"Seeking the Sun" January 2-9, 2013 Trip Report - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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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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Well here it is! We are back from our wonderful trip and it is time to do a trip report. Please allow me some wiggle room, as I have never attempted a trip report before, but thought it would be fun.
Cast:
Me: 35 year old stay-at-home mother to three. This is my 5th trip to the World, and I love all things Disney, especially the food!
DH: 42 year old university professor. Donnie teaches hospitality management, so he uses Disney as a research project. He also loves Disney, almost as much as me!
DS: 9 year old soccer/baseball loving goofball! Trey loves the rides, and let’s face it, he goes to Disney for the rollercoasters!
DD: 8 year old prima ballerina. Kennedy is a drama/diva, but loves to have fun and laugh too. She is a bona-fide princess on her 4th trip.
DD: 19 month old sweetie! Teagan is a sweet and loving girl that adores Minnie and Mickey. This is her first trip (unless you count belly trips!)
When:
Our trip was from January 2 through the 9th.
Where:
We stayed in a family suite at All-Star Music.
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.
We ended up leaving the house on Tuesday, January 1st because our flight left so early on Wednesday. We stayed in a Courtyard by Marriott close to the Columbus airport the night before departure. It was rough, because Teagan did not want to go to sleep, especially in a small hotel room where she could see everyone. This is the reason we chose a suite for Disney. We knew she would need her privacy and quiet, if anyone was to get any sleep.
The flight left at 8:00 am, so we wanted to be parked and in the airport by 6:00 so we could grab some breakfast. Of course Teagan decided our wakeup call should come at 4:00 am, so we were all awake and ready to go quite early. We parked the car and took the shuttle to the airport. It was about 20 degrees out and we were freezing. We were flying Southwest, so we checked in five bags and since Teagan was a lap child, we had to check her in separately. The line for security was very long, but we made it through by 6:45.
It was then time for some breakfast. Unfortunately, the Columbus airport is set up so most eateries are outside of security, so the only place we had access to was a Starbucks. That was fine with me, but the kids were hoping for something more than a muffin and juice. After our breakfast we proceeded to wait at the gate. I let Teagan walk around as much as possible so she would be good and tired on the plane.
We did not purchase early check in, so I had checked us in at exactly 24 hours prior and still received B6-9. But luckily they allowed family boarding, so we were on the plane right after A. We went all the way to the last two rows in hopes that nobody would sit with us. The flight was completely full but for 2, but the flight attendant said he would try to discourage anyone from sitting in the aisle seat by us, so we could spread out. He succeeded and we had three seats in case Teagan would sit. However, she was so tired, she was asleep before we even finished de-icing. Trey and Kennedy watched a movie and played on their ipods, and Teagan slept for about an hour. When she woke she had a snack and played a bit on my lap until we landed. Overall it was a smooth flight.
We arrived in Orlando around 10:00 and it was sunny and warm! Finally we had found the sun!!! Since we had used the wonderful yellow luggage tags we were able to go straight to Magic Express for our ride to the resort. After a brief nature stop we were in line waiting for a bus by 10:40. The kids were complaining they were hungry and were already whining, but the wait was not too long and we managed to get onto the bus within 20 minutes.
The check in line was a bit long, and we had checked in online so we were able to bypass most of the wait. They had several cast members working the front desk, but the line was still moving slowly. All-Star Music was very crowded. This would be a sign of things to come.
At check in a cute little girl approached Kennedy and asked if she wanted her balloon. They were leaving that day, so they passed it along to Kennedy. She was thrilled to have one, and shared it with Teagan, who loves balloons!
After checking out the room,
we went to the food court to get our mugs and some lunch.
Everyone quickly ate and by the time we went back to the room, our bags had arrived and we were able to change into some warm weather gear! Then it was on to our first park. Where would we go?
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
So after a change into some capris and/or shorts, we headed to the bus stop. Our room was located in Calypso Building 10 on the second floor, pool side, so the walk to the bus stop took maybe 2 minutes, tops. It was a nice walk through the pool area, although, every time my kids saw the pool, they asked to go swimming.
We got turned around a bit finding the bus stop because we went to the front of the building, rather than the side where the bus stops were located. While we were upfront, I inquired about the full size crib I had rented from A Baby’s Best Friend and my grocery delivery from Garden Grocer. The bed was there, but the groceries were not, so I just asked them to hold the bed until the groceries arrived and bring them to the room together.
