I Thought Florida Was Supposed to be Warm! Dec 9th-17th 2010 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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There are other changes as well.
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We go on to the joy and through the tears
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Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
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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.
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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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December 15th 2010: After a good night's sleep we got up and noticed the weather was still cold, but the wind had died down significantly. We were headed to Animal Kingdom! Because of the dreadful weather, we skipped Kilimanjaro Safari's figuring the animals would be hiding from the cold. Instead we headed straight to Festival of the Lion King. This was another first for us. We really enjoyed the show, despite the rude guy on the cell phone behind us (he talked the entire time on his phone!!!). After the show we saw the Fab 5 dressed up in their Christmas finest. So we got in line for Minnie. She was great, and spent extra time with a young lady who was special needs. It brought tears to my eyes. Then right before it was our turn she had to "take some cookies out of the oven" and was coming back in a few minutes. That was the cutest excuse for a shift change or bathroom break I have ever heard!!!
So after our pics with Minnie I really wanted to get pics with Santa Goofy, but DH didn't want to wait in another long line. So we walked the Mahraja jungle trek and Pangani forest trail. We got to see the male gorillas and sneaked a peek at the baby gorilla. I wanted to ride Expedition Everest, but DH said no way for him, and I was too chicken to go alone. Besides, our lunch at Pizzafari was still simmering in my tummy .
Here's a pic of us with the Tree of Life
So we caught the next showing of Finding Nemo, yet another first for us! I really enjoyed the show, but DH thought the puppeteers were distracting, he wasn't sure if he should look at them or the puppets. After the show we did a little shopping and then headed over to Epcot.
But first--another picture for the photo cd! Darn it I paid in advance for that thing I'm getting my money's worth!!
We had dinner ressies at Chefs de France. We got there and hung out under the heat lamps they had set up outside. Once inside it was really HOT. But we enjoyed our dinner. I enjoyed my wine (a white wine can't remember what it was, just yummy), but the food IMHO was a little bland . After dinner we shopped for a bit and then watched Illuminations. It was great to see the show since we missed it a few days earlier.
We also met up with a photopass person.
We headed back to the resort for some hot chocolate and to unwind watching Phineas and Pherb.
The forecast for tomorrow: MICKEY'S VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS PARTY!!!
but the other is miss priss and doesn't want her tootsies getting snow in them. They are delicate Southern Belles
Ha! That's my Miss Molly to a T! She *hates* rain and is on the fence about snow. The first winter we had her, though, she _refused_ to walk outside on it. Laid down, would not budge type of refuse. She'll do that in the rain sometimes, I try to catch her before she lays all the way down cuz then she's just a wet ball of fur.
I was there the week after you, and I thought it was cold with highs in the mid-60's. My BFF was there the same time as you were, and she was texting me with weather updates. She warned me to bring my warmest clothes. Mid-60's during the day is freezing temps for us thin-blooded Californians
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December 16th, 2010: The saddest day of our trip, because it's our last full day. We slept in a bit before heading out around 10am. We drove to TTC and then walked over to the Polynesian. I thought it would be fun to check out some of the other resorts. DH fell in love with Poly right away! Hopefully we can stay there someday.
We walked from the Poly over to the Grand Floridian. The weather was much warmer and it was a really beautiful day. We stopped in front of the wedding pavillion so I could daydream (we eloped so I never had a fancy wedding). And then we walked into the GF. I was insantly blown away! I could not get over how beautiful it was!!! I took tons of pics and we bought a chocolate covered shingle from the giant gingerbread house. DH promised me we would stay there someday.
From there we rode the monorail to MK. We enjoyed a leisurely day at MK, as it wasn't as crowded as our first day. I had my very first turkey leg! It was waaaay more than I could eat!
DH wanted Pecos Bill so I stood outside and ate my turkey leg while he got his food. I can't tell you how many people asked me where they could get their own turkey leg!! One kid wanted a picture of it!! (NO!!!) We enjoyed our afternoon and then had dinner at an old favorite, Liberty Tree. At this point I was still full from lunch, so I felt really bad that we were at an all you can eat establishment, but oh well. After dinner we got our bracelets for MCMCP and went on rides with little to no line! That was so much fun! We even rode Haunted Mansion about 3 times in a row! We looked for Characters to get pictures, but we only found Rapunzel, and she was in 2 places at once! I was really disappointed that we didn't see more characters. So instead we hit up the photopass people and got tons of pics with the Castle in the background. DH's favorite color is blue, so we HAD to get a Blue Castle pic:
We watched the 2nd running of the parade, and then the Holiday Wishes. This was hands down the best fireworks show I've ever seen in my life!!! I tried to video tape it, but it didn't turn out so great. We will definitely do the Christmas party again, just for the short lines onto the rides! And since the crowds were lower, our stress level was much lower too.
On our way out we got another great pic:
The Christmas party was a great ending to our vacation. December 17th, 2010: This was our day to dive home. We left Disney very sad that we had to leave, but in all honesty this was not the most fun trip we've had. Most of that was due to the weather. I think we would have enjoyed ourselves more if we had better weather. Also, the crowds were more than we expected, and that was frustrating for us as well. During the drive home I was thinking to myself that I wish I could do the vacation over again....and we are! We leave on Aug 6th to drive down for a week of very hot and humid weather. I guess we are trading one extreme for another! But this time we can actually enjoy the pool!
Thanks for tagging along! I hope you enjoyed my Trip Report! Stay tuned for another one after our trip next week
Angela
Great finish! I'm glad you have another trip coming up next week! Hope the weather behaves itself this trip, but I can warn you that you'll probably see afternoon showers almost every day. Try and wait them out and you'll see shorter lines when the rain stops. Also keep an eye on TS Emily!
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. After dinner we shopped for a bit and then watched Illuminations. It was great to see the show since we missed it a few days earlier. 
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Hope it soon warms up a bit for you.
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