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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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The fireworks in bed sounds absolutely dreamy. That is definitely one excellent reason for paying more for your room!! I'm glad you finally found a bag that works for you on this trip. And yes, shopping is important on trips and in TR's!!! Love that Ty gained some independence on this Independence Day vacation.
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
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Kent wanted to say thank you for the "keeper" comment. He had to read my last TR to see what I had said about him. I guess he didn't know how much I talked him up. See how we are pulling him onto the boards slowly but surely.
Jen & Kent, you're welcome for the compliment. Any DH who is that helpful especially with 2 toddlers (I know the feeling with just one toddler who's inbetween your boys' ages) who are all over the place and a challenge to keep up with, while His wife has a broken foot (not part of the plan for a vacation) and gives you the royal treatment is certainly a keeper.
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How great Ty loved Jumpin' Jellyfish. The parade sounds great. We love Pixar's films. Kent, how wonderful you were finally able to win Ty his own Bullseye, as tiring as that must be for you. Your evening in your room sounded wonderful with a delicious room service dinner followed by fireworks view from your room with the music piped in. Sounds like a wonderful 4th of July you had. Sorry to hear Ethan didn't last through them, and Ty was fading out after the fireworks, but thank goodness you were already in the comfort of your room, so at least 2 tired little cute boys probably equalled 2 very happy, content, and comfy cute little boys. Jen, so glad to hear you found a bag that workEd for you. I completely understand the feeling too with different bags for the stroller and carrying your personal belongings and those important and needed snacks to help get you through the day. We bought Skyler's new stroller a few months ago and my diaper bag wouldn't fit in the basket underneath, but smaller size ones will. I had to resort to a small backpack to fit under neath or on one handle and a larger backpack for myself to carry or place on the handle. More please Kent & Jen.
BTW, your TRs Jen are great for how to tour DLR/DCA with young ones that
are similar in age. Just out of curiosity, did you do a TR for your WDW trip. If so, please let me know the link as I would love to read about it, since it will be helpful to see what your boys got a kick out of there that may help
me wit. Skyler. Thank you. I have to say the four of you seem just as silly and easy going as my family of 3. I do get a kick out of your various Mouse Ears Jen, as I seem like the silly one in my family willing to wear them too(and I miss my Minnie Ears).
BTW, your TRs Jen are great for how to tour DLR/DCA with young ones that
are similar in age. Just out of curiosity, did you do a TR for your WDW trip. If so, please let me know the link as I would love to read about it, since it will be helpful to see what your boys got a kick out of there that may help
me wit. Skyler. Thank you. I have to say the four of you seem just as silly and easy going as my family of 3. I do get a kick out of your various Mouse Ears Jen, as I seem like the silly one in my family willing to wear them too(and I miss my Minnie Ears).
Thank you! That is such a nice compliment! Sadly although I used the Passporter for that WDW trip I did not find the boards until a few months later, so I did not write a TR. If you would like Becki, you can PM me and I will review my PassPorter notes and give you any tips I have from that trip for Skyler (and mommy). I am always happy to share.
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We had reservations at 8:50am at the Surf’s Up character breakfast in the Paradise Pier hotel. We’d done Goofy’s Kitchen at the DLH a few times and really enjoyed it, but wanted to try something new, so after getting everyone dressed and sunscreened up, we headed over to PP (I think I’m starting to get the hang of these acronyms) for breakfast.
Upon walking up to the restaurant, you could see the buffet through the large open door, so you’re tempted a bit as you wait for your table. Since we had Priority Seating (I hope that’s the right term), we didn’t wait long and were ushered to our seat.
They first bring you over to "surf style" Mickey for a photo. I am still so surprised by this experience with Mickey. He was grumpy and impatient! He did not want to stand by me he was pushing Ethan's hands away when he was touching his ears and just in general was rushing us through. I have never seen a character act like that. Sometimes the handlers but never the character themselves. I was very upset by it. Later I saw Mickey playing with kids and being cute so I can only assume it was a "fresh" Mickey.
Jennifer quickly went and got some food for the boys while I ordered them both some orange juice. That’s the great thing about a buffet meal with young children: they’re always hungry right away and don’t have the patience to wait long, especially at breakfast since they haven’t eaten since dinner the night before. They have lots of kid friendly food, so even the pickiest of eaters should have something they like.
A few observations on the meal.
