It's going to be an "Incredible Summer" - Page 17 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
I can’t believe how many rides you did in Toy Story Land!
But I know what you mean about the heat! And It really is unbearable with no shade.
We did a lot in the part of the park in general. The heat was pretty bad this year and in Toy Story land in particular it was even worse. We did the best we could though to not let it get us down. This was the first year that I actively used the cooling towels and made sure they stayed wet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great day at the Studios, and a fairly early night !
It was a great day and yes, a fairly early night. Looking back we probably should have had more of them.
Wednesday was yet another early morning for me. I woke up at 5:30 and not only was I tired, I was also cold. I still went about getting ready for the day but I did end up putting on the sweater I brought with me. Lenny I got up at 6 and Abby 20 minutes later. They got ready and we were on our way to the TTC at 7. It took us no time to get there and get the scooter together and as we got closer to the main area, there were no lines no waiting - for anything. We got right through security and as we headed up the resort monorail ramp - again the only transportation option today - one pulled into the station and we were able to get right on. We arrived at the Magic Kingdom at 7:26. That was a record for us. More often than not it takes closer to 45 minutes to get from our room to the Magic Kingdom. I probably shouldn't have been so surprised we were so early. I did move our Be Our Guest ADR after all. If I had left it alone, we probably would have been later.
This morning we had to get in line way over at the left touch points as only the people with breakfast ADR's were being let into the park that early. We got a wheelchair and then took the time to get some pictures. The Halloween decorations were out and they're not something we've ever seen before (we have in pictures, just not in person). After our pictures were taken, we went inside the Emporium to see what, if anything, they had out for Halloween Merchandise. Unfortunately they didn't have anything except Nightmare before Halloween things - we did ask. That being the case, we walked through the nearly empty stores - we were the only guests, all the other people were CM's - and exited down at Casey's. Even with all our miscellaneous stops, we were still at Be Our Guest by 8:10. We were let right in, we had breakfast - we all had the Feast a la Gaston that I had pre-ordered - and at 8:50 we were leaving the restaurant. The park still wasn't open so we had to wait by the carousel for the cast members to walk us to our next destination - Peter Pan. Close to the end of the opening show (it could be heard clearly in Fantasyland since there were no crowds) the cast members started walking us to the ride. We were on and off it in no time and actually over in Small World on the wheelchair boat at 9:09. After " the happiest cruise that ever sailed," we left Lenny in the shade so Abby and I could go back to use our Peter Pan Fastpass. He didn't feel like riding it again.
From Peter Pan, Abby and I went to ride the carousel. As we waited, we saw Anastasia and Drizella riding on it. How lucky was that for the families they rode near? The carousel stopped and they got off - probably to go to their meet and greet area - but how cool to see something like that. After our spin on the carousel - it seemed longer than usual - we went back for Lenny and then got in line for Philharmagic. It was only 9:49 at this time. We got inside the theater and as we watched it, I realized it was the first time all vacation I stayed awake during the entire show. From Philharmagic, we moved over to Winnie the Pooh. It was too early for our Fastpass but with only a 25-minute wait posted, we decided to do the standby line. We were on the ride in 12 minutes so it was worth it to get in line.
After visiting the Hundred Acre Wood, Abby wanted to still use our fastpasses and ride again. Lenny wasn't up for that so we left him to wait at the scooter. Abby and I scanned our MB, got in line and made it to the final stretch of the line and we stood there. And we stood there. And we stood there. After standing there for a while (yeah I know, I had other wait times written down but not this one) we noticed everyone in the standby line was leaving. Then we noticed a group of people walking out of the ride area. We don't know what happened in the time between our getting off the ride and getting in line again but the ride had gone down. The reason we were still in line was because the cast members were scanning the bands of everyone in that stretch of queue to give us fastpasses. We were told we could use them at any attraction except Mine Train, Peter Pan and the Mickey Mouse meet and greet. We were fine with that as we had saw Mickey Mouse earlier in the week, we had already ridden Peter Pan twice that morning and we already had a fastpass for the Mine Train. Once we got back to Lenny we told him what happened and then set off to Enchanted Tales with Belle. Abby wanted to see it and chose this as the attraction where we should use our replacement fastpass. Abby was once again chosen to play Maurice. I do like how it's not always just little kids getting picked.
