Sparky's Gone to the World- A TR 9/13/11-9/20/11 - Page 32 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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How cute that your DD didn't have a clue that you were trying to surprise her. Sometimes things just don't go the way you plan. It would have been hilarious if she would have said she'd rather go to school.
Loved the reveal...glad she finally chose WDW over school, always so cute when kids get so worried about missing school, even if it means a trip to WDW. Wonderful start, sorry about the long walk to your room but sounds like in the end it turned out to be a great location.
How cute that your DD didn't have a clue that you were trying to surprise her. Sometimes things just don't go the way you plan. It would have been hilarious if she would have said she'd rather go to school.
Yeah, it took a few minutes. She was confused at first, and then I don't think she thought we were serious. Too funny!
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Originally Posted by KMB733
Great Start!!! DD's reaction to the news was priceless! Thankfully she finally believed you!!
Yes. I did get it all on video but I haven't even began to edit video. Need to convert the files first, and I need to renew my file converter subscription. Maybe I should figure out if I can video in the right file format to begin with. I should read the book more.
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Originally Posted by mcc0313
Loved the reveal...glad she finally chose WDW over school, always so cute when kids get so worried about missing school, even if it means a trip to WDW. Wonderful start, sorry about the long walk to your room but sounds like in the end it turned out to be a great location.
She said, "But I have school!" like "Are you serious? Are you really going to let me out of school? Is that even okay?" It was a long walk to the room, but like I said in the end it was a great location. I have seered into my brain now, that next time I want building #8 center pool facing room. We'll see, I wonder how many requests they get for the farthest away building?
We got to the bus stop and I said that we were taking the first bus to any park to show up. It just so happened to be a DHS bus, which was kind of cool because DHS is so close to the POP. Once at DHS we walked over to the bus for the Poly.
Once there, we made our way upstairs. I turned to DH and said “This is my favorite resort. It’s my dream resort.” He said, “Really? It’s okay. But definitely not my favorite, I wouldn’t care to stay here.” Now you have to realize that DH and I have only stayed at the POP. The Poly is the only resort thus far that DH has even been to at all. I have been to 1900 PF, but for him that doesn’t come till later in the week.
We checked in and we're seated within minutes. I have to say I was very much looking forward to this ADR, as we had never been to Ohana before and I have heard such great things about it.
The chicken wings were very good. I also liked the salad and the noodles were okay. I don’t eat pork or shrimp, and the meat would have been good had it been well done. I should have just asked for my meat to be cooked more, but I was hungry and tired. DD was excited about being at WDW finally, and wondering why we weren’t at the castle. With all of it, I just ate what I could and let it be.
We finished at my estimated time of 8 pm and just as planned Marybeth was waiting for us at the lounge. I recognized her immediately and we hugged hello. Marybeth said her DH and DS were out at the pool, as we were going to sneak a swim. Me? In the commotion and excitement of arriving, forgot to get our suits on. It ended up being okay, as the volcano closes at 8 pm, so not much was lost. We sat near the pool at a table and got acquainted. I could tell DH and Marybeth’s DH, Mark were getting along great.
After a bit, we headed down to the beach to catch the fireworks. Marybeth and I dragged lounge chairs near each other and she opened some glow items she brought for the kids. Both my DD and Marybeth’s DS Marky, had a great time just running around the beach. Great for DD as she has been cooped up all day sitting in the airport and the airplane.
We could see the fireworks and hear the soundtrack just fine. Very neat! We also caught the EWP, which I had never seen before. It was old fashioned and very cute. Not something I would plan for, but if the timing is right, I would see it again.
Once the fireworks were done, we started heading out. Before we left we decided to say our goodbyes as DH and I were going to head to the smoking area before leaving. Once there after 2 drags, I said “We should have just ridden back with them.” DH agreed, so we quickly put out our butts, and headed in their direction. We finally caught up to them upstairs near the monorail. They seemed happily surprised to see us. We rode together to MK and then the bus for POP.
At that point, we did say our goodbyes. DH, DD, and I headed for the caf to get our drinks for the night, cokes for all and then to the smoke area. We chit chatted with the other smokers there and after a bit headed for our room. DD fell right to sleep and within an hour, about midnight last I looked, so did DH and I.
Sorry for the short update and lack of pics but I didn't take any pics this day. Which was kind of stupid, because of the meet, but I made up for it later. Stay tuned.
I too would love to stay at the Poly if given the chance. It's funny that your DH doesn't feel the same way as you because that's how my mom is too. She thinks it has a musty smell to it, which is probably because of the waterfall in the lobby, plus she thinks it's older looking. And it is, I mean, it was one of the first resorts built on property, plus we've been coming to WDW for a very long time, so that must stuck in her head. But I told her we might need to give it a try one day so it has a chance to change her mind.
I just caught up! Excited to read more about your trip. So hilarious that your dd did not get that you were going to WDW until she saw the suitcases. I bet her reaction was awesome! We loved the 90's section of POP too and hope we get booked there on our next trip. Sorry you did not get meat that was a little more done. We love Ohana and I would definitely ask for the meat to be cooked more. So yummy!
I want to watch the fireworks from the beach at Poly. Did you think it was just as good as watching in from MK? Would you recommend it?
I too would love to stay at the Poly if given the chance. It's funny that your DH doesn't feel the same way as you because that's how my mom is too. She thinks it has a musty smell to it, which is probably because of the waterfall in the lobby, plus she thinks it's older looking. And it is, I mean, it was one of the first resorts built on property, plus we've been coming to WDW for a very long time, so that must stuck in her head. But I told her we might need to give it a try one day so it has a chance to change her mind.
Yeah, I really love the Poly. I just like the theming and the fact that it seems so shady and cool. DH decided that he would prefer another resort for that price, stay tuned to find out which resort is his fave thus far.
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Originally Posted by mcc0313
Definitely a long day but it sounds like everyone enjoyed dinner and what a wonderful meet with Marybeth and her family.
It was a long day, but a great one. So it didn't seem that bad at all. I was very happy about our meet with Marybeth and her family, it went very well, and they are an awesome family. None of us would hesitate to meet up with them again, on any other trip.
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Originally Posted by benjiboo25
I'm following...
Cool!
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Originally Posted by saibot0001
I just caught up! Excited to read more about your trip. So hilarious that your dd did not get that you were going to WDW until she saw the suitcases. I bet her reaction was awesome! We loved the 90's section of POP too and hope we get booked there on our next trip. Sorry you did not get meat that was a little more done. We love Ohana and I would definitely ask for the meat to be cooked more. So yummy!
I want to watch the fireworks from the beach at Poly. Did you think it was just as good as watching in from MK? Would you recommend it?
Thanks for following along! Yes, DD was pretty funny with her delayed reaction. It was worth it in the end when she did get it, she was so excited.
Yeah, the 90's building ended up working out great for us. Though, next time like I said I think I am going to request a pool facing room.
If I ever go back to Ohana I am definately asking for my meat well done. Right off the bat too!
As far as the fireworks from the Poly beach. I would make it to MK if you can, but if not for whatever reason...ADR, not wanting to fight crowds for that alone, no park tickets that day...it is a GREAT alternative. I would definately do it again in a heartbeat. The night we went it was actually the special Hallowishes fireworks because the MNSSHP was going on that night.
Well, I've spent the last couple of days catching up on this thread, & have really enjoyed it! Your DD's response was too cute! I'd love to surprise somebody with a trip someday. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip.