Forever Young: A Disneyland Trip 50 Years in the Making COMPLETED 1/16/16 - Page 54 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel 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
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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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So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Uggh! Us planners put so much pressure on ourselves to make great choices every moment of our park days. I've totally been where you were after PPF. I only ride PPF at rope drop, and only once. Even at rope drop the wait can be 40 minutes. That ride is just so so so slow to load. But, it's still one of my favorites, though I think they missed the mark with some of the recent refurb.
Uggh! Us planners put so much pressure on ourselves to make great choices every moment of our park days. I've totally been where you were after PPF. I only ride PPF at rope drop, and only once. Even at rope drop the wait can be 40 minutes. That ride is just so so so slow to load. But, it's still one of my favorites, though I think they missed the mark with some of the recent refurb.
You are so right. Your mention of the refurb reminds me that I probably would have noticed very few of these if it weren't for Luke pointing them out. I don't know why they don't figure out a way to load this one faster. We actually sat for about 30 - 45 seconds after we were loaded before our ship took off. That slows the whole ride down.
Sunday, October 11 – A Little Shopping, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, and Photos with a Favorite
While eating our snack lunch, we made some plans for the afternoon. We would postpone Splash Mountain until after riding Grizzly River Run at California Adventure. This made me happy as I’m not a fan of Splash Mountain, and haven’t ridden it at Disney World for years. In fact, I was a little apprehensive about riding, but since it’s a Disneyland classic, I didn’t want to chicken out. We decided instead to wander through the shops as this would be our last chance to make some purchases at both parks. With this as our plan, we walked all the way through the Emporium side of Main Street, but didn’t find anything that we wanted to purchase. I wanted to stop back by Clothiers China Closet one more time, which was across the street. This was where I had noticed a Vera Bradley bag on our Mickey’s Halloween Party night that I liked. I had been debating about whether to buy it for days as I kept thinking the magnetic clasp seemed weak and probably wouldn’t hold once I filled the bag up. Luke and I debated it again, and agreed it wasn’t going to work well enough for me. But then we headed back to the front taking an outside aisle where I discovered the cutest Vera Bradley red bag with Mickey heads all over it. There was even a matching billfold. I hugged both to my chest and with puppy dog eyes looked to Luke. We agreed that I would pay for one piece and the vacation account would pay for the other. Both pieces were identical in price so it was an even split. By the way, when we got back home and were working at paying off our vacation, the meals and souvenirs left enough to cover about 50% of the second piece, so I only paid half on that piece. A funny thing about the Vera Bradley pieces is I didn’t realize until we were traveling home the coolest part of the purse and wallet interiors. I thought it was a houndstooth pattern, but it’s actually a series of black Mickeys on a white background. The bag is a little smaller than my Dooney & Bourke crossbody bags, so it’s not as practical as those when I need to carry stuff for both Luke and me. But it has already seen quite a bit of use. it!
Because there was a rather lengthy line at check out, we walked back through the shop, checking one more time for anything we’d like. I’m glad we did as we’d been looking for a Disneyland pin, but so far nothing had appealed to us. Near the checkout counter, Luke noticed one that had the letters of Disneyland spelled out on the turrets of the castle. Perfect! With our three purchases in hand, we were finally next in line for check out. The CM taking care of us let us know that the Vera Bradly purses and wallets had just been put out this morning in response to my comment that I couldn’t believe we had missed them on our two previous visits to this shop. So I was very lucky that I had discovered them when I did. She also mentioned that they had already sold quite a few pieces in this new line. Our final cost after a $17.80 DVC discount was $172.96.
As we were checking out, we could hear the harmonious tones of the Dapper Dans in the background. When we exited the shop they were standing out front. We momentarily stopped as they announced the next song was “This is Halloween,” our favorite from the other day when we’d stopped to listen. I attempted a few shots, but we had moved to the back of the crowd when we came out. Since I’m only 5’3”, I can barely see over other folks, much less position the camera well. But I did manage a few, though even these needed cropping to get the gentleman in front of me out of the photo. I couldn’t fault him though as he was simply enjoying the music. If I remember right, two of the Dapper Dans were the same as the other day and two were new to us. No matter as both quartets were excellent.
I mentioned as we were walking away that I really wished we could find something in the air conditioning to do next. Luke pointed over at Great Moments with Lincoln and asked if that would work. Absolutely! Air conditioning, seats, and a fun history lesson – I couldn’t ask for more. Once inside we realized we had a little wait before the next show and since all the benches and chairs were already occupied, I used the time to photograph the lobby areas while learning a bit of Disney and US history along the way.
This reminded me of the larger ones at The American Adventure at Epcot. Prior to the show there is a mini-pre-show on a television hung on the upper wall behind the model of the capital building.