From Belle, we went and used our Mine Train Fastpass and I was surprised at how quickly the line moved today. In my notes, I have that we were in the library at Enchanted Tales with Belle at 11:21. The show is probably 15 minutes long. After that, Lenny had to transfer back to the scooter then we went to the Mine Train and got in the fastpass line.
From there we went to the Little Mermaid ride where I wrote we were in line at 11:50. So yeah, the lined moved very quickly today. Over at The Little Mermaid, since we had used all our fastpasses for the day, I used my device while in line to get another Fastpass. Abby had me get one for Dumbo at 12:05. After our undersea voyage, we headed over to Storybook Circus. After a trip to the bathrooms, Abby and I went to Dumbo. As we waited, I used the device for yet another Fastpass. This time Abby wanted the Haunted Mansion at 3:45. When it was our turn at the front of the line, the cast member asked how many and I said "2 Dumbo's." Oops. I'm sure they hear that all the time but what I said certainly could have been taken a much different way.
After seeing not one but several elephants fly, we went into the gift shop to see if there was any Halloween merchandise out. There was some but nothing overly interesting. We did buy a reusable bag to bring back to the party with us for any candy we got and a Halloween shirt for Abby. Done with Fantasyland, Abby wanted to go to Tomorrowland. For days, Abby had been asking to get Edna Mode's No Capes just Crepes specialty dessert and now seemed like a good time to get one. While Abby went to get a return time for Buzz Lightyear, I got in line for the dessert. With a price tag of just over $7, I got only one for us to share. The crepe itself, even filled with Nutella, had very little flavor. The berries seemed good and fresh - Lenny ate almost all of them - and the ice cream tasted good. It wasn't something I would get again.
After having the new snack, Abby wanted to go to Liberty Square to see the Muppets again and then wait for the parade. It wasn't even 1:20 yet so I told her I had absolutely no intention of spending two plus hours in Liberty Square. I would do other attractions first so we went to Carousel of Progress. When we got out of there it was 1:50 so at that time, I was willing to go to the other side of the park. We got "our spots," we watched the Muppets then we stayed for the parade.
It didn't rain today but it still wasn't a full parade. The Sleeping Beauty portion was taken out. I wondered if it had something to do with MNSSHP that would occur two days later. From the parade, we used the bathrooms and then went to the Haunted Mansion. Even though it was still a few minutes too early, the cast member told us we could use our Fastpass times. The touch points turned blue but the cast member made them turn green. We visited with the 999 happy haunts but decided not to join them. We were hungry so we wanted to go to dinner instead. Columbia Harbor House is right there so that was our choice. We went in, got a table in the little wheelchair section - it was nice and quiet as we were the only ones in there - and I took out the device and ordered our dinner. I then immediately pressed "I'm here". Lenny got the fish and shrimp, Abby the nuggets and I got the pot pie. Everything was fine but I don't think any of us were overly thrilled with what we had. I know I wasn't.
