Just Keep Swimming - Our First Disney Trip TR - COMPLETE 3/21!! - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
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Just joining in...
I know what you mean about seeing other DME tags at the airport. It's fun to see that others are heading to Disney too!
Great morning at Epcot so far!
Part 4: Touring the World ...Where'd my money go? (September 10th)
Part 4: Touring the World ...Where'd my money go? (September 10th)
After eating we decided to see Maelstrom. I was a bit nervous at first because I heard there was a drop. But I decided to try and face my fears and we got in. It was essentially a walk on. The drop wasn't bad at all. Not even as bad as the one in Pirates of the Caribbean. I loved when the trolls pushed us back. That was super cool!
Afterward I stopped to color a duffy at the Kidcot station in the gift shop. I also got my Norway stamp. Hooray for free souvenirs! Then we went to Mexico and rode the Three Caballeros ride. It was so silly but fun. I feel like it was a little short though. I would have liked to see more singing.
We looked around the shopping area for awhile and I found a t-shirt that I wanted to get my Dad. It was a Three Caballeros t-shirt. He loves the movie and so do I. I thought he'd really like it. I wanted to get my Mom some pottery but I couldn't find any I liked for a good price.
We then decided to hit the Duffy store on the way back to Future World. To our surprise we found Duffy himself at his pavilion! I was so excited since I'm a huge Duffy fan. We waited in line for what felt like forever but was probably only ten minutes. Finally, it was my turn! I was so happy and cheery. I gave Duffy the biggest hug and he signed my autograph book. He then saw my t-shirt which is of a Japanese anime called Evangelion. He pointed to it and his handler asked if he wanted to go to Japan. He nodded and she asked how he'd get there and he pointed to my fairy pins! He was sooo cute. I told him he just needed pixie dust to fly and he started flapping his arms as if he was flying. I love Duffy so much. After some pictures it was time to say goodbye.
We went to World Showcase because I wanted to see Figment. It was a ghost town and we got right on the ride. I really liked it aside from the smelly part. Yeeeesh! I wonder why they couldn't have used a nice smell like chocolate. I got to play in the post-ride area. I loved the light up floor the most. Some little kid even joined me. I was worried her parents would think I was weird but they didn't seem to care. I was really tempted by a Figment t-shirt in the gift shop but decided against it.
Then we went to Club Cool because we were both very thirsty. I didn't have the courage to try the Beverly so I tried the other ones. The Chinese Watermelon soda was my favorite. I had at least three cupfuls. Zac had more than his fair share of a few of them.
We then decided to take a boat over to the Japan Pavilion. I think I might have gone to Heaven when I walked in. All of the merchandise was amazing. I immediately started looking around. Most things that I saw I knew I could order on JList (A site that imports a lot of Japanese products). Some things I knew I couldn't but they were expensive. It was still fun to look. I even got to try on a few kimono. The lady helping out was really nice. She noticed my Evangelion shirt and said she was a fan too and Asuka was her favorite. Then I got to look around the food area and picked out some goodies for myself. I got a bag of jelly cups and a package of Strawberry Mochi. Stuff I know I can't get on JList.
We decided to then start heading to the France Pavilion for our Dinner ADR. I was nervous because I had booked our lunch and dinner so close together. The only reason being that I wanted to see Remy. I told Zac that if we were too full, we could just push dinner back and miss Remy. He wanted to see Remy too though. We saw Belle and Beast around the France Pavilion but the line was ridiculous so we didn't stop. We did see Marie though. Right when we got to second in line she had to take a break. I tried my best to be patient. It was hard though with this little girl behind us causing trouble. It wasn't more than ten minutes before Marie reappeared and we soon got out turn. I am a rather recent fan of Aristocats so I wasn't as excited to see Marie as I would have been if I had grown up with her. But I was still very happy to see her. She signed my autograph book and we took some pictures.
Then we decided to look at the different shops. There weren't that many and most of them had perfumes and stuff in them. It was then about time to get to our ADR. We were ten minutes early but figured it couldn't hurt. They seated us almost immediately. We got a seat by the window that faces where the cast members go back stage. It was cool because we got to wave to Belle and other characters as they walked by.
Zac and I both went with the Prix Fixe menu. I got the salad, salmon, and creme brulee. He got the bisque, chicken, and some sort of strawberry cake. The food was good. I thought the Bisque was the best out of all of it. My salmon wasn't nearly as good as it was at Hoop Dee Doo. But the potatoes were really yummy. While we were eating our mains, Remy came out. He was really cute and funny. I felt like the waiter rushed him around though. We had maybe half a minute before he was carted away. He did come back again later but again, it was only for a short time. Desserts were good. I really liked my creme brulee but was too full to finish it.
We decided to walk off our food babies by walking around World Showcase. We started with England and moved around the circle. I was very tempted by a Paddington bear in one of the shops as well as an Alice tea set. I resisted though. The other pavilions were nice too. We didn't have as thorough looks at them as the others but that was okay. I really liked to toys in Germany and the Venetian masks in Italy. By the time we made it back to France it was an hour until Illuminations. We decided to camp out a spot and found a nice table with chairs by the lagoon. It didn't have a spectacular view but it was decent and we could sit.
I took the opportunity to call home and spoke with my parents for about 20 minutes. Zac went to go buy us a bottle of water. For the rest of the time we just talked and people watched. Illuminations began and at first we thought it was really cool with the fireworks. But it became increasingly boring for me. Which was really unfortunate because I've heard so many good things about Illuminations. I've heard how emotional it is. But I didn't feel any of it. Maybe I just needed a better viewing spot. There's always next time.
After the show was over we dawdled to get back to the entrance to leave. We stopped in MouseGear and looked around. Then we stopped at the big pin kiosk and I bought a few pins. A Duffy pin, a Mary Poppins pin, a Figment pin, and a Limited Edition Tinkerbell pin. We finally went to the bus stop and waited a long time for a bus. When the bus finally came it went to Riverside first instead of FQ. I was a little annoyed since I was tired and wanted to go to bed.
Once we got back I decided to get more money out of the ATM since I had used most of my cash. Fortunately I decided to do a balance inquiry first since it told me I only had 50 dollars left. I won't divulge how much was in there before but it was a lot more than that!
I decided to check my account online on my laptop so we went back to the room and I did. Sure enough, I only had 50 dollars left. I looked at the pending transactions and saw that a resort package had been charged to my card. I called the front desk and asked if it was an error. They said they didn't see anything in my file and to call guest services in the morning and ask for billing and research. I was half panicked but decided there was nothing I could do at this time of night. I called the bank to tell them what happened and they said the resort probably double charged me by accident.
I went to bed nervous but excited for the next day.
We sound a bit like kindred spirits, as I too remember only too well being worried about the drop on Maelstrom and really enjoying it and I'm always in heaven whenever we go to the Japan pavilion as well - I just love that country!
Great day roaming around Epcot. I love the Japan store also-- and hope you had time to go around the pavilion to see the little museum and the gardens. I think the Anime exhibit is still in the museum and it's fantastic. What a good thing you decided to check your bank account-- hope the front desk can figure out the problem!
Awesome time at Epcot! I remember having the longest wait for Maelstrom on our first trip and worrying the whole time, only to find out it wasn't that bad at all.
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