When we arrived at the bus stop, there was no one in line for the park we were planning on going to, so we assumed a bus had just left recently. While goofing around I took some pictures.
So can you tell what line we are in? Yep, we are headed to Magic Kingdom, of course. We had a 5:30 reservation for California Grill, so MK seemed like the logical choice. Of course, a trip to Disney doesn’t really start for me until I see the castle anyway! I also had a few things I needed to do at guest relations before our dinner.
So we waited…. And waited…. And waited…. The bus was taking forever! We watched three different buses come each for EPCOT, AK and Hollywood Studios, but still no MK bus. Finally after a 35 minute wait, a bus pulled up. Since we were the first in line, we knew we would get on this bus, but the line had become quite long during the wait and not everyone was so lucky. We went straight to the back of the bus with the kids and stroller, which was always our habit on Disney buses for some reason! After a 10 minute ride, we heard the trumpet sound announcing our arrival at MK.
Kennedy was so excited, so kept saying over and over “I can’t believe we are at Disney!” This whole trip was a surprise for the kids. They did not find out we were going until Christmas Eve, when they opened their presents from Mom and Dad. I had wrapped a giant box filled with a bag for each child that had new Disney clothes, toys for the ride, stickers, coloring books, candy, light up toys, new pins, etc. The box also held about 6 helium balloons, so when they opened the box the balloons came floating out. It still took them a few minutes to figure out what the present was. But when they realized we were leaving in one week, the excitement was bubbling over. I think Kennedy and Trey were just as excited that they would be missing several days of school as they were of going to Disney.
We got off the bus and proceeded through the bag check and the turnstiles. After using my ticket, I went to back out to Guest Services to upgrade my ticket to an Annual Pass and purchase the Tables in Wonderland card. This took about 20 minutes and by the time I reentered the park it was 3:30. Not much time for doing much of anything, since dinner was at 5:30. When we walked under the train station and onto Main Street, I think I was just as excited as the kids! Donnie was pushing Teagan in the stroller and Trey and Kennedy were holding my hand and we were all dancing down Main Street.
Well as much as we could considering the place was jammed packed, shoulder to shoulder crowded! I have not witnessed a crowd like this since our last trip the week of Christmas 2010. WOW!
I looked at the ride wait times and all of the main attractions were over 90 minutes wait. But as tradition dictates, we knew our first ride had to be the People Mover. We always start and end each Disney trip on this ride. So we made our way to Future World and got in line for the People Mover. Yes, there was a line. A long line! But it moved quickly and we were on the ride in about 15 minutes.
Teagan's first Disney ride!
After an overview of Future World we headed over to the Carousel of Progress because we knew the line would not be too long. After a journey through the past, it was just about time to head to the Contemporary for dinner. The kids were a bit bummed that we only had time for the two attractions, but with the crowd so crazy, we just wanted to get out of there, we didn’t even try to stop and get photopass pictures. We also knew we would be back several times during our trip. We left the park and started to head to the monorail, but we noticed it was really backed up, so we chose to walk instead.
After checking in for the California Grill we went up the elevator and had a few drinks before we were seated. The meal was fabulous as always!
Our view from our table
Pictures after dinner from the observation deck
Since Wishes did not start until 9:00 that evening, after dinner we chose to head back to the resort and get some rest so we could make rope drop in the morning. We were back in the room around 8:30 and after having the bed and groceries delivered, we put Teagan to bed in the bedroom and Trey and Kennedy climbed into their pull out beds in the living room. I unpacked and put things away and went to bed around 10:30. Donnie ended up sleeping most nights on the couch because he was afraid he would wake up Teagan when he went to bed, so I had the queen bed all to myself most nights! Coming up. . . Hollywood Studios- Would my kids conquer their fears?
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.
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we went to the food court to get our mugs and some lunch. 
PassPorter Guide Author
We watched three different buses come each for EPCOT, AK and Hollywood Studios, but still no MK bus. Finally after a 35 minute wait, a bus pulled up. Since we were the first in line, we knew we would get on this bus, but the line had become quite long during the wait and not everyone was so lucky. We went straight to the back of the bus with the kids and stroller, which was always our habit on Disney buses for some reason! After a 10 minute ride, we heard the trumpet sound announcing our arrival at MK. 
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