The décor and activities that they had for the kids was really fun. There are thatched huts, surfboards & kites around to give that beachy feel. They had fun activities like hula dancing, hula hooping, surfing lessons with Mickey and more. That part was a lot of fun.
The food, however, wasn’t all that great. I’d give it a C- on quality and variety. Goofy’s Kitchen, on the other hand, would get a B for food quality and a A- for variety. The only standout thing at the breakfast buffet was the very lunchlike grilled chicken breast with meyer lemon sauce. Everything else was average. I know you’re going to see the characters and that the food isn’t the primary reason to go, but I don’t want the food to detract from the experience, either.
And speaking of the character experience, it’s lacking at Surf’s Up compared to Goofy’s Kitchen as well. There was no staff to tell you what the process was or to help guide the characters, so it ended up with a haphazard quality that ended up being fairly annoying when somebody barged into your meeting with Goofy to demand a picture. “Goofy, over here!” The characters did their best, but they were at the mercy of rude people who weren’t told the process, and a staff that didn’t enforce the process.
This was very frustrating as this is why most of us pay for the character meals. For the extra uninterrupted time with our favorite characters. The staff and servers seemed to either not notice or not care that this was happening. At Goofy's and Crystal Palace in WDW (our other character meal experiences) people waited at their tables for characters and played nice with others, so obviuosly Disney knows how this should be but they have not pulled it together at this new meal yet. Too bad.
We were able to see Goofy, his nephew (whose name I have never known), Mickey, Minnie, Stitch & Daisy (who never made it to our table). And judging by Mickey’s skinny legs in those tights, I’d surmise there was an actual "minnie" in there, but don’t tell the kids that!
We did not get many good pictures of the boys sadly. This was really the only one.
As we were leaving, we saw that they had a table with the various birthday cake options on it. We had read about these but had never seen them, so we wanted to take some pictures so everyone could see what you get. The three things are: the Disney Princess Jewelry Box, the Disney Pirate Treasure Chest, as well as the bigger Birthday Magic Bucket. The two smaller items are $15 and the Bucket is $22. They all looked pretty cool and include a small cake as well as all the other goodies.
Also, they had all of the various pins that you can get for your Disneyland trip on the table (including the exclusive one you get from going to the Surf’s Up breakfast). The only reason I mention it is because you might want to know that there’s a specific pin for your trip’s celebration.
I will put these in the next post.
After the underwhelming breakfast experience (sigh), we headed over to DL to brighten our spirits. Since yesterday was a complete DCA day (no real plan for that, it just ended up that way), it was our first entry to the Magic Kingdom on this trip. For me, my heart always gets that fuller feeling when I walk through the gates and one of the tunnels that open up into Main Street USA. Walt designed Disneyland as a movie set that you could experience for yourself and it still has that amazing “we’re in the movie of our lives” feel. Even though I’ve been here many times, that feeling has never become stale and with our two boys now enjoying it too, the feeling has become even more magical as I’m able to enjoy (to a certain extent) seeing the park through their eyes and their expressions of wonder at all that they see.
My nostalgia is shortlived, though, when Ty asks politely to go on Buzz (which is what he calls Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters). I surmise that if we let him ride it 400 times in a row, he would not only do it, but be up for another 100. Ty loves this ride. Even though he enjoys lots of other rides at DL, Buzz is the one that he needs to go on. So on we go, Jennifer with Ty and Ethan with me. Ethan and I blast away and defeat Zurg, Ethan with a score of 1,100 (hey, he’s only two) and me with a decent 93,600. Jennifer and Ty have lots of fun, too. Ty (of course) wanted to go on it again, but we gently (but firmly) headed over to Fantasyland, which has more of the boys’ favorites.
We did stop to get FP for Autopia at this point. This was a new ride for the boys and it had been on my list for the last trip but we missed it. The wait was 20 minutes but we figured we could ride a few other things in that time and walk on with a FP....good plan right....hmmmm
Next up was the Alice in Wonderland Ride (which is “caterpillar” to Ty, because of the vehicles you ride), which I didn’t think he even liked all that much the first time we went on it on our trip in May. But he loves it now, and here’s why:
Ever since our first trip to DL (and WDW), I have recorded video of all kinds of things. I record the boys being cute in our rooms, the great architecture and landscaping all around and, most importantly for Ty, the rides we go on and the parades we watch. So when we go home, both boys can enjoy reliving the great moments we’ve shared as a family. When we went on Alice in May, I recorded the ride, even though it didn’t appear that Ty liked it all that much. But upon watching it at home, it became one of his new favorite videos to watch. As we walked up to the ride I didn’t even think he would want to go on again, a plaintive “Caterpillar, Dada? Please?” After a ten minute wait, during which Ethan tried to eat four separate leaves from four separate trees (unsuccessfully, thank goodness), we all went on, and enjoyed, “Caterpillar.”
