From a Panda to a Mouse and a Marathon along the way - Page 2 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I've never been to Legoland, sounds cool though. Sounds like you had a blast, except for the little one getting a little under the weather. Can't wait to hear more!
The day we decided to go to SeaWorld my husband’s older brother came down to the condo for a couple of days to visit with us at the beach. He loves his nephews very much but he is single and has no kiddos so I was hoping he could handle our brand of chaos in a theme park. It was also crazy hot and humid that day and that always adds a extra layer to the parfait of nuttiness to our family.
We drove down and picked up BIL at the airport and then headed right to SeaWorld! We arrived and headed straight to the Shark Encounter. It was very nice but not wonderful. My 3 year old wanted to climb in the tank with the “little” sharks (around 12 inches maybe) so that was pretty funny. Our little sharkboy! We had a meltdown on the way out so we decided an early lunch might help with that. Off we went to Mama Stella’s Pizza Kitchen. BIL and I both got Eggplant Parmesan and a side salad. We got pizza and fruit for the kiddos and Hubby got a sampler with Cannelloni, Eggplant Parm and Ziti. The Eggplant was good with nice crispy edges and a decent sauce. The pizza was fairly basic but just fine for my boys. The fruit was in season and very fresh.
The boys perked up and we went on to see the Shamu show Believe. As I said before it was very hot the day we were there and the amphitheatre kind of intensifies the heat. There was no breeze where we were sitting and it was miserable. Now maybe it is set up that way since so many people get soaking wet watching the show but we just sat and sweated in our seats. My youngest guy fell asleep in the baby carrier on daddy so I was trying to keep a very overheated 3 year old calm while we waited for the show to start. He had never seen a whale so telling him we were going to see a whale jump didn’t really help. Once the show started it was a huge hit. It was very well done show. Basically four small acts, one of which calls Shamu out to splash everyone near the first 6 rows. My son loved it so much and was going on and on about whales that we bought the video and he still asks to watch it everyday. My son is behind in his speech so I love when he finds new words get so excited about using them.
We checked out many of the other animals and as it got later in the day we headed over to Sesame Street Bay of Play. My boys had a blast. They played in the water a bit, my older guy found a bunch of bouncing type areas that he did not want to leave. We waited in line to see Elmo and he was so excited. Elmo was very patient and cute with him. Just after this we went back to the bouncing areas my 3 year old got out of our sight for just about 30 seconds, maybe a minute. All of you parents out there know that is a long minute when you surrounded by a crowd and can't find your little one. I can honestly say I was screaming my son’s name and not one employee even took a second to see if we needed help or ask if we were ok. I KNOW that if that happened at a Disney park we would have had a CM helping us immediately. As it turned out he had gone back by Elmo and he was fine. Scared me very badly as I watch the boys so carefully but it goes to show it can happen to anyone no matter how careful you are. After mommy calmed herself down we got ice cream and headed back to the nice air-conditioned car.
We had a good day and BIL did very well for a first timer! I loved doing all of the different parks and seeing everything but I was counting down the days to Disney. I was so glad we saved it for last but it was hard not to compare everything to the very best. Also during all of this time I was doing my final training push for my half marathon. I was getting nervous and stressed that I would not finish. I had never run in a formal race before and was not sure what to expect. I am a planner girl so to not know how things might go was very hard for me.
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Sorry it was so hot and that you lost DS like that. It sounds as if SeaWorld there is very similar to the one in Orlando, from your description of what you saw and did.
I remember that painful wait for the start of the Believe show in Orlando's Sea World as well. Not much to do to entertain the little ones!! But the show itself was outstanding, and I'm glad you guys enjoyed it!! I hear ya on the 1 minute-lost-child thing!! Scary. OK, now I'm really excited to hear about Disney!!!!
