Most Everyone's Mad Here TR COMPLETED - Page 5 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
DHS had AM EMH's and we planned to get up and head over early to get a ride in on TSMM. My alarm went off at 6:30am and I turned it off and rolled over. Allen wasn't jumping out of bed and he is the one who really wanted to make sure to get a ride on TSMM so I figured if he gets up, I will too but if he's ok going a little later, so am I!
He only slept for another 15 or so minutes so not as long as I would have preferred . We got up, showered, dressed and Stella ready by about 7:45am and then we headed out to the bus. I think we wait about 10 minutes or so for a bus.
It's early and someone is tired:
I don't know why he's sleepy, it's his fault that we are out here so early!
Once we arrived at DHS, Allen walked ahead to bag check and Stella and I continued on to the gate. Allen had our AP's ready to enter but forgot he also needed to show our KTTW since it was EMH so he had to shuffle around to get one out. Once we passed through the gates, we headed straight back to TSMM. Allen got in line for FP's but the machine was being a little difficult. A CM came over to help and he bumped the machine with his fist and out popped 3 FP's instead of 2! A little magic for Allen to get the day going....
The wait time was posted at 30 minutes so we went ahead and got in line. It was very fast moving though since there were no FP's and I'd say we only waited about 20 minutes.
I swear, I'm innocent!
Sleepy Stella! via Instagram
I'd love to have this in my house- don't know why, just love those little monkeys!
At one point, Allen tried to Facetime with Tyler but the signal inside the ride wasn't too strong:
We were excited to ride together, I really don't think we ever have played against each other! Stella fit snuggly between us although she didn't care to wear the 3-d glasses
Unfortunately Allen beat me , which of course he was proud of. When we came off the ride, the wait time was still only posted at 30 minutes so we figured why not! This time the wait was closer to 30 minutes but still moved rather steadily and before we knew it we were playing again. This time I had a plan to aim on his side of game and in effect reduce the number of targets for him to hit. And it totally worked!! I was beating him until the last game and he is much faster than I am in the final targets, quickly reaching the high point targets. Again, I lost but I still had a fun time.
When we exited this time, the stand by time was posted at 45 minutes and I told Allen that was a little long for Stella to wait again so we decided to head over to Playhouse Disney since our FP's would be ripe in about an hour and a half.
Pause here- Stella LOVES Jake. Loves him! She's met him before, but that was before her knew found confidence in greeting characters on her own- something I was curious to see if she would still do! Allen went to park the stroller and she and I started walking towards Jake's M&G line. As soon as she saw him, she starting RUNNING to get over to him faster! So clearly the night's sleep didn't affect her confidence!
The line was pretty short, Allen waited with her while I got in position to take pictures. And when it was her turn....
She was wearing her Jake shirt this day, which Jake just loved:
And of course Jake needed a kiss:
After sufficiently spending time with Jake, we tried to get a nice "everyone say cheese" shot- which Stella wasn't into:
As we were leaving, Jake tried to go with us. He really loved Stella, it was so cute. And Stella seemed a bit confused because she had said her goodbyes and yet Jake was following her. It was very sweet.
Handy Manny had a super short line so we met him while the time was good. I wasn't sure if she would like him as much (she doesn't really watch Handy Manny) but she had no problem giving him a kiss as well:
After a fun exchange with Handy, we had some time before the next showing of Playhouse Disney so we decided to go into the Art of Animation building.
There was another class starting in about 10 minutes and hardly anyone was waiting so we decided to take a quick break, give Stella a snack and wait. The group before us got to draw Flynn Rider- which I thought was very . There was a young girl and I assume her dad who got to do that and came back for the next session, I was very impressed with their drawings! When the doors opened, we were one of the first ones in and we went to the back row and all the way to the end so that Stella could sit on the bench and hopefully not disrupt anyone!
