My Best Trip Ever! A Disney Trip 10 Years in the Making - Page 23 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Thanks everyone for the safe Travels and the Welcome Homes. We had a really nice visit in England with my sister. It is always hard coming home and now I'm not sure when I'll see them all again. The jet-lag was pretty bad for Evan because he doesn't nap anymore so he is usually pretty tired most of the time. We didn't do much of anything special while there except we went to RichmondCastle. It was really nice because you could tour some of it and go inside and along the walls but they you could see the areas in ruin and just imagine what it was like to live there. The castle was constructed in 1071!! That is one of the coolest things about Europe. Everything is so old there. http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/richmond-castle/
Definitely something we can't get in the states - a fort maybe - and maybe 300 years old but something this old!!!!
Now on with the Disney Trip.
“Finally some time in Epcot”
Today was finally going to be some time in Epcot. I honestly don’t know what took so long to get here – oh, wait, lost keys ruined our first attempt at Epcot.
Today was also Bryson’s 8th birthday so Happy Birthday. He actually did wear his pin today.
Since Evan’s shoe died last night I was hoping to find a cheap pair of sneakers but cheap and Disney just don’t go together. I don’t think I found anything under $45.00. I just refused to spend that on a pair of “tennis” type shoes that had no support in them. He wore his bright green crocs for the rest of the trip. (I actually bought him a new pair at Target in February and he is wearing them now).
First order of business, FP for Soarin. I sent everyone in the direction of Test Track and I scaled Mount Epcot for our FP to my favorite ride. Then I huffed it over to TT to meet the (just arriving) rest of the group.
We went into the 15 minute stand-by line but only waited about 10 minutes. The boys loved it. We got off and Mom and I took Bryson and Gunner right back on. Christine stayed with Evan and let him climb in all the cars. The line showed a 30 minute wait now but I think it was more about 20 minutes.
We crossed over the park to use our FP’s and rode Soarin’. Evan liked Soarin’ and Test Track but when asked if he wanted to do again – he said no. Today I really wanted to eat at Beaches and Cream. I knew the place was small and we had 6 and they don’t ressies so I wanted to get there at 11:30 or so for lunch. We left Soarin and started toward WS by way of Figment. After our ride into Imagination (still miss the original version – why did they ever change that?) we started walking toward WS.
I was a little annoyed today. I had told Christine that today would be a lot of walking as Epcot in the largest park. She didn’t take her pain meds this morning so her foot was killing her. Seriously? I don’t mean to sound like a heartless-witch but if your leg hurts, you have medicine for it, you know you are going to be doing a lot of walking – WHY ON EARTH DON’T YOU TAKE YOUR MEDS? …So we get off Imagination and Gunnar throws himself on a bench – exhausted. He just can’t walk – oh the drama.
He mopes along a little and by the time we are in front of Canada I get Evan out of the stroller and tell Gunnar to sit down. Now G is a big boy. Way too big for the stroller and he is kind of squeezed into it. Christine is worried he is going to break it. I’m like – let’s just go. Gunnar then complains that the stroller is small and uncomfortable. I said to him
“Seriously, you are complaining about that? Do you want to walk?” That shut him up.
As we walked out of IG there was a boat almost ready to leave so we saved ourselves the walk and took the boat to the Beach Club via the Boardwalk. Does that make sense to cross the lake from the IG to the Boardwalk then cross the lake back to the Yacht and Beach and then cross the lake again to go to the Studios? I don’t know maybe there is some logic in there somewhere but I didn’t see it.
We get to B&C and there is a short wait. The boys go into the arcade and I think had time to play about 2 games before our buzzer went off. While being seated our server asked if we were celebrating anything and we told her 2 birthdays. “Well this is the place to celebrate” she told us.
I had really high hopes for this place I have heard the burgers were amazing – best on property. Let me tell you – what a disappointment. I got a pre-formed pressed patty like you would get at McDonald’s. I don’t know if this is normal or they gave me a burger off the kids menu? I really don’t know but it was sad. However, my No Way Jose Sundae really made up for it as that was awesome. I’d definitely go back to B&C but just for ice cream. I’ll stick to the burgers at the Rain Forest Café as that was the best burger I’ve had in a long time.
When our server brought out our ice cream she brought Evan and Bryson a balloon and had the whole restaurant sing them Happy Birthday! (that is #9 on birthday surprises).
After Lunch we walked back to Future World. Bryson and Gunnar had gift cards and they hadn’t spent them yet so we went to Mouse Gears and did some shopping. I managed to spend a bunch of money of a bunch of junk. But that is part of the fun of vacation right?
After Mouse Gears if was over to Club Cool.
We went in and I gave Evan a taste of one of the drinks, he liked it, gave me the thumbs up. Then I gave him another one. Thumbs up. Then as I’m pouring him Beverly this guy in a wheel chair come up and is telling Evan not to drink it. Normally Evan wouldn’t pay any attention to the guy but because he was level with Evan I was afraid Evan would listen to him. The guy is trying the “warn” me but really he was just being a butt-head. I felt like telling him to buzz off that I knew what I was doing. I give Evan the drink; he tries it, waits a second, not sure if I’m going to get the thumbs up…thhen I get the “OMG this is horrible face”. He spits it out and then asks for more of the one he liked (don’t remember which one that was). Then he was so cute; he takes the full cup up to the counter to pay for it. So sweet. I told him we didn’t have to pay, it was free. Then he was even more excited.
How cute Evan wanted to pay for his drink at Club Kool. LOL What is with the Beverly and the delayed reaction? My DD did the same thing, it took a couple seconds but you could see her face turn. It was hilarious! I caught the whole thing on video, I love it!
My fave burger so far is at Le Cellier. I have heard the one at Yak & Yeti is amazing too. I am going to RFC this year, and more than likely was going to get a burger...so I am now looking very forward to that! I am a burger girl all the way!
Once again, I just don't understand Christine-- no pain meds?? Over all, though, sounds like a really good morning in Epcot. Too bad the B&C burger disappointed. I've only had the veggie burger there and that's certainly nothing special. The service is always great there, though, and the ice cream! Evan trying to pay for the soda-- how cute is he???
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