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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 posted a similar question on another forum ,so if you are reading this twice, I apologize. I need advice about attending the Food and Wine Experience in Epcot. We will be there the first night. Should we scrap plans to sit down at eat somewhere? Or should we get something to eat first so we are not dependent on the appetizer portions at the festival? I have never been and don't have much of a concept for what it is like. Is there plenty for young kids to do/see? Any advice from people who have attended in the past would be appreciated.
I would probably skip a sit-down meal that night I know a lot of people like to make their way from country to country, getting food or a drink from each one. It sounds like fun
I was going to say the same thing. Many Passporters who have gone during the Food and Wine Festival choose not to eat a sit down meal, because as you go around you get quite full. Also, by the time you finish, you have probably spent as much as you would have on dinner!
We were at the F&WF last Oct and loved it. Definately skip the sit down meal and just do food from every "country". It was fabulous and you'd be surprised at how full you can get just getting small portions of things. And each "country" offers samples of more than one item at their booths.
My mom and I went to the F&W festival last year. It was a lot of fun!! This year, though, we're doing the Christmas thing, something really magical about Christmastime!!
We had a great time at the F&W Festival, We went to Epcot three of our nine days, I believe. I am a somewhat compulsive planner and had mapped out all but a couple "free days" pretty extensively.
I plotted our days at Epcot, not having been to the F&W festival before, on the assumption that the food booths would fill us up. They did, though we still planned a dinner each night. Be aware the samples can add up cost-wise, especially if you're sampling a wine or beer with your sample. I'd say we averaged about 5 sample stops a day, and would guess the cost with a glass of wine at each stop averaged around 40.00 per person. But, IMO, that's why we were there, to try a bunch of different things...including things not normally offered at Epcot - at booths from countries without permanent installations.
I relied heavily on allearsnet.com before we left to plot which booths we'd try (great reviews were on their site) so we'd only get samples that won others over I'd imagine that as soon as the festival starts, these reader ratings will again be up on their site. Things I still remember are the lovely lamb chops from New Zealand and the *free* wine tasting at Australia (we just wandered upon a queue that didn't seem too long and stood in it. Turned out to be a flight through Australian wines, we were the lucky last two to be admitted). By following the recommendations I found, I think we only had one mediocre sample the whole time, the kebab at Morocco (just so-so).
Our big, big splurge of the vacation was the "Equisite Evenings at Epcot" dinner, a 5 course dinner prepared by celebrity chefs, each course paired with a wine, followed by Illuminations in the "VIP Viewing" area. One of our chefs was one of my favorites, Michael Ginor (owner of Hudson Valley Foie Gras). I love foie gras and had even brought the dust jacket from his book for him to sign (book way too huge to bring).
Seating was at large rectangular tables, so you ate with a bunch of people you didn't know. On our trip, we seemed to be the only ones to have paid for this excursion....everyone else seemed to be on business trips/at a conference and had the affair's tab picked up by their companies. This affected the experience quite a bit, because while we were just gaga with excitement, this was "just another function" for them. Half of them didn't touch their foie gras, which just threw me into fits of apoplexy LOL. The food was good, the commentary pretty good, and the wine pairing discussions were enlightening, but it's not something I'd pay 185.00 per person + tax for again. Our VIP viewing area for Illuminations was excellent though, a small patio in England. Perfect view, and quite empty, only a half dozen attendees went over to watch.
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. Also, by the time you finish, you have probably spent as much as you would have on dinner!
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That's the thing, with the "free dining plan" promotion, we'd be passing up one of our full service meals to pay for the samples at the festival, and I can't really find a day where I want to do TWO sit-down meals elsewhere in our trip. I was thinking I might not get a chance to do a place like LeCellier for free! However, I think that i agree with all that it would be silly to sit down with all the goings on. Even though we'll be paying for it, I think we are going to experience the F&W Experience instead.
When we went last Nov, we started right up 11am and munched our way around. We were pretty stuffed by the time we got to Germany, and DH had lost his glasses which put a damper on the afternoon, so from Germany around to Canada, we didn't eat a whole lot. We had a PS later in the evening for Cinderella's (to see the fireworks from the castle). After we were done at F&WF we had to dash to Lenscrafters to get DH new glasses and barely made it in time to our evening PS. We were plenty hungry by then and were glad we'd done the F&WF as "lunch".
As far as the kids go, I wish they offered more kid-friendly items...my 6yo wound up with a bag of chips while my 8yo, DH and I were sampling yummy things. I know she felt left out, but I don't blame her. I really didn't think there was all that much for DDs to do, but part of that may have been the whole "glasses" thing.
We are planning a trip in November, and I think we will visit EPCOT at least twice: Once to sample from the F&W festival, another visit to include le Cellier, as that is our favorite Disney restaurant!
Although I don't think there is a lot that would appeal to kids at the F&W festival, the "fast" food stands at the various countries could provide even more options. We liked the Chinese food, for example.
Hmmm. That is an interesting thought. It starts at 11 a.m. and keeps on going throughout the day? Sorry to hear about the glasses thing. We just returned from the beach and my brother-in-law lost his glasses in the gulf and had to drive more than an hour to get a new pair made. I'm glad I wear contacts!
We will also be there for the start of F & W - and on the "free" dining plan -
We are looking at doing a CS breakfast - then F & W "lunch" and our TS dinner (maybe a little on the "late" side) for a couple of days just to make sure we get to try some of the unique food.
It will still be a lot of food though - I wonder if there is any chance we'll be able to use counter service or snack points for any of the samples?
We will be there for the last weekend so, unfortunately, we do not have the dining plan problem to contend with. Our DD will be turning 9 during our trip and she is really excited to spend a few days "eating around the world"!! We are making no plans for dining on those 2 days. I figure we will be able to completely stuff ourselves with no problem! I would love to try one of the planned dinners like Sakana did, but, I've already made our splurge plans at V&A's Chef's Table. Although I know my DM would love to have DD to herself for 2 evenings, my DD would pitch a fit about missing out on yet another evening! She is a complete foodie, just like her dad!!
I really hope you'll do at least a mini trip report when you get home. This is also our first time and I would love to have first hand knowledge!!!
Have a great trip!!!
It will still be a lot of food though - I wonder if there is any chance we'll be able to use counter service or snack points for any of the samples?
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What a great idea ! I doubt it though.
I think what we are going to do that day (we will only be there for one F and W day) is do an early CS lunch in Animal Kingdom, where we will be for the morning; then snack a bit at F and W in the early afternoon. I'm going to make a TS reservation (I can't bring myself to say Advance Dining Reservation, it is so redundant) but we may end up doing counter service again if we get too full from all the samples. I'll actually have points to use up from the day we leave b/c we are planning to do a TS breakfast before we hit the road but that is it for that day.
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I know a lot of people like to make their way from country to country, getting food or a drink from each one. It sounds like fun 
I'd imagine that as soon as the festival starts, these reader ratings will again be up on their site. Things I still remember are the lovely lamb chops from New Zealand and the *free* wine tasting at Australia (we just wandered upon a queue that didn't seem too long and stood in it. Turned out to be a flight through Australian wines, we were the lucky last two to be admitted). By following the recommendations I found, I think we only had one mediocre sample the whole time, the kebab at Morocco (just so-so).
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