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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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me: 30 yr old mom, the planner and the most excited. This is my 5th trip, but I usually stay on property.
DH: 31, not so excited, second trip, cheap
DS: almost 3, first trip
DFS: foster son, 17, second trip, special needs
I started planning this trip in November. We decided to stay off property in order to have more space. We rented a 3 bedroom , 3 bath townhouse with private splash pool in Windsor hills. The name of the unit is Syndey's Point. We paid to have the splash pool heated. Our plan was to do the parks in the morning, come back so DS could nap, while the rest of us swam in the splash pool. Then go back to the parks in the late afternoon/evening. We had intentions of swimming after DS went to bed each night. We were so excited to have out own pool to enjoy even while DS was alseep. It seemed like the perfect plan...
Friday Jan 30th. We all went to school, work, and daycare as usual. DH worked until 11:30 then picked up the kids. I worked until 1:00. We left the house around 1:30 and headed to providence RI airport. DH drops me and DFS off with the luggage. He and DS park the car and meet us at the checkin. We check our bags without issues and head to security. What a pain that was. Our stroller had to be folded and sent through the scanner. it got stuck 3x. Then our car seat had to go through, it too got stuck. DFS set the alarm off with his belt. The family behind us was so pushy...it was just caos! we finally get through and head to the gate. DS was WILD. He hadn't napped and was just being a brat! We get our preboarding passes (DFS has special needs). We are first on the plane!!
more to come...
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We decided to bring DS's carseat in the hopes he would fall asleep. Since we were first on the plane we grabbed the first row of bulk head seats, with DS by the window, then DH, and myself. DFS was right behind me. He needed a tray for his snacks and game boy. Take off went fine. DS got a little antsy. We had a bag full of snacks, pops, gum, new toys, books, and a DVD player. He did OK...not great but not antsy enough to disturb others. We unloaded and had to wait for our stroller to be brought up. We got our luggage very quickly and headed to Alamo rental. It was late, we were all tired and hungry. We booked the car online so we just went up to the kiosk, answered a few questions and headed to pick out our car. It was so fun, like car shopping. Fortunately we beat the rush and had about 6 cars to choose from. By the time we drove off there were no more cars in the full size range. We chose a chevy malibu with a sunroof. We were on our way! somehow we took a wrong turn and ended up driving through celebration...what a cool looking town! We arrived at Windsor hills. We checked in at the gate and drove through to Maneshaw Lane. The development looked spotless. We easily found our unit and were thrilled with how close we were to the clubhouse. We all get out and head to the door. DH punches in his code and the door makes a noise but will not open. We both try about 10 times. We are cold, hungry, tired, and just annoyed at this point. DS is in the car screaming, DFS is trying to calm him. I get out my binder (Oh yeah, I created a binder of all our travel info, park details, everything. I called it my Disney Bible) and DH called the management company. They don't answer!! Im mad now. Suddenly the phone rings, it was the management calling back. They tell us the door is tricky and give us some hints how to pull and open at teh same time. we are in!! We go in and check it all out. Its so clean, and nicely decorated. I had wanted a unit with disney theming but none were available. This unit was good enough. I unpack while DH goes to do some grocery shopping. I get DS ready for bed and he goes down fairly easily. DFS takes a quick shower and heads to bed. I check out the pool but its FREEZING. darn, no swimming tonight. DH comes back from "Kings Grocery". DO NOT GO THERE. He spent $30 on milk, water, bagels, juice, and a few small things.
