10 Nights of Magic in The Orlando Trifecta-TR - COMPLETE!! 12/10 - Page 24 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 really hope you got to sleep in the next day. What a long day that was! HHN looks like it could be a lot of fun for someone that doesn't mind being scared (I'm not that person :wink: ) I'm looking forward to your Sea World day as I haven't been there since my senior trip in high school.
I'm hoping so too! I enjoyed it so much and don't mind the scares as I know it's not real! Sea World will begin in my next update.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tara O'Hara
What a fun ending to your night!! I love that t-shirt!! I sure hope you get a good nights sleep!!
I enjoyed the rest of my experiences after the tour! I love the shirt as well and wear it often! It should be very easy to sleep after another long day!
__________________
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!
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Wow another long day, pretty soon you will need a vacation from your vacation. You sure accomplished a great deal again today, Universal really does the horror theme well.
You have a good point about that and may be needed! I do have a full day at home before going back to work. It was a long day but I got to do so much and especially with HHNs. They do a great job with it in every aspect.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KimmyAnn1147
The event looks incredibly well done, Dave. I hold a grudge against Universal for their "front of the line ticket" practice, but I'm glad they are putting out a nice product!
I had a great time and got to experience and see so much! It was well worth it. What are you referring to about their ticket practice that you don't like?
__________________
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!
Thanks for giving us some insight into how you write your TRs! Very interesting! Having started 3 or 4 TRs, but finishing none of them, I have great admiration and appreciation for those who do write them!
The scare zones look great! Wow, what a scary premise to the movie “The Purge”!
Thanks for giving us some insight into how you write your TRs! Very interesting! Having started 3 or 4 TRs, but finishing none of them, I have great admiration and appreciation for those who do write them!
The scare zones look great! Wow, what a scary premise to the movie “The Purge”!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Glad you enjoyed the background on how I do my TRs. It was also great to get Cheryl's perspective on this and how she does hers as well! It takes a lot of work, planning and organization to do these and tough to find the time to do these as life can get in the way. Hope you can one day finish your TRs as I'd like to read them.
I loved the scare zones as so well done, great theming and effects! "The Purge" has quite the premise to it and imagine that really happening in the good ole USA. Like back to the days of the Wild West. Although, in some ways many third world countries are like this and a really sad and horrible situation! The first movie had Ethan Hawke in it.
__________________
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!
What an amazing day you had. Did you get to sleep in? Sea World is different in that there can be lots of people but if only doing shows and arrive a little early can see everything you want to
What an amazing day you had. Did you get to sleep in? Sea World is different in that there can be lots of people but if only doing shows and arrive a little early can see everything you want to
I had such a great day and enjoyed every bit of it! I'm hoping to sleep in a bit after the first two late nights, which seems to be a going theme! I'm a bit of a night owl at times. I'm hoping to get in a lot at Sea World, but will have to leave the park earlier than originally planned, but should work out!
__________________
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!
What an epic evening! I think I would enjoy the scare zone with the aliens, that looks really cool. Hopefully you got a good nights sleep and weren't too wound up for sleep.
What an epic evening! I think I would enjoy the scare zone with the aliens, that looks really cool. Hopefully you got a good nights sleep and weren't too wound up for sleep.
You're one of the few here that may enjoy Halloween Horror Nights as most seem to prefer MNSCHP! I've never done the latter as kind of pricey and I want a bit more for my buck, which I definitely got with the tour and so much more! I also enjoy the scare factor to this event! The "Invasion" zone was one of the top two zones along with "Trick or Treat", which we got to see on the tour and I showed this on a previous post with all the Jack-o-Lanterns etc.
I enjoyed everything about tonight and had such an amazing time and so glad I did the R.I.P. Tour and even at $200 was so worth it with a lot packed in and got to experience pretty much everything. Especially, all nine haunted houses! Even all five Scare Zones with most on my own!
I was a bit worried about sleeping and being over tired and may not be able to fall asleep right away with the adrenaline pumping after this evening's events! You'll find out hopefully by tomorrow, but I'm guessing all will be good!
__________________
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!
Last edited by SuperDave; 02-14-2018 at 11:15 PM..
Friday, October 6th (Part I) Well, I was quite happy to sleep in a bit today after the very late night until 2 am early this morning! I woke up at just before 9 am and felt very refreshed. I got ready for my day and went downstairs to the Orchid Court Lounge for a little breakfast. Nothing special and just a chocolate croissant, coffee and a yogurt. Just enough to get me going for the day. After this, I returned to my room and sorted out a few things that I’d need for Sea World. I also wrote up my notes from last night as it was far too late and too tired to do this when I returned. It was about 10:15 am now.