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
We pulled into the Grand Californian around 1pm. They upgraded us to a park view room with bunk beds. They were to text us with our room number when it was ready so off we went to DLR. My 3y old fell asleep in the stroller while we in line to register so we took a little extra time walking over to DLR. We went through security and went through the entrance lines. I did notice they did not do the fingerprint thing that they did in WDW and SeaWorld. As soon as we went under the arches we saw Mickey and people lined up to visit him. We were thrilled! We got in a fairly short line considering it was Mickey. My son woke up as we waited and we tried to keep him distracted so he would be surprised. Just as we got to the front Mickey needed to swap out, or as I told my son, go potty like a big boy (we are in the height of training with him) . So I was worried my son would get upset as he would only see Mickey leaving, but no, Mickey stopped in front of my son and kissed the top of his head! It was so sweet and cute. My son was in awe!
One of the goals we had for this trip was to get my hubby a Mickey watch. He broke his last one and never replaced it and it is hard to travel and keep kiddos on a schedule without knowing the time. I always wear mine but Hubby said he would wear one if it was Mickey. So we had a mission! We looked in the shops on Main St and actually found two, one casual and one more dressy. Perfect, he wore the casual one out and off we went.
We noticed right away the low low crowd levels. I had never seen it like that except in bad weather and it held out that whole day and the next day too!. The longest we waited in any line for these two days was a ride cycle or two. Crazy! Granted that all changed on Saturday (the third day)! We stopped and got a dole whip and I was so happy! There was no wait so we hit Jungle Cruise right there and afterwards I realized I was starving! We headed to Café Orleans to see what the wait was, since the crowds were low we had high hopes. Only 10 minutes, so it was a go. I had read about the 3 cheese Monte Cristo and the Pommes Frites, but when were in DLR last year Café Orleans was closed the day we tried for a private event. I wandered around looking in a couple shops and checking out pins a bit and we were called. I ordered the Monte Cristo and Hubby ordered the Gumbo and the Pommes Frites and spaghetti with fruit for our kiddos. Everything was super yummy and my 3y old even ate some of my sandwich. Cheesy French toast how can you turn that down?
By the time we finished it was almost 3:00pm so I was expecting a text anytime with our room number. I am a bit of an organizational geek when it comes to the boys especially and it bugs me until we are unpacked and I have our home base in order so to speak. We had booked our package through Cost_co so I looked in our coupon book since I knew we were getting a free pin and lanyard among other things. We needed to go to Westward Ho Trading Post to pick that up so off we went. I got my free stuff and browsed some pin bags and heard a woman asking about the “shoe pins” that she was trying to find all of. They had none. Hmmmm….
By now it was almost 4:00 and still no text so we decided to head back to the hotel and see what was up. They apologized for the missing text and up to our room we went. It was just as nice as our last stay. It took me a little bit to get us all unpacked and organized with the boys running everywhere. They were so excited! They love hotel rooms. My hubby put a movie on for them and we opened the balcony so we could enjoy the view and sounds of DCA. We only use the lower bunk for my 3 y old and our 16 month little guy sleeps in the pack-n-play they provide. I bring my own sheet for it so it fits better and it is padded, which is nice. We use the top bunk for a place to put thing we want the kids to stay out of like shopping and gifts for others and the things we get for them but want to wait on giving them. We only needed a few things like milk and such to stock up the mini fridge but we were fine for the first night. My stress levels decreasing now by the minute we decided to go out to Downtown Disney.
I had a coupon for 10% off of a World of Disney purchase and several other coupons as well. We did a big shop at WoD so we could make the most of our coupon. I found two of the “’shoe pins” that the woman was having trouble with finding, of course I bought them and knew I would be working to find the whole set while we were touring about. I also thought it was a nice nod to my running my race as they were all chuck t@ylor type shoes for different characters. We wandered around and decided to pick up dinner at Tortilla Joe’s and take it back to the room. My husband LOVES the Tacone with Carnitas so he was very excited. He had it last year and has been yearning to go back. I got the same but with chicken, the boys love beans and rice so we got it all and back to our room we headed. The boys watched a movie and we crashed early with the next morning being the day we wanted to use our Magic Morning early entry.
Stayed tuned for fun packed Day 2 including My first Race Expo….
