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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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FastPasses: Spaceship Earth, Test Track, and The Seas with Nemo
It’s another beautiful day at Disney. We slept in a bit this morning because we would be out late tonight for the Dessert Party. This means that we woke up around 8:00 am. I usually can’t sleep much later than that when I’m at Disney. I guess it’s because of too much excitement about the coming day. This morning we decided to try out the Mara for breakfast. They were very quick to serve and had plenty to choose from for breakfast. There was the usual Bounty Breakfast Platter but they also had some offerings that were African based. I admit that we’re chicken when it comes to new foods so we both got our usual Bounty Breakfast Platter. We also picked up milk, orange juice, a couple of bottled waters, and a banana. We picked up our refillable mugs the night before, but I usually save it for soda in the evening so we didn’t bring those down with us. When we stay at Port Orleans, they always tell us to get waters too, but we found out that this is not the case at Animal Kingdom Lodge. She said that they would count as snack credits so we put the waters back. I figured we would stop for those later in the park when we were ready for them instead of carrying them around all morning. I knew the banana would be a snack credit so we were fine with that. Still it’s interesting to see how different resorts treat the dining plan differently. It was a great breakfast as usual. The Bounty Platter includes eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, biscuit, and a mini Mickey waffle. It was delicious as always and is nice and filling so we’re usually not hungry until we eat dinner which is usually around 4:00 pm.
We were off to the bus stop and boarded the bus to Epcot. I noticed during this trip that the bus to Epcot usually came twice in the time it took for the Magic Kingdom bus to show up. This morning was quick as well. It was there in about 5 minutes. Before long we were at the gates of Epcot. Another “no bags” day so we went quickly through the no bags entrance and tapped our Magic Bands to enter the park. The PhotoPass photographers at the front were swamped with people waiting for pictures so we decided to try again later. The wait for Spaceship Earth was already 35 minutes but we had a FastPass for later that morning so we moved past and toward Innoventions. It was practically empty this morning so we walked around to see if there was anything new from when we were here in October. It was all the same exhibits but I didn’t get to the Great Piggy Bank Adventure before. It was crowded last time and I know it’s geared for little kids to teach them about saving. I really wanted to do this and there was no one waiting in line so we stood behind the rope and waited. We were quickly escorted to the first station where our piggy bank onscreen explained how to play and had us choose what we wanted to save for. We chose a vacation. It told us to open the drawer and there was our piggy bank. It was a big piggy bank and pretty heavy, but it was cute. We were then directed to three more stations in turn to play games with the piggy bank and try to save money for our vacation. The games were a lot of fun and you have to work together to make choices to first earn and then diversify your money. There is also a wolf that keeps using inflation to take away your savings. The last station shows how much money you saved and tells you if you reached your goal or not. I then entered my email address for a link to play on my phone. The app for my phone is cute and I have already spent a couple of hours playing it. I really enjoyed this exhibit at Innoventions. I definitely recommend it to anyone dropping by.
We then went by the pavilion for the Flower & Garden Festival to see what they had. I was hoping to get the Passholder’s pin with Rafiki holding Simba up. He said they ran out of that one two weeks ago. Just my luck. Oh well. I did get one of those little gift cards attached to a wrist band. It was cute. It had Donald being bothered by bees. These are a neat little idea if you can remember to bring it back with you. I didn’t see anything else that I wanted. There were some cute garden items but I don’t have a lot of time at home for keeping a garden. Maybe one day I will be able to. We left and walked back to the front for our Spaceship Earth FastPasses. The line for FastPass is still out in the sun, but we were only in line about 5 minutes. The Cast Member at the ride wished us a Happy Anniversary and directed us to the front row of our own private vehicle. There was no one seated behind us. Awesome! This is still one of my favorite rides at Epcot. I love the updates they made about computers and the pick your own adventure at the end. The pictures they take for this are hysterical. We walked over to Club Cool and tried some Coke flavors from around the world. I tried one from Africa in the spirit of our resort. I really liked it, but DH thought it was awful. On the other hand, he liked one that I didn’t like. I forget what country it was from. It was carbonated and kind of tasted like sweet cough syrup. It wasn’t Beverly if you’re wondering. We both know to steer clear of that one. We noticed the wait was really short for Journey into Imagination so we hopped on it. I’m a huge fan of Figment so I always like to see this one. The wait for the Seas with Nemo was really short too so we went ahead and rode that one.
It was finally time for our Test Track FastPasses so we got in line. The standby wait was 70 minutes. It was still a fairly long wait even with FastPasses. I think it took us about 30 minutes to actually get through everything and onto the ride. I let DH build the car since that’s his thing. It gives you 5 minutes to select style and accessories. He used the entire time. It was a great car with lots of power. After you build your car, the crowd is emptied into a large area and then squeezed into a small sized line. It’s a lot like the Haunted Mansion queue which I don’t care much for either. It doesn’t seem very efficient and adds a lot of time to waiting in line while you’re jockeying for position to get into the regular line. This is where most of the wait came from. Once we got to the ride itself, you scan your Magic Band that you built the car with and it shows you your car. Each row of the vehicle has one car. There are single riders to help fill the cars, but they don’t get to build one. They have to piggy back on yours. If you want a quick way to get on the ride itself, the single rider line is the way to go. The ride itself was really good. I like the updates and the atmosphere is very Tron-like. Of course it ends with the fast trip around the outside track. That’s where they take your picture so you might want to pull your hair back if you want to see your face. Long hair tends to fly forward at this point. The ride was awesome, but I think a lot of time is wasted on the car design feature at the beginning and then the bad line design directly after that. You have the opportunity to build a car after the ride and race it around a virtual track. This is a much better use for the design feature and everyone gets to build one.
