TR: Thingamabobs, Zebra & Giraffes, Oh My! Completed 3/25/15 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
I apologize for taking so VERY long to get this TR started ~ I kept going to start and then something would get in the way, etc. Life is so dang busy! One of my goals this year is to stay on top of things and NOT let my TR’s get so far behind! I truly enjoy writing them (although they might be boring to some , it allows me to “re-live” our trips!) and sharing them with all of you! So, again I apologize and truly hope to complete this TR in a timely fashion (as I have TWO trips planned for this year!!!)! Fingers crossed!
And because it has been so long since the PTR started, I have copied and pasted some bio info for each of us in this TR. There will be a couple other guests in the TR for a few hours here and there, but for the most part, it is those of us listed below.
Lisa ~ that's me! “40-something” Mom, wife, and full time Social Worker ~ LOVES all things Disney!!! Counting down the days (well, really years, till I can retire and work for Disney......or at least visit when ever I feel like it! ).
Scott ~ he's my husband, and a Daddy (yes, as a teen, our daughter still calls him Daddy!), and a full time career Firefighter. He LOVES Disney just as much as I do, and is your typical over grown child that refuses to grow up!!!
Emily ~ she's our beautiful 14 (at the time of the trip, now she is 15) year old daughter. She is in high school, and is a full time dancer (well, it seems that way! ) at a local studio and a part of their "company" which is very involved in Community Service. She is an honors student and knows that she would like to go to college to study Marine Biology, and possibly teach little ones dance in her spare time! She also LOVES Disney as much as her father & I do..........I honestly do not believe she will ever tire of it!
When:
Monday, June 30, 2014 - Saturday July 12, 2014 = 12 nights/13 days of Disney Magic!
Where:
The first 3 nights will be at Art of Animation in a Little Mermaid standard room, with the remaining of the trip at Animal Kingdom Kidani in a 1 bedroom villa savannah view. Both of these resorts will be a first for us! ........explaining the title of the trip report.......tying in two resorts yep - I am that corny!!!
I had told you all that we would have some "guests" in this trip. If you have been following my TR's for a while now, you might remember the LisaX3 TR? (If you would like to read it, you can here: ”Really……you are ALL named Lisa???”………) Well, Lisa #1 and her family will be in Orlando a few days before us, and through the 6th of July (as of right now.......although she just sent me a message earlier that they may have to head home on the 5th ). They are staying off property (RCI property only a mile or so from AK) and they are only doing WDW 4 of their days. But as of right now, we have plans to meet up with them a few of our days (which I will go into more detail when I speak of our park days).
So give them a better introduction, they are:
Lisa ~ (yeah, she might be listed as #1 (I am #2) but ONLY because she is older than me! - we have been friends since middle school, and love each other like sisters! She is truly my bestest friend!!! She LOVES all Disney! Especially Mary Poppins and Ariel! (in case you missed the LisaX3 TR, we celebrated turning 40 with another Lisa together back in 2011!). She has run 2 Disney half marathons, and also the 10K and 5K at Disney!
Paul ~ Lisa's DH. I think he puts up with Disney for Lisa & I :roll eyes: but that's why he loves us! He and Lisa have been together since high school - they have been married for 21 years this summer! He doesn't really have a favorite character. But he is also an AVID runner!!! He runs all the time, and completed the Dopey Challenge this past January, and also completed the half marathon the previous year! He has done several more major runs in the DC area.
Chris ~ their 17 yo son. He is an avid sports kiddo - plays soccer, refs for the younger ones, is involved with his HS chorus and drama - he was just in the school production of Tarzan! Chris' favorite character is probably Goofy!
Bethany ~ their 14 yo daughter (her and Emily are only 5 months apart!.....no we didn't plan it that way! ). She is a spitting image of her mom - and LOVES Disney as well! Her favorite character is Grumpy! She plays basketball and softball and loves Drama as well.