Saturday Morning: DS wakes us up fairly early, around his usual 7:00AM. We get showered and dressed, have a quick breakfast at the house. We head to Epcot and are amazed at how close we are to the parks. We have AAA diamond parking which gets us up to the gate. We arrive 20 min before opening. We hang out in line, freezing. When we get in we head towards the right. We stop at the rope and wait...again. The character come out. Pluto sees DS and comes running towrds him. This is DS's first character experience and he was a little shocked. He crouched down in his stroller but pluto gives him tickles and hugs. It was very cute! Then we see Donald. They do the little opening ceremony and we join the rush to Soarin'. We get FP and go off to ....where the heck did we go? OMG, I can't even remember. All I know is we did turtle talk, then rode soarin' using parent swap. We headed over to the character connection. There was hardly anyone there. We waited about 30 seconds. DS was a little shy at first with Mickey and donald. By the time he got to minnie he took off running to her! He gave her a huge hug and kept squeezing. It was so cute! He was this way with pluto and goofy too. We got to take our time with each character and I got some great pics. We got FP for test track. We then headed over to world showcase. We were at Mexico before it opened and were the first on the ride. It was very nice, and DS liked it a lot. We went to norway and rode that boat ride too. Then we took our time walking through the countries. By this time we are hungry, but no place had something all of us would eat. We sorta rushed through the UK and Canada and had lunch at McDonalds
We were tired and I felt like we got nothing done...We had 4pm ADR's at Garden grill. We decided to head home for a few hours and come back. We got home and DS napped. Our plan was to swim in the splash pool. Yeah...it was freezing!! DH calls the manager. DFS and I go to the resort pool and he goes on the water slide about 20 times while I relax in the hot tub. This resort is so nice! When we get back the manager comes. He is a little sketchy saying the pool is cold, but its cold out. I press the issue and he then says the pool heater must be broken. He will call teh pool company Monday! MOnday?!! GGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRR!! Great! By this time its 3pm. There was no way we would be back by 4:00. I called and got new ADR's for 5:35. We went back and DH and DFS went on Soarin' while I took DS to Honey I Shrunk the Audience. OK, can I just say...I hate the Kodak intro. Its hot and crowded and just a long time to stand there to watch a big commercial. We were standing there for probably 20 minutes. Thats a long time for a 3 yr old! He was getting antsy. We get in and he refuses to wear the glasses. I like the show, and DS is content o watch it through his 2D eyes. We get out and race back to the garden grill. We get there excatly at 5:35. DH checks us in and we wait...and wait...and wait. After 20 min they call our name. they lead us to a table, by the entrance, right in fron of the kitchen doors. There are waiters coming in and out bustling past us. We sit for a minute and DH and I just look at each other. Our seats suck! There is no way characters could spend much time at our table because they would be in the way of the kitchen. We get up and leave. Im not paying $90 (DS is free) to eat here! OK...now we need dinner! We go over to Sunshine Seasons. DS had kids mac n cheese, DFS had kids chicken leg, I had the same, and DH has kids sweet and sour chicken. Yes, we all got kids meals. The food was really good and only about $20. The portions are perfect. After dinner we do test track and then spaceship earth. I can't remember what else we did....but we did just about everything in Epcot that we wanted to do. We go home...to our cold pool . We did have a good day. We took our time and didn't rush. DS was great. He loves the characters, enjoyed the rides he went on, and was basically well behaved. We get a good nights sleep....next day is MAGIC KINGDOM!!!!
Sunday morning: Up early, quick breakfast, and on our way to transportation center. We park in AAA blue diamond lot. We get up to the monorail and Iask if we can ride up ront with the driver. The attendant says sure, and then he gives DS a monorail crd. He is beyond excited and in awe saying, "A ticket... train ticket! wow!!" Dh and DS ride up front (DFS and I didn't since we had the stroller). DS was all excited, telling the birds on the track to "get outa the way". Whe the castle came into view he gasped and said "Look it, the castle daddy!". We get to MK before it opens and have a front view of the opening ceremony. DS i riding on DH's shoulders. He shrieks when he sees the train pull up with mickey and friends. he is pointing and jumping, waving to the characters. It was awesome! i got most of it on video. The gates open and we head down main street with everyone ele. it was just...awesome! lol We decide to go to frontierland first. We get fp for BTM. DFS and I do standby (walk right on) for SM. DS and DH go underneath and play in the little play area. Goofy comes alng, and since no one else is there he plys with DS for about 10 minutes. DS had goofy all to himself and was playing hide and seek in the slide. DH got it on video. Anothr great start to a great day. We get off SM and DH and DFS go on it with parent swap. I take DS on the train around the whole park. He loves trains so this is his thing. We get back and meet up with DFS and DH. We head to pirates of the caribean. Again, no wait. We hop right on. This is a favorite for both boys. I had forgotten about the drop, but DS did fine with it. We then ride jungle cruise with about a 10 minute wait. This isn't a favorite for me, but DS liked it. I think at this point we headed to haunted mansion. Again, this is a walk on. We all liked it. We went to Columbia Harbour House for lunch. I had the bowl of chili which was pretty good. DFS had the kids salad with chicken, and DS had mac n cheese. I think DH just had fries. The food was good, and the prices reasonable. We now head over to fantasy land. Its pretty busy here, long lines. We get FP for peter pan, and ride stndby for small world. The wait was about 8 minutes. I love this ride, DH thinks is lame. DS liked it a lot... he was swinging his legs and looking around at everything. We went to poo's playful spot and let DS just run around for about 15 minutes. He loved this place and made some friends. It had been a busy morning, and the park was getting busier. We decided to do the tea cups. DH loves spinning rides. I had to make him promise not to spin it too fast. DS loved it! I was done...I wanted to go back and swim while it was warm out. DH took DS on the carousel while DFS and I took some pics with the castle. We grabbed FP for pooh before we left.