While at dinner, I tried to get a new Fastpass but the device wouldn't let me get one for Lenny. I thought the cast member cleared them out for all of us at Haunted Mansion but he must have missed Lenny's. That's okay though as we were still in the window. We solved the problem by having Abby take his magic band, run over to the attraction, and just scan it. After she did that, I made a new Fastpass for Jungle Cruise at 4:50. When we were done with dinner, we went right to Adventureland to use that fastpass. After we scanned our bands, the cast member had us go into the wheelchair line. While we waited, I used the device to get yet another fastpass. I got if for Splash Mountain at 6:20. This time around the Jungle Cruise was better but Lenny said I ruined it. The skipper would start the joke and then I would say the punch line. He started calling me a mind reader. He even let Abby announce the backside of water. After we got back to the dock, we still had some time before our next Fastpass so Abby wanted to go see the Country Bear Jamboree. There was a guy on a scooter in front of us and supposedly he was on his own scooter. I know this because when he started backing up and almost ran into Lenny, his family made some sort of joke that you would think he'd know how to drive his own scooter. Then it gets even better. When the doors opened and we made our way down to the theater, the same guy slammed into the wall with the scooter. I don't mean he bumped into it - he slammed into it and hard. I heard him hit the wall from where I was standing - we stayed back away from him just in case. Good thing I guess. When we got into the theater, that guy and his family stopped at the first bench so we went all the way over to the other side of the theater. That meant we would be able to get out ahead of him.
Upon leaving Grizzly Hall, Abby wanted to go to the Sunshine Pavilion for the Tiki Room. We still had about 15 minutes before our Splash Mountain Fastpass window opened so that's where we went. Once in there, we encountered two more people who weren't very good ECV drivers. It made for interesting watching. Luckily they weren't close enough to us for us to be "in danger" of them hitting us. At the end of the show, we stayed back until they were both out of the building and away from us. We could now officially use our Splash Mountain fastpass as it was 6:17 so after a quick stop to use the bathroom, we got in line. I don't know what happened this day but when we got to the wheelchair line, we were something like 9th or 10th in line and it took almost 45 minutes just to get to the front of the line. It was hot and we were getting a little tired so I was getting annoyed by the lack of line movement. As we got close to the front - there was still one family in front of us - Abby started getting anxious. Either we made a couple of casual comments to the family behind us or I was talking with Lenny and they decided to join our conversation, I don't know which, but something was said and their comment was "well we've already been on this 5 times today." I bit my tongue and just turned my back on them. We hadn't even been on it once and we still weren't at the front of the line so that's not a comment I wanted to hear especially in the tone it was said in. That "we're better than you are" tone.
We finally had our turn at being thrown in the Briar Patch and when we came out, Abby wanted to go back to Tomorrowland and use our Buzz return time. After we parked the scooter and got Lenny into the wheelchair, we got in the Fastpass line which seemed ridiculously long. It started out front and went down along the side of the building towards Monsters Inc and then back to the touch point. It kept moving so it didn't take all that long to get through. Abby got another high score today and was very happy.
Monsters Inc, always a favorite of Abby's, was our last attraction of the night. Even though there wasn't much of a line, the cast member out front told us to go in the Fastpass line because it was easier with a scooter. We thanked her and went right in. Abby once again sent in a joke while waiting and even though we got a text back saying it was "monstrously funny" and they would try to get it into the show, it still wasn't used. Maybe one of these days they'll pick her joke. We left after the show and Disney had the "back" pathway opened and of course we went down it. I wanted to see what, if anything, they had out for Halloween. Only a few of the statues were out but not all. We finally made it back to the room about 9:30 and I'm not sure what we did or when we all made it to bed.
Once again, you had a very productive day. Sorry you had to deal with unskilled drivers. The guy running into the wall is funny, but a little scary too! What if that had been a person? S
Sorry Colombia Harbor House wasn't that good. It used to be a favorite of ours. We haven't been in a while.
A lot of nice updates and photos. You certainly are enjoying yourselves and having a great time in the parks.
__________________
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!
Once again, you had a very productive day. Sorry you had to deal with unskilled drivers. The guy running into the wall is funny, but a little scary too! What if that had been a person? S
Sorry Colombia Harbor House wasn't that good. It used to be a favorite of ours. We haven't been in a while.
Sometimes it's funny to watch the unskilled drivers to see what they do but it is scary. Some of the people who get them must not understand that they really should know what they're doing. Like you said, had that guy run into a person as hard as he hit the wall? We're talking CM's getting involved and at least a trip to First Aid if not somewhere else.