The Storybook Land Boat ride was next (which Ty calls “Whale,” due to the huge mock-up of Monstro that you ride through at the beginning). I’m not a huge fan of this one, but if the boys enjoy it (Ethan loves the ducks), then I’m having fun, too. Our storyteller was an older gentleman with a pretty lame fake Scottish accent, but what he lacked in vocal talent, he made up for in enthusiasm.
During this period I was texting and calling to arrange two PassPorter meets for later int he day. We are good friends with the Davids family (TraciaDavids) and we were palnning to meet up with them for lunch as they drove through the area returning from SeaWorld. We were lucky enough to spend some time with them in SeaWorld the day before we arrived at DLR as well. They are a wonderful family and we enjoy getting to know them even better when we are in Southern Caifornia. The other meet I was trying to work out was with Marci (Disney4us2). We had not met her before but we are always happy to meet more great PassPorter friends. I have found that with the spotty service that we can sometimes have in the parks and the noise (both family and park related) that texting is the best way to communicate. Thankfully mommy is a texting pro! I had things set to do lunch at Storytellers in the Grand Cali with the Davids and then meet up with Marci and her daughter Jessica later in the afternoon.
Up Next: On our way to Autopia.....
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Waiting to eat with Goofy - DLR May 2010
Last edited by MinnieJen; 07-15-2010 at 04:06 PM..
Good start to the day, despite the lack of character interaction at breakfast. Hopefully the boys didn't really notice the difference! And this encourages me to make a PS for Goofy's for my BFF's birthday breakfast! I'm curious now as to what happened with Autopia as this is one I'm excited to ride in Sept!!??
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
Great update Kent & Jen. I'm so sorry to hear your breakfast wasn't as expected especially with thr food not being up to par with Goofy's Kitchen and the lack of character interacting. So dissappointed to hear they don't have the character meal more organized like at WDW. Sounds like a great time on Buzz, Alice in Wonderland, and the Story Tellers Ride. I too am curious what ended up happening with Autopia, as that ride sounds like great fun. Looking foward to seeing how your PPer Meets went, and the boys with Miss Katie. I'm sure you had a great time with The Davids Family. More please Kent & Jen. Thank you for sharing thr pictures of the buttons
and the cakes.
Thank you Jen. I will PM you. That will be so helpful.
A quick note about the weather on this trip. It was again much cooler than we expected. Many people were looking for sweaters and sweatshirts to buy, especially in the mornings. The nicest weather was the first day and it only went downhill from there. The worse days were the second and third which started with clouds and mist. On these days the sun peaked out for a couple hours around 5 or 6 and then it was warmer and nice until it started to cool for the evening. I had planned better as far as packing for cooler weather this time so we had layers for everyday for the boys but I was chilly the one day I wore a skirt in place of capri pants. By the time we could go back for me to change it was warm enough for me to stay in what I had on. Even two days after we left DLR it was warm and sunny there. I am just hoping it will be nice and warm and lots of sunshine for Labor Day. You never know what to expect even smack dab in the middle of summer.
A brief background note before I continue. Since I grew up in Los Angeles, I lived in a city with more than its share of celebrities. We lived in an area in the San Fernando Valley where there were a few famous people in our neighborhood and shopped at a market (that’s what we call grocery stores in California, FYI) where a lot of celebrities who lived in the really expensive houses in the hills would do their grocery shopping. My parents always taught us that famous people were just people and that we shouldn’t bother them unless we had something to say that we would say to them even if they weren’t famous. My mom, who would chat up the Pope, once had a nice conversation with basketball great Wilt Chamberlain at the butcher. I’ve always let celebrities just be people whenever I see them and I don’t generally go up and talk to them, unless it’s to ask if that’s a good salad dressing or to say thanks when they hold the door open for me. So that’s my not-so-brief celebrity philosophy.