Once, I was ready I went downstairs and went outside the resort entrance and used my phone and went on the Lyft app to get transportation to Sea World. This is the first time I’d be using one of these services as opposed to the usual taxi. It was quite easy to use and within a minute I had a confirmation and my driver was on the way. I’m using Lyft instead of Uber because of the recommendation Tara gave me! I followed the progress of my driver on the app and my ride was here within two minutes after making the reservation! I was happy with this.
My driver was in a Toyota Corolla and his name is Christopher and basically retired and does this to keep busy and for some extra cash. He was quite talkative during the ride and I enjoyed talking with him. During the ride, he mentioned having trouble with a pickup earlier this morning. He had a pickup at one of the Rosen Hotels and was picking up a woman ( she was a business executive of some kind) attending a convention there. There was a lot of traffic in the pickup area, so he parked about ten feet away from the woman. They texted back and forth and the woman insisted Christopher pick her up where she was standing but no way for Christopher to park over there. She kept insisting and a few minutes went by and she wouldn’t budge. Finally, a spot opened where she was and he drove the long ten feet to her. She wasted all this time as she was too stubborn to walk ten feet. Some people think the world owes them something! Unbelievable!
Shortly, Christopher was approaching the Sea World parking area as he says it’s a bit tricky to find it but all was good and he dropped me off in the lot and not too far away from the entrance. I enjoyed my first Lyft ride and had a good driver! Shortly, I received an email on my phone from Lyft and paid the fare. It was only $9.50 and I gave him a few dollars for a tip. Quite an efficient service and much cheaper than a taxi.
I looked around a bit outside before going to the gate to enter as I wanted to observe a lot out here and get a few photos.
I like this theming before the entrance!
Here’s what awaits me!
After this, I walked toward the gate and the line wasn’t too bad with just a few people in front of me. I scanned my ticket and I was in the park. I looked for a map of the park as this is my first visit here as they didn’t have any outside the entrance. I visited one of the shops, just past the entrance and got one there. I looked it over and made myself familiar of where things are located and the layout. They have three rollercoasters that are quite intense and I wanted to experience these along with a few other attractions.
Not far from the entrance was the first attraction I wanted to ride, which was the Manta coaster. Before getting in line for the ride I had to empty my pockets and put my belongings in a locker. Unfortunately, it’s not free like at Universal. It’s $1, but just a hassle to put in your credit card and reserve a locker and would take a few minutes during the process. Some of the kiosks weren’t working well and having trouble with my credit card or wouldn’t take dollar bills. Depended on the machine. I’d use a few of these during the day and some were good and others weren’t.
The Manta coaster
Once, this was done I entered the ride attraction and the Quick Queue entrance, which is their version of an Express Pass or Fastpass+. It was $15 and I purchased it on the SeaWorld website. The ride boards at quite a height and there were several ramps to go up. Once, I arrived up top I could see there was quite a line for standby and not so much for mine. I got on in a couple of minutes. I saw how the guests were loaded and this was going to be quite a ride. My coaster arrived and we boarded. Once everyone is secure, the row of seats tilts and you’re looking directly at the concrete floor! Not sure why I got into this as I don’t like this idea! Our ride began and it was quite thrilling, scary, fast with lots of hills, dips, inversions and corkscrews. It was a lot of fun but quite scary at times and was somewhat glad it was over! But, I was happy I did it!
After, retrieving my belongings from the locker I progressed deeper into the park to explore, become familiar with and experience a few more attractions.
The park doesn’t seem overly crowded but some of the lines for the attractions were.
I enjoyed seeing these guys!
Soon, I arrived at my next attraction for the day and “Journey to Atlantis.” This is quite an attraction as it is a combo log flume/rollercoaster ride. All in the same ride and you don’t switch cars at any point during the ride. Once again, I had to put my belongings in a locker and another $1 down. I used the Quick Queue again, which was a good choice as the attraction had quite a sizeable line.
I enjoyed this ride quite a bit and especially the rollercoaster portion, which was quite good. But not nearly as intense as The Manta as I needed a break from that level. I got a bit wet on this ride which felt good as it was quite hot and muggy today. Thunderstorms are in the forecast for later today, but I came prepared with my light rain jacket.
After exiting the attraction and gathering my belongings from the locker, I continued exploring Sea World and checking my map to see which attractions were close by that I wanted to experience and they would be next. I thought about lunch as well, but I thought I’d wait a bit until after one more attraction.
NEXT: Are You Sure This Is the Quick Queue?
__________________
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!
Last edited by SuperDave; 02-18-2018 at 06:21 PM..
It sounds like a good time so far at Sea World.
The story the Lyft driver told you shout his earlier fare that day was crazy! When he dropped you off at Sea World you could have joked that you wanted to be dropped off right in front of the entrance.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Your Lyft experience sounds great! I've yet to try Lyft or Uber, but they sound like most people have good experiences. What a crazy story about the woman that the driver had to pick up earlier. What is wrong with people??
Great start to your day at Sea World! Manta wasn't there when I went to Sea World in 2006, but I would definitely like to try it out.
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.