Since we already rode the Seas with Nemo, we decided to skip the FastPass and go over to the World Showcase to see some of the flowers. We walked to Norway and bought some chocolate. Our favorite bar of chocolate is now $10, but it is so good. We each had half while watching the ducks by the water. Then we went into the butterfly garden. It was set up nicely. There were butterflies everywhere. People kept holding out their hands hoping for one to land on them, but I didn’t see any take them up on it. We got lots of pictures.
We then went over to the Land pavilion. Soarin’ had a really long wait of course, so we passed it up and went over to Living with the Land. The standby time said 20 minutes but we had plenty of time before our Dinner ressies at the Garden Grill and the line didn’t look that long. It really took about 10 minutes. The Cast Member at the ride wished us a happy anniversary and directed us to the front row. That was really sweet. I haven’t been seated in the front row since there was a Cast Member on the boat with you. This was a great boat ride. We were able to see everything really well. I was wondering if the front row access was going to be a continuing theme throughout Epcot, but this was the last time. Still it was a very nice and magical experience.
Our 4:00 ressie for Garden Grill was still 30 minutes away, but we were pretty tired at this point and ready to sit for a while so we went by to check-in. Unfortunately the Garden Grill doesn’t open until 4:00 pm so there was no early seating. She still checked us in and gave us a pager. We grabbed seats on the park benches next to the restaurant and decided to people watch for a bit instead. This is a nice waiting area as the bathrooms are right there and it’s fairly spacious until there’s a line for the elevator. This turned out to be a fun event to watch. I never realized the number of people on ECVs that use the elevator in this pavilion. Apparently it’s the only one. There was a steady stream of people waiting for the elevator the entire time we were there. As soon as one group would get on, more would come to wait for the next one. This would make a nice expansion for the Land. They could use a bigger elevator or more than one. At 4:00 on the dot, our pager lit up. All of the wait staff was lined along the walkway up to the restaurant so we were led down the middle of the line. This was pretty neat. We were seated on the bottom level at a corner table. There was a bigger table next to us in the same space but they didn’t seat anyone there until we were almost finished with our meal so we had the place to ourselves practically the whole time. I love to watch the scenery go by while you’re eating. The restaurant revolves very slowly so you don’t notice it at all. We were quickly visited by Chip who drew a heart in the air with his hands and gave us both hugs and took pictures with us. Our drinks, salad, and bread came followed shortly by Dale. A couple of minutes later we saw Mickey and then Pluto. We got pictures with all the characters before our food even made it to the table. This was awesome because we were able to see everyone again toward the end of the meal too. All were gracious and always kissed my hand before they hugged me and took pictures. It’s funny that I know there are Cast Members in those suits, but you can’t help but see Mickey Mouse and play along. For a moment in time I forget the reality and become a kid again. I truly love that about Disney. It’s what keeps me coming back time and time again. The meal was delicious of course. We were brought turkey and dressing, roast beef and mashed potatoes. Here’s where my memory is a little fuzzy. I think there was a third dish there but I can’t quite recall what it was. I was mostly interested in the turkey and dressing. We easily polished off the entire dish. We were offered more as it’s all-you-can-eat, but we both declined to save room for the dessert. The dessert was a fruit pie-type dessert that came in a little skillet. We weren’t sure if the fruit was blueberry or raspberry or a combination, but it was delicious. We ate every bit of it. We thanked our waiter who was awesome and even showed us some hidden mickeys around the restaurant and bid the characters farewell as we left. The character meals can be quite pricey without the Dining Plan, but I highly recommend this one especially if you come early. You’ll get plenty of quality time with the characters.
We were planning to come back to Epcot the next evening so we decided to go ahead and hop over to Magic Kingdom for now. On our way out, we saw a PhotoPass photographer at some topiaries behind Spaceship Earth. These were of Pluto, Mickey, and Minnie. There was only one couple in front of us waiting so we got our pictures taken too. He took several different poses including one of us showing off my Anniversary button. They all turned out really great even though the wind was blowing pretty well at this point. We exited the park and hopped the monorail to the TTC and then to Magic Kingdom.
