A French Disney home for the holidays…. COMPLETED - Page 34 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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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.
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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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When we rode the train in 2011 our wait was much longer than 30 minutes because there were many empty seats when they would pull out of the station. I was told they needed to leave room for guests at the other stations. I was not a happy camper!
I love taking the train around the park. I love it both at WDW and DLP (1998) which I've done. I think WDW has a better train system and much more organized! What do you think about this Cheryl? I must at some time take the train tour in WDW as I know I'd love it! Taken some WDW tours, but this would be a good one! Agreed? Have you ever taken this one? Would think, Mark would enjoy it?
Funny and very odd that I'd mentioned having some Cadbury last night! This morning, when I woke up, I had the news on (as usual) and one of the stories was that the British were a bit peed, that Cadbury had decided to change the formula to their Cadbury Eggs for Easter time. I was half asleep at the time, but I think they decided to add mocha to the recipe. They said the Brits are not happy about this! These are a big hit in the USA during Easter! Not a good thing to me and as my Mom used to say...."Leave Well Enough Alone!"
How bizarre is this mentioning Cadbury and hearing a story about it on the news?
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
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.
When we rode the train in 2011 our wait was much longer than 30 minutes because there were many empty seats when they would pull out of the station. I was told they needed to leave room for guests at the other stations. I was not a happy camper!
I'm not surprised you weren't happy about that. That seems like a crazy way to operate things.
I love taking the train around the park. I love it both at WDW and DLP (1998) which I've done. I think WDW has a better train system and much more organized! What do you think about this Cheryl?
I honestly couldn't say, as I can't remember the last time we took the train at WDW.
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I must at some time take the train tour in WDW as I know I'd love it! Taken some WDW tours, but this would be a good one! Agreed? Have you ever taken this one? Would think, Mark would enjoy it?
I really had no interest in doing this, so Mark did it with a friend a number of years ago and he really enjoyed it.
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Funny and very odd that I'd mentioned having some Cadbury last night! This morning, when I woke up, I had the news on (as usual) and one of the stories was that the British were a bit peed, that Cadbury had decided to change the formula to their Cadbury Eggs for Easter time. I was half asleep at the time, but I think they decided to add mocha to the recipe. They said the Brits are not happy about this! These are a big hit in the USA during Easter! Not a good thing to me and as my Mom used to say...."Leave Well Enough Alone!"
How bizarre is this mentioning Cadbury and hearing a story about it on the news?
Well, that's a classic story, considering I haven't seen anything about it over here!
Monday 17 November – part seven: “donkey straight ahead”
I got some shots of Town Square from the steps of the railroad…
Then we made our way out of the park…
We headed back to the hotel, and I went to luggage to ask for the laptop out of my bag, so I could work on the trip report, and Mark’s book, as we were going to head back to Café Fantasia – can you tell me like this place?
What happened next amazed me. The guy said one person and one person only (Mark got told to go back in no uncertain terms ) had to go with him to get the items out, which is fair enough, as I wouldn’t want anyone else going through our cases. Immediately I found the fridges, two massive ones by the first door we went through, then you head down a set of stairs to where the luggage is located below. My goodness, you have never seen anything like this in your life. The luggage stores stretched as far as the eye could see. I don’t know if you know what I mean when I say this, but they had the handles you could turn, and the luggage compartments would move apart, meaning that, when the guy read our tag, he just turned the wheel, and an opening appeared, as if by magic, right by our stuff. I dived in and got what I needed, then we headed out. I noticed that there was a luggage chute down to this area as I headed back up the stairs.
At the top of the stairs, I stopped to do my eye drops, then headed back outside to Mark, with me looking very wide eyed and saying “you won’t believe the set up down there” and telling him he needed to go down there when we put the stuff back.
We headed up in the elevator to the second floor, and as we were walking along the walkway between the main building and the restaurants, Mark hissed to me “donkey straight ahead” and he was right – there was Eeyore, all on his own. I ran up to him, worried that he might be about to do a runner on me, and practically thrust the camera at the Cast Member, bearing in mind that Mark was, by now, carrying the laptop, and I was carrying my coat. Mark told him to “snap away” as he sauntered up, and thankfully he did. I think you’ll agree we got some great shots.
After we were done, Eeyore shuffled away to the window to look outside dejectedly, as there was no-one else to see him. Well, I couldn’t have that. I got a photo of him looking miserably out of the window…
… then some one on one shots. How seriously magical is this?
There was still no-one around, and as Mark said “she could stay here all day”, but we figured we’d better stop annoying Eeyore and leave him to be miserable – poor guy. I am happy to report that a few moments later, I saw him with other kids, as we literally got to the Café Fantasia, and I went to use the restrooms and saw some donkey love going on when I came out – too right!
We ended up being the only people in Café Fantasia for the next hour while we enjoyed our mulled wines. It was so lovely, and I have to be honest, I really felt special having the whole place to ourselves. If only it had been like that last night.
We looked at the menu, just in case they had macaroons on there, but they only did them as part of a package including a hot drink and various other things, so we passed in favour of our marshmallow Mickey heads that we’d bought a couple of days ago, and very nice they were too. As you can see, Mark thought that they were Piglet heads!
As we sat there, we watched a huge dark cloud cross the sky that looked very ominous…
… sure enough, a little while later, the heavens opened, and we were both very glad that this time we were sitting in the warmth, rather than being stuck outside in the rain.
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How incredible to get that much time with your donkey boy! I'm guessing that must be one of your longest interactions with him ever?
The look of the Fantasia lounge is so great, and to have it to yourself was a double bonus!
