I want to go back to my happy place (with pics)! Celebrating the twins 5th bday TR - UPDATED 1/2 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Sorry for the delay in finishing up. Life got in the way! Back to my TR. As you know we were staying offsite at the Windsor Hills Resort just a few minutes from WDW. We had been getting to the parking lots of Epcot/AK within 15-20 minutes so I wasn’t worried about getting to MK. Well I totally forgot about having to go to the TTC and take a monorail into MK. I also didn’t realize that our new tickets from AK would have issues at the gate. I will admit that I don’t do well when I’m late. I don’t like the feeling of rushing and worrying that my lateness is going to be an issue. I just get annoyed. We left WH later than I had hoped, around 7:15am and we made it to the MK turnstiles about 8:10am. The problem was our reservation was for 8:10am and the whole point of getting such an early ressie was to enjoy the beauty and peace of a quiet Main Street USA. Well that was out the window as we were moving quite quickly. When we were at AK I realized that our park tickets had been demagnetized (or something) and needed to be replaced. The CM who helped me indicated they were “new” tickets. Well not really. They were sort of new but still assigned to the members in our party the same way. When we got to the turnstiles we had confusion because I was trying to assign my finger scan to DH’s ticket and it wouldn’t work. I was trying to explain to the CM what happened the day before and he wasn’t listening. DH was trying to tell me that “mickey is mine” “that one is yours, etc” and I wasn’t listening. The kids wanted to get in the park. We were late and already annoyed before 8:30am in the morning. Not a very magical start to say the least. We made our way up to CP for breakfast and checked in. After a few minutes we were seated and saw Piglet. I had to remind my kids to check their behavior and I apologized for the bad example that mommy and daddy had set but that we were going to have a great day. DH also apologized to the kids and me and all was forgiven. The food at CP was really good. The coffee was awful but I was prepared for that (thanks PP’ers). We got to see the entire bunch from the Hundred Acre Wood and the kids got birthday cupcakes. I tell you there is nothing like Disney – you can eat cake at 9am and no one blinks an eye! Here are some pics from our breakfast.
I am continuing our MK day so I can add more pics and it won't get too long.
After breakfast we headed to the castle and over toward Toon Town. I wanted to start there because I thought we might be able to see the fairies and princesses. I also wanted to ride the Barnstormer to see how the kids reacted before moving on to bigger coasters, etc. On our way we took some photopass pics in front of the castle (still waiting on photopass CD ). We ran into Scrooge McDuck and he had a very short line. We decided to wait and the CM informed us that Donald would be out before we got to the front. That was fine with us as we preferred a picture with Donald anyway. With the picture out of the way we went on to Toontown. I couldn’t believe that the fairies line was already 45 minutes long. I took Jocelyn to meet the princesses whose line was only 15 minutes long. She enjoyed it and I really like photopass pictures. After that we met up with the boys over at Mickey’s house for a picture with Mickey and Minnie. We rode Barnstormer and the kids LOVED it. They tend to walk on the wild side. decided to make our way out of Toontown and have a snack. Then my DH, you remember the one who thought the binder was a bit much, turned to me and said “we need to map out a plan for this park – what’s our strategy?” I was like “huh?” He said “we need to look at the map and know where we are going and get a plan together”. I said “OK”. While the kids and I ate our ice cream he created a priority list of what we would do and I helped with the order but once we were done, we were ready. First was the speedway which had about a 15 minute posted wait. I rode with Jocelyn and DH rode with Jeffery. The kids liked it but I think they were too small to really manage it and I had to press the pedal while she jerked us in and out of the safety rail. Not fun. Then we did Tea Cups (5M wait), Dumbo (20M wait), Carousel (0W), Mickey’s Philharmagic (5M). We really enjoyed the Mickey’s Philharmagic! We hadn’t been on it before and we all thought it was a lot of fun. We had lunch at Pinocchio’s Haus. At sometime before lunch we determined that we wouldn’t take an afternoon break and would just try to push on and see how the kids were doing. They were loving it. No melt-downs or tantrums. Real troopers. We headed over to Liberty Square to the Hall of Presidents. We loved it. I didn’t really know what to expect but was very glad we took the time to check it out. Then I spoke with a CM about getting on the boat for the Tiana’s Jubilee show but found that my twins were too small. She did point me in the right direction for the character greeting spot and we went over to meet Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen. Then we went to ride BTMRR. I did not enjoy it. My daredevil children – loved it! We made our way over to Frontierland to ride the Aladdin carpets. My DH turns and says “this is just like the dino ride at AK and dumbo”. Yeah I know but the kids think it’s different. Then a ride on the jungle cruise. After that is was getting late and getting close to the Spectro parade time.
