Mom and Dad's 25th and 14 of us going with! - UPDATED 10/14 - DAYS 2 & 3 - Page 3 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Just got back today! Had a great time and hope to get a few posts done later in the week...
I need to start my homework now though (I did attempt to do some in Disney)
Thanks to everyone for all the tips and well wishes!!
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Woke up at 2:a.m.!!!! I just could not sleep, nervous belly worrying about today. I laid in bed thinking about all of the things that could go wrong. I finally got out of bed at 3:40 a.m. and took my shower. DH was next, while I got socks on the kids. I had them shower and dress the night before. We were off (on schedule) to DTW at 4:30 a.m. My nephew waiting for the plane
We got to DTW at 6:30 a.m. (again on schedule) and whipped through check in and security no problems. The new North terminal, although not completely finished, was great. Easy to park and fly! The woman who checked us in at the Spirit counter was very nice and helpful. Not a complaint. The plane left on time and we had a smooth ride to Orlando. Only problem we had was that we gate checked our stroller and misunderstood the lady who told us where to go to get it. It ended up taking us 30 min to finally get them.
We headed down to the Alamo rental counter. We had checked in online so we only needed to use the kiosk to do a quick swipe and go pick our mini-van. We picked a red Dodge Grand Caravan and it was very clean and easy to understand. It was perfect for our family.
Off to Downtown Disney!! Everyone was rather hungry and kinda cranky. It had been a long day already. We went straight to Wolfgang Puck Express (marketplace) and grabbed a quick meal. I had the macaroni and cheese, OMG was it good. My husband had a Beef & Gorgonzola Pocket. Most of the kids had chicken fingers or the linguini. It was a great meal and everyone felt a little better after some food.
My daughter w/lego dogs We decided not to stay and shop this day, it was close to check-in time and we wanted a nap. I had printed directions from a mapping website and they were the most confusing directions I had ever read. They had us doing U-turns on three different roads and did not end us on the right road. We finally saw our hotel, Buena Vista Suites, and checked in. I had pre-paid for the rooms (my brother did pay me back) so check in was a breeze. They told us that they were under construction so we got a renovated room. They were gorgeous!! They had lots of space, two big TVs, and were very clean. We had a pack and play sent up (no charge) and chilled with the TV. Before dinner, we swam in the pool (which had no other guests around it) until dinner time. Both of our families went in on some pizza and pasta dishes from a place next door and we all went to bed pretty early. At nine o’clock my husband and I could hear the fireworks. We opened our window and had a great view of them right from our bed. What a great start to our magical vacation.
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I cannot believe how long it took me to have time to finally write some more of my report! I got back and the homework just started loading up!! But anyway…
Our first full day, how exciting! I woke around six-thirty in the morning to start getting ready and my husband was up soon after that. We were down at breakfast by seven-fifteen and WOW, what a spread. The breakfast was included in our stay and it said it was a full breakfast but I was not expecting this. Pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon, muffins, cereal, toast, bagels (made to order), yogurt, and more! It was great, except for my DB and DSIL bickering at the table next to us. I should have tried to ditch them there! After eating our fill (and a little more) we checked out and headed to Animal Kingdom.
We were there just at opening and before we made it in the gates met our first character, Brier Bear. The kids all seemed to like him.It was a very hot day, which made my DB & DSIL crankier (like they needed it). I was trying to be positive and stay with them, which we did for most of the day, but DANG a girl can only take so much. Our family had a great first day anyway. We loved Nemo the Musical and the boys got to ride EE. The park was so empty, especially for
Me, Gabe, and Cecelia with Lilo and Stitch
being a Saturday.
The wait for EE was posted at 20 min and they probably waited 10. We walked right on to Dinosaur, twice. One time we stayed with the babies and another my DB stayed. We had that with all the rides.
By 11:30 we were all getting pretty hungry so we found our way to Flame Tree BBQ. I had the fruit plate, DH the pulled pork, and kids had some hotdogs. Yummy,yummy! We sat way down by the water and it was such a pretty view of EE. It was also nice and shaded so it gave the kids a good, refreshing break. We did lose my DB after lunch, not on purpose I swear. Jake and Gabe with their long lost brother
So it was a little calmer, until my DS 9 started whining and crying about when we were going to leave (We would soon find that this was his theme for most of the trip) Everyone was hot and tired so we made it an early day and left before the parade.
Around 3:30 we pulled up to the house in Acadia Estates. This one was not an All-Star Vacation home but was right in the middle of many that were. It was so pretty, you would think that we remembered to get pictures of it, but no. I do not know what we were thinking. Anyway, after unloading our stuff I ran to the grocery store stocked up on milk, cereal, and stuff for hamburgers on the grill. My DM had friends coming over that night for dinner so all of us cooked and had a nice party. It was early to bed for all of us, we were exhausted from the previous two days.
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After a good night’s rest I thought everyone would be in a better mood today, right? Wrong!! My DS 9 was still whining about having to go to the parks. My DSIL was still pouting that she did not get to do exactly what she wanted and that my DB was not spending enough time with her.
We still got off to an early start. This was the first day my DM and DD were going with us. My DM was so excited I think she could have spit. My DB kurt and his family went to gatorland for the first half of the day and went with us when we went back to Epcot later that night. We got to Epcot a few minutes after opening and went right to the character greeting spot (after getting a few photopass pics done). Not much of a line at all and we got to meet Mickey finally. This brought a smile too all my kids faces, even Mr. I-don’t-want-to-be-here.
