A Whole New World - Disney Vacation 2015 - Page 7 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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Yeah!!!! You finally got to do Characters in Flight!!! What a view!! I am hoping to do this on one of my trips this year But I also am afraid of heights, so we will see!!
How great that you decided to add your extra day onto Disney!!! And you are starting off to a great non-park day!!!
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
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Awesome! You all finally got to take a ride in the balloon! I think it would be interesting to see all the construction from up there.
It was to see everything from that view!
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Originally Posted by B.M.
How awesome that you were able to add an additional night! Glad you finally got to ride the hot air balloon!!
I was glad to finally ride and never understood it being closed due to wind, when on the ground it seemed fine. I felt the wind pick up as we were up there and soon realized it is definitely not the same as it feels on the ground!
Quote:
Originally Posted by DMA
So very cool that you were able to add an additional night at WDW! (Wish the CM would have been a little more enthusiastic, though!)
Yay! You finally got to ride Characters in Flight! We enjoyed that as well! The view is awesome from up there!
I was little disappointed in the CM at front desk that morning, as I always am when they are less than magical or even give you eye contact. I guess I was expecting something, as last trip, we got two different upgrades. Even if she didn't give us a better rate, she could have at least acted like she was trying.
Oh well....at least we got to stay another night!
Quote:
Originally Posted by OhToodles!
I'm with everyone else and don't care for too many CS options at DHS. I think we isn't eat at Backlot for standard burgers and chicken nuggets. Glad dinner was good!
Glad you got the extra day but it could've been a more magical experience. Glad you finally got to do characters in flight!
I should have just let Peter had his turkey leg there and browsed around a bit more. I still haven't tried Starring Rolls, which I think I would probably enjoy.
Yeah!!!! You finally got to do Characters in Flight!!! What a view!! I am hoping to do this on one of my trips this year But I also am afraid of heights, so we will see!!
How great that you decided to add your extra day onto Disney!!! And you are starting off to a great non-park day!!!
Peter did okay & actually enjoyed it! I loved the view!
We had an awesome non-park day and it was so nice not to be rushed as we usually are. I can more of these kind of Disney days in the future!
Well, you can't be on the Boardwalk, on a sunny day, with plenty of time, and not do the Surrey Bikes!!
Finally!!
So much fun!
After our ride, we weren't quite ready to go back to our resort, so I had an idea.
We love looking around at all the different resorts, and try to see a few each trip-
this time we were headed to Animal Kingdom Lodge.
We took the boat over to Hollywood Studios ....
then caught the bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge.
We got off at Kidani Village and went inside. We could see the animals through the big windows. We went outside to get some pictures.
...how awesome would this be to sit on your balcony and see this every morning!?
A few more pictures
....then we caught the bus to Animal Kingdom, then transferred to the bus for our resort. We needed to get ready for dinner (at one of our favorite restaurants). :O)
congrats on the balloon ride. It took several trips for us to catch it flying. The view is awesome during the day and incredible at night. Love the idea of checking out other rresorts. AKL is on our list 'to-do' at some point..
First of all, congrats on the extra night! Sorry, the CM was not so magical.
I think you should be a project organizer! You were able to shift your plans-just like that!-and it worked out perfectly!! How fun to go on a Surrey Ride and the balloon ride looks amazing! That is definitely on my to do list.
congrats on the balloon ride. It took several trips for us to catch it flying. The view is awesome during the day and incredible at night. Love the idea of checking out other rresorts. AKL is on our list 'to-do' at some point..
We saw the balloon flying on our last night and I mentioned to Peter how cool I thought that would be.... We love resort hopping and AKL was a good choice today!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Congrats on the extra night! What a nice relaxing non-park day! Love all the pictures as you moved all around!
It was the perfect day doing all the things I've wanted to do for quite awhile....very relaxing & fun!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hugmonster
Signing in to follow along... I love the idea of adding a day!
Thanks for reading!! More to come!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by DMA
Love the surrey bikes! Did you ride the complete loop around the lake?
Nice idea to check out Animal Kingdom Lodge. You got some wonderful pictures of the animals. Yes it would be awesome to wake up to that view!
We did the complete loop, stopping along the way to get pictures and take in the view. We will definitely do this again in the future!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Great savanna activity for your visit to my favorite resort, AKL!
You've actually seen this in person....I'm sure sitting on the balcony with your morning coffee looking at that view is amazing!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tara O'Hara
First of all, congrats on the extra night! Sorry, the CM was not so magical.
I think you should be a project organizer! You were able to shift your plans-just like that!-and it worked out perfectly!! How fun to go on a Surrey Ride and the balloon ride looks amazing! That is definitely on my to do list.
Tara
I always have so many things I want to do, but time seems to never allow it all. It was so nice to have a day to just hang out and have fun. I am fortunate though, Peter is very flexible and leaves pretty much all the planning up to me. I love finding things for us to try and am always making mental notes of things to do. I am thinking that we should start adding this type of "fun day" in every trip!
I just realized that I skipped PART TWO of today's report!
Day #7 - Wednesday February 11 2015 (part two)
We had about a 30 minute wait until our time and it wasn't long before our name was called. We hadn't played miniature golf since the boys were younger...we had a great time!
It was getting pretty warm by now. Peter had shed his fleece jacket, but I stuck it out in my hoodie. That's the thing about Florida weather in February - when you are in the sun, you bake, then you get in the shade and get a slight chill....but we'll deal with it!
Side Note: The cost for two to play was $36.00 but I used the discount from our travel packet and it was FREE! :O)
We walked back over to Swan & Dolphin, then over to Boardwalk, where I wanted to try lunch. We had never been this way before.
I had looked at the menu online and knew I wanted to try the Maine Lobster Roll - with Buttered Chive Mayo, on a Split Top Roll. The side choices on the online menu were cucumber salad or chips, but we were also offered corn chowder, which we both chose as well as sodas. Being a bakery, the dessert selection was overwhelming. Peter chose the Lemon Meringue Tart, and after much browsing, I chose the Carrot Cake.
$54.58 or 2 CS credits
This was by far, the best use of the dining plan for lunch! It was delicious!!! I can see us making this an annual must-do!!
We sat outside and had lunch- does it get any better?
Next came the Surrey Bike Ride and visit at AKL!!! Sorry for the mix-up with my report today!
I LOVE your non-park day!!! You are really seeing/doing many things that I have still not done after many trips to WDW!!! We are staying at BCV in August, so I am hoping that we make it to Fantasia and ride the surrey bikes!
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
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But I also am afraid of heights, so we will see!!
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I think it would be interesting to see all the construction from up there. 
to see everything from that view! 
Susan
Parlor Panther in 'stalking mode'
What a nice relaxing non-park day! 
Dreams, Wishes, Hopes... these are the parts of childhood we should never lose.
We love resort hopping and AKL was a good choice today!
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