Funny and very odd that I'd mentioned having some Cadbury last night! This morning, when I woke up, I had the news on (as usual) and one of the stories was that the British were a bit peed, that Cadbury had decided to change the formula to their Cadbury Eggs for Easter time. I was half asleep at the time, but I think they decided to add mocha to the recipe. They said the Brits are not happy about this! These are a big hit in the USA during Easter! Not a good thing to me and as my Mom used to say...."Leave Well Enough Alone!"
How bizarre is this mentioning Cadbury and hearing a story about it on the news?
Hi - they are not adding mocha to the recipe, what is happening is that because the company was taken over by Kraft a year or two ago, sneaky changes have been made to a lot of the well-loved Cadbury products. Creme Eggs have always been covered in the best Cadbury's Dairy Milk chocolate, which is extra-creamy due to a high milk content. Now for this year, that has been changed, and they are now being produced using a cheaper, generic Cadbury milk chocolate, which will alter the flavour of the Creme Eggs making them less creamy and more sweet, due to the fondant filling.
In addition, they used to be available singly, in boxes of 3, or boxes of 6. Now they will only be available singly or in boxes of 5, but with no reduction to the price of a box of 5 rather than 6.
Which basically sucks.
I recently bought a multi-pack of Cadbury Twirl bars, which I love, and the bars were significantly smaller than a couple of months ago. (55 grams per bar, instead of 65 grams).
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Silvercat
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Cheryl - have you been living in a cave for the past 24 hours?? It is all over the internet like, ooh, a measles epidemic at the moment!
I'll be honest, if it's not on the BBC website, and I haven't seen it there or on the BBC TV news and I know it wasn't on the ones I watched last night, then I won't spot it. I don't spend much time on Facebook, as I just don't have time, so unless it shows up that someone's talking about it in the first few stories, I'm oblivious to it....
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Fun pictures with your donkey boy! How very special to have him all to yourselves for such a long time! And a peaceful relaxing time in Fantasia cafe with mulled wine after that!
I must say, though, I expected pictures of the luggage storage area! It sounds humongous!
Fun pictures with your donkey boy! How very special to have him all to yourselves for such a long time! And a peaceful relaxing time in Fantasia cafe with mulled wine after that!
I must say, though, I expected pictures of the luggage storage area! It sounds humongous!
Monday 17 November – part eight: shall we do that?
We soon heard some commotion and flashes going off, and there was another character appearance, Winnie the Pooh. As again, there was barely anyone around, I darted out to get my photo taken with him by the kind Cast Member who was looking after him….
I was particularly fascinated by the poinsettias here, partly because there are so few of them, compared to WDW…
They’re well cared for…
… but look what happens if one is beyond repair!
We had a quick look in the resort shop, as I needed to buy something sweet for my work colleagues, and it worked out well, as the Grumpy Christmas decoration that Mark had spotted earlier was on sale here, so he got that.
We did find this guy, who seemed to be a little worse for wear. We guessed that maybe he’d had a mulled wine too many!
We headed back to the lobby to hand our bits and pieces back, but so much for Mark getting a look behind the scenes - they literally just put the stuff in a bag ready to send down there. Such a disappointment for him!
We had a couple of hours before we needed to be on the Eurostar train, so we headed out, with no real plan of what we were going to do. I ended up saying to Mark he needed to decide left (Disney Village and the Walt Disney Studios) or right (the Disneyland Park) and he opted for right. It turned out that he wanted to look for a Grumpy t-shirt he’d seen, although of course, could he remember where he’d seen it? Don’t be so silly!
It gave us an excuse to go back into the Emporium, and I do love this bit of it – so stylishly done.
I tried on a long sleeved top, but it wasn’t what I thought it would be, it was more of a sweatshirt, and I was hoping for something a bit lighter than that, so that was a no-go. Mark’s hat fetish came out, as he tried something traditionally French on… hmmm, not sure about this one!
I got some photos of the barber’s shop. I still cannot work out whether this place is open or not.
We headed back up Main Street to the castle…
… and then headed into Frontierland…
As the riverboat was coming into the landing, I suggested that we took that.
My goodness, what a fun ride it was. It’s something we very rarely do, and when we do it, I remember why we enjoy it, as it’s good old fashioned fun. It’s like stepping back to an era when life was so much easier and things were at a much quieter pace. The scenery as we sailed along was just beautiful, with so many gorgeous colours in the trees here…
I couldn’t resist getting a photo of my own personal boudoir on board, although sadly others invaded it, so I didn’t get to enjoy it for the whole trip…
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I love it both at WDW and DLP (1998) which I've done. I think WDW has a better train system and much more organized! 
What do you think about this Cheryl? 
I must at some time take the train tour in WDW as I know I'd love it! 
Taken some WDW tours, but this would be a good one! Agreed? 
This morning, when I woke up, I had the news on (as usual) and one of the stories was that the British were a bit peed, that Cadbury had decided to change the formula to their Cadbury Eggs for Easter time. I was half asleep at the time, but I think they decided to add mocha to the recipe. They said the Brits are not happy about this! 
These are a big hit in the USA during Easter! 
PassPorter Guide Author
) had to go with him to get the items out, which is fair enough, as I wouldn’t want anyone else going through our cases. Immediately I found the fridges, two massive ones by the first door we went through, then you head down a set of stairs to where the luggage is located below. My goodness, you have never seen anything like this in your life. The luggage stores stretched as far as the eye could see. 
I don’t know if you know what I mean when I say this, but they had the handles you could turn, and the luggage compartments would move apart, meaning that, when the guy read our tag, he just turned the wheel, and an opening appeared, as if by magic, right by our stuff. I dived in and got what I needed, then we headed out. I noticed that there was a luggage chute down to this area as I headed back up the stairs. 
It was so lovely, and I have to be honest, I really felt special having the whole place to ourselves. If only it had been like that last night. 
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