The Grand Poohbah Trip: Food & Wine Festival and the Grand Californian: COMPLETED 5/21/09 - Page 7 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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 we've thinking about more things we wanted to say and realized we needed to post a "Final Thoughts" post. LOL!
I'm not sure we mentioned how much fun we had twittering about our Disneyland trip at the same time that some of our PP friends at the "Decade of Dreams" at WDW were twittering their trip - posting twitpics - making it feel as if we were at Disneyland and Disney World at the same time. Thanks Bob & Larry - you made our trip even more fun!
We also forgot to mention the sweet little CM from Brooklyn at the DCA entrance from inside the GC. Because the APs have our pictures and names on them, he always greets us by name, "Good morning, Richard," and "Good morning, Katherine" he says in his distinctive Brooklyn accent. He's such a sweetie!
Renewing our APs online was a breeze. We debated about whether we should do that or wait until our next trip (not realizing our next trip would be in a month), but eventually decided to renew online. We saved some money by doing this, and our APs were mailed to us - no standing in line, no taking of pictures again, etc. This year there were 2 choices for the design of AP you wanted. Rich chose the new one, and I decided to stick wtih the old one just so we could tell our APs apart at a glance.
The other cool thing about this trip was when we drove up to the guard gate at the GC. Rich was wearing his Epcot shirt and the CM asked him what his favorite WDW resort was. Well, that took awhile since we have so many favorites. It was fun having that connection to WDW while at DL.
And as for our upcoming trip to Disneyland, we just bought tickets to see an Angels game like we did last year. And guess who they're playing? The Dodgers - wow - two of our teams at the same time - who will we cheer for? I hope you'll come back for our next trip report to find out.
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.
Thanks for the descriptions of the F & W events. I'm not a wine drinker, so I probably won't ever attend those. But I liked reading about them.
I agree that the "snack" food part needs some improvement. It's just weird getting Lobster Roll from Award Weiners (hot dogs), and Seared Ahi from Taste Pilot (hamburgers.) Last year, they had all the food samples at the Wharf, all cooked in the kitchens that were formerly the Chinese fast food area. I didn't like that everything was in the same place, but it was better than having everything spread out around the park at the CS places. At least you could get your sampling of a variety of food. I wonder what they will do next year. It's a shame they can't set up the kiosks like they do in WDW.
Great final thoughts! So, which WDW is Richard's favorite?? Always got to a good baseball game! Looking forward to hearing all about it in your next TR!
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Great final thoughts! So, which WDW is Richard's favorite?? Always got to a good baseball game! Looking forward to hearing all about it in your next TR!
I think basically we rattled off all the deluxe resorts. But our very favorite - the one we think of as our home resort - is the Yacht Club.
Just found this TR. I haven't been in the Disneyland boards in a while. See what I've been missing? It sounds like the F&W Festival was a hit for the most part. I enjoyed hearing about your experiences and the difference between it and the International F&WF at Epcot. I am happy that you'll be starting a new TR soon, and hope you decide to come to the Passporter gathering in December so I can meet you both!
__________________
Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
Just found this TR. I haven't been in the Disneyland boards in a while. See what I've been missing? It sounds like the F&W Festival was a hit for the most part. I enjoyed hearing about your experiences and the difference between it and the International F&WF at Epcot. I am happy that you'll be starting a new TR soon, and hope you decide to come to the Passporter gathering in December so I can meet you both!
Oh, Sharon, what a sweetie! Okay, so we started our trip report on our Disney blog because it's more a Southern California trip than a Disneyland trip. But maybe we should post here, too?
Looks like we won't be at the PP meet at WDW in December (gotta do a family thing in Philly) but we're hoping to do PP meet at DL in October and WDW some time next year. Woo hoo!
I just found this trip report from a link in your new one, and I'm so glad I did. Although, now I've got my Disneyland AP talking to me and my bank account wouldn't be happy with a stay at the Grand Californian! Maybe I'll just have to live vicariously through your reports. I loved what you had to say about Date Nights. My favorite thing to do at Disneyland on a Saturday night is to watch the "dates" of all ages, although Zack's tastes tend to take us to the Tomorrowland Terrace more than the swing bands. I'm 99% sure that we'll be at the Passporter meet in October; maybe we should plan on some time at the wine terrace at DCA? Thanks for writing, now I'm off to read your new report!
__________________
Karen, aka Zack's Mom - Lover of all Things Disney and the San Francisco Giants!
I just found this trip report from a link in your new one, and I'm so glad I did. Although, now I've got my Disneyland AP talking to me and my bank account wouldn't be happy with a stay at the Grand Californian! Maybe I'll just have to live vicariously through your reports. I loved what you had to say about Date Nights. My favorite thing to do at Disneyland on a Saturday night is to watch the "dates" of all ages, although Zack's tastes tend to take us to the Tomorrowland Terrace more than the swing bands. I'm 99% sure that we'll be at the Passporter meet in October; maybe we should plan on some time at the wine terrace at DCA? Thanks for writing, now I'm off to read your new report!
Cool, cool, cool! A Golden Vine Winery wine tasting meet would be perfect! You know the first time I heard live music was at Tomorrowland Terrace. I couldn't believe it. I was a young teen and when I heard the music I walked faster and faster toward it and thought, "Why haven't I known about this before?" LOL! But later in my 20s I danced to the big bands at Carnation Plaza Gardens. Oh, I miss it already! So glad it's still there - can't wait to see you all in October.
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.
About This Page: 
for sharing your TR with us. I have enjoyed reading it
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
). 
Thanks to all!
It was fun having that connection to WDW while at DL.
TOT hiding in Morocco
a good baseball game! Looking forward to hearing all about it in your next TR!
But our very favorite - the one we think of as our home resort - is the Yacht Club.
Linear Mode
