Take Me Out to the Mouse House **Updated 4/24** COMPLETE - Page 15 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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I like Sonic for breakfast the most...and of course I get a cherry limeade to go with it. Sadly there are no Sonics here so I only get to enjoy them when I am traveling.
Glad CC did well for you, last night was a rough night for him but it's still really early.
Your pictures of the guys were great! Thanks so much for sharing them. It's got me excited for our first game of the season.
We also have no Sonic nearby, so often will stop when traveling. Your Suite looked good. I'll have to remember to look into those rooms for future travel. Looks like the weather was great for your game and fireworks. How neat to have a celeb throw out the first pitch!
Might be a Heather thing. I'm a life-long Cubs fan.
It must be, since I grew up in a Cubs household. Alas, I married a White Sox fan, as did my sister. Poor Dad....
What's DH's second favorite team? Anyone playing the Yankees!
Besides that, PSha, I'm really enjoying your TR, so hurry back with more.
Wow, Yankees AND Richard Gere!! What a night!
We have the "Baby Yankees" in my backyard. If one of the big Yankees gets hurt, we're always wondering if they'll come here and play before they get back in the lineup again!
Okay - I would have been happy with just Richard Gere!!
I'm more a Strawberry Limeade Slush kind of girl!! I can totally make a meal out of a large drink.
Great first day!
The room at ES was super nice and I will just say there are sonics all around here and i love me some footlong hotdog with tater tots and a big drink because they have the best ice there is around
Yes! I always thought it was weird that I was an ice fan. Glad I'm not alone.
Quote:
Originally Posted by claytrgtshooter
I'm a big fan of the peanut butter and chocolate shakes. We have three sonics within 3 miles of home. Anybody want me to do a drive thru??
The shakes! Wish I could take you up on that!
Quote:
Originally Posted by HiddenMickey
We also have no Sonic nearby, so often will stop when traveling. Your Suite looked good. I'll have to remember to look into those rooms for future travel. Looks like the weather was great for your game and fireworks. How neat to have a celeb throw out the first pitch!
Actually, there was an even bigger celebrity at the next game! Details coming soon!
Quote:
Originally Posted by BeckiO5
Sharon, how cool is that Richard Gere throwing out the Ceremonial First Pitch Is he still good looking?
Richard Gere is still looking good.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HeatherD
What's DH's second favorite team? Anyone playing the Yankees!
Quote:
Originally Posted by pparm
Wow, Yankees AND Richard Gere!! What a night!
We have the "Baby Yankees" in my backyard. If one of the big Yankees gets hurt, we're always wondering if they'll come here and play before they get back in the lineup again!
Paula
That's cool! One of the reasons I enjoy spring training so much is because you're so much closer to everything. It's the same with the minor league teams.
Quote:
Originally Posted by travismom
Okay - I would have been happy with just Richard Gere!!
I'm more a Strawberry Limeade Slush kind of girl!! I can totally make a meal out of a large drink.
Great first day!
I can absolutely make a meal out of the Sonic drinks. If you check the pictures of my suite, you'll see I was still working on my large drink. If I had a Sonic nearby, I'd go all the time just for a drink.
Next update coming right up!
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
Day Two – Saturday, March 27 “Now Batting, Mickey Mouse!”
I was up at about 6:30, which is surprisingly late for me, particularly on my first morning. I got dressed and headed down to breakfast. There was a nice selection but I ended up with some fruit, a waffle and grits (which is sort of an odd combination, I guess, but I can’t pass up the grits since I can’t get them up here ). There was also an omelet station, but I’m not a big egg eater.
Back in my suite, I decided to watch something on my portable DVD player and discovered that it was broken. The on/off switch doesn’t work anymore. I can’t even blame the airline, because it was in my carry on bag. I guess I’ll have to watch stuff on my laptop, which I hate because the battery doesn’t last as long.
I packed up and checked out and then went over to DB’s to wake everyone up. We spent the time gabbing and gossiping (mostly about their neighbors, who asked them to bring a bunch of stuff to the barbecue they weren’t even sure they were going to attend – the nerve! ).
I left for Orlando at about 11 and arrived at the WWOS at about 12:15. There was a big traffic jam, but I managed to get parked without too much trouble (and it was free – much better ). It wasn’t far to walk, but I decided to get the parking lot shuttle.
Before finding my seat, I got my usual (hot dog). I also get ice cream every game but more on that later. I have to have a hot dog and ice cream every game (which isn’t really all that pleasant when it’s only like 50˚). It’s traditionnot superstition. turns counter-clockwise in a circle 3 times, raises left foot for exactly 9 seconds
I was surprised to see a big portion of the crowd wearing Yankees stuff. I’d say the split was about 50/50, perhaps even 60/40 (with more Yankee fans). I was worried about being in the middle of a bunch of Braves fans, but I was actually in the middle of a bunch of Yankees fans!
I thought Richard Gere throwing out the first pitch the night before was a big thing. Well, today MICKEY MOUSE and some kid, good for him threw out the first pitch!
Mickey looks so cute in his uniform!
The game was a lot of fun! The stadium is really nice and the seating is good (no worry about fatheads sitting in front of you). There were a lot of giveaways between innings for golf and other recreation-type stuff at the resorts. I didn’t win anything, though.
