Who Said Work isn't Fun - a mini TR to the World Completed 3/24 - Page 4 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
I am destined to finish this TR - I just feel like I never get a chance to update and even worse catch up on everyone else's TR - but I will...slowly but surely.
I will also tell you I hardly took pictures on this day, I guess I only had one thing on my mind. Eating at the F&WF.
October 28th
So today we were up early as we had a breakfast at the conference before the Key Note Speech. Now we took advantage of a little extra sleep but there was still a nice variety of food when we got there. It was early so I grabbed a bagel and we relaxed for a bit before we headed in.
They had a lot of great Key Note Speakers that really got everyone motivated and soon we were breaking out for our individual sessions. Now I went to a number of them but I had my favorites. We went to a session regarding blogging, about how so much of what we do is sharing our story, about why we do what we do, why we enjoy it...and the speaker was Chef Katrina who happened to be a Chef at Disney for a good 12 years, she worked at a number of resorts but she was just great. I think if I did not sit through another session I would have felt like I took something away from the conference.
We took a break for lunch, I had to run back to the room because I had a submittal that needed to be done for the "day job" - again why does that keep getting in the way of my trip....LOL, finished up there, grabbed I think a pretzel for lunch and we headed back for or afternoon sessions.
Now as part of the conference everyone got a ticket to Disney for today , so where were we headed, well for a second chance at the F&WF, no headache, no crowds....so worth it and I was not even disappointed that we gave up our California Grill reservation for this.
Now we added FPs quickly that day once they gave us our tickets, so we got to enjoy a retry for Soarin since our first shot at this ride on our first day was a wash. What else did we ride...Spaceship Earth I think, but we were not concerned about riding anything as all we wanted was to eat I mean we did starve ourselves today with the only nourishment being a pretzel and a bagel....but first food.
So we headed back towards the World Showcase and what did we find....an empty World Showcase, I was in my glory. I just wish I had more hours because I had such a long list of things I wanted to try, and I could just not eat it all in a few hours.
We started in Argentina where I could not decide what I wanted so I had two things, the empanada and the Grilled Beef Skewer.
I really enjoyed both of these...now I am an empanada snob so I will say I like my sister-in-laws better but these were pretty good. The Grilled Steak was so tender...I could have had another one of these but I had to save myself.
We just wandered around...I could have stopped at so many booths but I tried to go down my favorite list first.
Next stop....Italy where I needed to try the sausage and peppers. These were good....we were eating and walking, kind of reminded me of eating sausage and peppers at the San Gennero Feast.
Now I will say I was already full and I was disappointed that I would not get to try more...but just a reason to get back here again.
Now we headed back to the Future World as our Soarin Fast Pass window had opened. Now I am not sure what we did the rest of the evening, I know I stopped for a picture or two.
We did wander back to the World Showcase, I did try the filet in Canada but I don't know where the picture is...now I was sure I could eat nothing else but there was one more thing I really wanted to try.
The Pork Sliders from Hawaii and this one out as my favorite food of the festival...I know, did not try much but this ended up being what I wish I had a bundle of to bring home. I will tell you that later as we watched Illuminations I snuck in another one so I guess either I was more hungry than I thought or I could not bear to leave without having one more bit
We watched Illuminations and then headed for the buses...another early day tomorrow as we had sessions in the morning, a catered lunch and then the exhibition hall was opening in the afternoon.
When we got back to the resort I relaxed outside for a bit to make a call, then we took our showers, laid out our clothes for the next day and just enjoyed having a conversation sans kids
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.
You sampled some of my favorites from the F&WF, especially the Hawaiian pork sliders. F&WF is definitely one of the best reasons to keep going back to WDW.
I'm so glad you were able to make it back to the Food and Wine Festival and more importantly could enjoy it this time.
I was really happy when I found out we were getting an extra night to enjoy. When we originally booked the trip we only bought the two day tickets because we figured by the time we got out of the sessions, after a long day we would just relax at the resort. But when they gave us a early day so we could enjoy the parks it was like pixie dust has fallen....another chance to enjoy the festival sans headache and crowds....LOL
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
How great to get a re-do of the festival-- without crowds or headache. Looks like a beautiful day, too.
It was such a relaxing evening Laurie, there were lines but only 5 - 10 minutes nothing like how it had been on Saturday. Even if I had not had such a terrible migraine after seeing those crowds I do not think I would have enjoyed the festival much even if I had felt well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lfredsbo
Glad that you were enjoying your concerns and got to head back to F&wf - I love those poke sliders too!!!
I think the Pork Sliders were my favorite
Quote:
Originally Posted by shazza
Looks like a much more successful visit to F & W this time.
Definitely a more successful visit
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
What a great day! Glad you finally got to enjoy Epcot and the F&WF!