We arrived so early in Magic Kingdom that we had plenty of time to walk around and ride some rides. Not many though because the waits were long for most of my favorites. Peter Pan was very popular during this trip. I hardly saw the wait drop below 40 minutes the whole week. We did get on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin and got our picture. DH is always concentrating hard on shooting those targets. It makes for a great picture. We managed to finally get on the PeopleMover. They kept stopping the entrance walkway and not letting people on. I didn’t see the ride itself stop, but they weren’t letting people on. This is usually something we can rely on to use up some extra time and get to sit down in the process. I could ride this one all day. We only got to ride it once this time. Around 8:30 we walked over to the Tomorrowland Terrace restaurant where the Dessert Party is held. They were setting up, but we didn’t see a clear sign of where the entrance was. I found a Cast Member who looked like he was in charge and asked about it. He indicated that the entrance was on the other side closer to Tomorrowland and said that they would be putting out the big sign in a couple of minutes. He also said that they wouldn’t start letting people in until about 5 minutes before 9 and we would be seated at assigned tables that were arranged by the time we made the reservation. I thanked him and walked back toward Tomorrowland. There were about 10 people waiting around where he said the entrance would be already. We walked around Tomorrowland for a few more minutes and went in one of the shops. About 10 minutes until 9 we returned to the entrance and there was a line of about 25 to 30 people. We joined the line and started a conversation with the people in front of us. They had been before and were Vacation Club members for many years. They were very nice. The wait wasn’t very long. They were quick to get everyone in. By around 9:05, we checked in and received our wristbands. Personally I think the wristbands are odd since it is a closed area but maybe it’s in case someone has to leave to go to the bathroom or something. Anyways we were led to the table in the front row on the left end. The couple we had been talking to were led to the table on the right end. If we were placed according to our reservation times then either we or our new friends were the first ones to make their reservations. I wonder which one it was. Funny! There were many desserts available and all nicely prepared. Again DH preferred the chocolate chip cookies. They even served scoops of vanilla ice cream. I tried several of the desserts. They all were so good, but I had more of the ice cream than anything else. We had a great view of the SpectroMagic Parade as it came by the castle. These are the things I like the best. I’m not one for staking out a spot for a parade for an hour. With this special seating, we were able to see the parade and the fireworks just fine without having to wait in the sun and crowds of people. This alone is worth the extra cost to me. We were warned when we were seated that people were invited to stand at the balcony so we might have an obstructed view if we stayed at our table. About 15 minutes before the fireworks were scheduled to begin, some people were finding places at the balcony to set up their cameras so we went ahead and walked over there too. We noticed that the moat had been drained. There was something wrapped in plastic down there, but it was too dark to make out what it might have been. This became a fun topic of conversation for the next few minutes. The man next to us had a professional camera and tried to zoom in but still couldn’t figure out what it could have been. As we all were talking to each other, we discovered that he didn’t know about Tinkerbell flying over the terrace. We made sure to keep an eye out for her. We spotted the wire before it was too dark and saw that it came right over our heads. The opening show was really nice and when Tinkerbell appeared (she lit up so quick it was as if she appeared out of thin air), we were all in an uproar pointing and gasping as she flew our way. We all waved at and clapped for Tinkerbell. That was the most exciting moment of the day. The fireworks were beautiful so close up. We usually hang around Liberty Square to see the parades and fireworks so this was a special treat. A few minutes before it was over, it started to rain. Nothing major. Just a light drizzle. I moved back under the ceiling and took a seat at my table. I still had a great view of the remaining fireworks. After the fireworks, we wished our new friends farewell and headed to the bus stop to return to our resort. It had been a glorious day.
Total Miles Walked: 9.06
Tomorrow’s Coming Attractions: Change of Plans – Rain Day
FastPasses: Journey into Imagination, Living with the Land, Illuminations
Today was surprise day for DH. We started the morning with a breakfast ressie at Boma. They were very quick to seat us and our waiter showed up within a couple of minutes to offer us their house specialty juice and see if we wanted coffee. The juice was divine. It was a delightful blend of fruit juices and we refilled twice during the meal. Boma is a buffet set up in several sections instead of one long counter. There was plenty of food to choose from. We both got our usual selections for breakfast, but I also tried something new. There was a French toast bread pudding on the buffet. I went back for more of that one. It was really good. This was a nice setup for breakfast. After we selected our food and returned to our table, I gave DH his anniversary card with a poem that I created to tell him about his present: to drive a Ferrari at the Exotic Driving Experience. He was in shock and couldn’t believe that was what I had planned. I think he was expecting a special tour or something. After breakfast we did some shopping at the Zawadi Marketplace in the resort. This is a nice sized place for a resort shop. I love the Disney H20 products they put in the rooms so I had to buy some to take home. This stuff isn’t cheap but the more you buy, the lower the price. I also got a resort pin and some other Disney items. We returned to the room to find that Mousekeeping had already made up the room. That was awesome! I pulled out all the paperwork that DH had to fill out for the Driving Experience. It took him an hour to read everything and sign it. He was a bit nervous after reading and initialing all the agreements about possible injury and we wouldn’t sue if he died or got hurt. It was a lot of paperwork. I promised him that I researched it fully before I ever booked the experience and he would be fine. There would be someone in the car with him the entire time and they would help him.