Matthew ~ the youngest son - age 11 - he is the cutest little red head kid you will ever meet! He loves to play soccer as well. He loves to visit WDW and is looking forward to this vacation!!! And Matthew's favorite character is Donald Duck!
Also, with this TR, I am “sharing” a bit more than I would normally – but it was for me to see how much $$ with truly spend and how much we actually save . So I kept very good track (Might have missed a few bottles of water or snacks here and there) of what we purchased, what we saved for discounts, etc. I am also sharing as I think it might be beneficial to many. Yes, I feel that we spend a lot of money on our trips, BUT we work very hard to save for our trips and truly enjoy ourselves, trying to not worry about finances while we are vacationing. We were also able to keep track of how many miles we walked per day ~ now this is an “estimate” for me, as Scott was the one wearing the tracker – and sometimes he would head back to the resort ahead of us.
So onto the TR:
Our vacation officially began on Sunday, June 29, 2014 ~ neither of us worked over the weekend, so we were able to take our time packing and prepping the house for my brother, who would be house and cat sitting for us while we were gone. We finally left the house around 3pm, stopped for a couple of errands along the way and arrived at the Fairfield Inn and Suites in Windsor Locks around 5ish. We chose to go up and stay the day before our flight as I had found a great sleep, park, and fly package that cost about the same that parking alone would have cost for the 13 days that we would be gone ~ and with a 6:00 a.m. flight, it was basically a no-brainer for me – save money, save LOTS of time (it’s about an hour drive from home to the airport, then parking, shuttle, etc.).
When we arrived at the Fairfield Inn our room was ready, so we got checked in and settled into our room. Our plan was to just relax, enjoy the room and get some good rest! I had packed a cooler with beverages, including juices for Emily, diet coke and wine for me, and beer for Scott! We had decided that we would be super relaxing and just grab a pizza for the room! So Scott ran down to the local Papa Gino’s and brought back pizza for all of us to share. While he was gone, Emily got her shower and prepped her clothes for the next early morning.
We all ate pizza and enjoyed our beverages while watching Big Brother (our summer reality TV obsession!) in our jammies! After Big Brother we turned out the lights and attempted to go to sleep early ~ the alarm was still to go off at 4:15 a.m.! It was rather difficult to fall asleep (well for me anyway….Scott and Emily could sleep through a bomb!) as the World Cup was on in the lobby (which our room was right next to) and there was quite the rowdy crowd watching it! At one point I finally got up out of bed, opened the door, and reminded that group that they were in a hotel where some people were trying to get sleep for an early flight! Not quite sure how much sleep I actually got that night.
Monday, June 30, 2014:
The alarm went off loud and clear at 4:15 a.m. as well as the wakeup call from the front desk – I always worry that I will oversleep and miss my flight ~ and I am one that HAS to shower in order to wake up – so I hopped in the shower, got dressed and such – woke up Scott and Emily, because of course they didn’t hear the alarms! Got everyone ready, double checked the room to make sure we weren’t leaving anything behind, and made our way out to our car where we put our overnight bags back in the car, and took out our luggage and met the shuttle to bring us over to the airport. We were literally right down the road from the airport, so it was a quick ride.
We were flying down to Orlando on United Airlines, which was very different for us (we usually only fly Southwest – but we had an airline credit on UA that needed to be used, and it covered the cost of the flight down) – and this flight was not direct, which was also very different for us. Our flight was leaving Hartford at 6:00 a.m. and was supposed to land in Newark, NJ a little after 7 a.m. and we were to have almost a 2 hour layover in Newark, so had decided we would wait and eat breakfast in Newark to help pass the time. We boarded the SMALL airplane……I’m talking one of those where there is only 1 seat on 1 side of the aisle, and barely 2 seats on the other side……….SMALL plane for my liking.