We went home and put on our bathing suits and headed to the resort pool. It was cool in the shade. DS loves swimming. He put on his float and went right in. He wanted to swim out to where the other kids where. He did, and when he got to the them he said . "Look at me kids, Im swimming!" he was so proud of himself. He propelled himself all around the huge pool for about an hour. DFS went down the watr slide over and over again. We went back to the house to clean up. DS and I took a bath is the huge master bath. He then took a nap while I did some laundry. When he woke up we headed back MK. We went back to fantasy land. We used our FP for pooh. What a cute ride! i liked it a lot, and so did DS. We arn't huge pooh fans but this ride is adorable. We then used our FP for Peter pan...another cute ride. This is fun for all of us. I think at this point we headed to toon town. It was starting to get dark. We got in line for Barnstormer. Wewaited about 10 minutes and the ride was ove in about 20 seconds...way to short. DS was alittle scared, so we decided not to do this one again. We checked out minnies house and played in donalds boat. It was kinda crowded here so we chose to come back another day. We went on splash mountain again, walked around the stores in frontier land, and saw country bear jamboree. this is a cute show, not sure I had ever seen it before. DS liked it a lot. DH went on BTM with DFS. He thinks its much better being in the back, and riding it at night. It was almost time for Wishes so I didn't get a chance to ride it again. We watched it from the bridge in Frontier land. What an awesome viewing spot! We could see the casle and all the fireworks that went on above it, and then all of the fireworks that went on at the back of the park were in perfect view. DS loved wathing them, an was so well behaved even at 8 at night. We a great day! When the show ended we joined the crowd and headed out of the park. We went to the ferry and got on the first boat. I can't believe how easy it was considering the crowds.
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Monday morning: We woke up to an overcast day. We knew t ws going to rain so we dressed in short/capris, and layered tops. We packed our ponchos and headed to animal kingdom. DFS and I had been there 2 years earlier and I just ddn't like this park. I felt like there wasn't a lot to do, the walkways crowded, and lots of walking between rides/exhibits etc. Dh calls the house manager to seewhats being done about our broken pool heat. He claims he will be calling the repair people that morning. We got there a little after opening. It was also EMH so probably more crowded because of it. We went straight to the safari. no wait!! We put the ran cover over the stroller and teh staff parked it for us (nice feature). The ride was fun, nice and bumpy. DS thought that was cool. We saw quite a few animals including elephants, lions, giraffes, and lots of animals i had never heard of. We had fun. When we got off it had started to rain. Ponchos on. DS wore his rain coat, but he was in his rain "bubble" stroller and stayed dry most of the day. We then wandered though africa and decided to see the lion king show. We went right in and it wa about 3/4ths full. our seats were good, actually all seats are good. It was nice to get our ponchos off. The show was excellent!! Im no big on shows, but this really was great. DS was fairly content during the whole thing. he danced in the stands and even took off his shoes. Not sure why he felt the need to do that. Why do they have you walk all the way back to camp mickey for just a show? This would have been a great area for a kiddie ride, playground, or small family ride. Its totally empty back there. We trudge to expedition everest and get fast passes. DH has never been on so im excited for him as I love this ride. We had a while to wait so we headed to dinoland. This is another area that just doesn't do it for me. I see what they are trying to do...but, cmon...we just paid a crap load of money to ge it and you want to charge for carnival games? DH and DFS love primevil whirl so the plan was for them to ride while DS and I did someting for him. Well, the wait was 30 minutes and there was nothing for DS to do!! Tricerotops spin was closed. The boneyard playground is now soaked. We decide to skip it and come back later. The fast pss machines were not being used for primevil whir...not sure why. We decide to get some lunch. This was my favorite meal of the whole trip. Anandupur Local Food Cafes
