My "first" trip to WDW!! (1/25-2/1) - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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
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Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
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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.
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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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What a great update. You were able to get quite a few things done for getting into the park so late. I'm sorry about the rain though - sometimes that does put a damper on things but I do definitely agree though - the skies were perfect for your Haunted Mansion picture. I can't wait to read more and (hopefully) see more pictures.
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Yah I was relly surprised at how much we got done that first day! I suspect if it hadn't rained we probably could have done a lot more too, but it's all good, we eneded up seeing most of what we wanted the rest of the week! And the rain did provide some comic relief the rest of the week. And it was the only rain we encountered during the day, so I am not complaining one bit!
So we were all awake pretty early, I’d say by about 6:45am everyone was up. But we are early risers in general, so it’s not that unusual, even on vacation. My dad and I headed over to the food court to get some breakfast and coffee, while my mom showered. We got a cinnamon roll for her, and my dad and I split a CS meal, pancakes and bacon. Although I pretty much ate the bacon and him the pancakes (I’ve never been a big breakfast eater, I usually have a granola bar!). By 8 we were all ready, and figured we take our time walking over to the buses. It was a little cloudy still, so a bit cool, but still warmer than home! We barely had to wait for a bus and we were on our way to Hollywood Studios. We got there about 8:30, and met a nice couple from England who we celebrating their anniversary. The CMs weren’t letting us past the turnstiles yet, so we just chilled and looked over the map and show schedule. It started to drizzle a little bit, but it didn’t last long. About 8:45 we got let in, and we headed down to wait for rope drop. The plan was for me to head over and pick up FP for Toy Story and then wait for the parents. When the rope dropped, it wasn’t as crazy as people make it out to be. Maybe it’s because I was near the front (an advantage to being 5’1” is it’s easy to sneak into little cracks!), but it didn’t seem than insane. Yes, most people were headed to the same place, but everyone was quite civil. Anyway I got to the FP machine, and there was 1 person in front of me. The CMs were doing the FP, so maybe that helped it go by faster. Return time was for 9:50. By the time I was done my parents were waiting so we headed over to the Backlot Tour. This was originally scheduled to be closed during our trip, and I’m so happy the refurb was cancelled! I really enjoyed seeing the special effects and all the props from different movies. And Catastrophe Canyon was pretty awesome. We got out of the ride at exactly 9:50, so we went off to TSMM. I loved the FP line, my mom pointed out all the toys she had as a kid! But I think next time I might try and ride it stand by right away so I can see the regular queue. We didn’t have to wait very long in the FP line (I think the stand-by time was already at 45mins), and soon we loading into our car. My mom and dad went on one side and I went by myself.
Now short back story: I have a lazy eye, and have never been able to really see 3D. In fact I only learned in the TSMM line that those viewfinders toys were suppose to be 3D, I always just saw two images, one in each eye. The red-green glasses never worked and usually just made me nauseous. I never even thought about going to a new 3D movie because I assumed it wouldn’t work. So I was a little nervous about TSMM because I didn’t know how I would see it. So about 1/3 of the way into it, I’m thinking “Well the targets aren’t jumping out at me, so I guess I can’t really see anything, but it’s not making me vomit, so it’s something”, when about 2 seconds later something goes flying by me and I duck! Of course, then I realized it wasn’t something but just a part of the game, and I could see the 3D effects!! So it was a very exciting moment! Overall I LOVED TSMM! It was so much fun, again I think I laughed throughout! My arm was pretty tired by the end though, haha. The verdict was shared among the family, so we went to grab another set of FP, by now the return time was already 3:30.
I saw a line for Buzz and Woody, so I headed over, but after 10 minutes of waiting and moving maybe 2 feet in line, I decided to skip this meet and greet for the time being. But I did have a nice little chat with two little girls (maybe 5-6) about their princess breakfast at Akershus. Next we explored the little Pin Trading section, but we didn’t buy anything then. We then headed over to The Great Movie Ride. We stopped to take some pictures of the exterior and all the handprints. I know people don’t like the GMR, but I really enjoyed it, it’s got a lot of the older classics, so I guess it you don’t know them well it’s not as enjoyable. But even then, I think it’s a ride that works even when you haven’t seen the movies, but I do think it’s more of a grown-up ride than for little kids. Anyway I loved the little story line, I think it makes it a bit more engaging for the audience. I think my favourite part was the Wizard of Oz section, I really felt like I was in Munchkinland! I think I was humming “We represent the lollipop guild” all afternoon!
As we exited the ride, we saw Donald and Daisy coming out! And then we noticed a whole bunch of other characters coming out as well, so we stopped to get a few pictures and autographs! First up was Donald and Daisy! Donald is my mom favourite, so we met almost every Donald in the park! We got them to sign my brother’s baseball as well, I was amazed they could manage to sign on such a small item. We then got to meet Stitch, he kept checking everyone’s lanyard to see if they had a Stitch pin, I didn’t , but told him I loved him just the same. Pooh and Piglet were next, and Pooh was excited when I showed him my phone with the Peek-A-Pooh on it. Tigger and Eeyore were there as well, but that line was really long for some reason, so we skipped it and headed over to see Chip and Dale! The interaction was really cute, and they were quite the funny chipmunks! Besides that one line, none of the lines were very long, and by now the clouds had passed over and it was nice and sunny, so we didn’t mind hanging around outside a bit! By now it was close to 11:15 and we had hoped to go to the 11:30 Beauty and The Beast, so despite stopping for a Photopass picture in front of the Hollywood Studios Gates, we still managed to make it to the studio with a few minutes to spare!
BTW Right now I don’t have many pictures from the M&G because they are all on our photopass, which has been shipped, so whenever it arrives in Canada I’ll post them!
Next up: Beauty and The Beast, and the rest of the afternoon at Hollywood Studios!
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Another great update with more wonderful photos. And I'm so glad you could see the effects in TSMM. Lenny is red/green colorblind so he's always had the same problem as you with the old 3D glasses - he could never see the effect. But not anymore with all the new technology. He enjoys TSM and Philharmagic over at the MK. ITTBAB at AK and all the current 3D movies that come to the theaters.
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That is a really 
picture of Haunted Mansion! So sorry about the downpour!
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