We spent the morning at the resort looking around and taking pictures. We filled our mugs and used some snack credits at the Mara, used our free 100 points that came with our Disney Destinations room package in the arcade, and walked out to the viewing spots to see the animals closer. It started to rain after a couple of hours so we moved inside to see the exhibits that are placed all around the resort. DH was scheduled for the 2:00 pm Driving Experience and they asked that he be there 30 minutes early so we left the resort at 12:00 pm just to be sure we were on time. It’s quite a route to get there using Disney transportation. We took a bus to Epcot because that bus showed up faster, then the monorail to the TTC, then met a shuttle (van) which drove us over to the track. Funny enough it only took us about 35 minutes to get there. It was still a bit rainy but we were hopeful that it would clear up. There was one other man on the shuttle with us. He was from Australia and was going to be driving the Lamborghini. They were very nice when we all arrived and explained that it would take at least an hour to dry the track even if the rain stopped which it wasn’t stopping at all. They offered to go ahead and let them sit through the “class” which is really just a video and some slides of the cars available. Both did that and signed one more paper. They were told that if we came the next morning around 8, they would be the first ones on the track before anyone else showed up. They were very willing to work with our schedules for the rest of the week, but we agreed that the next morning would be best because we didn’t have anything planned until almost lunch time. We thanked them and left to get back on the shuttle.
The shuttle took us back to the TTC where we reversed our trip and headed back to the resort to unload. I had my purse to hold the camera and paperwork that DH had to bring and we wanted to unload to go to the parks. We originally planned to go to Epcot but we prefer Magic Kingdom when it rains. A large number of people leave Magic Kingdom because they have small children and you can usually ride just about anything. We headed to Magic Kingdom with only our Magic Bands. We decided to forgo purchasing rain ponchos because it wasn’t raining “that hard” in our opinion and we could easily pick one up in the park if it got worse. Honestly I’m not a big fan of ponchos because the hood cuts my peripheral vision and I feel like I’m going to run into something or someone. The bus for Magic Kingdom arrived in about 20 minutes and we were off. Most of the people on the bus with us were either already wearing ponchos or were holding them in their hands. As the bus approached Magic Kingdom, the rain got heavier and heavier. Now those of you who have taken the busses to Magic Kingdom know that the bus stop is really far from the entrance. Needless to say, we got wet. As we were getting off the bus, another passenger that we had been talking to on the way said, “You don’t have ponchos?” I said, “Nope, we’re tough.” DH smiled and told him that it would be our first stop. Of course we were drowned rats by the time we got in the entrance to the first gift shop next to the lockers for rent. We got our ponchos and headed into the park with everyone else. It was still crowded and I didn’t even think to try to change our FastPasses to MK rides instead of Epcot. I figured I wouldn’t need them. We ended up not really needing any except I could have used one for Peter Pan. It still had a 35 minute wait.
We were ready to eat so we stopped into Columbia Harbour House for dinner. This is our favorite Counter Service restaurant at MK. We both got chicken nuggets with fries and the dessert of the month which was a little chocolate cake with confetti sprinkles. We went upstairs to find a seat and found one right by the window. As we ate, we noticed that people were taking off their ponchos down on the street. The rain quit by the time we finished so we headed for Haunted Mansion. There was some annoying guy in the line behind us that was yelling at some poor woman who was going through the line calling for her daughter. He kept yelling “line cutter” which made her yell back at him that she wasn’t cutting the line. She had a little boy with her who was clearly upset by all of this. Now I have seen people jump into line to join others that were already there several times over the years at Disney. Usually it’s a really long line and someone got out to take a child to the bathroom or get a snack. Most of the time no one makes a big deal out of it, but this guy was being a complete jerk. He didn’t shut up about it all the way into the ride going on and on about his rights and blah blah blah. If it bothers you so much then tell a Cast Member about it, but don’t ruin it for everyone around you. It’s embarrassing and I felt really bad for the little boy. I hope he was okay after all that mess. The ride was its usual fun, but it was dampered a bit by the jerk in line. Thankfully we lost him after that and didn’t come across him again for the rest of the night.
We decided to walk over to Splash Mountain to see what the wait was like since we were already wet from the rain earlier. The wait said 20 minutes, but was more like 10. I didn’t have anywhere to put my poncho so I put it back on and climbed aboard. They seated us in the front row. We laughed the entire time. This was DH’s first time riding Splash Mountain and he had a blast. So much so that he wanted to ride it again. We went through the line to save our picture to the Memory Maker and got right back into line. This time we were seated in the third row. I noticed that some people were doing funny poses in the pictures both times we rode. I forgot this is kind of a tradition now on Splash Mountain. Our pictures weren’t quite so humorous but DH did make some funny faces. I love both those pictures. I think they’re my favorite ride pictures of the whole week. There were two pins available for Splash Mountain so I bought both of them.
We rode several more rides over the course of the rest of the evening. The waits were short for most rides except Peter Pan even though the rain stopped. I think we left around 10:00 pm. Even with the rain it was still an awesome day especially with riding Splash Mountain twice. I haven’t been on it in a long time because I usually don’t want to get wet. It definitely makes a difference where you are seated. We were soaked in the front row but hardly got wet at all in the third row. Tomorrow DH would get to drive a Ferrari. We both could hardly wait.
Total Miles Walked: 9.35
Tomorrow’s Coming Attractions: Downtown Disney and Cirque du Soleil
So good that they would work with you on changing the day and time of the Exotic Ride. Sorry you all got soaked, but sounds like you managed some fun anyway.