Dh gets the childrens meal with a pork egg roll, side of rice, carrots, and drink. DFS get the kids burger, carrots, cookie and juice. DS gets the kids chicken bites which was actually real chicken not nuggets. I tried one and it was great. I got a side of 2 pork egg rolls that were very good. We found a table with an umbrella so the seats were dry. it ad stopped raining and the ducks were a our table. We tossed them fries, util a CM asked me not to
By the time we finish our FP is ready for everest. DH and DFS go first. DS and i take a stroll and stop outside of Nemo's musical. We take some pics with Asia in the background. DS gets some time to just run around and be free. We head back to meet DH who gets out of the ride just as we get there. His plan is to take DS to play at the bone yard since it not raining, while DFS and i ride everest. We jump in the FP line and walk right onto the ride. i love this coaster, its so fun and a long ride. When we get out its pouring. Dh has the stroller, which has ouor ponchos
DFS and I husstle to dinoland. DH and DS meet us. They never got a chance to play in the boneyard after doing a diaper change it started raining. ponchos back on. My feet are soaked. My hair and shirt are dripping. I am NOT having fun at my least favorite park. Im trying not to be grouchy...but its a lot of effort! Im so readyto go home, but DH is liking this park. Dh wants to check the wait time for primevil whirl. Itsstill 30 minutes. i think he hopes I say "go ahead, I'll stan here in teh rain and wait with DS". Not a chance! I just give him a look and ask what he would like me to do while waiting 40 minutes. We get to "tough to be a bug" and walk right up. We gt put in the holding area for about 10 minutes. It was hot, crowded, and dark in there. Not helping my mood!!! We finally get into the theatre and enjoy the show. i had forgotten hoe intense it can be. I hate when the theatr fills with "smoke" or whatever. it takes a long time to clear. Fortunatly DS doesn't get scared, which is odd because it really is kinda creepy. Shows over. Can we go home yet? no, now DH wants to go out to rafiki's planet watch. we wait about 5 minutes for the train. Once off the train we trudge along the wet path to the building. A lot of empty area in this park!! I feel bad for DS who has spent the day in his stroller. We get out there and let him run around. i get some great pics inside the building. This was probably the highlight of the day for DS. He tkes his timechecing out the tanks of snakes and turtles. We ten go out to the petting zoo. eeeew, wet animals. lol DS likes the sheeps and goats. He hugs a few and is practically climbing on them. We let him play for a few minutes, then its back to the train. We decide we have done everything and DH agrees to skip and second ride on EE. We actally stayed until like 3 or 3:30 i think. Not bad for a wet day at a small park.
On the way home we stop at McDonalds for ice cream sundaes. We bring them back to the house. I run out to see if the pool is warm...nope, still freezing!! oh well. I try to get DS to take a nap, and I attempt to take one myself. No dice. After an hour I give up and let him get up. We head to dinner. We go to Downtown disney. Its still raining, so we put on our ponchos, and DS goes back in his bubble. He is still being perfect! We park in the wrong area, so we walk a bit to get to the shops. We are all hungry so we check menus as we pass each place. So mny arerealy exensive. we choose earl of sandwiches. Its really good, really quick, and really cheap! lol I get the turkey with cranberry sauce. DFS gets a BLT, DS gets a grilled cheese that he actually eats, and Dh gets soup. Everyone is filled up and it has stopped raining. YAY!!! We go into every store. DFS buys a couple of stat wars books, I buy DS a tonka truck, and buy a bunch more for b-day gifts for my nephews. We go t the candy store and I get a banana such, and DFS buys a big pece of fudge that he inhales in the blink of an eye. We send some time playing in the toy store. The lego store is too crowded to play. We wander down to the other side, beyond pleasure island. These stores are kind of odd, and no one is even shopping in them. Its getting late, and we have a big day coming up. We head home.