We found a great bench and the kids and I took a rest. DH went to get dinner with the food $ envelope. I decided to call my DMIL and let the kids tell her about the trip and talk with her a little bit. I really missed her in that moment and was sad all over again that she couldn’t come. Well while the kids were on the phone I see DH coming back with no food. He had lost the $ envelope ($100 in travelers cheques)!!! I tried not to panic but was really stressed. We had our rewards card to get the food but we were on a tight budget and really couldn’t afford to “lose” $100 on our vacation. I kept reminding myself “if they are lost or stolen we will replace within 24 hours”. I was hoping that the commercials would hold true. After DH returned we had dinner and watched the parade. The kids thought it was great and so did I. DH decided to head to guest services to fill out a report so we could process our claim with AMEX. After the parade I made my way toward Guest Services at the end of Main Street. This was easier said than done because people were everywhere waiting for Wishes to start. I tried my best but I am sure I ran over a few feet with the stroller trying to get past the crush of people. We made to the end of the street and I could see DH still at the counter. I decided to take the kids for a potty break and then just stand out at the end of the street to see Wishes. DH met me outside the restroom. I asked what did guest services say? He shook his head and handed me our envelope with the travelers’ cheques inside!!! A CM had returned them and while he was filling out the paperwork the lady went in the back to get the phone number for AMEX and the $$ had been turned in. I would love to believe that it would have been turned in even if it were cash but I am so glad I decided to get travelers checks for our vacation. We stood there at the end of Main Street happy and watched Wishes. It was quite a night. After the fireworks we did a little shopping and then headed back on the ferry to TTC for our van. It started a little rocky but definitely ended magically.
Sounds like a great time at MK!
Glad the rough start was short lived, we have had starts like that also.......
We were also in the Scrooge line recently when it turned into Donald, unfortunately for us we wanted to meet Scrooge; glad it worked out to yall s benefit!
Looking forward to more updates!
Sounds like a great time at MK!
Glad the rough start was short lived, we have had starts like that also.......
We were also in the Scrooge line recently when it turned into Donald, unfortunately for us we wanted to meet Scrooge; glad it worked out to yall s benefit!
Looking forward to more updates!
I'm SO glad your envelope was turned in!
I'm glad we've learned enough about each other to sort of nip it in the bud before it blooms - if you know what I mean! I think the kids thought Scrooge was Donald so I don't know that they would have cared much
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Disney Hollywood Studios – Do not pass go, do not stop to take pictures go directly to Toy Story Mania!
Our DHS day dawned with great expectations. I was very excited about checking out TSM. I had heard that you needed to be there at rope drop to avoid the crazy lines and not miss out. Luckily for us we were a little late. We arrived about 15 minutes after opening and were able to walk over (do not stop, just go!) pick up fastpasses for later and get in line. The line was posted at 20 minutes and it probably took that amount of time to get on the ride. The cool thing about the que for TSM is that the theming is so interesting that you don’t “feel” like your in line. Of course this theory probably only works when the line is less that 30 minutes. So we got on the ride and like so many, we loved it! I was a little concerned about them being able to hit the targets but with a little help they had a blast. After TSM we went out to gather our stroller and formulate our plan. I had a list of “must do’s” but with the show schedules you really have to sit and determine when you will see stuff. While sitting on the bench the green army men came recruiting for children. It was quite fun to see the kids playing with them and trying to keep up with the various commands. Then we went to Playhouse Disney and then over to Beauty and the Beast. After Beauty we got lunch, played at the HISTK playground, and took pictures with the CARS characters. DH had got to see the Walt Disney One Man’s Dream (I think its called) exhibit. He said it was really cool and he wished I had seen it. I knew we couldn’t do everything and I wanted to create time for him to do ToT or RNRC if he wanted. He decided not to do the rides by himself. Not sure because I have done ToT for my one and only time! We met up outside the chinese theater at the parade. Jocelyn was partying away at the block party bash! After we met up again we went to see Lights! Stunt show and used our 1st fastpasses for TSM. We also rode Star Tours before going to Fantasmic! We decided that he would pick up a couple of turkey legs and I would go and get seats with the kids. I think we should have gone with hot dogs! He made it down in time and we ate our dinner before the show started. It interesting that I really remember the fire on the water from the show but didn’t remember the “evil” characters and images in the show. Maybe because I didn’t have kids when we came 8 years ago. I am glad we saw the show and even with the evil characters the kids saw it as a great show. I was also glad we saw the earlier show because the line to get into the 2nd show was crazy. Our original plan had us taking a break and coming back later specifically to see the 2nd show. Glad we adjusted. After Fantasmic we walked around and went back to use our 2nd fastpasses for TSM. Jeffery was sleep so DH and Jocelyn went to ride. The posted standby time was 90 minutes. The fastpass line still took 30 for them to ride. After they rode we went to see the Osborne lights. How cool were they! The lights and the snow really made it feel like Christmas. It also made me feel better about not going to the MVMCP at MK. We walked slowly to the van and headed on out. It was a really good day!
