Who Said Work isn't Fun - a mini TR to the World Completed 3/24 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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.
No email, but that is good to know. I found it strange that the CMs were just lost as to what to do, but again everything is a test so we took it in stride as again, the Fast Pass + was just an extra bonus as we were not planning to even ride to many rides.
Wow, that's weird, given we were only a few days after you. I think something must've gone wrong, because we were told by Cast Members that's what's supposed to happen. It had, but because our phone's not that great, I couldn't access our email until I got back to the room that night.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Wasn't the perfect start but I was determined to try to enjoy a little bit
Quote:
Originally Posted by JKnott17
I'm so sorry that your Epcot day was interrupted by a migraine, I hope that a little bit of rest in the room helped!
Really wish these migraines could schedule themselves on days when I have nothing to do....lol (as if those days every happen).
Quote:
Originally Posted by dutchdisneyfamily
What a rough start! I admire how much you got done with your head feeling the way it did. I hope the nap helped.
I felt so bad leaving, or not trying to enjoy at least a little bit but by the time I got to the bus I felt like death
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
I'm glad you got a wee bit of fun in before the migraine came. So sorry you had to deal with it though.
I was just so excited to be there, the migraine was such a thorn in my side, I tried pushing through but there comes that point where I just needed darkness and a bed.
October 26th - Part Two - The Longest Trip to Epcot Ever
First I have to apologize that once again there are hardly any pictures with this post but I will tell you the next few days there are more
I also wish I could say that the nap helped but when my alarm went off I sat up and thought an ice pick in my eye would feel better than I did. Now I would have stayed in the room and just given up on the day but on my way back to the room Kim had text me to say she forgot her charger, her phone was dying, that I should lay down and relax and that she would let me know where she was so I could meet up with her. She did indeed send me two text, one that said she was at the Chase Lounge, the other...well to this day neither one of us could figure out where the iPhone auto correct said she was but I was hoping she would still be somewhere near the Chase Lounge.
I tried calling but her phone was completely dead now so I could not just abandon her in the middle of the World Showcase....I took another dose of pills, drank a little more coke thinking the caffeine mixed with the pills would finally bring some relief and headed off to rescue Kim from the throngs of the F&WF on a Saturday evening.
I did take one photo on my way to the buses....
An Epcot bus just was leaving as I got to the bus stop so I sat on the bench and went back to sticking my fingers into my eye sockets when I heard another guest say...there is the Epcot bus. I was happy not to have a long wait so the bus stopped, I got on and guess what....it was not an Epcot bus
Not sure if the guest just could not see or was wishfully thinking it was an Epcot bus but I was so out of it (between pain and drugs) that it was not until we were on the road that I realized we were heading to DHS
Ok not bad I thought to myself, I could just grab the boat which would take me to the back entrance which was where I had to go anyway and save me walking through the park, I mean it could have been an AK bus. I made my way off the bus and headed too....the longest boat line I have ever, ever seen. I mean there was at least 5 boats worth of people, the line snaking all the way back and around.
I could not understand why it was so crowded until I remembered for some reason DHS closed at 6 that night. Great the park closing crowds even though I have been at DHS at closing at it never seemed that bad. The only thing I could think of is that usually later at night the crowds have already tapered off a bit, but at 6 it looked as if the entire park was waiting for a boat.
I lasted on the line for about 5 minutes and I knew I could not just stand there. I felt so sick, standing would only have made it worse so what did I do????
I decided to walk...I know, I am in terrible pain and I decide to take a hike but at least I would be moving closer to my destination, and I figured a nice paced walk would get my blood pumping and combined with the drugs and caffeine maybe...just maybe I would start to feel better.
So I walked quickly, before I knew it I was at the Boardwalk Villa quiet pool, I walked through the Main Pool, headed to the Boardwalk and continued on my way to the back entrance of Epcot all the while thinking that if I should just pass out from the pain I would probably get trampled on as I could not get over the crowds.
Wall to wall people and no one was moving, the food lines were so long, later Kim told me she waited almost 40 minutes for a drink and almost an hour for food....it was bad. Now I have seen pictures of the F&WF crowds on the weekends but this was unbelievable.