Let me explain about our ADR's. In December I booked Crystal Palace breakfast for Tuesday at 8:05 AM. In January I started second guessing the characters, thinking DS would prefer mickey. So I booked Garden Grill because chef mickeys and ohanas was not available. Garden Grill we were seated right at the kitchen door, and it was just a bad area so we left rather than pay $90 for a not so great experience. We intended to get to CP but need to wake up at 6:00 in order to get ready and get there or 8:05. DS wakes us at 6:30. i decide not to rush everyone and skip breakfast. We have a full day planned at MK...and its our last day.
he sun is shining, but its chilly!! we dress in layers which was the smartest ting we did all week. All day the tep would go from warm to freezing. If you were in the sun, a t-shirt was fine, in the shade a sweatshirt was needed. After the rain the day before we were just thrilled to see the sun! We take the monorail from TTC to MK. We arrive justas the gates open. yay! We had already seen the opening ceremonies the other day so i was OK that we missed it. we head straight to space mountain and get FP for later. DFS and I go standby and walk right on. DH and DFS hang out and DS eats some dry cereal in his stroller while watching the crowd. I love SM. its such a classic!! We get off and DH and DFS hop on using a parent swap. DS and I go to astro orbiter. It took me aout 5 min to find it. The map said it was "right here" but its not. lol Then I look up. oh!!! We wait a few minutes and then hopin our elevtor tobring us up. DS is little iffy about heights but he loved this ride. Its cool to see the park from this area. DH meets us and we go on Buzz Light year. DS LOVES this ride. Its now 10AM and I had hopedto be in toon town for its opening. oh well. We take the secret path along the ralroad track to toon town. We walk through mickey's house. DS is enthralled with mickes garage and his tools. After afew picswe go to the judges tent. Its very hot and smelly in here. it almost smelled like mildew, like they had had aleak or flood and it festered. We were in a fairly long line, that was not moving at all. After a 10 in wait, and still in the same spot i decide we are wasting valuable empty park time. Dh is relieved as we jump out of line. DS plays in the playground area while DH goes to get FP for the Indy cars. DFS takes a break and has a snack on the bench. DS is aving a blast in the play area, and then in donalds boat. The area is really quiet, everyone is in th judges tent! Dh come back...indy doesn't do fast passes. woops! lol DS and DH ride tea cups while I go park the stroller. Pooh and Tigger ar out for pics, and I start to ge in line...then i see how slow its moving. nah...skip it! We FP peter pan. We decide to keep going to frontier land. DFS and I ride splash. Dh and DFS ride BT. I forget what we did with DS during this time. Probably the play area under splash. We walk right on every ride over here. We ride POTC again. The sign said 5 min wait but I think we waited about 10. After we get out we go to the little counter service area there for tacos, but their menu i different. no tacos. We settle for dole whips instead. This was our first time trying them...wow, they are good! DS and I share one. the weather is perfect, the crowds are low. awesome day!! We strol down main street checking out the shops. i wanted to buy DS a keepsake for his first disney trip. I find a vintage mickey football bobble head. the price was't bad, I think $19. We buy that and set of small pirate character hollogram cups. We walk througheach store and them back up the other side. We then decide to loop the whole park again. by this time its maybe noon. We are getting so much done! We each do SM again. While DFS and DH ride that I take DS on Buzz again. Then we decide its time for lunch. We go to cosmic rays. Its a zoo here!! DS and I grab a table outside in the sun while DH and DFS get food. They come back about 10 min later with 3 burgers and chicken fingers. the burgers were excellent, and DS didn't eat his nuggets but they looked OK. he eats some fries, carrots and chocolate milk
DFS really wants to ride Indy ut eh wait is 25 min. We let him go alone with instructions to meet us at the bench at the exit. We head to transit authority but see Buzz light ear come out for pics. We run over and are second in line. We take some pics and DS is all excited. score!! Then we ride TA. this was better than I remembered it and DS likes it. i get a great pic of the castle. Just as we go over the Indy I look down and theres DFS driving under us. we call his name and he looks around but not up. I got a pic of him driving too. Then DH and DFS ride SM again. DS and i hang out at the exit. He befriends alittle girl and they have a great time running around together. Dh takes DS to indy, while DFS and I ride SM with parent swap. again...no lines since we had FP. We get off SM and I hear some one say its almost 3. oh no...the3pm parade!! We wait for DS and DH to get off indy (DS loved it BTW) and run to the front of the castle. Its already packed (of course, the parade is minutes