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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Our upcoming trip (in about 1 month) to Disneyland may be our last for a long time. We are heading overseas and don't know when we may be on the West Coast again. It could be in 2 years, but it could be much, much longer.
So, we want 1 good character meals for the girls, who are 4 and 2.5. Yes, we like Princesses, but we also like the Fab 5. We won't mind whether it is a TS in the parks or at one of the Disney hotels.
We've had the best experiences (and seen the most characters) at the Minnie and Friends Breakfast in Disneyland. Other than Minnie, you never know who will show up. We had the best time one visit with the Fairy Godmother and Captain Hook. The food is good too (buffeteria style), although not exceptional.
If visiting with Princesses is a must, then Ariel's Grotto is the way to go. We've only done the lunch there, and it was good with a variety of choices. It's served in three courses, appetizers to share, main course of each person's choice, and desserts to share. The ceremony and character interaction were fun. We saw Cinderella, Prince Charming, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Ariel, Belle, and Pocahontas on our last trip. We've also seen Mulan on a previous visit.
Ariel's Grotto - was great for seeing the princesses and we enjoyed the meal. We went for lunch and it did seem the princesses were a little rushed as it was very busy. We saw Ariel, Snow White, Aurora, Belle and Cinderella
Goofy's Kitchen - we went for breakfast and it was not very crowded (in February) and we had fantastic character interaction the whole time. We hardly had time to go get food because we would miss someone (I missed Dale, my favorite chipmunk). We saw Goofy, Rafiki, Baloo, Snow White, Alice in Wonderland, Pluto, Chip and Dale (well except me).
I think you would have a really great time at either!
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We have had the best character interaction at the Minnie and Friends breakfast at the Plaza Inn. ELEVEN characters at breakfast one day! The food was standard "Disney buffet breakfast" fare and was good but nothing to really write home about. But the character interaction there was absolutely outstanding!
Food-wise, we love the Chip n' Dale Critter Breakfast at Storyteller's Cafe. Each time, the food has been great. I like that you can go make your selections from the buffet and they will bring a plate of fresh Mickey waffles to your table for you . . . and if you need more, just tell them because they will load you up with more!
I think I'm liking the idea of Minnie and Friends Breakfast at Plaza Inn. So, my next question is, are there early ressies that would permit you early entrance into the park before the rest of the crowds? Such as, we had an 8:30am ressie at Akershus in Epcot and that was really neat, to get to see the park without all the crowds for a few minutes. Great photo op!
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I love Goofy's Kitchen for dinner... I thought Ariel's was over priced and the characters rushed around even though the room was not full when we were there. Disappointing all the way around. Theming for Ariel in the parks (grotto meeting spots or the restaraunt) are really cheesy for Disney... Granted I don't like The Little Mermaid, but I still expect more than what I've seen.
I'm hoping to get to go to Storytellers for breakfast this next trip, we haven't nailed down anything about food except for Goofy's.
We really enjoy Ariel's Grotto. If you can sit outside, even better! As you face the water, the tables to the far left must be near the exit route for the characters. We didn't have to go see Ariel inside, etc. Everyone passed by us. And it wasn't just princesses.
Plaza Inn for the character breakfast buffet is packed full of characters! Our breakfast reservation at the Plaza Inn was well before the park was open to the general public. Though we didn't take advantage of it, it would be a great time for photos without strangers in them. I also like the CMs of the Plaza Inn. Granted, we had reservation (or whatever Disney calls them nowadays) and they were expecting us, I felt that we were treated as if the restaurant was just for us.
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~Joby/Lil~Me stealing Capt. Jack Sparrow's treasure!
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
We've had the best experiences (and seen the most characters) at the Minnie and Friends Breakfast in Disneyland. Other than Minnie, you never know who will show up. We had the best time one visit with the Fairy Godmother and Captain Hook. The food is good too (buffeteria style), although not exceptional.
If visiting with Princesses is a must, then Ariel's Grotto is the way to go. We've only done the lunch there, and it was good with a variety of choices. It's served in three courses, appetizers to share, main course of each person's choice, and desserts to share. The ceremony and character interaction were fun. We saw Cinderella, Prince Charming, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Ariel, Belle, and Pocahontas on our last trip. We've also seen Mulan on a previous visit.
Have fun!
I second this about Minnie and Friends for breakfast. I have to say that we thought Ariel's Grotto was over-priced on our most recent visit.
We were just at DL last month. We were absolutely NOT impressed with Minnie and Friends. I had debated over this because it had not gotten good reviews, however, this was our first ever Disney character meal, so we returned just for this reason. Just before leaving, Cheryl had written a great article on her experience at Minnies and I was so looking forward to it. We were seated around the the back side (coming out of the doors, to the right, all the way in the back, the restrooms outside of the fence were closre to us the the food) and we had about 4 characters come to our table. The kids actually ran around inside as the breakfast was closing to find all of the characters that did not even pay our section the least amount of attention. We had little to NO service from the CMs in regards to clearing our dirty dishes. Our group and another one near us began stacking our dishes on top of the garbage can.
The two days prior to this, we ate at Goofy's and at Storytellers. Both were great meals. We did have the best character interaction at Goofy's. Besides the above mentioned characters, we saw Mulan and Aladdin.
I think after being spoiled at these great places where the CMs wait on you hand and foot, as soon as a glass is empty, they are filling it again, bringing Mickey waffles right to your table, clearing plates immediately, the Plaza Inn just was not going to meet up to our expectations. The juice glasses are small and you have to go to the lines to self serve. We sat outside and a month ago, it was still chilly in the morning. By the time I sat for a few minutes, my coffee was cold already and it would have been great to have someone coming by to top it right off!
After being at the other buffets, I also think the tables at Plaza Inn are way to crowded and not very big.
I know that I am in the minority, but just wanted to let you know what seemed to be consistent opinions with our group of 8. Had we had not have been to the other buffets, we may have though differently of the Plaza Inn. Whatever you decide, it will be magical because you will be at the Happiest Place on Earth!
I'm sorry to the poster who didn't have a good time at Minnie's, but it was going to be my suggestion as well--we saw nearly 20 characters over the course of an hour when I was there in December!
I'm sorry to hear you had a bad experience at Minnie & Friends and I hope it was just a fluke thing!
Because my girls are still at that age where they like to run off, whenever we are at a buffet, I often ask the hostess/CM to seat us as close to the buffet as possible so we can grab our food and be back at the table quickly. So far this has worked very well and CMs have always accommodated this request, even if it means we wait just a tad longer. Anyway, I did my homework and I was able to get a reservation for Minnie & Friends before park opening for the first full day of our visit (no Early Morning entry that morning!) I'm so excited, I actually like the idea of it being, along with Minnie, a mix of characters. It will be a surprise!
Thank you all for your feedback and I'll share my experience when we get back!
I think one thing to remember about Minnie's is that it's not a typical buffet with wait staff. It's more upscale cafeteria with bus service if that makes sense.
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