I made my way over the bridge to France (at a snails pace as no one was moving at all) and then in France some man who had too much to drink (ok he smelled like he had drank to much for a football team) almost fell on top of me. I am not sure if it was aggravation, the head, the pain, or the fear of being crushed by a very large, drunk man but I caught him, pushed him back up, he spun around and I do not know if it was that I was probably green by this point from the pain, or the fact that I really wanted to say...hey I know you are here to enjoy yourself but if you cannot stand up straight than maybe that should be a hint that you have drank too much, and if you fall into me again I am just going to watch you hit the floor and laugh, but he looked at me with a look of fear and apologized several times as I stomped away from him and fought the crowds to get to America.
I was happy there was no wait at the Chase Lounge (and even happier that I had remembered my whole wallet where my Chase card was) but I made my way into the Lounge, not realizing there was an elevator I climbed the Mt. Everest amount of steps (ok not that bad but at that moment it felt like I was climbing the Statue of Liberty) and once I ended up in the lounge and felt the cool AC and found something cold to drink (can I mention here I LOVED the coke machines) and thought how cool they should have there everywhere and sure enough I walked into McDonalds the other day by work and lo and behold the coke machines with there multiple flavors were there.
So now I am enjoying the AC, drinking a cool drink and wondering why was I here (I think I was delirious at this point) and then it struck me...Kim, I need to find Kim and sure enough....there she was, finally able to use one of the complimentary charging stations and I was so happy to find her. I told her my story....she tried not to laugh as she was truly worried about me but I guess seeing me sweaty, green, and totally annoyed with the crowds outside come and tell her my journey that I took just to retrieve her from Epcot she just broke out laughing and so did I.
After charging the phones for a few minutes we headed out and she took me directly to the buses, I felt so bad as we were both so excited about the F&WF and this was our only day to visit, but besides the fact that she was hot and tired herself, even if I had been feeling better it was almost agonizing even trying to enjoy ourselves so she said she had eaten, done some shopping and ready to go.
I knew that she was also trying to make me feel not so bad but I did...but then as we walked past Germany and I saw two young kids watching their mother trip over herself with a beer in her hand and someone else's drink in the other I suddenly realized that I think Kim was right.
As much as I wanted to enjoy the F&WF, a Saturday night at the end of the festival was not the day to do it so I said goodbye to what I thought was my only glimpse of the F&WF (and that wonderful list I had prepared on all I wanted to try) and we left
We got to the buses, got off at the first stop now that I figured out where our room was, however I guess in my agony when I got off the bus earlier I got us totally lost which again brought laughter and soon we found our room where Kim told me to lay down, she got me a hot compress and I laid there for an hour where she made some calls.
Around 8 or so she whispered she was going to get dinner, did I want something. I sat up and the ice pick pain had subsided....only 8 hours after the headache started. I am sure many of you know that feeling, when the migraine even though it is still there the extreme pain finally lessens and you are ready to throw a party, like the black cloud had finally lifted.
I felt such a relief, the compress definitely helped. I still felt the headache there, but I suddenly could sit up, open my eyes...and the best sign of all I was hungry
I forgot that when we first checked in we stopped at the Rix Cafe and purchased Refillable Mugs, we figured this was a good time as any to try out the new mugs. However the machines were not always working, only once did it show me how many minutes until my next refill, or when the expiration date was. Guess we will check this off to testing. So we grabbed our mugs as we headed out since we were not sure where we were going to eat.
We headed out to the main building, at first we were going to see if they could take us at the Maya Grill but nothing called out to us so we headed to the Pepper Market instead.
After checking out all the different stations I ended up getting the Spicy Chicken that came with roasted potatoes, roasted vegetables and corn bread.
Ok it definitely would take me some getting used to in terms of counter service here. We went to get our food, the server saw we had our cups so she brought us sodas, then we went to the line to check out....so the whole idea of paying the "service fee" since the server got us soda seemed strange, also that the counter service is only open at certain hours. True the Rix Lounge is open from 6 AM - Midnight but the offerings there are so limited.
I kept thinking of the Riverside Mill at Port Orleans, how much I loved that you could always get something at anytime of the day from 6 AM - 11 PM, or the Mara that was open until Midnight, but then when you are at the Boardwalk, you are very limited with counter service as well, or at OKW which we tried this summer, the counter service there is also very limited and not open late.
But back to the dinner at hand....it was really good, so much so that I had the chicken again later in the trip
Once we finished dinner we headed over to the store to take a look around.
We checked out the magic band gear, but no purchases were made tonight.