It was so relaxing, definitely need to do a short trip with the girls at that time, they would enjoy it so much.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JKnott17
Great redo of the F&WF! I haven't tried those pork sliders yet, but I think I need to next trip, they looked yummy!
There were amazing and if I had not been so full think I could have had another one
Quote:
Originally Posted by xwewhisper
All those snacks look tasty! So glad you were able to enjoy this time
I was so sad after the Saturday visit, I felt like the headache just ruined the day (but the crowds were not really what I was looking for when I thoguht of enjoying the F&WF - it is definitely true that weekdays are so much better when the festival is going on, it was like a different park between Saturday and Monday).
Quote:
Originally Posted by disneydreamer33
Glad you got back to the F&WF and were able to enjoy it!
I was really happy we were able to head back.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
You sampled some of my favorites from the F&WF, especially the Hawaiian pork sliders. F&WF is definitely one of the best reasons to keep going back to WDW.
I am thinking of those Pork Sliders now....wish I could find a place that made there here, they would be the perfect lunch
Quote:
Originally Posted by mommapants
nice little trip into WS for F&WF! hopefully you will get back there again
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.
So last night was our last park evening - a little extra magic that we really enjoyed.
We got up early today for our sessions, the ones we had the day before I felt were a bit better, the topics were interesting but in my opinion it is all about the presenter and yesterday the presenters were wonderful....
This was Chef Katrina - my top pick presenter of the trip!!! She was amazing.
They also opened the exhibitor floor today which was fun. We headed out of the exhibition hall around 3:00, it was really hot and we had some time to visit tomorrow before as the exhibition hall was open again until noon.
We headed back to the room and Kim was going to make a few calls, I decided to take a tour of the resort and take some pictures, I have to say I really thought the resort was just beautiful.
We were going to see if we could get a table at the Maya Grill (they had openings) but in the end we headed back to the Pepper Market. I really enjoyed the chicken I had the other night and they were offering it again...I know boring but it was really good.
The rest of the evening we just relaxed at the resort, we discussed some business ideas, reviewed some of the brochures we received at the exhibitor hall and then called it a night.
We woke up the next day and grabbed breakfast at the Pepper Market - I had a kids Mickey Waffle platter which was the perfect size for me
We visited the booths that we had missed yesterday and then took a last wander of the store. Had to make sure I brought back some guilt gifts for the girls
I had picked up some PJs for Angel's Duffy on Monday night when we were at Epcot....they are just the cutest things.
I picked up an ornament for the tree - Pooh and Tigger, and Jasmine I picked up a book for her of taco recipies, she loves tacos so I thought she would enjoy the book.
Soon it was time for Kim to head to her Disney Magical Express, I had a pick up about an hour or so later so I spent my last hour just wandering., I had wished that I could have extended the trip as there were so many wonderful passporters that were arriving today and over the next few days....I had received a text from Princess Sharon, I so wished I would have been able to meet up with them for a bit but alas....had to get home to the day job , oh and those kids of mine .
All in all it was a wonderful trip, I really enjoyed the convention, it was fun having a mini adult trip, Kim is great to be around and to travel with so it worked out wonderfully. We had a great time at the MNSSHP and I am so glad we got to have a re-do of the Food & Wine Festival (it only made me want to book a few days with the girls so they could enjoy next year).
Coranado Resort & Spa....have to say I never had an urge to stay here, it looked nice but after staying I could definitely enjoy a few days here. Yes a bit differnet with the counter service and such but it is just beautiful, I know Jasmine would love all the photo opportunities, Angel would love the pool and suddenly it seems that it is a possibility that I could see us here for a few days on a short trip.
The only issue was the buses but I guess it was just a crazy weekend as while I was sitting waiting for the DME I saw a ton of buses pass through...so maybe we just were there on an off weekend.
In the end I am so glad I went and definitely can see a few more of these little conventions in the future, it was nice to get away, have some adult time (even though I always miss the girls like crazy) and I really enjoyed a lot of the informative sessions so I think the trip was a
Thanks for hanging around so long as I finished off this TR - we have already booked our August trip so I knew I had to get it done sooner or later this way in a few months I can start on the August trip!!!!
Glad that overall the convention was worth it, and the extra time at Disney was lots of fun. for sharing with us and I can't wait for the next one to begin.
About This Page: 
, so where were we headed, well for a second chance at the F&WF, no headache, no crowds....so worth it and I was not even disappointed that we gave up our California Grill reservation for this.
I mean we did starve ourselves today with the only nourishment being a pretzel and a bagel....but first food.
and I was disappointed that I would not get to try more...but just a reason to get back here again.
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
Liz 
Holly: 
Linear Mode