The animator gave us several options and it came down to Goofy and Merida. I would have really enjoyed Merida but the majority voted for Goofy. Between the iPad and fruit snacks, we were able to keep Stella pretty quietly occupied. Our final product (via Instagram):
We decided to see what characters were hanging around, and Pooh had a very short line. We jumped in and were greeting him within a matter of minutes.
Funny story: We kept saying "pooh" to Stella when she was greeting him, you know "give Pooh a kiss", "give Pooh a hug", etc. She kept turning around with her back to him and backing up?? We couldn't figure out why until we walked away and it struck me- when I suspect she's done a #2, I ask her "did you poop" and check her diaper. I think she though Pooh was going to check for, well, poop. Goodness did we get a good laugh from that- and let me warn you this isn't the last time poop is a part of the discussion.
It was getting close to the next Playhouse Disney showtime so we headed over there next. As usual, Stella was in heaven seeing all of her Disney Junior pals- she gets so excited with they magically appear!
After having a great party for Minnie, our TSMM FP's were ready so we headed back to Pixar Place.
Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to Andy's Room we go:
This time I got whopped by Allen- it was even close! I think I lost by a good 20k points.
Allen had that magical extra FP that the machine spit out and the line for Buzz and Woody wasn't too bad so I told him to ride again and we'd do the character M&G. When we were entering the line, I realized that Stella had completely soaked her diaper. I've mastered the stand-up diaper change though so in a matter of about 1 minutes, I had her all set and dry. Between me and the backpack, I can squat and shield her from anyone seeing what we are doing.
There was a large southern group behind us with about 6 or so kids. Before I could try and take Stella's pictures with the little photo-ops, their kids were crawling all over them and the parents were pushing me ahead so that they could take a picture. I was getting irritated and then Allen showed up and talked me off of my "don't you have manners" ledge. I'm surprised none of those kids made it into our pictures with Woody and Buzz- they were hot on our tails.
Stella was not as sure of Woody and Buzz so she needed Daddy during this greet:
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Great pictures from DHS! Sounds like a great time!
Thanks! It's amazing what we manage to see and do even though we have no real plan or sense of urgency to get as much done as we can.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
A terrific start to your day at DHS! You all did well with TSMM! Loving all the pictures of Stella with the characters!
Thanks! If Allen could have rode it a few more times, he happily would have! After 3 rides, I was pretty TSMM'd out
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Love all the character shots!
If there is one thing I have lots of from this trip, it's shots with the characters Stella is all about it now!
Quote:
Originally Posted by JKnott17
Great pics of Stella with all of the characters! Love the story about Jake trying to follow her out
Her interaction with Jake was so so sweet! I wish I would have taken a picture of her face when we were leaving because she really was so confused about him following her- lol!
After meeting Buzz and Woody, we were getting hungry. We decided to try 50s PTC to see if we could get a walk-up. Unfortunately they were booked up and we were advised to come back around 4pm if we wanted to try to get a walk-up. That was another 3 hours away so we decided instead to head to ABC Commissary. We walked around the Indiana Jones stunt show, around Star Tours, and passed Sci-Fi. Allen decided just to pop in and see if they had space for a walk-up but I was sure they wouldn't.
Guess who was wrong- me! We could do a walk-up if sitting at one of the flying saucer tables was fine- which is was (with Stella in a high chair, we wouldn't be able to sit in a normal car anyway .) I parked the stroller and met Allen inside and after about 3 minutes, we were being called to be seated.
The last time we ate here was in January 2010 so I was excited to try it again. As we were being walked to our table, I noticed that the CM was actually not walking us to the back where the flying saucer tables were, but actually to a car table! We were in the back row and shared a car with a group of 4 other guests (I think it was a mom, dad, daughter and son-in-law.) We got Stella situated in her high chair and ordered a root beer for Allen, a water for me, and a juice for Stella. I wasn't sure if Stella would at all be entertained with the big drive-in screen, and she wasn't. I think it was a combination of being in the back and a good ways away and the fact that she really doesn't have any interest in any programming except Disney Junior. We were able to occupy her though with coloring and the iPad (it was nap time and she was getting tired- we wanted to avoid a major meltdown if at all possible!)