It’s finally time to drive! We got up extra early so we could stop in at the Kilimanjaro Club Lounge and grab something quick before we headed out to the Exotic Driving Experience. We would eat a real breakfast after the drive when we had more time. I asked the Concierge in the Club Lounge about the best route this morning since the parks were closed this early. I already knew the answer but I just wanted to be sure that I didn’t miss something. He confirmed what I was thinking. We had to take the bus to Magic Kingdom and then the Resort Monorail over to the TTC. It was the only Monorail running this early. We headed down to the bus stop. This morning we waited 45 minutes before the Magic Kingdom bus arrived. There was a woman waiting with her little girls who had early reservations at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. She was hoping that they would make it on time. I hope they did too. The resort Monorail was waiting to load more passengers so we made it into a seat and waited for it to leave the station. It only took about 5 minutes but it seemed like forever. We made one stop at the Contemporary before the TTC. We loved staying here some years back. It was amazingly quiet. I loved having the monorail come right to the resort. A few people boarded and we were on our way to the TTC. The shuttle van was waiting for us and we were off in a matter of minutes. We arrived at the track around 8:15 am. DH showed his ID, handed in his paperwork, and was directed to a chair to wait. The other man from Australia was already there and waiting. They were then led out to the waiting area beside the track for the drivers. I kept hanging back, but the people working there kept waving me forward with the two guys. They told me that I could come out on the track with them and take pictures of the cars too. The photographer came out and got pictures of DH beside the Ferrari he was going to drive. Then they allowed us to take all the pictures that we wanted. They had all the cars lined up on the track and ready to go so we got pictures of all of them. DH was fitted for his helmet and told it would only be a couple more minutes while they warmed up the cars. A couple of drivers came out and revved up the cars and drove them around the track a couple of times to get them going. It was really cold and windy this morning so we were glad that we both wore jeans. DH had to for the drive. You are required to wear long pants and closed-toe shoes. I went ahead and wore mine too and I found that I needed them. DH was given a cap to wear under the helmet and then his helmet was put on him. He was led out to the car where the professional was already seated in the passenger seat. I got some pictures of him getting in and getting settled. It took a long time for him to drive off because there were a lot of instructions and he asked a lot of questions. I got a picture or two of him driving off and then I went over to the observation deck to watch him drive around the track. It was pretty quick even though he was driving 8 laps and he was actually given an extra lap around the full oval track so he could go fast. The Exotic Experience travels along half of the oval and then onto a “street course” with some turns. I walked back to the store to see him get out of the car. He was grinning ear to ear. I got another picture of him coming in. We talked to one of the guys in the shop and then went to view the video they take of him while he’s driving. They video the inside and the outside of the car so you have a split screen to see his reaction and where he is on the track. It was awesome and of course we had to buy it. They give you a thumbdrive for your computer. It’s not on a disk, but we can easily transfer it to a disk for later. We got a picture of DH with the professional that rode with him. He said he was a really nice guy and he made it a more enjoyable drive because of his encouragement along the way. They laid out the two pictures of him with the car on a nice plaque. It was too cool so we had to get that too. After a quick tour of the little store, DH picked out a t-shirt so we spent another $180 for all of that, but it was so worth it. He had a blast and talked about it for days afterward. Happy Anniversary!
We travelled back to the resort via Epcot because it’s quicker transportation that way and dropped off his new goodies in the room. We headed down to the Mara for breakfast. We got there around 10:35 but thankfully they were still serving breakfast. We got our Bountiful Breakfast Platters and sat down to eat. There was no trouble finding a seat as the place was practically empty. We ate and went back to the bus stop to catch a bus for Downtown Disney. Now here is where things got comical. The Magic Kingdom bus showed up within 5 minutes followed by two Animal Kingdom busses right after the other and an Epcot bus shortly after that. Where was the Downtown Disney bus? It arrived 25 minutes later long after we saw a good parade of all of the other busses. Sometimes you’re lucky and sometimes you’re not. You just never know what you’ll get. At least we weren’t in a hurry. We had all afternoon at Downtown Disney.
Downtown Disney is in a bit of a mess currently due to all the construction going on. I can’t wait to see what it looks like when they finish it. Hopefully it will be completed by the time we come back down for the Disney Marathon in 2016. We’ll see. We got off the bus at the Marketplace drop off. I wanted to look around and try to find some sunglasses for my mom. We used to get sunglasses every year when we came. The selection is a lot smaller than it used to be. Needless to say that I didn’t get any. Most of what they had were huge “moviestar” sunglasses and not really the type we wear. That’s okay though. I did find the autographed book for her earlier in the week. I stopped by Guest Services to see if they could find our missing ride photos. All of the PhotoPass Photographer photos were on my account but none of the ride photos were showing up. She said that it could take 24 hours before they show up, but I told her that some were from Monday. She checked to see if they were out there. She pulled up some but they were from our last trip in October. She filled out a form for the missing photos. I even gave her the numbers for a couple of them to help. She gave me a card with a number to call if I had anymore trouble. Then I went by the Basin and got me and my mom some soap. There was one that looked like a sunshine so I bought her that one. I told her I was bringing her some Florida Sunshine. I asked to have it delivered to the resort so I wouldn’t have to carry it around all day. This is the first time I have had anything delivered from DD but we were going to be there until late so I didn’t want extra bags to hang onto. This was the only purchase I found that I wanted to get so we walked over to West Side.
