The Fantastic Five Family Furlough Disneyland Report - Updated 3/6 **Complete** - Page 4 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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After Space Mountain, we decided to head straight for the attraction my 14 yo had been waiting for…POTC!! We were at the entrance in no time, and there was NO LINE! Wait, why was there no line?? There was a CM outside of the queue, letting all passersby know that the attraction was down!! I was REALLY bummed about this, not only because we have really been looking forward to trying POTC with all of the new changes, but also we had PS reservations at Blue Bayou at 11:30am! The CM didn’t think POTC would be down all day; he just didn’t know when it would be up and running again. A little saddened, we walked on. We hightailed it over to HM. The standby here was showing at 5 minutes!! I really don’t think we even waited that long before we were shown into the stretching room. It was great!
Kaity and Morgan outside of HM
Lisa and Kaity take time to check out the grave marker names
I empty queues!
After HM, we decided to take the girls over the The Many Adventures of Pooh. On the way, though, we saw some guests walking back and we overheard them say that Pooh was down. What the heck?? We weren’t having good luck. I knew that Splash Mountain was down for rehab, but all of these other attractions weren’t listed on the Disney site as being out of commission this weekend. This is what I was grumbling about as we walked back toward POTC. When we got there, we noticed a line…it way back up and running! Yay!! We were so excited, and we immediately jumped into the line. Already there was a 15 minute line, but that isn’t too bad for POTC. The official review from Kaitlyn is that she thought it was really cool! She loved the effects with Davy Jones. That was really neat. Overall, though, we thought that they should have had Elizabeth Swan and Will Turner in there somewhere, if there was going to be so much Jack Sparrow. This has always been my very favorite ride at POTC, but I guess I was a little underwhelmed with the changes. Ah, well. Space Mountain is my favorite now!
Kaitlyn, Morgan and Madison in line, waiting to board POTC
They said we had to turn off the flash, so these pics aren't the greatest
Our FP’s were ready for Space Mountain, so we decided to hit that before our PS at Blue Bayou. This ride was even better than the first!! I LOVE the Chili Peppers addition and all of the new lighting, so I hope they keep it for awhile! Check out Madison…she is having such a blast!! I know I am biased, but isn't that one of the cutest faces you have ever seen?? She has such a look of pure joy, and this kid is not a daredevil!
Lisa and Madison on SM
Back over to Adventureland for our PS, we picked up FP’s for Indiana Jones. Our window would open at 12:30pm, which worked out perfectly…we would be able to head over there right after lunch!
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Saturday, October 9, 2014 - Kaitlyn and I before the Happy Haunted 5K at ESPN Wide World of Sports
Amy
Last edited by ilovedisney0_0; 03-04-2007 at 12:32 PM..
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For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to ‘eat at the restaurant inside of Pirates’. I have actually stopped by there before to look at the menu, but it all looked a little too fancy-dancy to me. Well, because this trip had a little extra meaning (we are trying to squeeze as much ‘family’ time in as possible before Lisa, Morgan and Madison leave for Tokyo), I scheduled PS here as a surprise for my sister. I had read a very good dining review (, Tink and Co!), and my DD had to try the Pirate’s Booty dessert, so we thought this would be a fun way to celebrate our last day.
When I made my PS, I had asked for a water-side table. The CM on the phone informed me that they do not take requests, so I should plan on getting there about 15 minutes early and requesting at check in. Because we had already been on POTC earlier, I had stopped by the check-in at Blue Bayou around 9:45am, and asked for a water-side table. The CM at the check-in desk said they could not take requests until we actually checked in for the reservation…even though my birthday button was prominently displayed!! (a lot of good that stinkin’ thing did! )
We got to Blue Bayou at 11:20am to check in for our 11:30 PS. There was already quite a line, and I did hear the CM’s telling walk-ups that there wasn’t availability for several hours or not at all. Thank goodness for all I have learned from this board! We waited for maybe 10 minutes, and then we were shown to a water-side table. It was wonderful, the ambience was really cool! Our waiter was named Cesar, and he was very personable. It ended up that he had gone to college at Northern Arizona University, and although my sister went to Arizona State, they knew some of the same people! It really is a small world…after all! (I couldn’t resist! )
The kids menus turned into pirates hats, which was a real hit!
