Going north, south, east and west - UPDATED 12/18 - Page 9 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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Can't wait to hear all about the YS....if you can enjoy it that means my vegaterian princess will enjoy it too....(while I sample the "steak" - she will just have to refrain her comments for one night )
Saturday 18 October – part five: a veggie tries the Yachtsman Steakhouse
All fully refreshed, we headed out for our evening meal at the Yachtsman Steakhouse. I have heard nothing but good things about this place and, while I was anxious to try it out, there was a reason that I had put off coming here for many years and it had a lot to do with the horrible meat hanging in the doorway. I did my best not to look at it as I didn’t want that to put me off dinner. I do accept they are a steakhouse, but to my mind, there’s no need to ram that down people’s throats, especially those of us who don’t eat meat.
Once past that though, everything was fine. We had a great and very knowledgeable server in the shape of Susan, who really knew the menu back and front and was a great help in making our minds up about what to have. The appetisers weren’t a problem, as my friend Wendy had recommended the seared Maine diver scallops with Diamond White Cheddar Risotto and Aged Sherry Vinaigrette and I knew I had to try them. We went for those, so that we could share them, along with the chilled seafood salad – that came with lobster, shrimps and jumbo crab with lemon crème fraiche and avocado cream. The salad turned out to be a superb palette cleanser after the scallops.
I didn’t have much choice for main course. It was either the pan-seared wild salmon or the vegetarian risotto and once I found out that the salmon could be made without bacon, then I went for that. It still came with Brentwood corn, fingerling potatoes, corn nectar and crushed avocado. Mark’s choice was also fairly straightforward, once Susan told us that the Australian Wagyu, a 10oz strip loin served with truffle mashed potatoes and Cabernet reduction, which was $54, was included on the Deluxe Dining Plan. As I told Mark, he’d be mad not to have it. I swapped out my potatoes for creamed spinach and we also ordered a side dish of the rainbow carrots.
We also had a bottle of White Zinfandel to share. Both dishes were excellent, although from my point of view, they couldn’t compare with the appetisers, as those were the real stars of the night for me.
Then it was time for dessert. Mark talked me into getting the Artisanal Cheese Platter with Roque River Vlue, Zamorano, Boucherondin and Saint Andre, for dessert and I’m very glad he did, although I think I’m too much of a cheese traditionalist and didn’t like the fact that they came with fruit, as I felt that detracted from the flavours of the cheeses themselves. Mark had the antique apple tart with caramel gelato and he described it as the best he’d ever had, so I guess that was good.
All in all, we had a superb meal here and it’s definitely one of the finer places to dine on Disney property. The staff are very knowledgeable and the food is first class and, to be hones, I didn’t find it that noisy in there, even though there were a fair few kids in there.
During the meal by the way, I checked my itinerary and Mark just had to get some photos of my little spreadsheet:
Yachtsman Steakhouse:
Appetiser 10 10
Entrée 9 9½
Dessert 9 10
Service 10 10
Atmosphere 9½ 9½
Value for money 9 9
Average score: 9.54
Sadly, as we shared a bottle of wine, Mark was definitely feeling the effects…
… and I must admit that it had gone to my head a bit as well. He just wanted to go back to the room and sleep, which meant missing IllumiNations. It was a shame and he did say that I could on my own, but somehow that wouldn’t have been the same, so we walked slowly back, getting some photos on the way and that was the end of our first day at Walt Disney World.
Mark’s photos:
Every day, as we were on the Deluxe Dining Plan for this trip, I’ll also detail how much our food for the day cost us and what savings we made through being on the plan:
Deluxe Dining Plan:
Hollywood and Vine $48.97
Snacks $12.50
Yachtsman Steakhouse $151.23
Total: $212.70
Amount saved on Deluxe Dining Plan: $72.72
Today we walked 4.55 miles The weather today was hot, sunny and in the 80’s. The best thing today was dinner at the Yachtsman Steakhouse. The worst thing today was missing IllumiNations. The funniest thing today was breakfast at Hollywood and Vine. Today we tried Toy Story Mania And the result was it’s a great addition and I hope that we get to ride it again. The most magical moment today was seeing my donkey.
OMG, the Yachtsman Steakhouse looks right up my alley (Sorry Cheryl, you know I love my meat )!!! We're still trying to decide which upscale dining venues to try next time we're at WDW. Glad to hear you had such a great day!
Very, very nice Cheryl!! I said in June that Ben's tomato salad he got and those scallops I got would probably be the perfect meal!!
Those carrots look very, very yummy.
The spreadsheet scares me.
Love the nighttime photos!!
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Sounds like a great meal. Everything looked delicious (though I have to admit the scallops looked best to me). Glad you were able to enjoy the YS, but sorry you missed Illuminations.
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
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)!!! We're still trying to decide which upscale dining venues to try next time we're at WDW. Glad to hear you had such a great day! 
Great pictures too!! 
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