Stay Calm and Hakuna Matata TR (9/21/13-9/29/13) - Completed!! - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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
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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.
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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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Glad you were able to enjoy your solo meet and greet night at MNSSHP! I used to wonder why some folks went twice in a trip to MNSSHP, but after seeing how hard it is to get everything done, I now understand.
I was a little disappointed, but I rather that they stayed back then tag along and complain about being tired.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Glad you were able to enjoy your solo meet and greet night at MNSSHP! I used to wonder why some folks went twice in a trip to MNSSHP, but after seeing how hard it is to get everything done, I now understand.
I remember when I was looking at my list of characters that I wanted to meet, I knew I was going to have to give up the parade, but I thought I would least get a chance to get some candy....guess what nope that didn't happen either. Of course that gives me a great reason to go back again.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Glad you're having a great time! Sorry about the rain and that the boys didn't want to go to the party! . Great pictures from your adventures!
Thanks. In hindsight, I believe it was better that stayed back at the resort, the rain was pretty bad that night.
Quote:
Originally Posted by melduckie
I'm glad you had such a great time at MNSSHP! And good for you for not letting the boys ruin your night! You go girl!!
Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Great updates - I'm glad you went to the Halloween Party, good for you!
Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by disneydreamer33
I am glad you still went to MNSSHP and got some great character meets!
Thanks! The character meets that evening were a lot of fun. Tarzan was a trip! He asked his friend Turk, who had the longest hair and was disappointed when she told him that I did. His comeback line was that may be so, but he could swing farther on the vine.
This morning, we all woke up with the alarm going off at 6 o’clock. While Joshua relaxed watching some DVDs that he brought with him and Will watched the morning news, I organized our outfits that we would be wearing to the Magic Kingdom that day. I really loved the idea of wearing matching shirts and even my husband saw how their usefulness and how they made it very easy to spot each other, even when we accidently got separated, which happened quite frequently. So, around a quarter to seven, I had to tell the guys to get a move on and get dressed so we could maybe make it an ADR on time. For breakfast that day, we were heading over to one of Joshua’s favorite restaurants…Crystal Palace. Our reservation was at 8:25, so we drove over to the ticket and transportation center. Only the resort monorail was running that morning, so it took a little longer than the express. We arrived at the Magic Kingdom gates and after Will completed the bag check line, we made our way to the turnstiles marked for breakfast reservations. After, getting a few obligatory pictures in front of Cinderella’s Castle, we made our way over to the restaurant.
Once again, the weather wasn’t being very nice and we were greeted with “Florida Sunshine” aka ….rain! It’s a good thing we didn’t have long to wait and within a few minutes after signing in at the podium, we were shown our table. We got a great table on the outer edge of the restaurant, next to the glass windows, with a very lovely view of the river outside. Joshua enjoyed watching the ducks swimming around in the rain, while Will headed over to the buffet. During this time Piglet, came around and I asked the CM if she could take a picture of both me and Joshua with Piglet, which she said would be happy to do.
So with picture taken, I went up next to the buffet and brought back a plate of waffles for Joshua and a plate consisting of scrambled eggs, puffed French toast and a few slices of bacon. Will had their scrambled eggs, breakfast sausage and waffles. While we were enjoying our breakfast, the character broke out in song and dance parade. I asked Joshua if he wanted to join in, but declined the invite. Afterwards, we were greeted by Eeyore, who did something much unexpected. He started jumping up and down and I could have sworn he actually looked very happy and exited!? He kept pointing at me and I couldn’t figure out why, until Will tells me…Eeyore is noticing himself on our shirts and it’s making his day! Well, in no time at all word got around Eeyore’s other Hundred Acre Friends and we had great interactions with all of them making a fuss over our shirts.
Even Piglet, who missed seeing himself on our shirt made his way back around for a second photo opportunity with all of us…
Shortly, after Piglet came back around, we finished the bites of food on our plates, and headed back out on to Main Street. It was still early in the morning, the rain had stopped and the sky was now just overcast. I had scheduled that morning Fast pass+ for BTMMR and Splash Mountain, but it wasn’t quite time, so we decided to make our way over to Fantasyland so we could catch a few rides before it became too crowded. We were very lucky, the first ride we came to was Peter Pan and the wait time for the stand-by line was only ten minutes. I quickly said to Will let’s get on…or at least I tried to tell him. I turned around and he was gone! I’m looking up and down and I’m not seeing him anywhere. I’m starting to become a little agitated, because he isn’t answering his phone either. Finally, about 10 minutes later, I see him coming out from the restrooms near IASW. I’m trying my best to keep my cool, but he knew I was pissed he didn’t bother tell me where he was going and now the wait time had increased to twenty minutes. We made our way back over to Peter Pan and we soon boarded our pirate ship and sailed over to Never Land. Afterwards, we made our way over to ride IASW, which also had a very short wait time and within no time at all we were being entertained by the cute little children from the seven corners of the world. After debarking from our little boat, Joshua and Will headed over to Frontier Land to use to ride Splash Mountain and BTMRR. While they were doing that, I decided to make my way over to see Princess Merida, who I missed meeting back in December. I congratulated her on her new title and asked if her brothers were behaving any better, which they weren’t, but they were trying to work harder at it.
