There’ll Be a Smile Where a Frown Used to Be - PTR - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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 totally get the ADR thing. Next month will be my first trip but I've made at least one ADR for each day. I have IBS so this helps me pre-plan what I'll eat and when I'll eat. Having a flare up at Disney would be super terrible.
Your choices sound excellent and in reference to your "up next", I changed my ADRs loads of times. :3
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Well, Steve has great taste! I am laughing because my DH is the same way. I'll ask if he has any particular dining requests for each trip and he rattles off a huge list! We make lots of ADRs too. Otherwise, we'd starve from pure lack of decisiveness.
You are off to a great start!! What a wonderful thing for you to do for your nephew as your whole family struggles through such a terrible loss. I am sure the trip will be healing not only for him, but for you as well. I can't wait to hear more!!
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Adr's look great to me. HDDR is allways on my list and even my DW insisists when we go next year we do it again. She is even hinting that's where she may want for Thankgiving!!!
Joining in a bit late here I am so sorry for your loss, the way you and your family are comforting each other and Eric's reaction to your invitation are made me a bit teary eyed. Your plans sound wonderful, I'm glad Eric is excited.
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I'm still catching up on TRs and finally have got up to date on yours. I love all your plans and am glad you're staying at WL. If Eric's been "dreaming of staying there", what an easy way of making his dream come true!
I totally get the ADR thing. Next month will be my first trip but I've made at least one ADR for each day. I have IBS so this helps me pre-plan what I'll eat and when I'll eat. Having a flare up at Disney would be super terrible.
Your choices sound excellent and in reference to your "up next", I changed my ADRs loads of times. :3
Oh bummer about your IBS! I don't think people fully appreciate how difficult that is to live with. It's hard to behave at WDW because there are so many choices and so many opportunities for a flare. Be sure to talk to the chef at the restaurants you've chosen - they're very helpful.
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Originally Posted by lazanya
Your ADR choices sound great!
Thanks! I think some of these places have become traditions.
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Originally Posted by Cam22
Those 7 are among our favorites!
Yum! I've made lots of additions and changes since my first ADR attempt, but fortunately, we kept these.
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Originally Posted by shnewell
Well, Steve has great taste! I am laughing because my DH is the same way. I'll ask if he has any particular dining requests for each trip and he rattles off a huge list! We make lots of ADRs too. Otherwise, we'd starve from pure lack of decisiveness.
You gotta love 'em. After giving me his list of 'only these are absolutes' he's made a couple more requests. It's crazy making!
I'm so glad someone understands the need for ADRs. People are always saying "that's too much food!!!" But my philosophy is that just because they serve it to you doesn't mean you have to eat it. I know it's wasteful, so I'll skip the app or dessert, but it could really ruin a great day if we had to haggle over where to eat and when. Not to mention finally making a decison only to find out the place we want to eat at has no availability!!
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Originally Posted by chezp
Nice dining choices.
Thank you. A couple I'm not so wild about, but I can find something to eat at all of them!
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Originally Posted by athenagwis
You are off to a great start!! What a wonderful thing for you to do for your nephew as your whole family struggles through such a terrible loss. I am sure the trip will be healing not only for him, but for you as well. I can't wait to hear more!!
Rachel
Thanks - WDW has been a magical healing place for our family in the past. I truly believe that this trip will be wonderful for all of us.
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Originally Posted by MikeL
Adr's look great to me. HDDR is allways on my list and even my DW insisists when we go next year we do it again. She is even hinting that's where she may want for Thankgiving!!!
How fun for Thanksgiving! I adore HDDR - it's just the right amount of hokey.
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Originally Posted by xrosario
Joining in a bit late here I am so sorry for your loss, the way you and your family are comforting each other and Eric's reaction to your invitation are made me a bit teary eyed. Your plans sound wonderful, I'm glad Eric is excited.
Thank you. Eric is just priceless and I know that this trip will go a long way toward making his heart a little lighter.
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Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great dining plans!
Thank you!!!
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Originally Posted by lauriep
I'm still catching up on TRs and finally have got up to date on yours. I love all your plans and am glad you're staying at WL. If Eric's been "dreaming of staying there", what an easy way of making his dream come true!
Oh Laurie - I'm surprised you even awake. After that whirlwind excursion of yours I would be in bed for a month! We love WL and I hope with all my heart it lives up to Eric's expectations!
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Originally Posted by MayraLR
Great dining choices!
Thank you. Disney has so many great places to choose from it really makes it hard!!!
I tease my project manager/engineer husband that he over thinks everything. He takes the term analytical to new heights. As if I have room to talk.
I poured over menus, ratings, opinions and food photos like crazy. Then I looked at park hours. Over and over. For hours, then days, then weeks. Finally it was time to take my first stab at our ADRs.