The plane left the gate right on time, we started going down the runway and then sat there, we assumed waiting our turn for takeoff, and we sat, and we sat……..finally about 20 minutes later the pilot comes on states that we have to return to the gate as there is something wrong with the computer – it was showing our landing gear was not operating……….okay, that would be very helpful to have! So we headed back to the gate, they said that someone was coming out to fix it – it turned out to be an issue with the computer on the airplane, the landing gear worked just fine. So we sat some more, with passengers starting to get very anxious as almost all of us needed to get a connecting flight and it was nearing our original scheduled landing time in Newark. The pilot had come back on again and stated that due to the computer error, they had to manually calculate the weight of passengers, bags, etc. like in the “old days” so it would take them a few more minutes then we could go. About 15 minutes later we were just about to get going again and some guy decided to stand up and state that he was getting off the plane because he had already missed his original connecting flight! The flight attendant could be heard telling this man that now the pilots would have to recalculate everything again………..yeah, that didn’t go over well with the passengers and you could hear the guys traveling companion telling him to shut up and sit down, he was not going anywhere but to Newark! So needless to say, we finally took off with the pilots flying the old fashioned way (not something that I really wanted to know) and we landed in Newark – all the way at the other end of the airport and had to practically RUN (after having to take a shuttle to the correct terminal……….still do not understand that if United lands there and takes off from there, why it’s not at the same terminal???) to our next gate and barely got on the plane when they were closing the doors behind us! We obviously had no time to grab any food, and unlike Southwest they do not give you free snacks!!! So we had to purchase snacks on the flight – which I’m sure you all know is NOT cheap! Luckily, I had a granola bar and crackers in the backpack – but we purchased a can of Pringles (Scott and Emily shared these) and a “Savory Snackbox” which consisted of popcorn, crackers, cheese, salami, almonds, cookie and a mint) for the grand sum of $12.28 – lucky for us, at least the beverages were free, so I had my diet coke finally! Not exactly a nutritious breakfast, but hey it was food. This leg of the flight was pretty uneventful, we watched Saving Mr. Banks to pass the time – and we even landed earlier than we were scheduled!!! Getting us into Orlando at 10:45 a.m.!
After getting off the plane and a bio break, grabbed our luggage (we like to bring it ourselves), and we were in our seats on the Disney Magical Express at 11:20 a.m.!
Soon we were seeing that lovely sign we all love!
We arrived at Art of Animation (our home for the first few nights of our trip) at 12:15!
We went in to check in and found that our room was ready! We were staying in the Little Mermaid section (Emily’s request) and we were assigned to room 7513.
It was a nice corner room with a view of the water, just on the other side of the pool, so pretty quiet. It was in the Ursula building!
We quickly got our bags settled (we weren’t unpacking everything as we were only here for a few nights, and space was tight), got our park bags and headed out the door!
Up Next: Finding friends in MK!
__________________
Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Great start Lisa! I've been away too and it's so good to be back!
Glad you made your flight and yay for your room being ready! I love the look of those rooms.
Don't worry about taking so long to start this TR, Lisa. I haven't updated mine for 2 months. But I promised myself that I'd finish it. I don't have many days left of it.
Anyways... great start! Love the room! Too bad my family can't fit in those. If only I could abandon one of them... Just kidding! Looking forward to more.
Great start Lisa! I've been away too and it's so good to be back!
Glad you made your flight and yay for your room being ready! I love the look of those rooms.
Thanks! The holiday season is always so busy, especially when kids are in activities on too of it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
Don't worry about taking so long to start this TR, Lisa. I haven't updated mine for 2 months. But I promised myself that I'd finish it. I don't have many days left of it.
Anyways... great start! Love the room! Too bad my family can't fit in those. If only I could abandon one of them... Just kidding! Looking forward to more.
Thanks! The room was tight for 3 of us! But we can say we stayed there
__________________
Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
What a hassle with your flight! I had layovers as they initially sound like too much time until there are delays with your first flight, and then it's a race to the gate. So glad you all made it, and at least, got a bit of nourishment.