Disney's LTM for that week was Pirate week, so on my way back towards where the boys were, I spied our good Captain and of course had to get his picture
Will and Joshua had just finished riding BTMRR, when I made my way over to join them. Joshua wanted to ride The Many Adventure of Winnie the Pooh, but Will wanted to ride Haunted Mansion. As we walked by HM, we noticed the wait time was about 45 minutes, so I told him I would try to see if I could schedule a fastpass+ since I still had one left for that day, however they didn’t have any available, so I told him we would try to hit it later when the line wasn’t so long. Will also wanted go watch Mickey’s PhilarMagic and since Joshua had ridden a few rides, we thought we would go there first, before seeing Winnie-the-Pooh. BIG MISTAKE! I totally forgot how dark and loud it is inside and when the water sprayed on poor Joshua in one scene he was beside himself and of course ended up sitting on the floor the rest of the time and voicing quite loudly that he didn’t like “the show” and that he wanted to go on more rides. We left the theater and made note not to do that one again. After, Joshua had a few minutes to himself so that he could have the opportunity to calm down, before we made our way over and rode Winnie-the-Pooh. By time we exited the ride, we noticed it getting to be around 1 o’clock, so we decided on heading out and making our way back to the resort for a bite to eat and a chance to relax before we came back in the evening for the firework dessert party. We did end up hitting one more attraction on our way out the door….The People Mover in Tomorrowland. This is another one that Joshua loves and I do too. Plus there’s hardly any wait, so it’s one of those that’s easy and quick to do at anytime of the day. We rode the monorail back over to the Ticket and Transportation Center and walked over to the handicap section to our vehicle and within a few minutes, we were back at the resort. For lunch that day, I had a make your own salad with beef, Will had the Angus Hamburger and Joshua had a PBJ sandwich. We then spent the next couple hours just relaxing. I also used this time to do a load of laundry, and told the guys not to get too comfortable, because I wanted to leave around 5 o’clock to head back over to the Magic Kingdom, so we would have time to ride a few rides before the dessert party. Stay tune on how that all works out……
Sounds like a great morning aside from Philharmagic! I forgot about the Merida meet as I've missed it on my trips so far. Added to the to-do list, thanks for the reminder!
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We left around 5: 45 pm that evening to head back to the Magic Kingdom. I told Joshua we were going to the Dessert Party to watch the fireworks. He of course wanted to go on Splash Mountain as soon as heard the word…”Magic Kingdom”. Looking at the MDE app, I saw the wait times were pretty low…only fifteen minutes, so I figured he would have a chance to ride it before the Dessert Party, which scheduled at 7:00. So, I told him that was fine and off we headed back to the park. When we got, as we started walking via Liberty Square, when my DH motions to me to take a look at the wait time for Haunted Mansion, to see if the wait time had gone down from where it had been originally. We were in luck, it showing the stand-by line around 10 minutes and it was only 6:15. So I thought we would have time do both or so I thought. We headed into the Haunted Mansion, made our way through the stretching room and onto our doom buggy. In the PassPorter’s, this ride is listed as having a 3 minute introduction and 7 minute ride, which is why I thought we would have time do both, however in our case that is not what happened. We made it all the way up the attic area and our Doom buggy was turning itself backwards to bring us to the next area, I believe the grave yard if I remember correctly, when the spooks decided to have some fun and the ride came to a complete halt. Now, I know they were probably loading people during this time, and who may have required additional assistance, which is fine, but I knew this was going to cause some issues later for Joshua and boy did they. Our wait time was around 15 minutes, so we actually spent a total of 25 minutes at the Haunted Mansion, not only that but once we got back outside, the wait time for Splash Mountain had also increased and I knew we would not have time to go on before the dessert party. Needless, to say Joshua was not very happy in the very least. I told him that we had to go check in, first and then I would try to see if he and daddy could head over there, but Will didn’t want to do that, since he didn’t know how long it was going to take and he didn’t want to miss out on the desserts. We headed over to the Tomorrow Land’s Terrace, signed in and received our dessert bands. Our table was located near the railing, so I knew we would have a nice view of the fireworks, and proceed to check out the desserts. We didn’t want to eat too much, since we had reservations for dinner at 8:50 for the covet BOG restaurant. Will had a small sampling of their desserts, which included chocolate covered strawberries, fruit tarts, banana cream tart and few chocolate chip cookies with a glass of milk. I on the other hand, was trying to deal with a very upset child, who didn’t want to eat any of the desserts and just wanted to leave so he could ride Splash Mountain. I told him we would, but we had to finish the dessert party first and that we couldn’t leave the area, because they were going to be turning out the lights in the park for the fireworks. Well Joshua didn’t care and so during the whole time, he whined and complained, so of course I was miserable. I did manage to gather a few dessert samples for myself during this time. I believe I had the Crème Brule, along with the fruit tart and the cheesecake in a glass. When the fireworks started, Will walked over to railing to watch, while I sat with Joshua, who just complained the whole time. I wish I could say I enjoyed the firework show, but having to deal with Joshua put a huge damper on it. Now, while I was a disappointed at how the dessert party turned out, I knew Joshua really couldn’t help it and was just trying to figure out the wacky schedule that had been laid in front of him, since he had been originally promised to ride Splash Mountain when we came back to the park that evening. So, while I did understand his behavior, it didn’t make me the least bit happy, but after the fireworks ended, I decided to let him go on to Splash Mountain. We trekked back over to Frontierland and the wait for Splash Mountain was only five minutes, basically….a walk-on ride at this point, which is great however, I hadn’t noticed the time until we got over there. I looked at my phone and noticed it was already 8:20, so I told them they would only be able to ride it one time, figuring we might be just a few minutes late to dinner. So, while I waited for them I had a look around the gift shop area near the exit. I saw their picture come up on the screen and headed over to the photo line to add it onto the photo pass.
