wide for a whole nother reason. He's like I wanna go closer. I'm like oh hell no did you see that wave? 
So, my husband took him in and they rode the next couple of waves while I was biting my nails in horror. 
After playing in the water for an hour or so we decided to try the lazy river which was a lot of fun. The only drawback here is you really have to fight for a tube and I don't know if this is normal but I only saw one lifeguard the entire loop around. I could have missed one or two because we were having fun trying to catch up to each other and bumping strangers. LOL. My husband held my daughter, my Mom, one twin, and I another until they felt comfortable, then we put them in tubes we found just floating around. We stayed in there for a long time going round and round. When we finally got out we spotted Stitch! Of course we took a picture and of course I haven't gotten them back yet but trust me I will post them especially of the giant wave. My husband and son then went on the water coaster while we went in search of the mini slides for the kids. Ok, let me tell you how HARD this was to find. I'm looking at the map and thought I figured it out and nope it was RIGHT on the side of the wave pool but when we found it boy oh boy did the kids have FUN!! It was great and if you have smaller children, this little person slide will make their day. We met up with my husband and older son then went to the car and ate lunch. We went back and spent another couple of hours in the wave pool. It was really funny that everytime they would let loose the wave, my daughter would let loose a high pitched scream and demand someone hold her hand. And this is the time my husband thought it would be funny to DRAG me to the front of the wave pool in the way of the giant wave talking about yeh I'll hold you. Well me terrified is trying to get away until the wave let loose then I just shut my eyes and held onto him. Ok, I know I over reacted NOW but then I freaked out, almost drowned myself the water had receded but I'm sitting on the bottom of the pool like an idiot drowning. AND on top of it all, I had my glasses on and they went missing. 
Well he found them unscathed but then I wasn't talking to him well for a few minutes anyway. 
LOL.Oh you gotta try the frosty drinks at the bar. Yummy. I have to say we had sooo much fun at the waterpark. 
I can't swim therefore I'm not a big water person but I absolutely loved this waterpark and had a BALL!!! You will find that the day will fly by and we didn't even get on any water slides and they had plenty and we stayed until about 4:30 then left and once again as soon as we got back, the sky opened up so I cooked TACOS oh yeh TACOs and the kids watched television. We then did a little shopping later, purchased some autograph books and rain ponchos from Walgreens. F.Y.I. the parks now have these thin clear ponchos, I believe they sell for $8, don't quote me though. Well Walgreens have the yellow ponchos that are much more sturdy with the Mickey on the back, they have a pink Disney Princess one too and they are worth it. I didn't get wet AT ALL while wearing those things. Well, we made it an early evening because tomorrow was our early morning breakfast at Chef Mickeys. Now the breakfast was at 7:30, what was I thinking? 
Dreams, Wishes, Hopes... these are the parts of childhood we should never lose.
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