I bring it up because as we were heading from Fantasyland back to Tomorrowland to go on Autopia, I saw an older black gentleman leaning on the railing across from the Matterhorn. After squinting to take a better look (does that even work?!), I realized who it was. There, waiting to go on the Matterhorn was Reverend Jesse Jackson. Now Jennifer’s told me that these forums aren’t really for politics, so I won’t go into it other than to say that I’m a big admirer of his and would consider it an honor to meet him. I’m not, however, an apologist who is blind to some of the mistakes he’s made and especially some of the crazy things he’s said. I realize that he, like all of us, is a person who tries to do his best and doesn’t shy away from the occasional mistake or try to sweep them under a carpet. That being said, I would love to be able to tell my boys that although they probably don’t remember it, they met (in my opinion) a very important and influential man once in Disneyland who Daddy really admired.
I approached him gingerly and politely asked him if I could take a picture of him with Ty, so I could show Ty that he had actually met him once. I didn’t want to subject Ethan to it, because it was heading into nap time and when I’m not holding him when we’re around strangers, he can get upset sometimes and I didn’t want to make Reverend Jackson any more uncomfortable than I may have been already making him. To my pleasant surprise, he said, “Of course,” as he shook my hand, and then added, “but we need to have your wife and other boy in the picture, too. The whole family.” So Jennifer and Ethan came over and his assistant (I think it was his assistant) volunteered to take the pictures. My favorite one, and the one we’ll post here is where Ty gave Rev. Jackson five. It was cool to see them both smiling and playing. You never know when you meet someone famous whether or not they’ll live up to your preconceived image of them. Reverend Jackson could not have been nicer to my entire family and I’ll treasure the brief meeting always. As we walked away, I thanked him and told him to enjoy the Matterhorn. “Oh, absolutely,” he said with a smile as we walked away to continue our magical day.
Kent did ask me before doing this and although I was surprised as we both try to leave famous alone to do their own thing. I told him that if it was really important to him than the should do it. I was however uncomfortable because I did not want to bother Rev. Jackson on his day at DLR. It did not seem to be a bother at all. The CM that was escorting him around did ask that we go to a "quieter" place to take the photo, I think to avoid the masses from realizing who he was. It was very quick and nobody seemed to think twice about it.
The next stop was our first trip to Autopia with the boys. We thought Ty was ready to give it a try and it turned out that Ethan was tall enough to go on by thismuch. Since he’s so adventurous, I decided to take him with me and let him enjoy the ride.
So when we returned to Autopia we did not see a FP line. So Kent went to ask and apparently they only do a separate line with the main line comes out past the CM post? Now why would they be issuing FPs at all if there is no line for it? So we had to wait in a 20 minute line anyway! I was not pleased. We had wasted a FP. We could have picked up a FP for Buzz instead! It made no sense to me at all.
The wait was about 20 minutes and it turned out that Ethan was so tired, he fell asleep in my arms as we waited in line. So Ethan and I headed straight through to the exit while Jennifer went on with Ty. Ty liked the driving, but he didn’t like it when the car jerked back and forth when it hit the center rail that keeps you on track. Jennifer helped him guide the steering wheel so the impacts were reduced and he ended up enjoying it much more. When they returned, he was all smiles.
We had previous plans to meet up with a Passporter member, Tricia, her husband Roger, their beautiful daughter, Katie, and Tricia’s “Nana.” We had lunch at Storytellers Café at the Grand Californian hotel. We’ve eaten here a few times before, but never for lunch, so we were excited to see what they had to offer. Ethan was still asleep as we got there and Ty ended up sleeping during the meal, so we got a little bit of a break from the boys so we could enjoy lunch with the Davids.
Ty does not nap very often anymore but we have noticed he does more at DLR just from all the excitement and running around. So just after the Davids arrived to meet us at the table he was climbing in he lap and quietly asking to snuggle. I knew he needed to sleep right away. I had him lay his little head in my lap and stretch out a little across his chair and sure enough he was asleep in minutes. This was easier then holding him and I could eat. Kent did ask if I want him to move Ty to the stroller but he was happy and I could still eat and be social so I said no thanks.
The food they had on the menu was surprisingly sophisticated, especially what I ordered, which was a four cheese ravioli with asparagus slices, roasted red peppers, sautéed spinach and whole roasted garlic cloves. Since the pasta was simple, all the other flavors worked really well, augmenting the ravioli with every bite. There was also a simple sauce on it that was almost a broth, again letting the vegetables shine. I would order it over and over and highly recommend it. Jennifer ordered the fire roasted vegetable soup and was very disappointed in it.
