World of Color .... Dining Package...Worth it?? - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
Can anyone please tell me if the dining package for World of Color is worth it or is a fast pass enough?? I figure we have to have dinner anyway and if we do it with the dining package, we get the preferred viewing area. This is our first time to Disneyland so I need a bit of help. Thanks!!!!
While I can't comment on the sit-down service, my friend and I did the lunch picnic and rather enjoyed it. I liked the idea of not having to worry about getting a fastpass, and like you said- you gotta eat anyway, right?! I'd definitely recommend that again.
FWIW, no matter what you do, I think you still need to show up early to get good seats in your color section. We didn't (and neither did the writer in the article) and ended up towards the back. Still not a bad show, and I had no problem seeing it all from the back. But that may bother some other people. Personally, I thought it was OK to be in the back because that made for a much quicker exit at the end of the show!
__________________
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
PassPorter Guide Author PassPorter Guide Community Rank: Navigator
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Ohio & Florida
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 6,129
Post Thanks / Like
Likes (Given): 73
Likes (Received): 284
Thanks (Given): 7
Thanks (Received): 146
Pixie Dust (Given): 25
Pixie Dust (Received): 18
I did the dining package at Ariel's Grotto in late September last year, and it was awesome. I'd never done a dining package before, but I figured one table service meal on my own was justifiable (my husband was there for a conference, so I toured the parks alone for 2 1/2 days, lucky me).
I didn't like the menu options at the other restaurant...not really a big Italian food fan...but the tri-tip I had at Ariel's was wonderful. I sat outside, with a gorgeous view of Paradise Pier (roller coaster & carousel) at sunset.
The dessert was a plate with a lot of mini-desserts. Fortunately, I found the desserts more lovely than tasty, since I was alone and didn't need 2,000 calories in one meal!
Here's a picture of the dessert:
That "film strip" is white chocolate with the pictures imprinted on it. Yum!
Unfortunately, I didn't know where the best view would be when it came to getting a place in the viewing area, so I had to crane my head around the people ahead of me to get the best view. What I learned is that, if you have an unobstructed view of Mickey's head on the ferris wheel, you're in exactly the right place. Hope this helps...have fun!
Ginger
PS: I hope the pix aren't too big...I sized them using the guidelines but they still look kinda big to me.
Thanks very much for your responses and the pictures Ginger. I think we are going to do the dining package. I got a little bit ansy because I read some bad reviews of Ariel's Grotto but I think we are going to go for it. Why not!!!!!!!!!
Again thanks for all of the great info. It really is invaluable!!!!!!!!!!
We did the picnic dinner, and frankly I wasn't impressed. It also didn't leave us with that good of seats for the show either (but this was just a few weeks after it started.......hopefully the madness has died down a bit since then)! I would do the dinner package the next time we go!
Well I am sooooo excited again. I just purchased our Disney entrance tickets online and made our reservations for World of Color dining package. We will be having dinner at Ariel's Grotto for 7:30 pm and seeing the World of Color show at 10:15 pm on April 10. I can hardly contain myself I am so excited.....lol. And this is the first Disney trip without the kids. They will be staying home this time. I have to dance.....
I think you'll be happy with your choice! We ate at Ariel's Grotto for the World of Color package last August and didn't have any complaints. We both enjoyed our meals, and as we left the restaurant we walked over to the viewing area, got a great spot to watch and only waited about 20 minutes for the show to start. On our next trip, in May, we are going to try the dinner at Wine Country Trattoria.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
We did the dining package at Wine Country Trattoria and honestly - we were unimpressed.
The food was not worth the money - the kids refused to eat their food. Dessert was okay - but we watched as those who had either fastpass or the picnic (not sure which) lined up while we ate. All the diners at Wine Country stayed in the area and we were escorted to our viewing area - which was actually very good. Unfortunately I am short (5'1") and there were tall people in front of our family so we did not see it as well as we could have. If we had stayed on the stairs and not gone down all the way we would have had a better view.
The show was AWESOME!
You will enjoy it very much - Have fun at Ariel's Grotto!
I can't wait to read your review! Congrats on booking the package--I'm thinnking about booking one for December, but I haven't decided which restaurant I want to eat at!
I am short as well, same as you, 5'1", so I was afraid I might not be able to see. What I really don't understand is that our dinner is at 7:30 pm and we only have 60 mins to eat. The CM told me that right on the phone when I booked. But the show isn't until 10:15 so I guess I get some sort of ticket and we go back. Im sure they will explain how it works. I am just finishing off some packing today. So excited and I will definitely give a trip report when I get back. Thanks to everyone for their tips and comments. As usual, it has been invaluable tips and opinions.!!!!!
I thought the same as you - we have to eat anyway - so we did the sit down at Ariel's Grotto.
TOTALLY WORTH EVERY PENNY!!!!
Although the dining time was a little bit earlier than we would have liked, the meal was delicious! And we have eaten at Ariel's Grotto on many, many occasions, so I kind of knew what to expect, price-wise. The package was fairly comparable to the price of eating there on your own. Our viewing spot was AMAZING. My sister and nieces had gone to see it about a week before us, and didn't do a package, they only got FPs. She said their viewing spot was horrible and they could barely see. People were in front of them and the only thing they could see was if they looked directly up.
I will definitely book this package every single time to see WOC!!
__________________
Saturday, October 9, 2014 - Kaitlyn and I before the Happy Haunted 5K at ESPN Wide World of Sports
We did the sit down at Ariel's Grotto our last trip (Get the Tri-Tip) and this time we're trying Wine Country Trattoria and now you have me nervous! We have some food snobs traveling with us and i'm nervous it's going to be a bust! Should we switch?! AAAH, i wanted to branch out and try something new, should we go for it or jump ship and swim back to the grotto?
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
About This Page: 
Angie
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Hybrid Mode