As for CHH, it's not that the food was bad. It wasn't really what I wanted in the first place and I think at least two of us were just getting tired of eating period. The heat didn't help either. We'll certainly go back though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
You certainly accomplished a lot today at MK! Great day!
It was a great day - and we enjoyed being able to see the Halloween decorations so it made it better for us.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
A lot of nice updates and photos. You certainly are enjoying yourselves and having a great time in the parks.
Thanks. We do have a great time at Disney and this second week was much better than the first so we really were having a great time by now.
Thursday, if you haven't already guessed, was yet another early day for us. I was up at 5:30, I got Lenny up at 6 and Abby at 6:30. We left the hotel at 7:30 and went to Epcot. We put the scooter together and made it to security. On Monday, we had the "everything must be put on the table" security guard. Today we had one who couldn't care less and barely even looked at what we had so by 7:55, we were in the park. It was a morning EMH so by the time we had the wheelchair, we could go to our first destination - the bathroom. That's not a destination? Well it's where we went first and then we made our way to TT except CMs stopped us at Innoventions and wouldn't let anyone past them. They announced due to a late night event (I'm talking to you Moonlight Madness people ), TT wasn't open yet.
We were there only a minute or two though before the CM's "walked" us to the ride. Quite a few people actually ran but we still weren't allowed into the building. That would finally happen at of all time 8:17 (it's Lenny's birthday and we see this number every single day somewhere). When it finally opened, it was no surprise to me that people went around us and did what they could to get in front of us. By the time we got in the actual queue by the sign, it was already a 30 minute wait.
When we got off TT, it was pretty much 9 and park opening time. There was no sense in trying to get anywhere before the crowds as they were now already there so we just took our time and went to SSE. It was a nice leisurely ride to start the day with. Lenny wanted an ice coffee so from SSE, we went to Starbucks. Just Like at DHS it took forever to get it but once I had it in hand, we went to Nemo which was our first FP of the day. When we got there, it was 9:55 so that meant in two hours all we did was ride TT and SSE and get an ice coffee! Luckily today was a "do whatever" day because I had no real specific plans. Good thing too because we didn't even have the itinerary with us. It was in the backpack when we left the room but where it went after that, I didn't know. Abby wanted to go back to the car to look for it but I had all the important information - FP times and our ADR time - on an index card in the basket of the scooter. I told her outside of those things, we didn't need the itinerary today. We could do whatever and go wherever. She seemed happy with that so we continued on. After we rode the Nemo ride, we went to Turtle Talk. While waiting, Abby said she wanted to explore the pavilion if we had time. It's something she loves to do and with our Soarin' FP time approaching we couldn't do both so I took out the device, and just like that, I changed the time to later in the day. I didn't write the time down but after going through all my notes, I must have gotten a 5:45 return time.
Once inside the theater, Abby once again sat on the floor and this time she was picked to ask a question. Today it was "where do you like to hang out?" I forget the full answer but I learned that wherever turtles go, the water has to be at least 70 degrees. After Crush, we explored the pavilion for about half an hour before making our way to the Land.
We had a lunch ADR to check in for at the GG. As we waited for our pager to go off, we got to talking with our server from our breakfast days before. He remembered us so came over to chat. I was bummed to learn he wasn't going to be our server again Lunch was good and the server we had was fine. Not as personable as Ryan but he brought out everything we needed or asked for. We also saw all the characters too.
After lunch, we all hit the bathroom to wash up but while I was waiting for Lenny, someone came up to me and asked if my name was Cindy. I told her no so she apologized and then went to sit back down. As we walked to Imagination, our next destination/FP, I told Lenny about the encounter and wondered if she "knew" me from the boards but didn't know my name our couldn't remember my Username. As it turns out, that was the case. After Imagination, as we were exiting the building, the same person came up to me again. This time she said "CinderAbby" which did get my attention. It was Meg and her daughters (MCC0313) We chatted for a minute and then went our separate ways.
