left with 2 good ones came back with one-trip report-forgot something 5/8 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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.
Welcome back, Ann. Glad to see you started your TR. I'm all caught up and ready for more. Sounds like a lot of fun for your first day already. Hope you won't be too hard on the boys.
We fell asleep & I slept very restless, I was worried about the boys sleeping in & in general flying alone. Heck, I don't need a reason to worry.. I simply DO!!
Woke to my cell alarm at 2am & started calling the boys.. Jamies phone rang & rang & then went to voicemail.. Not good! Brendans phone instantly went to voicemail meaning it was turned off.. AARGH!! At first, I didn't worry as I figured they were playing with me & joking, especially since they both ASSURED me they would be awake.
I kept trying with the same results.. by 2:30am I was in full blown panic mode. . All kinds of thoughts kept going through my head.. "were they getting ready & didn't hear their phones?" "What if something happened to them.. someone broke in" I started to pace & woke Jim up who also started calling the boys. I kept thinking they would HAVE to hear Jamies phone at some point. They were due to be picked up at 3:30am & I was really getting worried.
I then thought maybe it was the cell reception in the room so I got dressed & started walking the entire length of the courtyard (shown here)
All the while I'm still calling them. I then decided to call my SIL to have her go over to the house & get the boys up.. She lives less than 1/8 mile from my house & would be there in less than 5 minutes. HER phone was off AARGH!!! I was shaking, crying & SUPER upset & also VERY VERY . I trusted those boys & they were disappointing me. In typical mom fashion I started saying "If they're okay & just slept in, I'm gonna throttle them" . I was also crying as the boys were going to stay with my Aunt originally then it changed to her getting them up.. I was sad that my 'go to' person was no longer there for me as well.
By 3:00am I was inconsolable.. crying & pacing.. Shelby woke up during this & looked at me & said "Does this mean I'm your favorite now?" She did make me giggle at that.
I finally text my friend, Donna who was taking them to the high school to catch the bus to the airport. She didn't respond & I panicked EVEN more.. I kept trying to call the boys with the same results until finally Jamie answered & said Mrs W (Donna) & Lauren (her DD, Jamies friend) were there & they were leaving. Donna tried to calm my nerves by telling me everything was okay, they weren't late & she had them ready to go..
She subsequently texted me when she dropped them off at the high school & when they got on the bus. I kept thanking her & told her I owed her a FAB drink when we met up on Saturday night. She was catching her own flight to WDW with her DH soon after she dropped the kids off.
WHEW! I could relax a little. I tried to go back to sleep but was still antsy from the anxiety. Jim walked down to the food court & to his surprise it was open & there was coffee & fountain drinks he could get with his refillable mug. He brought me back a cup of coffee & I tried to relax.
I decided I wasn't going to be able to sleep & went into the tub for a relaxing bubble bath.
Jim got a few texts from the boys asking for his phone charger to be brought to DHS as they had forgotten to charge their phones the night before.. That was #1 thing to do on my list of 'to do's' for them so I was VERY angry with them. These aren't children.. Jamie keeps insisting he's 17YO & will be away at college soon but after that night he has shown me he isn't as mature as he 'thinks' he is ( okay- rant over!!)
We had 8:15am ADR's at Chef Mickey & I knew we'd have to do some transferring so we left around 6:30am to get to the bus stop.
COMING UP: Jim's favorite bird!!
HOLEY CATS!! I was freaking out and they aren't even my kids!! OHMEGOSH!! I'm glad they made it!! WHEW!!!
Shelby decided she got to pick the next ride so she picked GMR... well to our surprise there was no line at all. .we walked right on to the ride. When we got on I mentioned to Shelby that I hoped we got the western scene as I hadn't seen it in ages. She looked at me puzzled & I realized that she's NEVER seen the western scene, she always had the gangster scene
Am I understanding you correctly that there is a version where you DON'T go through the gangster scenes (shootout,etc), but go througha western scene instead?? If so, does your car get "hijacked" by a cowboy or something?? I have to say that I don't think I've EVER seen this version! And I've rode that thing (it's a fave of mine!) many, many times over the years!! Sheesh! I learn something new every day!
One of the first band people we saw was Jamies friend, Lauren. I thanked her for getting the boys to the bus on time & I heard her animated version of what happened. She said they beeped their horns for the boys for a while & then she decided to go to the door, which was open.. She then walked in the house & Jamie was asleep on the recliner in the living room & Brendan was asleep on the couch.. She put her hands on her hips & declared "I'M GOING TO DISNEY WORLD, IS ANYONE ELSE??" Both boys jumped up, uttered a "Oh crap" & hustled to get ready. Now it was lucky I saw Lauren before I saw the boys because she made me laugh & some of my anger dissipated.
