The Promise of Spring: Flower & Garden Festival 4.0 -- A Cam and Luke TR COMPLETED 8/27 - Page 65 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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.
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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.
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I love the pictures of the lemurs! We tend to walk right by all the designated animal areas to get to an attraction which is a shame since they really are so beautiful. Sounds like a fun way to enjoy your last day at WDW by leisurely enjoying AK.
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I love the pictures of the lemurs! We tend to walk right by all the designated animal areas to get to an attraction which is a shame since they really are so beautiful. Sounds like a fun way to enjoy your last day at WDW by leisurely enjoying AK.
One of the big draws of Animal Kingdom for me is the animals. So I'm getting better at finding them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roxie2006
I really love touring around the tree. All those pics are great shots. AK is always the last Park of our trip. It is our favorite.
Animal Kingdom is my favorite park, but it's not always the last one of trip unless we are staying at AKL.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great start to your last day at AK! Love the pictures!!
Thanks! I didn't take many photos this day, but I did have fun with the lemurs and the Tree of Life.
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On one of our previous Animal Kingdom days, Luke had noticed an Expedition Everest magnet, but didn’t buy it at that time. He had picked up three other magnets that he planned to put on his train room tool box. Why he didn’t buy this one when we first saw, we neither can remember. Once we moved on from the Tree of Life, we decided to wander through every shop where we thought we might have seen it. Not having any luck in the shops of The Oasis, we moved on to Dinoland to check out Chester and Hester’s. We didn’t find it here either. Luke needed a bio break so he headed into the restrooms while I wander past the restrooms to an area where I’m pretty sure I’ve never gone before, which meant I needed to take photos to document that I’d been there. I really thought the billboards and signs were clever.
After our Dinoland explorations, Luke and I meandered over to Asia to check out the Expedition Everest shop where you’d think they would have a Yeti magnet. In fact, I was just positive that that was where we had originally seen it. Nope, nada, absolutely none to be found. Moving on we decided to see if by any chance the tigers had returned to their habitat after breeding. Nope, nada, still breeding, according to the Cast Member who was stationed at the entrance to the Maharaja Jungle Trek. With that news, we kept on walking though we did note the new sign for the anteater. The anteater itself was nowhere to be seen.
At this point, we were both getting hungry and our searched switch to where we wanted to eat. In the end we decided on Pizzafari, and found it to be pretty quiet at noon this day. We both got the pepperoni flatbread with salads. We had our pick of tables and chose one in the nocturnal room near an exit. When lunch was over, we were ready to call our park time over. We headed to the bus stop to catch a ride back to Animal Kingdom Lodge to await our DME ride back to the airport.
Once there we claimed a comfy couch to relax and absorb our final moments in this magical place. I took a few last lobby photos, and eventually, we both made use of the restroom facilities.
Initially, maybe for five minutes, we were peacefully alone. Then another family joined us made up of a mom, dad, two girls, and grandparents. The dad and grandmother were the sort of people who speak loudly and have an opinion on everything, and I mean everything. They attempted to out talk each other until our bus arrived. At one point I leaned over and told Luke that I was praying we would not be on the same flight as these folks. Thankfully, once we arrived at the airport, they did not get off at the Southwest terminal.
We had not trouble with security as we both had TSA pre-check and then it was off to our gate, which surprised us by being near the start of that area rather than way off at the end. We found seats easily and relaxed until boarding began. We did have A boarding passes, so we were some of the first folks on the plane. I didn’t write down our seat numbers but I know we were in the 7th or 8th row with Luke by the window and me in the middle. A gentleman would join us later, and I recognized him as one who had been called for standby. He seemed pretty excited to have a seat and said he couldn’t believe this seat hadn’t already been taken. The flight was rather routine and in a couple of hours we were landing in Nashville.
We disembarked very quickly, and made our first stop at the restrooms before heading to baggage claim. Once we had our suitcases, we rolled our way outside to shuttle pick-up and called for a ride back to the parking service where the Edge would be awaiting us. There was a guy just down from us who by his looks and the fact that his luggage included a guitar case seemed to be someone possibly famous. A few moments later, we found ourselves on the same shuttle bus as he. One of the first things Luke did as I driver drove away from the airport was to ask if the driver knew how the Predators had done in their game. He let us know the Preds had one and we both cheered. The musician dude asked if we were fans and if we were from Nashville. We answered “yes” to being fans and “no” to being from Nashville He said he had lived here long enough he should have been a fan, but he didn’t pay much attention to it. We talked the whole ride over to the parking lot, and he had the coolest New Zealand accent (he told us where he was from). Once we were off the shuttle, Luke and I conferred, feeling we ought to know who he was but we were both unsure. I took the carry-ons to the car and stayed with it to be sure our other four bags made it into the back. Luke went inside to pay our bill, actually it was already paid by credit card, but he still need to sign off. While inside he finally as our musician friend, he might be or have been with Newsboys, a Christian band from Australia. He was surprised that Luke knew and said his name was Phil Joel. When Luke got back to the car, he filled me in. I asked if he had told Phil that we’d were fans and had even been to one of their concerts when they came to Owensboro. Luke had and Phil Joel had said he had a friend who was going to moving to Owensboro soon to serve in a church there. We didn’t think too much about it again until the weekend before Independence Day. We had gone to Glasgow to stay with Daddy while June’s family traveled to Memphis to be with John’s family over the weekend. When we got home on Sunday afternoon, we decided to watch our church service. Our church live streams all three services and then loads them to our website as podcasts. Luke selected the Saturday night service as that is when we attend. Our pastor who is a great guy came on stage and began introducing a new minister to our staff. One of the first things he mentioned was that Andrew is from New Zealand. Luke and I looked at each other and said “You don’t think it’s Phil Joel’s friend, do you?” We weren’t positive until two weeks later when we met Andrew before the Saturday night service. Luke told him about our meeting Phil Joel and sure enough they are friends. Andrew is hoping that Phil and his band (he is no longer with the Newsboys) can come to our church in the near future. Andrew is our missions pastor and hopes we can team with a church in New Zealand for a mission trip in the future. Now that would be cool, too.
Well, that was a lengthy side story. Once Luke filled me in, we began our journey home, stopping at a McDonald’s in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, north of Nashville to pick up dinner. Luke only wanted fries, so he got a large order. I got a McDouble and small fries. We ate as we continued northward. By around 9:30 CDT, we were pulling into our garage, closing out another fantabulous Disney trip. Unpacking and laundry would wait until tomorrow. I was ready for a goodnight sleep in my own bed. It’s always a bit surreal to wake up at Animal Kingdom and visit Animal Kingdom Park and later got to sleep in my own bed.
Final Stats for Day 11 Sunday, May 7: Fitbit Data: 15,068 steps/6.19 miles/2,121 calories/7 floors/6 hours 23 minutes sleep Temperature: 86 degrees Worst Part of the Day: Leaving the Disney bubble Best Part of the Day: Having a few hours in my favorite park, Animal Kingdom
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Sounds like a fun way to enjoy your last day at WDW by leisurely enjoying AK.
Andrew is our missions pastor and hopes we can team with a church in New Zealand for a mission trip in the future. Now that would be cool, too. 
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