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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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We go on to the joy and through the tears
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Moving on with the current of the years.
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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 encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Great morning at AK! Sorry RFC was a disappointment!
Thanks. It's alright ... our dining as a whole was really great this trip.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DMA
Just joining in. Your location at POR sounds just like where we were on our stay in '04. We were in Magnolia Terrace and faced the parking lot. Several times on our way back to the room we saw some cute little bunnies out on the lawn.
Yes ... we saw some bunnies too. And lots of lizards. One snake (ewwww ...)
So, where did I leave off??? I think I was at:
Magic Kingdom Day # 2 Sunday, June 16
Usual morning set up. Early wake up call, breakfast in the room and at the park before rope drop.
As the trip slips further and further away, the details are getting a bit sketchy. I really should have been writing things down. But I was trying to concentrate on the "present" of the trip ... enjoying it and soaking it all in as I know this is our last WDW trip for quite some time. Anyway, while the specifics of what attractions we did when are escaping me, I can tell you this day at MK felt more "productive" than our 1st day. Whether it actually was or not can't really be determined. But, we all left feeling fulfilled by late afternoon.
We arrived early, and stayed until late afternoon. We did Splash Mountain and BTMRR 2x each, met Woody and Jessie (and a fun photopass photographer who simply reacted with, "NO ... Andy's at college," when people would scream, "Andy's coming!" LOL), POTC, Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, Stitch's Escape, Move It Shake It, etc. parade, had a Dole Whip (our first ever ... YUM! ), lunch at Columbia Harbor House (Lobster Roll! Hollah! ) and honestly, did a handful of other things, but I can't quite remember what.
It was getting hot. And the girls wanted to swim. And my mom didn't look so good ... so we headed back to the resort around 3 p.m.
We went to the "quiet" pool that wasn't so quiet which we liked. There were enough people there to make it upbeat, but not so crowded. While swimming it started to pour down rain. Initially we go out and huddled at our table under a table umbrella. But then, the girls and DH got back in the pool. Why not? No thunder or lightning so why not just stay totally wet? LOL.
This is the evening that DMIL joined us. We received a text she was on her way from the airport while we were at the pool. This was a relief because she was kind of worked up that she wouldn't even make it for our 6:30 ADR at Boatwright's.
After seeing DMIL at our rooms, cleaning up and such, we went to dinner. Rain had ceased and we walked over to Boatwright's which was really, really good. We chose this restaurant based on convenience and were expecting just an average meal. We completely underestimated this place. It was very yummy. I had the BBQ pork chop with cheesy grits. Delicious. DH and DDad had the Etouffe and enjoyed it. I don't remember what else everyone got, but it was enjoyed by all.
Glad your second MK day felt more productive! We've had a very enjoyable dinner at Boatwright's, too. It doesn't seem to get as much praise as other restaurants, but we did like our meals.
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Glad your second MK day felt more productive! We've had a very enjoyable dinner at Boatwright's, too. It doesn't seem to get as much praise as other restaurants, but we did like our meals.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Glad you had a more productive day at the Magic Kingdom!
Thanks. It did feel that way. But when I look back and compare what I remember being done I actually don't think the first day was as unproductive as it felt at the time. In fact, it is quite possible that we did more that day! Amazing what a little time and a break from the heat will do for perspective. LOL. And yes, I agree, I think Boatwrights is a little underrated.
I was going to continue with the TR, but my very frustrating experience on the Disney Photo Pass site has kind of rained on my WDW parade for now. The site was sooooo slow. I'd make one edit to a photo and it would take like 5 minutes to reload. I am actually quite aggravated. So, I gave up for now.
Hopefully I will get to the rest of the TR soon. Up next: EPCOT.
So this day, we again rose bright and early and made our way to EPCOT for RD. EPCOT was a mess, quite frankly. The bag check lines were horrendous. Then the RFID ticket lines were also all backed up. I don't know what the problem here was, but something was askew ... there was definitely some kind of issue. It took everyone in front of us a few tries to get their tickets to work.