I love their corn chowder and I should have ordered that. The moment they put the bowl down I remembered that I had ordered this soup from the Grand California room service menu and was disappointed then. Oh well. It was not bad tasting just boring. It was very mild and therefor perfect for a certain little princess at the table!
There was no sign of fire roasted anything and it was a pretty clear broth with tons of chopped up vegetables in it. It reminded me of something you’d get out of a can. For her main dish, though, she got the margherita pizza that was simple but tasty with a great crust. Taking a page out of the making lemonade out of lemons book, Jennifer gave her veggies to Tricia so she could mush cut them up for Katie to enjoy, so it wasn’t a complete waste.
I ordered the pizza without any meat as it was supposed to come with a choice of meat and I generally prefer my pizza veggie style. It was very good and infact Ethan enjoyed a few pieces too as he woke up just after Ty fell asleep.
We got the chicken breast nuggets with fruit for the boys which Ty enjoyed before his nap.
We’d actually spent part of a day with the Davids at Sea World a few days earlier and thoroughly enjoyed their company. (Is there a Sea World Passporters? Do I need to do a Trip Report for that visit?). Since one or both of our rambunctious boys were sleeping the whole time, we were able to have a nice, relaxing lunch with them. Their daughter Katie is the cutest little girl and if Tricia hasn’t posted any pictures, beg her to do so!
With the number of PPers who where "not so patiently" waiting for Katie's arrival (myself included) Tricia has posted many many photos of the Princess Katie.
After lunch, we hugged everyone goodbye and headed back into DL to meet another Passporter that Jennifer knew named Marci, and her daughter Jessica. We met up with them as we sat down to wait for the “Celebrate! A Street Party” parade, which our boys had never seen.
It is always kind of amusing to try and discribe yourself to someone you have never met before so they might recogize you! Marci and I were both trying to help each other find one another. We did meet upa nd she and her daughter are so sweet. She was very happy to meet another PPer, always fun! We chatted and waited for the parade....and waited....
After we’d already been waiting for half an hour for the parade, the voice on the speaker came on saying that the parade would be here in another thirty minutes. Turns out that the parade starts (for the 3:30pm parade) by Small World and gets to Main Street around 4pm. The later parade goes the other direction. Since our boys had already used most of their patience reserves already, we realized that another 30 minutes just wouldn’t work, so we decided to move on.
When Marci went to freshen up Kent ran to grab some Buzz FP as we knew we would need them later in the day and what do you know....
Ty wanted to go on Buzz, again (big surprise!) and Marci and Jessica were happy to oblige. Marci has had some back issues and uses a rollator to help her get around, so she has a Guest Assistance Card (GAC) so she doesn’t have to wait painfully in the normal lines. So we escorted her and Jessica on to Buzz and had a great time. This time I got a personal best 207,900 and Ethan got an amazing 10,100. For a two year-old, he’s got some pretty good aim!
Once we got back out into the sunshine, Marci had asked us if we had ever seen the Finding Nemo Experience. We weren’t sure what she was talking about, since we’d only been on the Finding Nemo Submarine ride. Turns out, the considerate genius Imagineers at Disney knew that some people just wouldn’t be able to make it down into those submarines and didn’t want those guests to miss out on the fun. So they created the Finding Nemo Experience, which is a room at the far end of the line for the submarine ride that has some benches and plenty of open floor space for wheelchairs (or boys who like to run around!). Once they close the door, it’s like you’re on the submarine ride without having to go on the submarine. The entire ride is projected on to a large screen, complete with all of the sound effects and great lighting. The boys loved it because they could run around and point at all of the cool stuff they saw (Dorry! Nemo! Mr. Ray! Diver!) and not ruin it for everyone else. The camera work was so good, I think I actually preferred this to the actual ride. So thanks, Marci, for being so kind to share some time with us and some great experiences. Looks like Passporter people are pretty stinkin’ nice people.
We thanked them for a fun visit and we both went our separate ways.
Marci and Jessica headed out to get something to eat and we headed off to Adventureland.
Up next: A new way too see the Haunted Mansion.....
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Waiting to eat with Goofy - DLR May 2010
Last edited by MinnieJen; 07-17-2010 at 01:53 PM..