away) so we crowd surf to a spot. People are pushing. this lady totally shoves her 4 yr old to the front and he ends up taking a little girls seat. then the woman tries to squeeze in front of m. I put my hand on her arm and say "You are NOT standing in front of me!" Im a big girl, not easily pushed aside lol. The parade comes and I get some good pics. Ds waves to all of the characters from DH;s shoulders. The crowd slowly disperses but we step aside and let it die down. once we get our stroller we go get funnel cake. We grab a seat and have our snack in frontier land. We jump the boat to tom sawyer island. I had never been out here. We spend some time going through the caves and paths. I was hoping i was abig open space for DS to run around but it wasn't. We take the boat back and ride thunder mountain...again. lol next up is fantasy land. DH grabs FP for pooh while me and the kids ride small world again. DS really likes this ride. We use our FP for peter pan...another cute ride. DS plays in poohs playful spot while DH rides tea cups alone so he can spin like crazy. its getting late and cold. Im getting sad. We ride Pooh again. We walk though the castle and down mainstreet. Im in shock tht this trip, that i spent so much time planning, is over! im trying to stall,and at the last miute tell DH we are taking the train around the entire park one last time. We get on at main street. it is so cold now!! at last we must leave. we get on the monorail. it crowded. a man gives up his seat for me, something that doesn't happen often. Then a woman comes on and she is pushing her very elderly dad in a wheelchair. Quin and the old man are parked next to each other and seem to be having a private chat. DH is holding the man;s chair so he won't roll away. Kinda ironic. Here I am pushing my son around disney, and someday he might be pushing me around disney.
we get off of the monorail and head to our car. We were at Mk from 9am until 7pm. Thats a long day for a 2 year old. he didn't fuss or tantrum once! About 30 feet before our car he falls asleep in the stroller. he sleeps in the car, and sleeps through being carried into the house. I start doing laundry and packing. We put the kids to bed and finish up. The pool is still too cold to use even though the heater was fixed. bummer!! Its super cold out. We pack as much as we can and head to bed. We wake up the next day, shower and dress. We are ready early so we load up the car and go to Cracker barrel for breakfast. We do a little shopping in their gift shop, get DS a john deere t shirt. The food here was awesome and we are all full when we leave.
We head to the airport and we are all sad. Even DS is saying "go to mickey's house. no go home. no airplane. go see mickey." I spnd the entire ride trying to convince DH we shoul come back next March and every year after that. We both agree this was a great trip and DS was at the perfect age for a first trip.
ok...quick wrap up. We are the first to load the plane, choose the bulk head seats for ds and I, and the row behind for DFS and DH. DS falls alseep in his car seat before take off!! He sleeps until 20 min before me land. I snooze a bit too. DH and DFS watch a movie. We land 20 min early and everything goes smoothly. we are home, and had a wonderful time!!!
Great update! Sounds like a wonderful time at AK, DTD and MK, despite the cold and all of the rain! to hear you ran into some guests behaving badly - we ran into quite a few of those when we were there too Glad to hear you had an awesome vacation! for sharing your TR with us. I have enjoyed reading it
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Pixie Dust
. I like the show, and DS is content o watch it through his 2D eyes. We get out and race back to the garden grill. We get there excatly at 5:35. DH checks us in and we wait...and wait...and wait. After 20 min they call our name. they lead us to a table, by the entrance, right in fron of the kitchen doors. There are waiters coming in and out bustling past us. We sit for a minute and DH and I just look at each other. Our seats suck! There is no way characters could spend much time at our table because they would be in the way of the kitchen. We get up and leave. Im not paying $90 (DS is free) to eat here! OK...now we need dinner! We go over to Sunshine Seasons. DS had kids mac n cheese, DFS had kids chicken leg, I had the same, and DH has kids sweet and sour chicken. Yes, we all got kids meals. The food was really good and only about $20. The portions are perfect. After dinner we do test track and then spaceship earth. I can't remember what else we did....but we did just about everything in Epcot that we wanted to do. We go home...to our cold pool 
. We did have a good day. We took our time and didn't rush. DS was great. He loves the characters, enjoyed the rides he went on, and was basically well behaved. We get a good nights sleep....next day is MAGIC KINGDOM!!!!
to hear you ran into some guests behaving badly - we ran into quite a few of those when we were there too 
for sharing your TR with us. I have enjoyed reading it
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