We both ordered burgers and they were . Allen also saw the peanut butter chocolate cake offering on the desert menu and when the waitress told him it was very peanut buttery- he was sold. So we also split that. And it was rather as well!
Before heading out, I took Stella for a diaper change because I figured she would likely be dozing off to sleep and wanted her to be dry. The line at the bathroom was out the door but luckily no one was waiting for the changing table so she and I skirted past the waiting women and quickly took care of her diaper.
Allen had settled the bill by the time we got back so we packed up and headed out. I wanted to do a bit of shopping (which is perfect because Stella seems to happily fall asleep in her stroller in the cool and air conditioned store ) so we decided to try and get her to and then take our time shopping before heading out and back to the resort.
And we did just that.
I still was costume-less for the MNSSHP so I was checking out what types of t-shirts they had. We started first down Sunset Blvd where we picked up some Mickey hair ties for Stella. Then we headed down Hollywood Blvd where I found a really cute dress that I fell in love with. I decided though that I wanted to try it on, so I did just to make sure I liked it on me as much as I liked it on the hanger. The fabric of the dress was very thin and it just didn't quite hang as flattering as I would have preferred so I decided to pass on it. With no purchases (except Stella's hair ties ) in hand, we started to head to the exit. We noticed that Stella was starting to wake-up and the Pixar Pals parade was going to be starting in about 15 minutes. We haven't seen this parade so we decided to stay and watch. We found a nice shady spot at the very end of the parade route, I got Stella out of her stroller so she could walk around and Allen went off in search of a frozen coke.
After the parade ended, we headed out to the buses. As we were walking around, we could see a bus waiting at our stop so Allen starting sprinting while pushing the stroller. In my experience, I've had very few buses pull away if they see someone coming and as such, the driver CM said "You didn't have to run" .
Once we got back to the resort, Allen ran and grabbed our mugs for a fill-up and then we headed back to the room to decide what the rest of the day would hold for us.
After arriving back at our room with our mugs filled, we talked about what to do for the rest of the day. Stella had only napped for an hour tops (normally she's a 2-3 hour napper) and it had been a long day. I was totally fine to go swimming and just hang out around the resort for the rest of the day- we had an early ADR at 1900 PF the next morning and then Tyler would be arriving. Allen agreed and said that sounded good.
Well, about 5 minutes after agreeing on our plan, Allen changed his mind. He really wanted to get some Sorcerer of the Magic Kingdom cards for Tyler to surprise him when he arrived. It's a good thing that he changed his mind so soon because we all still had our shoes on and it was easy to pack up and head back out. Otherwise he would have been on his own.
Once out at the bus stop, we didn't wait long before a bus pulled up and we were on our way. After a very quick bag check, we were soon stepping onto the streets of Main Street USA. It's sappy I know but seriously it makes my heart sing!
First stop- obtain cards for Tyler:
Done and done.
We didn't plan on spending much time in the park so we just did a few things that Stella would like before making a fairly early exit.
First we headed back to ride Dumbo. We hadn't had a chance to play in the new queue and this isn't something Tyler would particularly love so we decided to check it out before he arrived. I have to say, this is such a idea and I would love to see this idea adopted for other attractions where lines can be particularly long (like TSMM- how awesome to not have to stand in that line!)
We went right over to the area for small children to let Stella roam. There were some older kids though and so she was very timid. Sometimes I can be a bit protective ok, a lot protective of my children and I knew that she was hesitant to check it out because of the bigger kids who were running around that area, climbing over everything. Had we waited for more than 10 minutes or so, I probably would have asked the big kids to go play in the big kids area (trying my hardest to be nice) so that the small kids, of which there were several, could play and explore.
Stella went down the little slide twice but mostly just watched the others in the area. Our buzzer was soon going off and we were directed to the line to the right.