You definitely had a wonderful day at DHS! I can't wait to see the Osborne Lights some day.
I didn't know what to expect but it was really cool!
Quote:
Originally Posted by B.M.
Great day at the Studios!
Glad you got to see the army men, that is a "must" for us next trip-
Looking forward to more updates.....
Those are the kind of thing you just can't plan for but need to experience. They are a hoot!
Quote:
Originally Posted by islandgirl
Great update & pictures!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Glad you had a great day at DHS!
We really had a great time and could have done 2 days at that park. I didn't think it would be necessary but there are quite a few things we just didn't get to. I guess we'll just have to go back
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
About This Page: 
I also didn’t realize that our new tickets from AK would have issues at the gate. I will admit that I don’t do well when I’m late. I don’t like the feeling of rushing and worrying that my lateness is going to be an issue. I just get annoyed. 
We left WH later than I had hoped, around 7:15am and we made it to the MK turnstiles about 8:10am. The problem was our reservation was for 8:10am and the whole point of getting such an early ressie was to enjoy the beauty and peace of a quiet Main Street USA. Well that was out the window as we were moving quite quickly. 
When we were at AK I realized that our park tickets had been demagnetized (or something) and needed to be replaced. The CM who helped me indicated they were “new” tickets. Well not really. They were sort of new but still assigned to the members in our party the same way. When we got to the turnstiles we had confusion because I was trying to assign my finger scan to DH’s ticket and it wouldn’t work. I was trying to explain to the CM what happened the day before and he wasn’t listening. DH was trying to tell me that “mickey is mine” “that one is yours, etc” and I wasn’t listening. The kids wanted to get in the park. We were late and already annoyed before 8:30am in the morning. Not a very magical start to say the least. 
We made our way up to CP for breakfast and checked in. After a few minutes we were seated and saw Piglet. I had to remind my kids to check their behavior and I apologized for the bad example that mommy and daddy had set but that we were going to have a great day. DH also apologized to the kids and me and all was forgiven. 
The food at CP was really good. The coffee was awful but I was prepared for that (thanks PP’ers). We got to see the entire bunch from the Hundred Acre Wood and the kids got birthday cupcakes. I tell you there is nothing like Disney – you can eat cake at 9am and no one blinks an eye! Here are some pics from our breakfast. 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
). We ran into Scrooge McDuck and he had a very short line. We decided to wait and the CM informed us that Donald would be out before we got to the front. That was fine with us as we preferred a picture with Donald anyway. 
My daredevil children – loved it! We made our way over to Frontierland to ride the Aladdin carpets. My DH turns and says “this is just like the dino ride at AK and dumbo”. Yeah I know but the kids think it’s different. Then a ride on the jungle cruise. After that is was getting late and getting close to the Spectro parade time. 
Well while the kids were on the phone I see DH coming back with no food. He had lost the $ envelope ($100 in travelers cheques)!!! I tried not to panic but was really stressed. 
We had our rewards card to get the food but we were on a tight budget and really couldn’t afford to “lose” $100 on our vacation. I kept reminding myself “if they are lost or stolen we will replace within 24 hours”. I was hoping that the commercials would hold true. After DH returned we had dinner and watched the parade. The kids thought it was great and so did I. 
So we got on the ride and like so many, we loved it! 
Susan
Linear Mode