We went straight to DisneyQuest. This is one attraction that we have never been to. We have walked past it many times but never gone in. We had all afternoon so there was plenty of time to check out the games. There were free admission coupons included with our room package but we have Premium Annual Passes so we already had access to DisneyQuest with those. We scanned our Magic Bands and were led into an elevator to take us to the third floor. There we both got maps and away we went to the classic games. These were great! Frogger, PacMan, Galaga, Centipede, Donkey Kong, DigDug: we were in heaven. We spent a lot of time at these. It was nice because you don’t have to carry around tokens to play. You just press a button. We walked around some and looked at all the levels before we stopped at Food Quest to use a couple of snack credits and get something to drink. A snack credit here gets you a really big cup of soda. I love the seating in this place. My favorite seating was in the Wonderland Café on the fourth floor. There are all kinds of comfy couches and little tables to sit and talk. It was empty most of the time we were there even after the arcade got crowded later in the evening. We tried out the Create section and tried to build a toy but it wasn’t very user friendly. I did love the Living Easels. These were pretty easy to use and the figures moved. There were a lot of virtual reality games which made me wonder if they sanitized those helmets after each use. I didn’t try any of those but it was kind of fun to stand so close to some people while they were playing and know that they couldn’t see you. The Ride the Comix wasn’t operating while we were there and the Invasion Alien Encounter was perched a bit high up for my liking. There were a number of redemption games but they don’t actually dispense tickets. It kind of takes some of the fun out of it when you can’t actually redeem them. The best games to me were on the first floor. We tried the Virtual Jungle Cruise which was really hard and exhausting. The floor inflates so you move around like you’re actually on water and you have to try to row with a paddle with wheels. We never could get the boat to go where we wanted it to. It was still neat. The best one was Pirates of the Caribbean. This one was all around you and you shoot at ships to try to get their gold. Then you have to fight the ghost ship so it doesn’t take all your gold. We had a blast playing this one. We spent a couple of hours at DisneyQuest before it was time for dinner.
We walked over to the Cirque du Soleil store to see what they had. There was some nice clothing but it was too pricey for my taste. I saw a pin that said 15th Anniversary. It turns out that Cirque started a few months before we were married. I had to get that. It was a great souvenir for the occasion. It was almost time for dinner so we walked down to Splitsville for our 3:50 ressie. We were seated quickly. There were only a few other people in there. The dining area inside is like a 50s restaurant with leather booths decorated in red and white. It was very nice. I ordered a Turkey Club and DH got a Classic Burger. The food was tasty and hot. Service was a little slow, but we weren’t in a hurry. We got the Signature Sundae for dessert. This thing was huge! We shared it instead of getting separate desserts. I think our waiter forgot that we were on the Dining Plan which we told the hostess and then told our waiter when he came to take our orders. He brought us a normal receipt so there was nowhere to fill out the tip information. I wrote on it: Dining Plan + 9.00 tip. He walked off with the check folio and then came back apologizing about it and brought us several different receipts. Apparently they had to ring up the meals and the tip separately. We ended up with three receipts: the original one that I wrote on, one for the dining plan, and one for the room charge for the tip. Honestly if he had of told us to begin with I would have just given him cash for the tip to save him all the trouble. It was still a really good meal even with the little juggling act at the end. My first impression of Splitsville was that it was a lot smaller than I thought it would be but after we went upstairs, we saw that there were more lanes up there. The bowling lanes are kind of narrow but it looked neat. Maybe next time we go we’ll book a lane and give it a go.
We checked out a couple of other stores next door to Splitsville. One is for runners and one is for surfers. Both had some neat stuff but nothing we were particularly interested in at the moment so we returned to DisneyQuest. You really could spend all day here. It was a bit more crowded by now but we didn’t have any problems getting to the games. We spent a few minutes just sitting in Wonderland and watching others walk past. Before we knew it, it was time for Cirque du Soleil. We had tickets to the 9:00 show. We stopped by concessions and got a couple of bottled waters. DH paid for these. I’m not sure if you can use snack credits at this venue but probably not. We didn’t ask. We had Gold Circle seats. There are two rows front, middle, and center of the stage. These are great seats and are easily identified by the different color. We were on the left end. We had an excellent view of the entire show. Several of the performers used the stairs next to us so we got a close view of them. This is a beautiful show. It is very pricey so we don’t see it often, but this was our fourth visit. My favorite performers are the little girls that come out with the diabolo. They are amazing. There is always so much going on during the show that I feel like I’m missing something. This time I spent a lot of time watching the four clowns as they moved around the stage. This is a definite not-to-be-missed show.
After the show, we walked to the edge of the building looking for the busses to get back to the resort. We saw signs for valet parking and busses, but nothing that specifically indicated the resort busses. We walked over to the bus area only to find a sign that finally told where the Disney busses were and it was nowhere close. After walking all the way back through West Side we finally saw the busses we were looking for. It was a little confusing but we found the right stop and waited for our resort bus. We were on our way within 10 minutes. It was another wonderful day at Disney and we still have two more to go.
Total Miles Walked: 7.18
Tomorrow’s Coming Attractions: Breakfast with Donald, a day at Animal Kingdom, and the Backstage Safari Tour
What a fun day! The Exotic Driving Experience sounds wonderful, something Luke might like, too. Sounds like Disney Quest and Splitsville were also great choices.
