Dreaming of a Disney spring break! THIS SECTION COMPLETED - Page 81 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I guess the slow service was okay given the fact that they were earning their ears, I mean, they do have to learn somehow, it's just a shame that they messed up the chicken. Looks like it was a great meal though.
TE looks yummy. We've never gone, as there is a Japanese Steakhouse by us that used to always be DS's birthday dinner request. May need to give it a try sometime, though, as it looks like they have many more options other than just chicken, beef or shrimp.
Makes me want to go back to Teppan Edo!
Did they cook your fish on a different portion of the grill than the other meat?? Or by chance before the others? From the series of photos it looks like it happened right after the meat, which I know you wouldn't have let happen.
You know what? I just live with it. I wasn't keen the first time I went to Teppan Edo, but we've been so many times now that I'm used to it. I'm not wild about it, but I'm OK with it, if that makes sense...
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Looks like a great meal at Teppan Edo.
We have not tried it yet, because we have a place at home that we love with almost the same menu. But maybe we will need to give it a try.
Even with the "learning as they were going" servers it sounded like everyone enjoyed this meal. Definitely a great way to take an afternoon break from the heat that you have been having.
Just catching up on the last couple days.
I love the pics of Test Track! And how that you got to see the Queen of Hearts.
Teppan Edo looked wonderful! We have not eaten there for quite a few years. Maybe one of these times, we'll go back.
Great updates! First off, I loved the picture of Mark with the Queen of Hearts! Glad that Ciaran enjoyed so many of the rides that he was a little nervous about. Teppan Edo is one of our favorites restaurants! We love the opportunity to speak with others at the table about their Disney vacations and the food is always delicious! It's also so much fun watching them cook on the hibachi. I'm really enjoying your TR as always Cheryl!
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I can only imagine what Mark had to say to the QoF, but I think she is one of the best characters to bedevil
Maybe it's just me but, of all the countries in the WS I find that the CMs in Japan are the nicest and most outgoing. Not to say that the other countries aren't nice, but I always seem to have more interactions with CMs in general while in Japan. This is probably why it's my favorite pavilion area.
Sunday 10 April – part four: it’s so good, I’m going to steal it...
When we came out, we explored the lovely gardens around Japan, which are so tranquil and I made a beeline for one of my favourite booths at World Showcase to get myself a rainbow coloured Kaki Gori.
We walked slowly back towards the Beach Club, through World Showcase, with me enjoying the cooling effect of my Kaki Gori and Mark on photographing duties. I made sure to give him the camera, as I didn’t want the Kaki Gori to meet them. That could end badly...
On the way back to the room, I was texting Wendy, telling her that we were done in Epcot and that we’d be heading off shopping shortly. She asked if we minded if she tagged along. Of course not! : As my parents were due to be calling me at 3pm, we agreed to meet a little bit after that and head out.
My parents couldn’t get through at first, so I was still on the phone when Wendy arrived, but we headed out shortly afterwards, stopping at front desk to get directions to the nearest Best Buy. It was actually fairly easy to find, well apart from the bit where we drove through a housing estate, but in fairness the guy had said it was the next exit after the toll booth and that’s where that exit led!
Finally, we made it and there’s a huge shopping complex out here. It’s just by the John Young Parkway, if anyone wants to go out there again in the future. We headed inside, amazed as always by the sheer size of Best Buy. We found the GPS section and found a couple that were already sold out. As Wendy said “Best Buy while they’re still in stock...”
We found the one we wanted, which was a Tom Tom for $129 and got a guy, who’d been helping Wendy (she was looking at a new fridge ) and he got us the box. Off we went to the cash register and it came up as $179. I don’t think so. : The cashier went back with Wendy and it turns out that the guy had given us the wrong box. That was all sorted out and off we headed.
There was no hope in hell of us using this thing on the way back, it was so well packaged, so we just followed the map that we’d been given at the Beach Club and worked from memory to find our way to the Buena Vista outlets.
We dropped a fair bit of money in the Reebok store – three new pairs of tennis shoes for Mark, one for me, lots of new ankle socks and a top for Mark. I left before they paid, so I dread to think how much that came to.
I headed for VF, as they do Lee jeans in there that fit me perfectly and I wanted a pair of black jeans, as they had none last time. I quickly found a pair, tried them on and they fitted like a dream, so I got those as well. From there, it was back to the room with our purchases.
We had a bit of downtime, before we headed over to the Polynesian.
We went into the Tiki Boutique and who did we find in there but Heather and Brandon! I was amazed by the selection of items in here all branded up with the Polynesian. Now why can’t we have this at the Beach Club?
I had a few bits of research I needed to do, so Heather, Brandon and Mark headed off to the lounge to get a drink and Wendy and I went wandering around the resort, with me getting photos and the information I needed.
We met the others back in the lounge, who already had drinks and I ordered an Island Sunset. I wasn’t sure about whether to get that or a Lapu Lapu, but Heather warned me it would probably be the last one I’d had tonight, so I decided to play safe. It’s good that they have a couple of specialist drinks here, that just the Tambu Lounge does. I’ve hated the way that the drinks at the lounges have gone generic over the last few years. Thank you very much to Heather, by the way, for paying for those drinks – very much appreciated.
We were called quite quickly into ‘Ohana and ended up with a table right by the window, and unlike Chef Mickey’s, we weren’t cramped at all. In fact, for the five of us, it was a table of six, which was a result.
The food took a while to start coming out, but when it did, there was no stopping it! At first, there wasn’t much salad, but we couldn’t say that about the amount of noodles and vegetables we got, and the same went for the meat, the vegetarian option, which was piled high for me....
.. and as for the shrimp! I told the guy after three that that was enough, but still they kept coming. Obviously he wanted me to have plenty of shrimp!
I tried a bit of the bread and butter pudding, but like Wendy, I just didn’t like the consistency of it and couldn’t eat more than a mouthful. Mark seemed to enjoy it though.
I was more interested in bread of another kind – the pineapple bread, which is so We ordered more and most of that second loaf somehow found its way into Brandon’s bag. I can’t think how that happened! We did a dodgy exchange outside, with me not realising that a Cast Member was watching what we were up to!
This is such a good meal and I can see why it’s so popular. It remains another one of our favourites and I’m very glad that we got to have two such great meals in one day.
I will say that, fun as they are, the coconut races are a bit of a pain, especially when you’re trying to have conversations with people on your table, as they are so loud. Still, the kids enjoy them, which is the main thing and I was just glad to be seated far enough away from them that we didn’t get hit by anything.
’Ohana:
Food 9½ 9
Service 7 6
Atmosphere 8 9
Value for money 9 9
Average score:
Eventually, after gorging ourselves to the point where I think we all felt sick, it was time for us to head back to the Beach Club and off to bed.
The weather today was hot and sunny with temperatures in the 90s. The best thing today was our amazing lunch and dinner. The worst thing today was getting so little sleep.
[b]The funniest thing today was meeting the Queen of Hearts. Today we tried exploring the Polynesian Resort And the result was it is beautiful, but still my favourite. The most magical moment today was finding the Queen of Hearts for Mark.