We then hopped right over to The Seas with Nemo and Friends. That was so cute. My younger kids loved seeing all the fish and the older ones loved learning new things.
We saw the manatees and all my kids kept saying was “I’m a manatee, you’re a sea cow” (darn you Jim Gaffigan! ) I am so glad my parents got to be with the kids for this, especially when we saw Turtle Talk with Crush. It was sooo funny! Even my big, bad biker daddy (BBBD) was chuckling. After The Seas we went over to the Land and it was getting quite a bit busier so we snagged fastpasses for Soarin’ and headed out to France’s Boulangerie Patisserie. My family shared a chocolate mousse, cheesecake, chocolate croissant, and strawberry tart. OMG!! Delicious, I think my favorite was the chocolate mousse or the strawberry tart. Hard to pick though. My DD had a ham and cheese croissant that he said was very good.
We finished up there and watched the “street” performers do King Arthur and the Holy Grail in England. They were funny and did a great job of getting the whole crowd involved. Again, even my BBBD got in the action and I have proof on video. It was time for our fastpasses for Soarin’ so we headed back over there. My mom stayed with the little ones and they ate Mac & Cheese while we went on. This was the ride that I was most excited to ride also the most nervous. I am not a height person, I am more of the deathly afraid of height person but it sounded so cool I had to try it. I think the fact that we were not outside during the ride over “real ground” helped. It did take us pretty far up there but I just told myself that it wasn’t real and loved it!!
After Soarin’ my bigger boys wanted to eat and (cue whiny voice) “no I don’t want nothing here, I don’t like this stuff” so I talked them into Mcnuggets and fries at Refreshment port. My husband ran over to England and got fish and chips and a draft beer. The batter on the fish was great. I did not get anything because while sunshine seasons I wanted to get a kids mac n cheese and my DH said it would not be nice of me to eat in front of him and the boys when they are all hungry. See the problem with this? Yup, they all sat and ate in front of me! Gotta love being the mommy.
After lunch, we went over to Honey I Shrunk the Audience and my DB and I sat with all of the sleeping babies. After this everyone was ready for a break so we headed to the house for a while. It only took about 10 min to get back to the house which was great for an afternoon rest. We made an early dinner and headed back around 6:00 without my BBBD this time (he was pooped) We went straight to Mexico and rode the Gran Fiesta Tour. I was so impressed with how Mexico was done inside. It really did feel like we stepped into a town in Mexico.
We wandered through the world showcase and rode the Maelstrom and checked out shops. In Italy we got a cannoli and tiramisu for a snack and grabbed a good spot for Illuminations. We snacked and took turns looking around while keeping our good view. I even ran back down to France for a Grey Goose Citron Slush and a Grand Marnier Slush. I looked like a lush walking back two fisting our drinks and it probably did not help that I kept drinking out of both of them (I did not want to spill them) We made it through Illuminations and took our time wandering out. I was plenty tired by the time we got back to the house and got the kids to bed. I hit the bed and was out!
Next… Day Four-Hollywood Studios
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back!! Looking forward to hearing all about your trip!
I can't wait to hear all about it. 
My nephew waiting for the plane
My daughter w/lego dogs
Reese
what a spread. The breakfast was included in our stay and it said it was a full breakfast but I was not expecting this. Pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon, muffins, cereal, toast, bagels (made to order), yogurt, and more! It was great, except for my DB and DSIL bickering at the table next to us. I should have tried to ditch them there! After eating our fill (and a little more) we checked out and headed to Animal Kingdom. 
It was a very hot day, which made my DB & DSIL crankier (like they needed it). I was trying to be positive and stay with them, which we did for most of the day, but DANG a girl can only take so much. Our family had a great first day anyway. We loved Nemo the Musical and the boys got to ride EE. The park was so empty, especially for 
Jake and Gabe with their long lost brother
I am so glad my parents got to be with the kids for this, especially when we saw Turtle Talk with Crush. It was sooo funny! Even my big, bad biker daddy (BBBD) was chuckling. After The Seas we went over to the Land and it was getting quite a bit busier so we snagged fastpasses for Soarin’ and headed out to France’s Boulangerie Patisserie. My family shared a chocolate mousse, cheesecake, chocolate croissant, and strawberry tart. OMG!! 
“no I don’t want nothing here, I don’t like this stuff” so I talked them into Mcnuggets and fries at Refreshment port. My husband ran over to England and got fish and chips and a draft beer. The batter on the fish was great. I did not get anything because while sunshine seasons I wanted to get a kids mac n cheese and my DH said it would not be nice of me to eat in front of him and the boys when they are all hungry. See the problem with this? Yup, they all sat and ate in front of me! Gotta love being the mommy. 
After this everyone was ready for a break so we headed to the house for a while. It only took about 10 min to get back to the house which was great for an afternoon rest. We made an early dinner and headed back around 6:00 without my BBBD this time (he was pooped) We went straight to Mexico and rode the Gran Fiesta Tour. I was so impressed with how Mexico was done inside. It really did feel like we stepped into a town in Mexico. 
We snacked and took turns looking around while keeping our good view. I even ran back down to France for a Grey Goose Citron Slush and a Grand Marnier Slush. I looked like a lush walking back two fisting our drinks and it probably did not help that I kept drinking out of both of them
(I did not want to spill them
) We made it through Illuminations and took our time wandering out.
I was plenty tired by the time we got back to the house and got the kids to bed. I hit the bed and was out!
kinda blurry, but do you see the hidden mickey
My favorite Epcot pic
Crazy fire, Illuminations
my Mommy and Daddy
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