Glad you're going to finish this, Lisa! I thought maybe you'd leave this one and concentrate on future trips. I hate connecting flights because of just the possibility of delays that you had. I know I'd have missed the connection waiting for the scooter to come off of the first flight. At least you landed in Orlando on time and got to your room nice and early! I'm happy to take another virtual trip with the three of you!
I'm so glad you're writing Lisa, as I don't find trip reports boring at all - I love reading them! Thank goodness you made your connection - that was a close call there!
Glad you made the connection! Can't believe the one guy, thinking he'd just get off the plane? This isn't a city bus, guy!
I really like the wall of the shower, but wonder if it was really dark in there when the curtain was closed?
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Great start Lisa, sorry about the issues with the flight I had similar on my last flight yeah never good when they say a computer issues. Can't wait to hear more
A nice start to your trip and glad all went well for the most part on the flight down! Too bad you had to take a connecting flight as I try to avoid those as well! Did you try Providence as that seems equal distance from your area as Hartford is?
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Yay! So glad you started your TR!
What a hassle with the flight, but since landing gear is pretty essential, I guess it was worth the trouble! It's a good thing you were able to make your connecting flight.
I love the decor of the Little Mermaid rooms! So cute!
About This Page: 
for taking so VERY long to get this TR started ~ I kept going to start and then something would get in the way, etc. Life is so dang busy! One of my goals this year is to stay on top of things and NOT let my TR’s get so far behind! I truly enjoy writing them (although they might be boring to some 
, it allows me to “re-live” our trips!) and sharing them with all of you! So, again I apologize and truly hope to complete this TR in a timely fashion (as I have TWO trips planned for this year!!!)! Fingers crossed! 
. So I kept very good track (Might have missed a few bottles of water or snacks here and there) of what we purchased, what we saved for discounts, etc. I am also sharing as I think it might be beneficial to many. Yes, I feel that we spend a lot of money on our trips, BUT we work very hard to save for our trips and truly enjoy ourselves, trying to not worry about finances while we are vacationing. We were also able to keep track of how many miles we walked per day ~ now this is an “estimate” for me, as Scott was the one wearing the tracker – and sometimes he would head back to the resort ahead of us.
for Scott! We had decided that we would be super relaxing and just grab a pizza for the room! So Scott ran down to the local Papa Gino’s and brought back pizza for all of us to share. While he was gone, Emily got her shower and prepped her clothes for the next early morning. 
~ the alarm was still to go off at 4:15 a.m.! It was rather difficult to fall asleep (well for me anyway….Scott and Emily could sleep through a bomb!) as the World Cup was on in the lobby (which our room was right next to) and there was quite the rowdy crowd watching it! At one point I finally got up out of bed, opened the door, and reminded that group that they were in a hotel where some people were trying to get sleep for an early flight! 
Not quite sure how much sleep I actually got that night.
So needless to say, we finally took off with the pilots flying the old fashioned way (not something that I really wanted to know) and we landed in Newark – all the way at the other end of the airport and had to practically RUN (after having to take a shuttle to the correct terminal……….still do not understand that if United lands there and takes off from there, why it’s not at the same terminal???) to our next gate and barely got on the plane when they were closing the doors behind us! We obviously had no time to grab any food, and unlike Southwest they do not give you free snacks!!! So we had to purchase snacks on the flight – which I’m sure you all know is NOT cheap! Luckily, I had a granola bar and crackers in the backpack – but we purchased a can of Pringles (Scott and Emily shared these) and a “Savory Snackbox” which consisted of popcorn, crackers, cheese, salami, almonds, cookie and a mint) for the grand sum of $12.28 – lucky for us, at least the beverages were free, so I had my diet coke finally! Not exactly a nutritious breakfast, but hey it was food. This leg of the flight was pretty uneventful, we watched Saving Mr. Banks to pass the time – and we even landed earlier than we were scheduled!!! Getting us into Orlando at 10:45 a.m.! 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
PassPorter Guide Author
Linear Mode