You can’t see Derek’s face, but I enjoy seeing him from this side too
And for all you Johnny Damon (non) fans out there.
The Yankees won that game too! I didn’t get my ice cream during the game like I usually do because I’d heard about something only available at the Wide World of Sports Café.
It did not disappoint. It’s definitely not worth a special trip, but if you’re going to be there, I’d recommend stopping for some. I was going to walk back to my car, but I wasn’t sure how to get to it! I knew which parking lot I’d parked in, I just didn’t know which way to walk to get to it. So I got the shuttle and by the time I got there (after finishing my ice cream ) some of the traffic had cleared out.
I drove to SSR and checked in. I hadn’t made any room requests, figuring even if I was really far away from everything, I had a car for most of the time. I ended up in the Grandstands section, which is the first stop on the bus and not too far from the Springs, where all the action is (main pool, restaurants, check-in).
I had a room overlooking the golf course and Treehouse Villas, so I took a few pictures.
After getting ready for a night at the parks, I walked down to the bus stop, figuring it would be too much trouble to drive to the MK. A bus arrived shortly and I was arriving at the MK in no time. I needed to renew my AP, so I turned in my voucher and got a new WWYC ticket.
Goofy!
I knew because of how late it was that there probably weren’t any Space Mountain FPs left, but I walked over there to check anyway. I was right, there weren’t any more FPs. I decided to get a BTMRR FP, so I took the walkway to Toontown and hopped on the train.
By the time I got to Frontierland, I was distracted by my growling tummy. I’d heard that the burgers at Pecos Bill’s are supposed to be among the best on property, so I headed in. When I was ordering (at the self-serve kiosk) I strongly considered the chicken salad, but then I decided I needed to get the burger. Since I was on the DP, I also got dessert (pudding – which is technically the kid’s dessert). I was also surprised to see that “sweet tea” has been added to the drink lineup, so I got that as my beverage.
I have to say I was very disappointed. Perhaps if my burger had been hot it would’ve been better. Best on property? No way. Also, the “sweet” tea isn’t really all that sweet. For me, if I want tea, I want it to be “sweet,” or “unsweetened.” I don’t think it was sweet enough, personally. I wasn’t really thrilled with Pecos Bill’s and probably won’t rush back there. I was happy to get cheese sauce for my fries, though.
After filling my belly, I walked over to Adventureland and sat and people watched for a while. I didn’t feel like doing anything other than just sitting around and enjoying being in my happy place.
After a while, I gave myself a mental kick in the pants and decided to get moving. I was near POTC and that usually doesn’t have a long line (waits were pretty long in the 45+ minute range for the headliners). Pirates only had a 10-minute wait, though.
I walked over to LS to check out the wait on the Haunted Mansion. It was 30 minutes. I decided to walk through Fantasyland since Spectromagic was blocking any other way (does anyone else besides me find it funny that Disney celebrated Earth Hour by running Spectromagic? Just me? Never mind, then. )
Fantasyland was pretty crowded, but it’s a small world only had a 10-minute wait.
As I came to the end of the ride, the clock struck 8:30.
I wanted to see Philharmagic, and I knew that rarely had a long line. I was especially happy not to have to wait too long in the lobby. I also know you’re all sick of hearing me complain about it, so I won’t say a word about how I think Philharmagic desperately needs a preshow. Wait.
When I got out of Philharmagic, Wishes was just about to start, I quickly made my way around to the side of the Castle (near Cosmic Ray’s) and watched for a bit. It wasn’t really the best spot, so I decided to try to watch another night and instead spend that time riding stuff.
Space Mountain was still long, but there was something else I needed to do since it would be down my next few trips – the TTA. I hopped aboard and had a whole car to myself, and then stayed right on for a second spin around Tomorrowland.
By that time it was getting close to when I needed to find a spot for Spectromagic, so I got some popcorn and headed for Main Street. I usually prefer to watch parades in Frontierland/Liberty Square, but I was planning on heading out of the park right after the parade ended, so I walked down Main Street. I didn’t have any trouble finding a good spot (the beauty of being a solo traveler).
I munched on popcorn until the parade started.
Once the parade ended, I headed out to catch the bus back to SSR. I was ahead of most of the crowd, so I stepped onto a waiting bus which pulled out shortly thereafter.
Back at the resort, I got ready for bed and the phone rang. I answered it. Nobody there. I hung up. It rang again. I answered it again. Nobody there again. I hung up again. It rang again. I answered it again. This time I could tell that there was something wrong with the handset. I hung up. It rang again. I finally got smart and used the speakerphone. Success! It was a CM in Bell Services calling to confirm that I wasn’t waiting for any bags from DME. The phone was plugged in and everything, so I’m not sure why the handset didn’t work. Just another of those weird things that happened this trip. And I just realized that I never reported it.
I was asleep about 38 seconds after hanging up.
Up Next: A Rain Delay
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
What a great picture of Mickey in his baseball uniform! I it!
I love the pictures from your room at SSR! I am staying there again in May. I wouldn't mind that view!
Sorry about Pecos Bill's. I have only eaten there once and it was OK. In my opinion, the best burgers on property is at Beaches and Cream!
Your pics of Spectromagic are wonderful! I never get good pictures of that parade!
Great update Sharon!
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