FIRSTS, BIRTHS, and GIRTHS - A September 2013 TR - Page 6 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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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 everyone had a great dinner at the Flying Fish and then Wishes on the balcony, what a nice way to finsih off your first day.
Tonga Toast is really a wonderful way to start the day
Loved everyone's excitement for your 1st day at the MK, you got so much done before your midday break.
Glad everyone had a great dinner at the Flying Fish and then Wishes on the balcony, what a nice way to finsih off your first day.
Tonga Toast is really a wonderful way to start the day
Loved everyone's excitement for your 1st day at the MK, you got so much done before your midday break.
Thank you, thank you! It really was a fantastic day...this was the perfect time of year to go for us with the low crowds. It made it very easy to navigate the park and check out so many rides!
I am so very sorry that I am doing so poorly keeping up on this trip report! Our world is chaos this time of year since we are so busy (just about every weekend!). We also added a new addition to our family...Jake the puppy (Eskimo/Poodle mix). So we have really had our hands full with vet appointments and grooming appointments and puppy training and getting our other dog, Ike (miniature poodle) to make friends.
Just this past weekend, we also decided to paint our living room/kitchen area and thank goodness for my parents' help; we were able to finish in one day! We are also planning to give Hannah a new bedroom for Christmas (a surprise...duh!) so the furniture is stacked in boxes right now (she can't tell what it is) and I have to paint her room the weekend after Thanksgiving or it won't happen! I plan to spend every lunch this week, typing up the rest of my notes so I can quickly pop out updates from now on...so hang in there with me! I refuse to give up on this trip report!!
Just joining in!!! Great so far!!!! How exciting for that room upgrade!!!!
So glad that your little princess warmed up to the characters pretty quickly!!! I remember taking my DD the first time and she was one of those kids that stood 50 feet away from Santa yelling what she would like for Christmas......, wouldn't go anywhere near the big guy.......the whole flight down to FL my DH and I kept saying to ourselves what are we doing? She is going to FREAK..........nope - about ripped our arms out of socket to meet Lilo and Stitch!!! her first characters too!!!
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Sounds like you're doing what I'm planning to do. The boys are getting a new room for Chrsitmas too - although they know it sicne they'll have to share now. And I want to paint the hallways/entryway too.
Cute puppy!
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Just joining in!!! Great so far!!!! How exciting for that room upgrade!!!!
So glad that your little princess warmed up to the characters pretty quickly!!! I remember taking my DD the first time and she was one of those kids that stood 50 feet away from Santa yelling what she would like for Christmas......, wouldn't go anywhere near the big guy.......the whole flight down to FL my DH and I kept saying to ourselves what are we doing? She is going to FREAK..........nope - about ripped our arms out of socket to meet Lilo and Stitch!!! her first characters too!!!
I feel like this was our experience too...and I want to say that I feel like she did better with the non-speaking characters versus the speaking characters. The ones that spoke seemed to intimidate her more.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Jake is so adorable! Sounds like you all are having fun redo some of the house!
He's cute...but a pain with all of the training...yikes! The painting was fun as I was able to visit with my parents since I hadn't seen them for almost a month!
Quote:
Originally Posted by stardust190
You sound BUSY! We'll be here when you find the time to update this TR. Good luck with all the projects!
Thanks for understanding! I actually typed up two days worth of notes and I'm making great progress. I will definitely have an update tomorrow!
Quote:
Originally Posted by OhToodles!
Sounds like you're doing what I'm planning to do. The boys are getting a new room for Chrsitmas too - although they know it sicne they'll have to share now. And I want to paint the hallways/entryway too.
Cute puppy!
Whew! That sounds like our plan exactly! After Hannah's room, the foyer and hallway are next.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TuffyCO
I know the feeling trying to keep up on TR's with life going on in between. We will be ready and waiting when you have time to update.
I know you do...quite unexpectedly too! I should be able to post another update tomorrow since I'm finally ahead on my notes.
After our refreshing break in the pool, we headed back to the room to get dressed and head back to the Magic Kingdom. We decided to take the little boat back and we were at the turnstiles by 4pm.
