Have Pen, Will Travel: A Solo Trip Report--Includes Dining and CSR Reviews and Photos! - Page 19 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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A little behind, but aren't the Starring Rolls cupcakes the most amazing things ever! And I would think nothing better to have at breakfast than one of their cupcakes! Especially since you're at Disney!
Really loving your TR!! Can't wait to read the rest!
Day 4 Part 4--Chaos ensues at MK, how I am an emotional sponge, and my crazy ‘three parks one day’ idea.
Here’s the approach to the castle, at 3:30pm on the first Saturday in March (supposedly a mid-crowd level day)...
Here’s me trying to walk away from the restrooms at Splash Mountain...
...and here’s the crowd walking around Frontierland.
These were the kinds of crowds I’d expected in WDW, and was beyond pleasantly surprised to NOT find during any of my days in the parks. Thus, at the end of my research-or-die trip, I gave up. I left the Magic Kingdom.
I did manage to ride PoC again before I left, but trust me when I say that the posted 30-minute standby wait was absolutely accurate. This was the longest amount of time I stood in line at any parks, on any day, ever. And most of the people in line were more cranky than even I was!
Please allow me to pause and explain my issue with crowds like this. Please note, many of you are going to think I’m insane. I’m ok with that (as is evidenced by the fact that I was perfectly ok with asking the server to wait for me to photograph my salad before he mixed it!)
My issue with crowds...
I am a very sensitive person. I’m not talking about sensitive in that I’m easily offended--in fact, I dare you to try and offend me. I’m also not a huge mush, though I do cry fairly easily. I mean sensitive in the ‘people’s emotions effect me’ sense. Particularly in large crowds. If you are a very tense family, and you are standing next to me, I become tense. If you are angry, I’m angry. If you are sad, I’m sad (which is how I explain the crying at rope drop, or during sad movies). If you are happy, I’m happy--which is likely why I love Disney so much in the first place. Being around that many people who are fulfilling a lifelong dream to visit the happiest place on earth--well, to an emotional sponge person, that’s a great day! This may also explain why I’ve been having a fairly hard time teaching middle school lately (holy drama!), but that’s neither here nor there. For the purpose of this trip report, just know that the line for PoC was almost beyond my level of tolerance.
It was only 5:00ish when I decided that MK was out of the question. However, like any good woman on a mission, I finished my own personal mission (a section of my book I was very excited about) before I left, which required me to walk around ALL of the lands, snapping photos like this one...
...whist others looked at me with concern, shock, and amusement. By this point, I wasn’t batting an eyelash.
(Side note--if you are wondering why I did this, check out the post I just wrote on my educational travel blog-- Teaching Theme in a Theme Park | The Suitcase Scholar ; however, please note that I just started this blog, so there's not much content. The post does contain that photo, though--and two more like it!)
The problem, as was the trend for this trip, was that I hadn’t had dinner yet. While my lunch was awesome, and wasn’t even that far away in time at this point--maybe 5 hours--I knew I didn’t want to spend my last evening in WDW sitting in my room eating chicken fingers again. But I also knew that I wasn’t going to make my 9:50pm reservations at Citricos (and I’d cancelled them from my newly charged phone a few minutes prior) Thus, I needed to go somewhere with food.
So...I pointed myself in the direction of the monorail. Could it be--THREE parks in one day?
Ugh. I can't handle it in crowds like that. Tight spaces don't make me claustrophobic but crowds do. Solo isn't too awful though since you don't have to worry about where the rest of your party is. Disney World crowds are less stressful to me, but I still try to avoid MK on weekends. Even if it's not supposed to be a high crowd day you've got to think it's when the locals come as well. If your third park was Epcot I'm sure you found some good food.
Holy crowds batman! That's the best part of flying solo - you can change plans on a whim with nobody to complain about it.
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Holy crowds batman! That's the best part of flying solo - you can change plans on a whim with nobody to complain about it.
ah yes! i need to add that to my list of 'reasons why traveling solo is awesome'!
though to be fair, my husband is so wonderful (as is my mother) that he/she would be fine with leaving a park ONLY because i want to (can you say 'only child syndrome'? how many of you have already figured out that i'm an only?)
don't worry--i'm totally aware of that! and if i ever have a child, he/she will be an 'only' too, so i'll get a taste of my own medicine!
Oh, I feel the exact same way about crowds! I am admittedly claustrophobic, and when the crowds start pressing in around me, I'm out!
I also empathize in regards to middle school students! I taught MS choir (and home ec!) for just shy of a year. It was so tough! I think there are a select few who are cut out for it and I obviously was not one of them!
Originally Posted by mom to 3 princesses and 1 prince
Oh, I feel the exact same way about crowds! I am admittedly claustrophobic, and when the crowds start pressing in around me, I'm out!
I also empathize in regards to middle school students! I taught MS choir (and home ec!) for just shy of a year. It was so tough! I think there are a select few who are cut out for it and I obviously was not one of them!
i LOVE teaching middle school--i just have been doing it for too long without a break. and i'd LOVE to teach home ec--i actually looked into taking the tests required to teach it several years back.
i LOVE teaching middle school--i just have been doing it for too long without a break. and i'd LOVE to teach home ec--i actually looked into taking the tests required to teach it several years back.
I had to teach home ec, even though I was trained as a music teacher! It definitely had its challenges; one of my students was afraid of fire and refused to do any cooking at all!
I jokingly say that after I taught middle school, I quit teaching and I'll never go back! There's more to the story than that, of course...I had a young son with special needs, and he needed me to be home with him. But I'm still not going back. My hat's off to you!
how did you like coral reef? i just canceled our reservation and made one at via napoli instead, based only on the garlic smell eminating from coral reef on my last trip. i'm kind of bummed about canceling it, as i thought my mom would have liked the setting.
i checked out the zagg sparg thing--interesting name! it's a little pricey, but i guess it would be worth it to not have a dead phone by 1:00 in the afternoon! i really liked those solar bags, though...too bad they are beyond pricey! but they are so cute...here, i'll link them...
I loved Coral Reef. I've been three times over the last ten years and I've never had a bad meal or experience. I know it doesn't get great reviews lately but I'd still go back in a heartbeat!
The sparq was definitely worth the price. I really didn't think I'd need one and actually bought it for my other half for his bday. Well, when we got to Disney, I thru it in the bag and was glad I did. We charged both phones at the same time. I don't know why our batteries were drained so fast. Everywhere else there fine!
Cool solar bags (I LOVE bags). Now if they had a small bag with an insulated compartment for my food & snacks, I'd snatch it up! I'll keep looking!!
Read your lesson on theming... It may go over my 9-year-old's head, but I'm definitely going to call her attention to the little details and how well Disney does theme. Maybe she'll catch on!
I totally get it about crowds...we had to abandon our plan to spend an evening shopping at DTD last year, because the crowds were overwhelming me. I looked at David and took his arm and said "Get me out of here, please." I guess he saw the panic in my face, because he put his arm around me and did his best to keep people out of my space until we could get to the buses. It was insane!
Read your lesson on theming... It may go over my 9-year-old's head, but I'm definitely going to call her attention to the little details and how well Disney does theme. Maybe she'll catch on!
thanks for reading! and yes, that was intended for a slightly older child. i'll have more elementary ideas, too--i'm just a little behind right now (read--a little overwhelmed right now!) and the book i'm working on (the reason i'm overwhelmed) will be organized by age/grade level. but that's not going to fully exist for a WHILE!
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