Oh the Places We Go, The People We See Updated 11/03/2013 - Page 69 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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The Cars section looks cool! Although I must admit that out of all the sections, the rooms at Cars are my least favorite. Even my boys didn't like them and they love the movies.
That was a fun walk through the Cars section. Your are right it was just like a M&G but with all of the characters and without the crowds. Claire really liked the VW bus. Cute.
That water art is so clever! We loved the Cars section of Art of Animation when we visited - it was by far our favourite.
I was amazed how much water art we saw this trip. It used to be a rare sighting for us, but it was all over this time around.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
The Cars section looks cool! Although I must admit that out of all the sections, the rooms at Cars are my least favorite. Even my boys didn't like them and they love the movies.
I agree. I am not a fan of the way the rooms inside look either.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rhinohunter
That was a fun walk through the Cars section. Your are right it was just like a M&G but with all of the characters and without the crowds. Claire really liked the VW bus. Cute.
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We spent about an hour in the room. We freshened up for dinner; Claire changed her clothes and went off to play a bit with her legos while I packed up most of our stuff. Sadly this trip was coming to an end and I wanted to have as much as I could packed and ready to go in the morning.
After that was done, we headed out to our dinner destination.
We were a bit early, so I made a stop in the arcade to take a look.
Claire obviously looks thrilled about that decision. LOL
And then we headed to the bus stop.
Our dinner tonight was the Spirit of Aloha. We have never done this show and I have heard mixed reviews on it. We decided since we were doing deluxe dining for this last segment of our trip, that we would give it a try. We bused to MK and then took the monorail over to the Poly.
I think we were still early, so we shopped a little bit and there were a few things I wanted, but in the end I couldn’t justify the price and we left empty handed.
We then made our way to check in.
A quick stop for a goofy picture.
While waiting in line, I realized that we never got a message about picking up tickets for the event. We always have gotten a call message in our room in the past for Hoop Dee Doo tickets and I never even gave it a 2nd thought about this one till we got in line.
No worries. They had our tickets at the booth and we were checked off without any issues. We then had to wait a bit before we were let in. We received leas and walked a bit around the area, which was fairly crowded.
We did sit down in a small area after a bit to wait.
After a bit of waiting they finally were letting people in to be seated.
We were seated far off to one side and towards the back of the table. At first it looked like it was a decent seat, but as the night went on I realized this was an AWFUL spot.
Our first course was delivered right away.
Pineapple-Coconut Bread Asian Apple Pear Slaw Hawaiian Potato Salad
The bread was the same bread as ‘Ohana served, and we are not a fan of that. Of course we gave it a try again, but once again we just didn’t care for it. The only thing that I even slightly liked was the slaw. The rest was just not my thing. Claire did not eat any of it. I don’t remember what Claire had to drink, but beer was included and I did have that and enjoyed a couple of glasses throughout the night.
This was the view of the stage. It doesn’t look too bad, does it?
The area we sat had a roof over it and was slightly enclosed. Most of the stage area was open air. These were venting panels to let in air.
The band got started and warmed us up a bit. Still the view looks good.
And then the performers came out and got started. I soon realized that my view was a side view and most of the action happened center stage, which was blocked by a pole for us.
On top of the pole blocking my view most of the night, there were some heads in my way. One couple in particular were constantly moving and in our way the whole night. I really got annoyed by the end of the evening.
The main course then was brought out.
Island Pork Loin Roasted Chicken Polynesian Rice Fall Harvest Vegetable Medley
We gave it a try, but honestly we didn’t like anything. It was very similar to ‘Ohana’s food and it had sauces that we did not care for. We did not eat much at all. I think the chicken was the only thing we both ate without complaint. If I remember right, they did bring Claire out a hotdog. I shoud’ve asked for one as well.
More of the show.
I think they called up people who were celebrating something.
I will say this show really didn’t make much sense to me in the way of a storyline. It had some great parts, but it had some VERY slow parts as well. It had been a long 2 weeks and I was tired, so I was fighting sleep sitting there. Also the pole was in my way and I tried to take pictures, but many were just awful. And the couple whose heads kept getting in my way just annoyed me even more. Every time I had even a chance of getting a good shot, they moved and got in the way. I will admit, I spent a good amount of time on my phone checking emails and reading facebook. It was REALLY fighting sleep and it was the only way to keep me from dozing off. Claire seemed to enjoy the show more than I, but even she wasn’t super impressed.
Then dessert came. It looks good, doesn’t it? Milk Chocolate Macadamia Nut Mousse.
Well there was one problem with it for me….the darn nuts in it. I can’t stand nuts in things. I like them plain or not at all (well except in chocolate and caramel). I ate part of the mousse, but I couldn’t get past the texture of the nuts in it. So I didn’t enjoy that either. Claire was given an option of the mousse or cake pops and she choose the cake pops.
I think I took a bite and wasn’t all that impressed with those either. But I am not a big fan of cake pops because they are so dry normally.
The show did get a little more exciting towards the end and I perked up for parts of it.
One of the guests was called up to the stage to dance. I honestly don’t remember how she was chosen, except perhaps it was a birthday or something along those lines.
The fire guy was pretty interesting to watch.
This picture would’ve been great….if the heads weren’t blocking half of the guy out.
The show started to wind down then.
Soooo…. My thoughts on Spirit of Aloha. It was by far the worst meal I have ever eaten at Disney World. It was just not our taste at all. I also feel that if I had gone to this show earlier in the trip, I probably would’ve have enjoyed it more. But at this point I was running on very little sleep and it was slow in spots and I had to fight to stay awake. I think if I was more rested and excited about the trip beginning, I would have a better appreciation of the show. The actors were great, don’t get me wrong, but at times their just was not enough action to keep my attention. Where you sit can make or break the experience as well. We had awful seats. The pole was always in the way and if I could see something, others in front moved their heads and that blocked my view as well. I enjoy taking pictures and when I can’t do it, it kind of puts a damper on my mood. There were times I just set the camera down and that is not like me at all. I am not sure if we will ever give it another try. For one, I would have to ask about a different menu as this was just not for us at all. Secondly, taking the chance of seating ……. if I got horrid seats again, I don’t know if I could sit through it again. It does seem a bit on the long side as well. If Claire wants to go again, I may think about it, but only if Skip is with us as well. I think we have enough “other” places and things to try that it this will be down low on the list of going back to.
After the show ended, Claire had to use the restroom, which of course they only have one small one. We actually waited a while to let the place empty out a bit and then went and got in line for the bathroom, which was still fairly long.
After that we slowly made our way back to the Poly. It was pretty empty at this point in the show area and we saw some of the cast members walking around and talking. Once we got back into the Poly we headed to the monorail. During the show I had been talking with another Dis friend on facebook who had just arrived and we wanted to meet up before I left. She was at the Magic Kingdom, so we decided to head over there and meet her while we had the chance.
I've never been to the Luau and your review hasn't changed my mind at all! I'd heard that the food is similar to 'Ohana and I'm not a big fan of that, either. There are so many other things to do in the evening that I don't think I'll be spending the time and money there any time soon!
We ate there a very long time ago (2005 or 2006). I do not remember anything we had looking like your pictures. It looks like the total menu has changed. Sorry about your evening--mediocre seats and then bad food. Did you say anything to anyone about your experience? Your pix and the update was very good, as usual.
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We loved the Cars section of Art of Animation when we visited - it was by far our favourite. 
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