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FastPasses: Dinosaur, Finding Nemo the Musical, Expedition Everest
It’s Animal Kingdom Day! We rarely get a chance to spend the entire day at Animal Kingdom. Usually we’re only at Disney for four days so we don’t give a full day to Animal Kingdom since we’re trying to fit in so much other stuff. This time we were able to spend the entire day so we decided to take a tour. More about that later. Our day began a little early because we wanted to make it to the park in time for our 9:05 ressie with Donald at the Tusker House. I have never attended a character meal with Donald Duck so I was really looking forward to this one. We made it down to the bus stop around 7:30 to make sure that we had plenty of time to get to the park. We need not have worried at all. The bus was there waiting for us. We hopped on the bus to Animal Kingdom and within minutes we were at the gate. It’s just around the corner. Bag Check was very quick. I have an Animal Kingdom bag that I purchased on our last trip and really like to use for this park. I don’t bring much but it’s nice to not have to hold my camera and sunglasses in hand most of the time. Plus I was wearing jeans this morning because it was still a little chilly so I didn’t have the zipper and button pockets to ensure that everything was safe and secure. There were only a few people in the bag check line. We then found the line for early entry and scanned our Magic Bands into the park. There were several people heading to the Tusker House which was convenient for us because we had not frequented most of the restaurants in this park and I was only sure that it was somewhere in the back of Africa. We followed the small crowd through the park and to Tusker House. This was quite a walk but it was really nice to see the park so empty. There is usually a crowd all over. It was only a little after 8 but they went ahead and checked us in for breakfast. We were wearing our Anniversary buttons today so they congratulated us and asked how long we had been married. Everyone always remarked about how young we looked to be married for 15 years. We heard this several times throughout the week. Then we were led over to a photographer who took a couple of pictures of us. I thought the pictures would be with Donald but they were just us. Donald was inside visiting the tables. The pictures turned out really nice though. We found out later that you need to tell the photographer that you want them on the Memory Maker. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this but I didn’t. Anyways the guy who brought the photos around to the table took our Memory Maker card and got them added to it which was really nice of him. They offer a package of the photos for around $35. I might have been more inclined to buy the package if Donald had been in the photos too, but since he wasn’t I just had them added to our photopass account which we had already spent $150 for unlimited photos to download later. Our waiter was very nice and brought us Jungle Juice and coffee. He told us about the buffet which we were also shown as we came in to be seated and he gave us a tip about the characters which was when you saw them in the room next to you, stick around because they would be at your table very quickly. He then released us to the buffet to fill our plates. This was a really good buffet. The eggs were perfect and there was a lot to choose from. They even had Krispy Kreme donut holes. I thought this was too cute. DH had to get some. We returned to our table and within 5 minutes Donald came by our table. We got pictures with Donald, Mickey, Goofy, and Daisy. Goofy was the best. He kissed my hand and gave me a big hug and acted like he was taking me away from DH. DH smiled at him and said that it was okay. I told him that it was perfectly allowed. This was my first picture ever with Goofy. He’s so tall we could actually stand up to get a picture so that’s what we both did. All the characters did a conga line with the children in the restaurant shortly after that and then Daisy came by for a visit. The restaurant was really packed but the characters were set up well as one would visit one side of the room while another one visited the other side of the room instead of being right behind each other. A manager came by our table at one point to see how we were enjoying ourselves and I complimented him on the setup. I told him that that was the best arrangement I had ever seen. We left right after Daisy came by and noticed that it was only 10 after 9. The park had just opened so we still had all day. Awesome!
Our first FastPass wasn’t for a couple of hours so we walked around and took pictures of the animals. There are two major trails to see the animals. One in Africa and one in Asia. Since we were in Africa, we started with the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail. Both of these trails are well themed and decorated. There are so many animals to see along the way and great viewing areas. We took the train to Rafiki’s Planet Watch next. Since it was so early, we were able to see the veterinarians taking care of a baby animal. I think it was a gazelle. They were just doing a regular checkup to see how it was doing. The mother had left it alone so they were having to take care of it. We noticed several stops for the Wilderness Explorers all over the park including at Rafiki’s. This looked like it was a lot of fun. Next we headed for Asia to explore the Maharaja Jungle Trek. This one is my favorite. I love the theming best here. I got lots of pictures. If you haven’t seen them, the link is posted around Day 2 of my Trip Report. There are a lot of pictures but they turned out really well. There are some crowd shots so you can see what we were up against during the week.
We were still within our FastPass window for Dinosaur so we went to ride it. I don’t care much for this ride, but DH loves it. I think it’s too dark and really bumpy. I would prefer a ride where you could really see the dinosaurs. I know that Epcot has the Universe of Energy, but there’s still not enough of the dinosaurs there either. We got the picture for Dinosaur. I was going to throw my hands up and act like I was scared but it snapped before I could get my hands up. I just look kind of bored.