Our way was to head to WS. Abby wanted to ride Mexico, see GotG, and see Sergio the Italian Juggler. Because the shows have set times, we stopped to look at the times guide first. No matter which direction we went, we were going to have to wait for something but I told Abby it would be better to go to the right and head to the American Pavilion first and end with Mexico versus the other way around. She agreed so to the right is where we went.
It was still the middle of the day so that means the sun was overhead and there was very little shade where we could sit at the American Gardens Theater. Knowing how much I burn, even with sunscreen, I thought to use one the extra towels we brought with us everyday to cover my neck and what it could of my arms. I might have looked stupid or odd but I don't care. My neck didn't burn to a crisp. We enjoyed the GotG show again and when it was over, we still had some time before Sergio would be out so I told Abby to go inside the American Pavilion. It would give us a few minutes of AC and we could also see the VoL which would help pass the time while we waited. Abby agreed. The show was shorter than I expected it to be but it's a good thing we didn't plan on seeing the America Adventure afterwards. The show was having difficulties with the animatronics and was closed for the day.
With nothing else that Abby wanted to do, we went to Italy. We still had a few minutes to wait so we sat in the shade as long as we could and when Sergio came out, Abby got up to watch him. Lenny and I still stayed in the shade and watched that way.
It was still the same show so we knew what to expect but Abby still really enjoyed it. After he left, we continued on to Mexico. Abby didn't want to stop for Reflections of China - I did ask - and she didn't want to ride FEA or see Anna and Elsa again either. What she did want to do was find out where the Vikings in Norway were going. She noticed them as they came out from the CM area and then she started to follow them. As she did, Lenny and I followed her. It was funny to watch all three of them. The Vikings, who pretty much "ignored" Abby, would walk up behind oblivious people and either bang a drum or blow a horn and scare them. Then they got in the FEA line but I couldn't really see what they were doing.
They finally got out of the line and walked around again. They did eventually stop to "let" Abby have her picture taken with them, one then poked through my bag (which was left unzipped) looking for food, and when I said I didn't have anything, they walked away. When they stopped again, we stopped too wondering what they were going to do this time. In Norway, they have CM's that hold a shield filled with pins for trading. Someone was pin trading and when the Viking saw this, they walked up, presented their own shield and then proceeded to put rocks on it. The person didn't trade with them though, I'm not sure why.
After Norway, we made it to Mexico where it had the longest line I've ever seen for the boat ride. The regular queue was filled and it extended back in front of the restaurant and then it looped back for a total of two rows in front of the wall separating the "plaza" from the restaurant. The line kept moving though and I don't know if we even waited 10 minutes (it was just Abby and I, Lenny didn't feel like riding it). Abby did everything she wanted to in WS so we now headed back to FW. Her only "must dos" at this point in time were to see Joy, Sadness and Baymax and then use our Soarin' FP. We got in line for Joy and Sadness at 4:02, for Baymax at 4:44 and we were at the bathrooms in the Land at 5:11 so overall, the two M&G's went fairly quickly.
It was just too early to user our FP so Abby wanted to ride LwtL first. We did our greenhouse tour and when we were done, we went to Soarin. We could now use our FP bur for some reason, the touch points turned blue instead of green. I'm thinking it might have been a little glitch because the CM looked at the screen, made the touch points turn green and told us we were all set. As we waited our turn to be told what "gate" to go to, Abby told us after we rode Soarin', she'd be ready to leave for the night and that's exactly what we did.
We were in the car at 6:40 (where we found our missing itinerary) and 20 minutes later we were back at the hotel. We went to the room where we got ready to go swimming and then we decided to go to AS Sports for dinner. Lenny felt like steak and he liked what they offered there better than our own food court. We drove over because we didn't feel like walking over. Lenny got his steak with potatoes and the mixed veggies (zucchini and summer squash) I got the lasagna with the garlic bread stick and the mixed veggies and Abby got her usual burger and fries. The only thing we took with us were our mugs so I didn't get any photos. We left the food court at - anyone willing to guess what time?? If you said 8:17, you would be correct. Like I said, it just happens. We don't plan on it. I just happen to look at my watch as we were leaving and that's what time it was.