Oh well ... so we get into the park and we're off. DH went to grab Soarin' FP's and the rest of us headed over to Test Track. The line there grew VERY QUICKLY. By the time DH made it back over there, it was a 30 minute wait (and DH moves FAST). Bummer. It was a must do though, so we sucked it up and waited. It was fun to design the cars and such and the ride of course was great.
Again, with time getting away from me I don't remember exactly what did next. I don't think we moved onto our 10:30 ADR at Akershus but maybe ...
DMom, DMIL and I helped the girls change into their Princess Dresses in a nearby bathroom before breakfast. They were really excited. The breakfast was great, but please let me vent a little about the check in process at Akershus ...
It was a bit confusing and unorganized. DH checked in at the far podium that was basically down the walkway away from the restaurant and toward the main area in Norway. The person there told him to just "stand around up there" (and pointed to the front entrance). HOwever, other people were being told to stay in line and move up in the roped off queue. Then, every once in a while, a cast member would announce a name - not very loudly - and like 20 people from all around would have to run up to him and ask him to repeat. The people in the queue would be irritated because it looked like everyone was line jumping. Also, somewhere in the middle of this, while people were lined up in the queue and people (like us) were left meandering in the Norwegian village, the cast members left that far podium and started checking people in at the podium where they were calling the parties to be seated! So there was a mad crush of folks all at the door. It was all just very odd.
We finally got in and the girls got to meet Belle, of course, which was lovely. When we sat down we had time to get some food before the other princesses made their rounds. The cold bar was just fine. But can I tell you that the hot breakfast was AMAZING. I do not know what they put into those potatoes but they were heavenly. And the breakfast sausage in particular was so, so good. It wasn't overly spicy and not at all grisly or chewy. Just a superb breakfast.
And, we hit the princess jackpot: Snow White, Ariel, Aurora and Cinderella! The interaction was a little rushed, but the girls didn't seem to notice or mind.
After stuffing ourselves of scrumptious food, we made our way back to the other side of the park ... after all we had Soarin' FP's!
The order of things is a bit fuzzy, but we did Soarin' (with the girls in the princess dresses still and the cast members being so cute about it saying things like, "I wasn't aware this was a royal flight until now." and such ...) and then grabbed another FP for after dinner, Nemo, TT w/Crush, Spaceship Earth, shopped at MouseGear, Coca Cola Taste Test thingy, A few Agent P missions, spent time in England, France, Morocco, Japan, Italy browsing shops, trying to get in some AC to cool off, getting a snack, etc. We tried to see Jasmine and Aladdin in Morocco ... but the line was at LEAST an hour long. AT LEAST! Crazy. So the girls didn't get to meet them ... I am glad there wasn't a big fuss from them on this because Jasmine is their absolute favorite. (Side note: the character meet and greets were definitely harder this time. We passed quite a few up because of the sheer amount of people in line it would have eaten up so much time! Mary Poppins, Stitch, Buzz Lightyear in addition to Jasmine and Aladdin - just to name a few. It was kind of a let down because my DD's ... especially my younger one ... are still interested. By the time we go back to WDW they won't be. We've always managed to do a few greetings here and there at the parks in the past but not this time. Well, we did a few. But nowhere near the amount we've experienced in the past. Just another way the the additional crowds really affected our touring ...)
We had dinner at Via Napoli. It was excellent. I had the Carciofi Individual Pizza which included artichokes, pecorino romano, mozzarella and a truffle oil instead of red sauce. Very delicious! My mom had the eggplant parmesan which was very good and not at all gresy or heavy, but the portion wasn't very large. And it was served with potatoes and not a pasta which she would have preferred. I don't remember everyone else's order, but everyone liked their meals except my youngest DD ... but she is a very fickle eater. I tasted her meal; there was nothing wrong with it except that it wasn't a cheeseburger. LOL.
After dinner we took the ferry back to the other side, rode Soarin' one last time and headed out for the night ...
__________________
Visions of WDW dancing in my head ...
Last edited by TinkRocks; 07-01-2013 at 09:36 AM..
