A 40th celebration to end the world! THREAD 1 COMPLETED 2/16 - Page 23 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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Thanks so much for the review of the segway tour; I am so excited to do this one! But I never thought about it making us tired. I've also made a mental note not to let my wheels touch anyone else's wheels.
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 so much for the review of the segway tour; I am so excited to do this one! But I never thought about it making us tired. I've also made a mental note not to let my wheels touch anyone else's wheels.
We did a Segway tour back in 2008 when Chris and I were dating - sounds like we need to do the tour again!!
You should, as it's changed a lot and I think that's a good thing for Disney, as they'll probably get more repeat visitors on it with the changes they've made, alongside the Segway nuts like us!
Friday 7 December – part five: thank goodness she mentioned that!
We were in Via Napoli a few minutes late, but it didn’t matter. We were quickly checked in, and taken to a table in the main dining room just off the entrance, overlooking the pavilion outside, which was very neat.
I started off my meal by getting a strawberry limoncello, something I’d never come across before, and very nice it was too, but my goodness, it had a kick to it! I was never going to have more than one, otherwise I don’t think I’d have been able to walk out of here….
Our server was Antonio from Naples, and he’s one of the best servers we’ve had in World Showcase. Mind you, he did tell us he’d worked on the Disney Dream before, so he’s obviously not a College Program person, and has obviously got a history with the company. When he arrived at the table, I wasn’t there, as I was taking these photos (I know – big surprise! )….
We spotted this out of the corner of our eye, so I went to have a closer look – neither of remembered seeing these statues outside before, but maybe we just didn’t notice them before?
…. and he had a good joke with Mark about that. He was just very personable, and fun, without being too much, and was very efficient with everything, and got a good tip for his work.
For appetiser, I had the mozzarella caprese, or mozzarella and tomato, one of my favourite Italian dishes.
Mark went for the gamberitti faglioli, jumbo shrimps with cannelloni bean salad, extra virgin oil and lemon juice.
For main course, I did debate going with a pasta dish, but you have to have pizza when you come here, right? I wasn’t sure I wanted any of the standard dishes, so even though it meant paying extra for the toppings, which are not included in the Deluxe Dining Plan, I went for a build your own pizza with eggplant, and zucchini, as that’s what I fancied. Unusual, I know, and I’m not sure it completely worked, as both were quite oily, but it was my choice, and at least I got to try it.
Mark had the spaghetti e polpettine, or meatballs to the rest of us! I even got a photo of him eating it and sent it to Steve, as I’d knew he’d appreciate that! Mark had to ask for extra tomato sauce for this dish, as it came with barely any, but this was no problem, and Antonio was straight there with it. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a photo of it – I know I got one on the phone, as we sent it to Steve and that’s probably what distracted us.
We were both stuffed by the end of our entrees, but of course dessert is included, so I got a tiramisu, which was very nice, and light, but I barely made a dent in it, and only finished about a third of it.
Mark wasn’t going to get anything, but ended up trying the gelato, but as you can probably tell from the photo, it looks quite creamy, and it was, so he didn’t get very far with it.
This place certainly isn’t cheap. The bill came to over $100, and we ended up paying $20 of that for my cocktail, and the extra toppings on the pizza, which is a heck of a lot of money, even at Disney, for a lunch, but equally it makes it good value on the Dining Plan.
The atmosphere in here was very good, although I’d say it was a tad noisy. The place was packed out, and my goodness, there were a lot of big parties in here.
Via Napoli
Appetizer 8½ 6½
Entrée 8 8
Dessert 9 7
Service 9½ 9½
Atmosphere 8½ 8½
Value for money 7 8
Average score: 8.17
As you can see, when we came out of there, it was a lot brighter than when we’d gone in…
We headed into one of the shops, and got a Mickey Mouse head Murano glass ornament, which was lovely. They had some great things in here. I was very impressed with the Cast Member, who spotted on my Key to the World card that we were DVC members, and asked to see our membership card for the discount. I’d forgotten all about that! Thank goodness she said something, as I whipped out my Premium Annual Pass, and instead, we got 20% off our purchase. I won’t be forgetting that again in a hurry.
When we came out of there, we got some more photos, including one with a tripod.
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.
Yikes, Via Napoli sure isn't cheap, eh? But you're right, it's a great choice if you're on the dining plan! Your food does look delicious, and I'm glad you had such amazing service, too.
Your meals looks yummy. I need to try this restaurant or Tutto Italia. Which do you like best? Hopefully your next installment isn't as bad as it sounds
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Your meal at Via Napoli looks yummy! I must have caught them on a weird, down day because my food looked nothing like that and I swore I'd never be back. The reviews on here recently are changing my mind! How nice to come out to blue skies and sunshine!
I love Murano glass. Tim brought back a Murano glass ornament from Venice. I can only imagine how gorgeous a Mickey head one is! I'll be looking for that and hoping they have them this June. Via Napoli looks yummy!
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I was never going to have more than one, otherwise I don’t think I’d have been able to walk out of here…. 
)….
But you're right, it's a great choice if you're on the dining plan! Your food does look delicious, and I'm glad you had such amazing service, too.
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