Even though we could have stayed and used the pool there, Abby wanted to go back and use "our" pool at AS Music. I even went swimming for a change! We spent a little bit of time at the guitar pool when Lenny asked about the second pool We've never used it so he wanted to switch. We got out of the main pool which was crowded, warm and cloudy (Lenny didn't like that actually which is why he wanted to get out) and headed to the quiet pool. The piano pool, while warmer than the guitar pool, was much less crowded and really clear. For me personally, it was much more enjoyable. There were beach balls floating around so I used one to help keep me afloat (I can't float on my own) and Lenny was more relaxed in this pool Abby even had fun at this one. She got out and played ping pong for a while with some girls - one girl was named Sophie - and then when they all got back in the pool, they started playing with the beach balls. Granted, Abby would have (and has) done that at the main pool but I'm glad she could do it at this pool too.
In all, we spent about an hour in the pool before getting out. I think we would have been content to stay longer but we saw lightning in the distance. The pool didn't get closed which surprised us but between the lightning and Abby's new friends getting out (we think due to the lightning) Abby said she was tired and ready to go back to the room Back in the room, Abby went to bed about 10 and I turned out our lights about 10:30
Funny, but I thought the same thing. I have never seen these Vikings nor the pin board on the shield? Where is that kept?
I have seen a line for Gran Fiesta Tour- on our March trip it was crazy long and crazy slow. We too were looped several times outside the restaurant. There actually was a throng of people congested at the line entrance as it was near to the groups waiting for their ADRs for San Angel Inn.
You always seem to get so much done despite the crowds and you find some really cool encounters like the Vikings.
Even without your itinerary, it looks like a fun day! I can picture y'all shadowing the Vikings! How cool is that? I've never seen them before!
It was a fun day - and maybe a little more so because we left the itinerary behind (not on purpose though). The Vikings were funny. I think they were new this year, I'm not completely sure though. Abby spotted them and wanted to see what they were going to do.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cattailmarsh
Funny, but I thought the same thing. I have never seen these Vikings nor the pin board on the shield? Where is that kept?
I have seen a line for Gran Fiesta Tour- on our March trip it was crazy long and crazy slow. We too were looped several times outside the restaurant. There actually was a throng of people congested at the line entrance as it was near to the groups waiting for their ADRs for San Angel Inn.
You always seem to get so much done despite the crowds and you find some really cool encounters like the Vikings.
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
The pin board we saw the first time at the Anna and Elsa M&G - someone in front of us was trading so Abby wanted to trade. The second time we saw it was out on the main promenade again while someone was trading (and it could have been two different ones, I don't know for certain). I don't know if a CM carries it around of if it had to be asked for and we were just in the right place at the right time to see it. The Vikings, as I said above, I believe are new. I don't honestly remember if they were in the times guide or not. Abby saw them and wanted to know what they were doing. Abby has eyes like a hawk so she's the one who somtimes notices the other things to experience. I've always told her if she sees it and wants to take part, to say something. Thankfully she does now.
Mexico is funny how sometimes there's a really big line and others there is no line at all. It does tend to go quick though so no matter the length, we'll wait.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tcmary
Darlene, you look like so joyful on the Mine Train ride. It seems as though this trip is really agreeing with you!
Thank you. I really enjoy the mine train ride and by the second week, things were going far, far better so I really was happy and having a good time.
Friday the 17th was our last full day at Disney. It was supposed to be a down day so I could wash clothes and pack and so we could all just relax and do whatever before going home. Disney had other plans for us though. They released party dates for MNSSHP and today was the first one. We were still in Disney and it was Lenny's birthday so of course he wanted to go. We could afford to do it so I added it in. I didn't want to come home and regret passing up the opportunity. That meant my plans had to change some. Instead of sleeping in, I got up at 5 to do laundry. While that was going, I used my flashlight to pack what I could while Lenny and Abby still slept.