On March 24, I got up at 3:00 a.m. local time in order to be set and ready to go when the Disney Dining phone lines opened at 7:00 East coast time. I thought I would use the hour I had to make most of our ADRs , but I wanted to chat with a CM about SoA and HDDR. I wasn’t too worried about SoA availability, but I was a little anxious about HDDR. I should have stayed in bed – the system would not let me book beyond the first day of our vacation even though I put in our reservation number!
Right at 6:59 a.m., I the number and got a CM, easy as pie. She was wonderful and took care of all our ADRs. It took an hour – which is why I much prefer to do my ADRs online.
I won’t bore you with all the details of my multiple ADR upheavals but suffice it to say there have been many, many changes. I especially want to thank all the PPers who gave me opinions on Tony’s Town Square versus Kona .
Some of the lowlights:
Our vacation happened to fall during a free dining promo – how fun is that? Sane people would just take the savings and run……but not us. , because we don’t eat fast food and we aren’t really wild about the QS offerings at most of the parks. Which would leave lots of QS credits unused – maybe. I was thinking that maybe we could use them at Sunshine Seasons, but I must have had some kind of break with reality when I thought that. There was no way we’d be at Epcot every single day.
And, we’d have lots of OOP expenses because HDDR, SoA & LC would eat up almost all the TS credits we’d get with the free dining promo. It looked like an upgrade to the DxDP was needed .
In truth, we wasted a sinful amount of food on the DxDP when we had it in January. But it was convenient because being diabetic, Steve doesn’t eat much dessert – and let’s be honest, ‘no sugar added’ doesn’t mean no carbs. And carbs are carbs. With the DxDP, he could order a salad as his appetizer and get a cheese plate for dessert. He’d be full enough so that he wouldn’t eat a lot of the sides that came with his entrée.
I am not much of an eater either, but I LOVE to taste things . I love being able to nibble a little bit of my appetizer, sample parts of my entrée and savor my entire dessert. Yes! The DxDP would be better for us .
I called, I switched, I paid. A little over $700 for the 3 of us, since Eric is an adult on the dining plan. He won’t eat but he wouldn’t if we paid OOP either. I did make a spreadsheet and based on what I think we will order, we actually will save money this way – about $900 after taking the upgrade price into account .
Of course, now I had all these extra TS credits. I was going to have to modify our ADRs. Which I did. Again, and again, and again. A week or so ago I thought I was done. Then I found out I would miss Remy if I kept our Sunday CDF ADR. Not acceptable!!! We also bounced from Tony’s to Kona to the Plaza to Liberty Tree Tavern. I had a few days of nail biting, but finally got everything I wanted. I’m not changing again .
Thursday 9/20: 7:30 Dinner @ Boma New to us at dinner. Ate breakfast here in January & loved it.
Friday 9/21: 12:10 Lunch @ Chef de France – with Remy – I’m so happy 9:30 Hoop Dee Doo Revue – love this dinner show, the food not so much
Saturday 9/22: 8:45 Breakfast @ Whispering Canyon Café 5:15 Spirit of Aloha – not my favorite food or show, but Eric & I are Islanders
Sunday 9/23: 9:05 Breakfast @ Trail’s End – New to us. Going to use the jogging trail. 7:55 Dinner @ Liberty Tree Tavern - EMH @ MK, so want to stay in the park
Monday 9/24: 8:10 Breakfast @ WCC – It’s convenient, it’s fun, why not twice? 7:30 Dinner @ Hollywood Brown Derby – New to us. I only want a Cobb Salad and the grapefruit cake
Wednesday 9/26: 9:00 Breakfast @ Cape May Café – Steve finally gets his waffles 7:30 Flying Fish Café – New to us. Had to cancel in January. I really want that potato wrapped snapper!!!
Thursday 9/27: 7:00 Breakfast @ WCC – or even three times?
Eric and I won’t have to eat in between breakfast and dinner. Maybe he’ll get treats . I might get a cupcake or two during our stay. Steve will pay OOP for a small salad or some fruit and yogurt mid-afternoon. And that's it for food!!!
Next: Thank goodness you get a different CM every time you call!
It's so easy to obsess and over-plan, and change and then change again! I like the final plans, though. Like you, some of those places are not my favorites, but they're all ok and two (Brown Derby and Flying Fish) rank in my all time favorites list. Those two are musts on every trip for me!
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, but I wanted to chat with a CM about SoA and HDDR. I wasn’t too worried about SoA availability, but I was a little anxious about HDDR. I should have stayed in bed – the system would not let me book beyond the first day of our vacation even though I put in our reservation number! 
the number and got a CM, easy as pie. She was wonderful and took care of all our ADRs. It took an hour – which is why I much prefer to do my ADRs online. 
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, because we don’t eat fast food and we aren’t really wild about the QS offerings at most of the parks. Which would leave lots of QS credits unused – maybe. I was thinking that maybe we could use them at Sunshine Seasons, but I must have had some kind of break with reality when I thought that. There was no way we’d be at Epcot every single day.
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. I might get a cupcake or two during our stay. Steve will pay OOP for a small salad or some fruit and yogurt mid-afternoon. And that's it for food!!!
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