The first one I saw was Brendan & I gave him the fastpasses for TSMM. I didn't want to embarass him with his friends so I simply told him that punishments would commence when we got home. When I saw Jamie I told him the same thing.
We decided to leave DHS & go swimming ... I was calm now that the boys were here on Orlando soil.
WE went back to POFQ & Shelby went in the pool while Jim got a Tangerine dream from Mardi Grogs pool bar & Shelby got her apple sour thing.
The pool was FREEZING!! Several people asked the lifeguards if the pool was heated & they told them that they don't turn on the heat during the day as it takes 12 hours to warm up. I found that odd as I know pool heaters don't take that long but I heard the same story from 3 different lifeguards to 3 different people..
Shelby enjoyed herself while I opted to sunbathe
We headed back to the room & took a nap before our dinner ADR at Cape May Buffet. I was soo looking forward to Cape May Buffet as I had never been & it looked sooo yummy.
We had 6:05 ADRS' but got there a little early & were fortunate to be seated in the first wave of diners.
I can attest that Cape May did NOT disappoint. WOW!! what awesome food. The crab legs were so fresh & yummy & I have to admit I made a piggy of myself with them. I think I filled up 2 buckets of empty shells. I am not a clam or mussel fan but I decided to try them at CMB & wow! the freshness was outstanding.
Jim does not eat seafood but he also enjoyed CMB.. the ribs were outstanding.
The only (minor) complaint I have is the way the buffet is set up. I went up to get some sides & the CM asked if I was getting salad & I said No.. she them grabbed me by the arm & pulled me into the hot food area. She kept (semi) yelling at people "This is the soup & salad line, if you're not getting salad, get out" She had an accent which made it more funny as Seinfelds Soup Nazi episode kept replaying over & over in my head.
People were also confused over the lines & I had a couple of young kids cut in front of me in the hot food section.
I think them having 2 hot food areas is good but it needs to be a little more organized,
I love relaxing at Disney & laughing & had a fun occurence at CMB. I got a plate of crab legs & was approaching the butter when a lady came up with a full plate & asked if she could cut in front of me to get her butter, I said Sure.. she asked if I was getting butter & when I said yes she offered to get mine as well if I would turn the spigot ( don't know what other word to use) on the butter she'd fill cups for both of us.. she filled mine first & put it on my plate & in a silly moment I thanked her & pretended to walk away (without her getting her butter) She at first looked shocked & then we both proceeded to laugh.. Every time she'd pass my table she & I would giggle,. I love impromptu moments like this.... I love to kid people.
We were trying to decide what to do after CMB & we decided to go to Disney Quest for the evening.
This was a first time for Jim & he loved it. I think he played EVERY game in the place. He & Shelby also came in first & second on ride the comics. I rode (played) astro blasters & a couple small games but not too much else. I don't do video games but was happy just to sit & people watch.
We left DQ after 11pm & Shelby got a caramel candy apple to munch on later.. We went back to the resort & got our refillable mugs from the room & got drinks & then Jim & Shelby didn't have enough games at DQ, they went & cashed in their arcade token coupon & went to play at the arcade.
What a joke!! the 100 free tokens you get in a package was paltry at best.. you could only play 2-3 games with it as most games were worth 50 tokens. Jim bought more tokens but I felt the 100 free was a joke!
Went back to the room & went to sleep. My MIL was arriving the next day .
Am I understanding you correctly that there is a version where you DON'T go through the gangster scenes (shootout,etc), but go througha western scene instead?? If so, does your car get "hijacked" by a cowboy or something?? I have to say that I don't think I've EVER seen this version! And I've rode that thing (it's a fave of mine!) many, many times over the years!! Sheesh! I learn something new every day!
Yes, our car was hijacked by a cowboy.. Like you, we usually get the gangsters but were fortunate to have the cowboy..
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.
I definitely think you and I were cut from the same mold.....as what you experienced with your frantic phoning to your boys (while pacing the grounds nonetheless) I've had the same experience when my kids have been away from me over the summer......they always said to me "why are you so upset? We're fine!" and I just told them they'd understand when they became parents! I feel for ya, though-glad it all worked out in the end!!
We love CM's too and make it an arrival day tradition-only with dinner. I can fondly hear the "celebrate" song in my mind and it makes my heart smile remembering our past trips & meals there. I know the very first time we went I had a server ask me if I was from P'burgh-she said she could tell the way I waved my napkin that I must wave a Terrible Towel too-I told her about my parents both being from PA & we're all die-hard Stillers fans.....so all that towel waving I've done has prepared me for meals @ CM's.
I'm going to have to check out the menu for Cape May. My DD loves crab legs and I know she'd thoroughly enjoy it-I have alot of seafood allergies though so the opposite would happen for me.
Hope you hurry back with more! Loving the pictures, too!
I would have been so MAD at my kids if I called and they did not answer the cell!! I know just how you would have felt - alternately worried and angry!
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.