By 7:30 when my laundry was all washed and dried, the laundry room was starting to get busy. I was glad I started early. By 8:45, I had the majority of everything either packed away or organized for easy access later. I thought to lay back down to get some more sleep but I decided to turn on the iPad instead. I talked with Kate for about 20 minutes but then I had to close my eyes because I was so tired. I slept until about 10:30 and that's about the time Abby woke up too. I puttered until I woke Lenny up at 11:15. Then we just took our time getting ready for the day. We knew we couldn't enter the MK until 4 on the party tickets but we still left the hotel at 1:30. We didn't know how long lines would be anywhere so we wanted to err on the side of caution.
We got to the MK and through security with no problems so we headed to the resort monorail. Before anyone thinks this was our only option, it wasn't. We had originally planned on going into the MK at 4 and getting something to eat right away. As the day got closer, we changed our minds. We decided to go to the TTC early and hit one of the resorts for lunch first and then go to the MK for 4. It was still early so we had plenty of time to do this. As we made our way to the monorail, we saw a sign none of us were thrilled with. "Tonight's event is sold out." Really!? It was August 17th - over 2 months before Halloween and it was sold out? Oh well. There was nothing we could do about it but deal with it.
We made it onto the monorail and headed to the Contemporary. We all felt it would be easier and quicker to go there to eat and then walk over to the MK when we were done. The Contempo Cafe wasn't too busy so it didn't take long to order or receive our food. The roast beef sandwich for me, the turkey for Lenny and the burger for Abby.
It was all good and we enjoyed it. By 3:18, we were walking to the MK. When we got to security, we were the only ones there. They did make Lenny get off the scooter though and walk through the metal detector (it was the first time all week too that he had to do this). Lenny started to stumble and scared all of us and then the metal detector went off. I don't know if it went off because of all the metal in him, because I almost went through the wrong way to stop him or if the guard went too close to it in his attempt to help Lenny. Whatever reason it went off, Lenny then had to be wanded but it was all fine. There were 5 security people there (2 just getting there, 2 were leaving, 1 was staying) but everyone stayed and made sure Lenny was okay and that he got back on the scooter without any other issues. Despite the extra minutes it took at security, we arrived at the turnstiles at 3:31. I shouldn't have been surprised by the crowds waiting to get in but I was.
At 3:50, they started letting everyone in and after getting our wristbands and a wheelchair, we headed into the MK and the first treat trail We had a couple of pictures taken and as we were getting our bags and our first treats, Lenny's phone started ringing. I figured it was someone calling to wish him a happy birthday. It was actually mom - she had tried calling me but even with a new ringtone, I didn't hear my phone ring.
When we got to the end of the path, I moved over towards the Plaza restaurant to call home. Mom wanted me to know Quicksilver had called and that I needed to call back to confirm our pickup time. I've never had to do that in the past so I took the number, listened to the message she said was on my phone and called even though my message only said to call if I had question. I got a hold of Gregory who confirmed all my information and then he asked what time our flight was. When I told him, he said we were heading there really early which I did say yes, we were. I like to do that. He then went on to say that the driver who would be picking us up had a run to Port Canaveral that morning. He was wondering if we'd be willing to change our pickup time to 11:30 instead of 11. He said he didn't want us to have to wait in case the driver was running late due to traffic or whatever might happen. I appreciated that and since even with the later time we'd still be at the airport early, I had no problems whatsoever with doing that. Especially since it would give us an extra 30 minutes to sleep or eat or just go slow.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
]
), TT wasn't open yet.
Lunch was good and the server we had was fine. Not as personable as Ryan but he brought out everything we needed or asked for. We also saw all the characters too. 
We chatted for a minute and then went our separate ways. 
Us 
Linear Mode