It was around 12:00 at this point and we were to meet at the front gate for the Backstage Safari Tour in about 45 minutes. We were ready to change into shorts by now but didn’t think we had enough time to get to the resort and back so we decided to wait until after the tour. We made our way back to the entrance and asked a Cast Member if there was a specific meeting area for the tour. She pointed to the trees just outside of the entrance and said to wait there. We grabbed a bottle of water and went to rest and wait in the shade. Sometimes it is nice to just sit and people watch. Other people came and went during the time we waited. There was even a school group at one of the other trees. Closer to time another couple came and sat down. No one had shown up to lead the tour by 12:45 so we were getting a little worried, but our guide came along just a couple of minutes later. There were two Cast Members. One with a tablet and one with the equipment for the tour. Our group was very small. There were six of us so it was a nice and close tour. One couple was newlywed, one couple was a mother and graduating daughter who is going into veterinary care, and us celebrating our 15th Anniversary. We each were asked if we would be willing to participate in a survey later about our experience and I think we all agreed. We each gave our email addresses for the survey. Then the Cast Member with the tablet left us to our guide. We each received a lanyard and a listening device with an earpiece so we would be able to hear her as we travelled around Animal Kingdom. This was one of the best tours I have ever been on. Most of this is attributed to our guide. She was awesome. She was very chipper and knew a lot about the park. She told us about the new Avatar Land that was coming in a couple of years. When she asked if anyone had heard of any new changes to the park, I was surprised to find that I was the only one who knew it. I guess I really do engross myself with any news about Disney all of the time. I get several newsletter every week including one from Passporter and one from Allearsnet. Still I thought this was kind of widely known, but I guess not. We were driven around backstage to see the elephant holding area, the food preparation and distribution buildings, and the hippo holding area. There was a new hippo that was hanging out in the little pool they have for them so we got to see him up close. We were then taken to the break area in the training building and given a chance to rest for a few minutes. We were given reusable mugs that had Backstage Safari imprinted on them and offered water and snacks. Then we were taken back into the park for our own private Kilimanjaro Safaris experience. They gave us the entire vehicle to ourselves and our guide talked to us throughout the ride. There was a large crowd waiting in line as we passed by. This made twice that we got to ride this during the week and didn’t have to wait in line. It was great! The best part of this ride was the baby elephants. We came by a small pond where there were two baby elephants playing in the water. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. We all stopped to take pictures and ooohed and aaaahed before we had to move along. After the ride, we were led to a side area to turn back in our listening devices and our lanyards. We got to keep our name tags that were attached to the lanyard and were given buttons for the Conservation Fund because part of the money we paid for the tour goes to the Conservation Fund. We bid our guide farewell and thanked her for being so wonderful.
It was now definitely time to run back to the resort and change. The temperature had changed greatly from that morning and jeans were no longer appropriate. We walked by the Flametree Barbeque to see what was on the menu, but weren’t really in the mood for that. DH didn’t like that most of the meals come with coleslaw. We decided to check out the Mara at the resort and if we couldn’t find anything there, we would return to Flametree when we got back. Off we went to the bus. On the way, we were practically stopped by the parade. I spotted a small section to the side that seemed to be moving. Apparently they mark off a walking area to get by while the parade was coming through. The moving was slow going but we finally made it back to the front of the park. The parade looked neat. The bus trip was very short. The bus was there when we walked up. We changed and dropped off our bags and new mugs. We grabbed our refillable mugs and headed down to the Mara. The place was practically empty. Wonderful! They took our orders and gave us a pager and a form showing what we ordered to check out with. We both got the roasted chicken dinner. We picked up bottled waters for later as our drink since could get sodas with our mugs. DH got a muffin for his dessert and I decided to try the strawberry tart for mine. We checked out and went to fill our mugs. The pager went off within 5 minutes. It wasn’t long before we were eating our dinners. It was delicious. The chicken was cooked just right. We walked back to our room to drop off our mugs and away we went back to the Animal Kingdom.
The Backstage Safari Tour took around 3 hours and by the time we travelled, changed, and ate dinner, it was past our FastPass time for Finding Nemo the Musical. I hate that we missed it, but it was the last show of the day. I’ll have to try to catch it next time we go to Disney. We walked around Discovery Island and looked at the animal viewing spots there. These are all broken up into little trails. We finally made it back over to Asia to ride Expedition Everest. We had FastPasses but there was no wait at all so the Cast Member was beckoning people in telling them that everyone had a FastPass this evening. It was about a five minute wait even with all the people taking her up on the offer. We were seated in the second row of our car. We have only ridden this one once before a few years back and I missed the Yeti. I saw the cartoon they show when you stop at the top of the hill just before you’re sent backwards but I missed the animatronic one. This time I was on the lookout for it and DH promised to point it out. It happens so fast you have to really pay attention. He’s right at the end. I saw it! I saw the Yeti! We got this picture added to our Memory Maker and started to make our way back out of the park. They closed at 8 and it was just about that time. We headed back to the resort to enjoy some Kilimanjaro Club desserts again and relax and get ready for our big day ahead. It was another glorious day at Disney!
Total Miles Walked: 9.16
Tomorrow’s Coming Attractions: Morning at Magic Kingdom and Easter Egg Hunt at Epcot
Whew! I had a lot of catching up to do! Sounds like you were having a great time! Great photos! The tour sounds fantastic! Can't wait hill my daughter is old enough!
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Deb
Sorry you all got soaked, but sounds like you managed some fun anyway. 
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