We refilled our cups and headed back to the room. I was feeling so much better but did not want to take any chances. We had a busy day tomorrow as we were headed to the Magic Kingdom and then we had the MNSSHP later in the evening.
We watched a bit of TV and I played a few rounds of Candy Crush, took another pill just as a precaution and soon we were both sound asleep.
I cannot believe you were able to carry on through that much pain - my goodness, you are a trooper. I felt so much for you reading your description of how you felt that night. And I tell you, reading that, I know we 100% did the right thing avoiding Epcot on a Saturday night during Food and Wine!
Gosh Meg, you are such a trooper! I'm sorry you were still feeling so poorly and that Epcot was an absolute mess. Glad the migraine has finally passed and you were able to get out and get some food! I hope tomorrow is a much better day!
I have no idea how you did that journey! I think I'd have just sat down on the pavement and cried at the sight of the long boat line at DHS. Good thing you found Kim and you could both laugh at the situation. I know those weekend crowds at F&WF and there really is no point to trying to attend the festival on those days. The only thing worse than a heavy crowd at a park is a drunken heavy crowd. What a relief that the pain finally lifted and you could have some dinner.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
I have migraines too, so I feel you. I have no idea how you kept going though. I am totally out of commission when I get mine, even with medicine. You are definitely a trooper! Then to have to mess with the weekend F&WF crowds, wow!
I know that the F&WF is chaos on a Saturday, but add to that your migraine. I don't know how you did it and could still laugh. So glad you were feeling better by dinner time. Hope that migraine is the only one for this trip.
I cannot believe you were able to carry on through that much pain - my goodness, you are a trooper. I felt so much for you reading your description of how you felt that night. And I tell you, reading that, I know we 100% did the right thing avoiding Epcot on a Saturday night during Food and Wine!
It really was so unbearable at the F&WF, if we head there again during that time a weekend will definitely not be on the list
Quote:
Originally Posted by xwewhisper
Wow I'm so sorry you had such a rough day, but thank goodness for understanding friends!
I honestly don't mind drunk people at Epcot at all, until they are there with their kids! It's a shame you saw so much of it in such a short time
I totally agree, hey if you want to enjoy yourself that is fine, but with so many kids around, you would think people would try a little better in how they handle their liquor, the man who almost fell on me, I kept thinking what if I was a kid or a mom and a carriage behind him. And the ones with their kids...the two little ones with their mom, I think they were ready to cringe, they just kept trying to keep up with her but it was almost as she forget she had kids with her.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Gosh Meg, you are such a trooper! I'm sorry you were still feeling so poorly and that Epcot was an absolute mess. Glad the migraine has finally passed and you were able to get out and get some food! I hope tomorrow is a much better day!
When I finally sat up and realized that the knife sharp pain had dwindled I was ready to dance....LOL, once I ate I started feeling even better.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
I have no idea how you did that journey! I think I'd have just sat down on the pavement and cried at the sight of the long boat line at DHS. Good thing you found Kim and you could both laugh at the situation. I know those weekend crowds at F&WF and there really is no point to trying to attend the festival on those days. The only thing worse than a heavy crowd at a park is a drunken heavy crowd. What a relief that the pain finally lifted and you could have some dinner.
Laurie I will tell you that at one moment I thought laying on the pavement and just giving up was the way to go when I saw that line I was ready to cry, all I wanted was to find Kim and then head back to the hotel and climb under a dark blanket and pass out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by disneydreamer33
I have migraines too, so I feel you. I have no idea how you kept going though. I am totally out of commission when I get mine, even with medicine. You are definitely a trooper! Then to have to mess with the weekend F&WF crowds, wow!
If it wasn't for the fact that Kim was stuck at Epcot, the I could not call her to tell her I was not returning I just knew I had to push myself, when I finally found her she could not believe that I made my way all the way back feeling as I did. She also gets migraines so she definitely understood.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
I know that the F&WF is chaos on a Saturday, but add to that your migraine. I don't know how you did it and could still laugh. So glad you were feeling better by dinner time. Hope that migraine is the only one for this trip.
I think laughing was my only way to stop myself from crying. All I wanted to do was curl up and make the pain stop.
About This Page: 
PassPorter Guide Author
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
And I tell you, reading that, I know we 100% did the right thing avoiding Epcot on a Saturday night during Food and Wine! 
Liz 
Linear Mode