Dinner at Via Napoli sounds wonderful! I agree about the check-in process at Akershus. There should be signs or a CM directing people where to check in and then where to wait. We did this several years ago and I seem to recall standing around the area until our name was called and then getting in a very long line to wait...at the time we didn't know what we were waiting for, but then realized it was the line for the photo op with Belle.
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Time has taken it's toll and I realize it has been awhile since I have updated this TR. All that is really left is our last day:
Tuesday, June 18 DHS and MK
The girls were interested in heading back to DHS today, but we didn't plan to be there before RD so everyone knew that TSMM wasn't going to happen (but since we did it 3x back on Friday, everyone was okay with that).
We were able to do a handful of favorites including Star Tours, Tower of Terror, Great Movie Ride (for MIL - she had never been on it and we knew she'd love it!), met Phineas and Ferb, had a Butterfinger cupcake at Starring Rolls ... our first ever ... YUM-O! And a few other odds and ends. It was really crowded today. Noticably bigger crowds than Friday. One thing I didn't get to do: RnRC. (It is my favorite in all of WDW and I didn't get to ride on our original DHS day because DD chickened out literally just before getting on. We were already late to meet everyone else at F!, so I had my DDad ride by himself and then we just left for F! ... no time for a rider swap, etc.) Today I tried to get on in the single rider line but no luck. The FP times were already timed out until after lunch. The regular line was 60 minutes. I went to the single rider line where there were about 3 people ahead of me trying to enter. A very agitated CM was reconfiguring the ropes and stopped us from entering. She said that the single rider line would be AT LEAST an hour wait. When the other folks walked away, I asked again politely, "Excuse me, did you say the single rider line is an hour wait?" She answered very curtly, "Yes. AT LEAST an hour. Actually, probably closer to 2." Which confused me a little ... how could this line be double than the regular standby? And how could her estimate be so vague ... an hour, but probably 2??? Really??? Oh well, it was not to be for me this trip I suppose ...
We had lunch at the POR Riverside ... make-your-own pasta ... another big thumbs up! And we took the girls to swim. They participated in the pool games like the water balloon toss and such and had a great time.
In the evening we headed to MK to see the Main Street Electrical Parade. We planned to get there in the evening, have dinner, do a thing or two and watch the parade. We got to MK just as the skies opened up and all heck broke loose. We had ponchos, but they were no match for this deluge of water. It finally stopped, but we were soaked. We crawled out from under the Ferry awning where we tried to take shelter and headed into the park. The rain took it's toll. We were soggy, grumpy, still very hot, hungry, and behind schedule. We ate at Pinocchio's Village Haus ... it was eh. We did Buzz Lightyear, Barnstormer and another thing or two, saw the parade and fireworks and then headed out for the night. It was another PACKED day at MK. Really big crowds. And the buses to get home??? Insane.
Our next day was departure ... nothing really to report on that.
I have to say it has been kind of hard for me to write this report. I knew going into this trip that it is our last WDW for quite some time. So I really tried to make it the best yet. In my opinion, it fell short. With crowds, and heat and our group dynamic a bit different we just didn't do all I had hoped. With time, I am sure I will feel differently but right now it's sort of bittersweet.
I am so sorry you never got to ride RnRC. Your trip definitely seemed to have much higher crowd levels than we experienced just a couple of weeks earlier. so much for sharing your trip with us.
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(ewwww ...)
), lunch at Columbia Harbor House (Lobster Roll! Hollah! 
) and honestly, did a handful of other things, but I can't quite remember what.
Initially we go out and huddled at our table under a table umbrella. But then, the girls and DH got back in the pool. Why not? No thunder or lightning so why not just stay totally wet? LOL.
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We've had a very enjoyable dinner at Boatwright's, too. It doesn't seem to get as much praise as other restaurants, but we did like our meals. 
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Then the RFID ticket lines were also all backed up. I don't know what the problem here was, but something was askew ... there was definitely some kind of issue. It took everyone in front of us a few tries to get their tickets to work.
LOL.
so much for sharing your trip with us.
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