Kaity, Madison and her Pirates hat, and Lisa at Blue Bayou
First, the CM’s brought warm, fresh rolls and butter to the table. All of the girls dug right in! Madison chose the Mickey’s Cheesy Macaroni, and she loved it. Morgan got the Citrus Chicken Drummettes, and I don’t think she liked it as well as her sister. She spent a lot of the meal sneaking around the table to steal bites off of Madison’s plate! Lisa, Kaity and I all chose to start off with the gumbo. I was hesitant about this at first because I don’t like seafood , but Cesar assured us that it was made with only chicken and sausage. It was delicious! Kaitlyn chose the Monte Cristo as her entrée, and she didn’t like it at all. She said it tasted like a big donut with meat in it. In fact, she refers to it still as ‘the donut thing’. All three of us had the steamed vegetables and the potatoes, though, and the potatoes were wonderful. Lisa had the Tesora Island Chicken, and I picked the Molasses-Brined Bayou Pork Chop. It had an interesting and sweet flavor on the outside, but it was not bad. I liked Lisa’s chicken better, though. That seemed to be the theme for this trip!
Kaity and I had read about the Flying Dutchman Cookie Boat dessert (Pirate's Booty) before we left, and we knew that we had to try it! That was the hit of the meal. It was beautifully done, and the kids were just thrilled with it! And it tasted better than it looks!!
The Flying Dutchman Cookie Boat
The sail of the boat was made out of white chocolate, and the pole (is that the mast?) was made out of dark chocolate. The whole thing was edible, and yummy!
I had a hard time keeping them away from it long enough to take a picture!!
This was a very nice meal, but I was disappointed that Disney has decided to charge the same price for meals at lunch as they do at dinner. The cost for all five of us was $109.17, before tip. It was very nice to experience it, and I am so glad I got to share it with my sister!
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Saturday, October 9, 2014 - Kaitlyn and I before the Happy Haunted 5K at ESPN Wide World of Sports
Amy
Last edited by ilovedisney0_0; 03-06-2007 at 08:29 PM..
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Sounds like a fun place to eat. Do you think picky eaters (DH & DS) can find something on the menu? I've looked at the menu on AllEars and I haven't been able to decide.
Sounds like a fun place to eat. Do you think picky eaters (DH & DS) can find something on the menu? I've looked at the menu on AllEars and I haven't been able to decide.
That is exactly the reason it took me so long to try BB, and I am not necessarily a picky eater! My niece was really happy with her fruit and mac and cheese, so your DS would probably love that. I am not much for sweet meats, but the pork chop was good. If I went again, though, I would order the Tesora chicken. I would suggest that your DH order that one!
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Saturday, October 9, 2014 - Kaitlyn and I before the Happy Haunted 5K at ESPN Wide World of Sports
Just got all caught up with your trip report -- GREAT work!! I'm totally impressed with you much you've gotten done (even with rides being out of commission at times...)
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We were at the entrance in no time, and there was NO LINE! 
Wait, why was there no line?? 
There was a CM outside of the queue, letting all passersby know that the attraction was down!! 
I was REALLY bummed about this, not only because we have really been looking forward to trying POTC with all of the new changes, but also we had PS reservations at Blue Bayou at 11:30am! The CM didn’t think POTC would be down all day; he just didn’t know when it would be up and running again. 
A little saddened, we walked on. We hightailed it over to HM. The standby here was showing at 5 minutes!! 
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Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
Glad you sot to ride Space Mountain twice 
Well, because this trip had a little extra meaning (we are trying to squeeze as much ‘family’ time in as possible before Lisa, Morgan and Madison leave for Tokyo), I scheduled PS here as a surprise for my sister. I had read a very good dining review (
, Tink and Co!), and my DD had to try the Pirate’s Booty dessert, so we thought this would be a fun way to celebrate our last day. 
)
Our waiter was named Cesar, and he was very personable. It ended up that he had gone to college at Northern Arizona University, and although my sister went to Arizona State, they knew some of the same people! 
It really is a small world…after all! (I couldn’t resist! 
)
Glad you had a great time there 
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