Our boys must have known we were going to have a big day of fun because they woke up extra early and we got a good start to the day. We had some breakfast bars for them to tide them over until we were in the park and I had our daily bag of snacks set up ahead of time so all we had to do was get dressed and layer on the sunscreen and head out. I loved walking up to the very short Magical Morning lines and walking right in. We went over to Dumbo and did a double round of that. We did the carousel and then headed over to Nemo and walked right on! We decided to stop for breakfast at Tomorrowland Terrace, it is right across from Nemo and as we ordered breakfast the park was opening and the line for Nemo grew fast! We ordered French toast sticks for the boys and a breakfast burrito for my hubby and I to split with fruit and bacon on the side. The boys loved the French toast sticks but I do have to say the burrito was mediocre at best. No matter, we were having fun! The boys were having a blast just being there. We did several more rides and enjoyed the short lines. We then decide to try some DCA since our 3y old loves all things Pixar. Over to DCA we headed. He was/is in love with Heimlich so we did 4 rounds on H’s Chew-Chew Train. The last one I asked if we could wait an extra ride cycle to be in the front car so my son could hug Heimlich! We also did Flik’s Flyers a couple of times and quickly realized we needed to make sure our 3y old faced forward or it scared him. An easy fix! The 3D show It’s Tough to be a Bug was down so we did not get to try that. My cutie was just thrilled to walk around to look at the statues of Hopper and Heimlich and Francis. He wanted to go back to tell them all his 3 year old secrets again and again.
We stopped for lunch at Pacific Wharf Café. I got a bread bowl with the veggie chili and Hubby got their chicken salad. Both were good. My 3 y old was acting like he was very ready for a nap (ha-ha) so we headed back to our room. He was not willing to nap under any circumstances so but his brother was so daddy tried to wear him out at the pool for a little bit while his little brother nap with me in the room. Nope! We had a few things we needed to actually do this day. My hubby wanted to move our car out of Valet to free parking so we would only have to pay for one day. We also needed milk and more swim diapers a few other things so he took the little guy to do that. I on the other hand needed to pick up my race packet from the race expo at the Disneyland Hotel. So I loaded up the big guy in the stroller and headed that way. Wouldn’t you know it but he fell asleep as I walked with him through DD to the other hotel! BOYS! So I was not sure of where to go exactly or what all I needed to do, as I had never run in a formal race. Anyone who does give a rip about race information and gear might want to skip the next couple paragraphs.
I found the main expo hall with a bunch of people going in but the ladies directing “traffic” said to start downstairs to pick my packet and bib (the number to pin to my shirt on race day). So out and around I went to find the right place. It was cute as you went in this area cus they had it all decked out like the race with a track and mile markers and stuff. So I get in there and find the lines for ˝ marathoners. I waited in a very short line to get my packet and that was done with kiddo still asleep, yay! So then I look around and see a sign for pre-purchased race pins. Months before I had bought the two pins when I registered and I had forgotten until I saw the sign. The line was not so short. So I just hoped the kiddo would sleep. I took maybe 20 minutes to get through that line. Then I needed to head back were I started to pick up my t-shirt and goodie bag. This area would also be were many companies sell athletic and race related items as well give away samples and things, the Expo proper I guess. So I get back up and outside and the line is now all the way outside and around the back! There was no line outside before. You have got to be kidding! Ok so maybe friday was not the better day to go?
So since the kiddo was still asleep I headed in. The line -from you know where- moved quickly to get inside but them it wrapped around inside forever!! I did not time how long it took me but my guess is 45 minutes. Finally got my shirt (ugly IMO mind you) and my goodie bag. Then there was area where you could buy Disney themed race items, some much cuter shirts and visors and mugs and the pins I had already picked up. So I got the shirt and visor and jacket too! Heck this might be the only one I ever do, right? So amazingly my angel was still sleeping, thank goodness, but did not think I should risk trying to walk through the maze of vendors. It was not very stroller friendly (or the people more so) there and I knew I was tempting fate so I headed out knowing the expo was to continue tomorrow to when maybe I could bring hubby and have some back up. Just as we walked outside my son woke up and my husband texted me that he was back that the room and the little one napped more in the car! Could we have timed that better?
We went back to tour a bit more in DLR I found two more of the shoes pins but I was not sure how many there were in total and the woman I asked was not so cheery and helpful. She needed some magic in her day for sure, but I knew I would find out sooner or later. We then picked up pizza at Napolini and it was a big hit for the boys. It was super thin and crispy and that is older son’s favorite. My hubby got a completely unremarkable sandwich. He said to stick with the pizza! Bath time and bed for the boys as I got us organized for the next day.