Then the doors opened and we were allowed inside.
The theater was not going to be full by any means so we were told we could select seats without going all the way down a row. I loved the silhouette of Lincoln on the stage curtains prior to the start of the show.
Once everyone was seated a CM made the usual announcements and then the lights went down.
When at Disney parks, I hardly ever have my flash on, so all of the following photos were taken without a flash. There are also lots of photos because for two reasons. I find audio-animatronics so amazing and teaching about Lincoln was one of my favorite units. There is also the fact that Lincoln was a Kentuckian born not too far from where I grew up and where Luke was born. This show inspires me in much the same way as The American Adventure in Epcot does. Our family vacations when I was a kid always involved trips to historical sites, and I still enjoy a bit of history in my vacations. These are on the wall where you walk out.
In our haste to get in to the air conditioning, I had forgotten to take a photo of the sign on our way in. I rectified that on our way out, and even found some interesting jack-o-lanterns in the windows here.
I know I mentioned photos with a favorite character for this update. But I realize now that this is a better stopping point as the next adventures take place in Disney’s California Adventure. I had also forgotten that there are several things we do at DCA before we get to our character meet.
NEXT: Squeezing in more shopping, characters, and rides before this day is over.
Oops! I forgot to insert the photos of my purse, wallet, and the DL pin before I posted. I still can't edit posts with photos included so I'll add those photos here.
First the pin, which is the one on the far right in this photo.
I am jealous of your photos in Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln - we were told in no uncertain terms by the Cast Member when we saw it (back in 2012) that no photography was allowed, which I thought was a huge shame.
Love the Vera purchases! But the photo of the pin appears to be one of the pumpkins from the previous post. ...unless there is a pin in the window that I'm missing?
You were able to get some great close up shots of Lincoln during the show!
Love the purse and wallet! The CM at Peter Pan - really? I wouldn't have apologized either. She was being way too sensitive. BUT why was she on her phone in the first place? I thought that was a strict no-no.
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I am jealous of your photos in Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln - we were told in no uncertain terms by the Cast Member when we saw it (back in 2012) that no photography was allowed, which I thought was a huge shame.
The CM in the photo in my update simply said no flash photography was allowed, so I made sure the flash was off and then clicked away through the show.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DMA
Love the Vera purchases! But the photo of the pin appears to be one of the pumpkins from the previous post. ...unless there is a pin in the window that I'm missing?
You were able to get some great close up shots of Lincoln during the show!
Oops, I didn't catch that pumpkin. I'll see if I can fix that pronto. It's there now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coop
Love the purse and wallet! The CM at Peter Pan - really? I wouldn't have apologized either. She was being way too sensitive. BUT why was she on her phone in the first place? I thought that was a strict no-no.
She was on the work phone by her station, so at least she wasn't on a personal cell. It was an "old fashioned" corded phone, which meant it bobbed after it hit the floor. I just giggled, so I was surprised as she acted like I had really guffawed at her.
Yay! The story about our purse! Ha! It is probably a good thing I didn't spot the matching wallet because I move it! On my list for June! I have to say I gotten a ton of compliments on it. I just love that purse!
I love the Lincoln show too. I have been to his birthplace several times and being from the Land of Lincoln we tend to be a bit biased! I know Tim will want to see that when we go.
Just caught up with your last couple updates. I can't believe the wait for PPF that early after opening! At least in WDW the wait is either under shade or indoors for standby but it must have been so incredibly hot waiting outside that long! I agree about waiting that long for such a short ride. I love your Vera Bradley purse and wallet and your DL pin purchase is adorable. Sorry about the incident with the CM but it does seem she was being overly sensitive. Your PP pictures that you had taken were so cute!
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A funny thing about the Vera Bradley pieces is I didn’t realize until we were traveling home the coolest part of the purse and wallet interiors. I thought it was a houndstooth pattern, but it’s actually a series of black Mickeys on a white background. 
The bag is a little smaller than my Dooney & Bourke crossbody bags, so it’s not as practical as those when I need to carry stuff for both Luke and me. But it has already seen quite a bit of use. 
it!
With our three purchases in hand, we were finally next in line for check out. The CM taking care of us let us know that the Vera Bradly purses and wallets had just been put out this morning in response to my comment that I couldn’t believe we had missed them on our two previous visits to this shop. So I was very lucky that I had discovered them when I did. She also mentioned that they had already sold quite a few pieces in this new line. 
Our final cost after a $17.80 DVC discount was $172.96. 
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I love your Vera Bradley purse and wallet and your DL pin purchase is adorable. Sorry about the incident with the CM but it does seem she was being overly sensitive. Your PP pictures that you had taken were so cute!
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