Returning our buzzer (via Instagram):
Stella was very interested in the dumbo's once we were outside:
I wanted to get some video on this ride so I rode ahead of Allen and Stella. When we were released to board the ride, there was a woman who was taking a picture of her daughter so I had to wait a moment to get in. The husband walked by and said "she's like the paparazzi" and I laughed, lifted up my camera, and pointed to Allen and Stella and said "oh, me too!" Momtogs UNITE!!!
Oh glorious backlight:
We decided to start heading back down Main Street, making a stop to see how long the wait for the Princesses and Minnie/Mickey were. One our way we stopped for a quick picture:
Minnie and Mickey were only posted at about 10 minutes, while the Princesses were posted quite a bit longer, probably 40 minutes or so. FP's were being distributed for about 30 minutes later so Allen grabbed those for the Princesses and then we got in line for Minnie and Mickey.
Oh, how she loves Minnie!
And Mickey isn't too bad either- definitely kiss-worthy:
On our way out, I stopped to see if Stella would cooperate with wearing some mouse ears. She only recently has started leaving barretts alone in her hair but she won't leave headbands on at all. I suspected she probably wouldn't leave mouse ears on and sure enough, she wouldn't. I was hopeful that one Tyler arrived, he could talk her into it- he has that brotherly persuasion!
Soon we were making our way through the FP line for the Princesses. First up was my favorite- Aurora!
While she was greeting Aurora, she kept pointing at Belle so I figured she would be really excited to meet her. And she was for a moment...
And then she turned and ran away I'm not sure exactly what happened but she wasn't into standing alone with Belle any longer so Allen got in the picture with her (which is on the PhotoPass CD- I put my camera down to get her to smile.)
Last was Cindy, who Stella seems more and more intrigued with.
Keeping her eyes on Belle:
Not so sure about a hug though:
After saying to our royal friends, we exited to find the MSEP beginning. We stood and watched for a few moments before heading out to the bus (via Instagram):
A short time later, a bus arrived and we boarded with a few other guests to head back. I remember making a comment on the bus about how good Stella was doing- no fits and tantrums, just along for the ride. Well, that would change....
Once we got back to the resort, we stopped at the food court for some dinner. Allen ran back to get our mugs while I perused the options. I opted for a make-your-own-salad, and it was marvelous. Allen went with chicken fetticine and while he liked the noodles and sauce, the chicken breast was breaded and he prefers grilled. Stella on the other hand loves both noodles and any type of chicken so she happily devoured part of Allen's meal and part of my salad.
Back in our room, we prepared for bed, it must have been about 9/9:30pm or so. Stella was asleep fairly quickly, and I wasn't too far behind her.
What wonderful character photos - I them! Superb photos of the parade as well... I think we need to see that on our next visit. How lucky you were able to get a walk-up!
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Stefanie loved that restaurant so it will always hold a special place for me.
. We got up, showered, dressed and Stella ready by about 7:45am and then we headed out to the bus. I think we wait about 10 minutes or so for a bus.
, which of course he was proud of. When we came off the ride, the wait time was still only posted at 30 minutes so we figured why not! This time the wait was closer to 30 minutes but still moved rather steadily and before we knew it we were playing again. This time I had a plan to aim on his side of game and in effect reduce the number of targets for him to hit. And it totally worked!! I was beating him until the last game and he is much faster than I am in the final targets, quickly reaching the high point targets. Again, I lost 
but I still had a fun time.
and yet Jake was following her. It was very sweet.
. There was a young girl and I assume her dad who got to do that and came back for the next session, I was very impressed with their drawings! When the doors opened, we were one of the first ones in and we went to the back row and all the way to the end so that Stella could sit on the bench and hopefully not disrupt anyone!
I was getting irritated and then Allen showed up and talked me off of my "don't you have manners" ledge. I'm surprised none of those kids made it into our pictures with Woody and Buzz- they were hot on our tails. 
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. Allen also saw the peanut butter chocolate cake offering on the desert menu and when the waitress told him it was very peanut buttery- he was sold. So we also split that. And it was rather 
) so we decided to try and get her to 
and then take our time shopping before heading out and back to the resort.
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