This is my first trip report so I hope I am doing ok.
Stay tuned for fun packed day 3 and Expo the Sequel……
I'm loving your trip report - it's great. And yay, you're at Disneyland - I'm amazed you were able to walk on to Nemo - to me, that shows just low the crowds were. How awesome.
Good to know about the Race Expo, thanks. I'll be trying to get there right at opening for sure! Sounds like a perfect morning to be able to walk on so many rides. Awesome!!!
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
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We got up and going early again as I wanted to try and check out the Expo again with hopefully less of a crowd. The race was also offering a service where they can text or email family members (or anyone really I guess) with you status throughout the race. This way my hubby would know about when I am going to finish. I planned to text him myself as well but this would be nice too. We signed up for this and went inside. No lines to speak of. I totally should have just done the whole thing Saturday morning. Oh well live and learn! I got the chance to look at things closer, buy a gift for my trainer and get a bunch of freebies!
We left and stopped at The Coffee House for some quick breakfast items. Iced latte, yummy!
Our plan was to start in DLR and then do naps and then head to DCA. We wanted to make sure to find Tigger and his friends since our boys love them. We rode the Adventures of Pooh and then got in line to visit with Pooh and Tigger and Rabbit. The boys were so excited and we even managed to get a great family pic with all four of us with Tigger. My hubby really wanted to show our boys the railroad so we rode that all the way around the loop. Then we headed over to Bengal BBQ for a snack and then we did Swiss Family Tree house about 4 times as our 3y old loved it. Then we did a quick run over to Jungle Cruise and I got another Dole Whip, so good!!!
It was heading into nap time so I took the boys back to our room to get them settled and my husband stopped at Tortilla Joes for another of his beloved tacones. He grabbed me something too and we munched while the boys snoozed. I started getting my things together for the race the next day. I had a shirt made with a running mickey and “gotta run, gotta run….13.1” on it and I was excited to wear it. I also was trying to decide if I was going to bring our camera as it would require me to bring a pack with me which was much bigger then the small pouch I usually carry for my phone and jelly belly sport beans. The boys woke up and those choices would have to wait cus we had places to explore.
The moment we entered DCA my older son was asking to visit Heimlich again so off we went to do the Chew Chew Train again (and again). We toured Bug’s Land again and then headed over to check out the Monsters Inc ride. On our way there we walk past the Playhouse Disney Live show and wondered if it included Handy Manny. We asked and it did, we guessed we could do it after Monsters Inc based on the start time. Monsters was very cute and my 3y old LOVED the room with all the doors flying around. We did it twice because for whatever reason there was no wait. Oddly the CM loading people on the cars was very rude saying we all needed to hurry and rush. I thought it was odd as there was no line and hello, we have small kids, I can only go so quickly. He must have been having a bad day. We walked over to the playhouse show and off in the distance I saw a familiar set of ears....Mickey!!! We waited in a short line and we got some great pics along with hugs and kisses for my boys. We had to hurry to get to the show at that point and we made it just as they closed the doors. It was really well done for those who watch Mickey’ Mouse Clubhouse and/or Little Einsteins and/or Handy Manny and/or My Friends Tigger and Pooh. My boys watch three of those so they were in heaven. They wanted to do it again but it was the last show if the day.
I did some shopping and some pin trading and then I had to get back to finish getting ready for the race and to try to get to bed early as I had to get up around 4:15am. Ouch!! We swung by the quick service area White Water Snacks by our pool and got a pasta salad and a couple sandwiches and few other things for all of us to eat. We let the boys watch a movie while I got things ready and organized for my very early morning. My nerves were sky high at this point and I was wondering whose brilliant idea it was for me to try and run a ˝ marathon!
Stay tuned for Day Four including the Happiest Race on Earth….
I'll keep that in mind to early on Saturday morning to the Expo! I remember those nervous jitters. Sounds like it was a nice relaxing day though, and that's important before the race!!!
__________________
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com