Will then decides as they were exiting the ride to take Joshua on it again, due to the short stand-by time, however Will didn’t realize that ride itself is fifteen minutes in length and before I could stop him they were gone. At this point it’s now 8:50 and I knew it would take us at least a good ten minute walk to get over to the BOG restaurant. There was nothing I could do at this point but wait for them to back through the ride again, which took longer due to having to stop a few times to let on guest waiting in the scooter/handicap queue. I quickly grab their picture number and put on the photo pass and we headed back out towards New Fantasy Land at this point it’s now 9:15 and I’m trying to hurry them along, but Joshua is being Joshua and doesn’t feel like walking fast and stops at every water fountain along the way, which of course slows us down. Now the park was only opened until 10pm that evening, so I’m thinking at this point they are probably getting ready to start wrapping things up at the restaurant, so you can only imagine how I’m feeling at this point....yep you guess it…frustrated. At this point it’s now 9:30 and we were still in the Liberty Square area. Holding back my tears, I turned around and told Will to forget about going to BOG, since at this point it wasn’t worth spending only a few minutes there. So, we headed back to the car and drove back to the resort. I remained silent on the drive back over, but what Will said next made me really angry. He told me that I could have gone to dinner without them! Heck If I had known that I would have, but he never said that to me and I didn’t think it was fair to take off without talking with them first. He knew how I much I had been looking forward to dining there and how difficult it was to get a reservation, so of course this didn’t make feel the least bit better. Needless to say I walked back to the room turned out the light and went to sleep.
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So, around a quarter to seven, I had to tell the guys to get a move on and get dressed so we could maybe make it an ADR on time. For breakfast that day, we were heading over to one of Joshua’s favorite restaurants…Crystal Palace. Our reservation was at 8:25, so we drove over to the ticket and transportation center. Only the resort monorail was running that morning, so it took a little longer than the express. We arrived at the Magic Kingdom gates and after Will completed the bag check line, we made our way to the turnstiles marked for breakfast reservations. After, getting a few obligatory pictures in front of Cinderella’s Castle, we made our way over to the restaurant. 
It’s a good thing we didn’t have long to wait and within a few minutes after signing in at the podium, we were shown our table. We got a great table on the outer edge of the restaurant, next to the glass windows, with a very lovely view of the river outside. Joshua enjoyed watching the ducks swimming around in the rain, while Will headed over to the buffet. During this time Piglet, came around and I asked the CM if she could take a picture of both me and Joshua with Piglet, which she said would be happy to do. 
He kept pointing at me and I couldn’t figure out why, until Will tells me…Eeyore is noticing himself on our shirts and it’s making his day! 
I’m looking up and down and I’m not seeing him anywhere. I’m starting to become a little agitated,
because he isn’t answering his phone either. Finally, about 10 minutes later, I see him coming out from the restrooms near IASW. I’m trying my best to keep my cool, but he knew I was pissed he didn’t bother tell me where he was going and now the wait time had increased to twenty minutes. We made our way back over to Peter Pan and we soon boarded our pirate ship and sailed over to Never Land. Afterwards, we made our way over to ride IASW, which also had a very short wait time and within no time at all we were being entertained by the cute little children from the seven corners of the world. After debarking from our little boat, Joshua and Will headed over to Frontier Land to use to ride Splash Mountain and BTMRR. While they were doing that, I decided to make my way over to see Princess Merida, who I missed meeting back in December. I congratulated her on her new title and asked if her brothers were behaving any better, which they weren’t, but they were trying to work harder at it. 
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