We breezed through security, but Tommy’s MagicBand would not work at the turnstiles. This happened again later in the week, but the extra cast members standing nearby pulled him out of line, confirmed his information, and we were back in the park without any further problems. This did not affect his FastPass+ either. Based on the touring plans we used, the plan was to hit Tom Sawyer Island and ride the Liberty Riverboat, but we ended up skipping those. Instead, we met up with DM and DF and decided to check out the Country Bear Jamboree. This was a pretty cute show and Hannah really enjoyed it; however, this will not be something on our must do list next time. As we came out and started to head to Splash Mountain to use our FastPass+, we ran into Clarabelle Cow! She posed for pictures with the birthday kids!
Fortunately, we were able to walk right by Splash Mountain without Hannah noticing the “big hill” and we checked in for our FastPass+. As we passed what seemed to be an hour long stand-by wait full of people, we continued climbing the stairs and making our way through the turns and Hannah started to ask questions. Uh oh…she asked about hills and we said, “Oh, it’s just a little boat ride with some little hills to make some splashes to cool us off.” She bought it. Splash Mountain ended up a walk on for us with the FastPass+ and Hannah immediately recognized the music from the Four Parks CD again. So far so good…I eventually thought it best to tell Hannah, if any part of the ride scares her, she could hide her face in my shoulder…
Hannah ended up loving this ride; called it one of her favorites, but when we asked her if she wanted to ride it again she never hesitated and said, “NO!” After Splash Mountain, we headed to Mickey’s PhilharMagic and we all LOVED it! Hannah was completely amazed at how she could almost touch the characters! Next, we ventured over to see the wait time for Ariel’s Grotto and it was only 20 minutes so we hopped in line. It was every bit of that 20 minutes too! Hannah was in awe! She finally met her favorite princess…Ariel was great with Hannah! They were just so cute to watch together!
Our next FastPass+ was ripe and we were ready for Journey of the Little Mermaid again! At the same time, we met up with DA2 and DU and headed onto the ride. It was only a two minute wait for them so we were able to ride together. Again…amazing ride and so much fun!
Next up we headed off to ride Dumbo! It was a walk on and was perfect. Tommy rode in front of Hannah and me. I loved this area of the park; the theming was awesome, even down to the peanuts in the pavement!
After riding Dumbo, we had enough time before dinner to meet Goofy and Donald. Hannah was somewhat scared of Goofy; but he did great with her. Tommy was excited to meet his favorite character so they had a little photo shoot of their own. Hannah did a lot better with Donald; although she was still not a fan of group photos.
After our glorious photo shoots, we ventured towards Cinderella’s castle to meet the rest of our party for our ADR at Cinderella’s Royal Table. Tonight, we were dining with DM, DF, DA2 and DU. I apologize ahead of time, but my review of this restaurant will not be favorable, unfortunately. And I am sorry to say, but we will not return either. Our reservation time was 8:15pm. The cast members at the check in counter would not let us check in until 8:10pm. Okay, fine…whatever. A cast member lead us into the main hall so we could meet Cinderella. Hannah had some personal time discussing her birthday with Cinderella and took a solo picture with her; then the rest of us joined in for a group photo. After that, we sat and waited for them to call our name. And we waited…and waited…and waited… Finally, at 8:50pm, after DF spoke sternly with a few cast members, we were escorted to our table. I was worried about my DA2 and DM because both of them are diabetic and were starting to feel…well…the need for food! Fortunately, the food and characters were great! We visited with Snow White, Ariel, Aurora, and Jasmine.
Tommy and DF developed a celebrity crush that night on Jasmine…I am happy to report there was no duking it out over who Jasmine should take home. Unfortunately, Wishes Fireworks began while we were eating dinner and we were on the upper level away from the windows without a view. Bummer…good thing we had one more day to get our chance to view the fireworks! Overall, our entire party was disappointed with the experience at Cinderella’s Royal Table. Even though the food and princesses were great, by the time we were seated we were already feeling…meh.
After dinner, we herded down Main Street and waited in line for a boat back to the Polynesian. Hannah was feeling tired so DF held her in line and on the boat, and carried her back to the room while she slept. We all got ready for bed after an extremely busy and successful day and I set up our wake up call for the next morning. The lights went out at midnight.
I am so jealous that you met Clarabelle! I love Clarabelle and have never seen her. I think the picture of Hannah with Ariel is priceless! We went to CRT in 2007 for Shana's birthday and although we enjoyed it and the princesses were great, we felt it was not really worth the cost to do it again. I'm glad we did it once, but it is a been-there done-that place for us.