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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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all your food pictures. Just thankful I had already had a big dinner before reading this update. You have made me a little sad though as we're skipping WDW in October this year to make our first ever trip to DLR. I know we'll love it, but I really do love the F&WF.
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.
I think I'm caught up. I've always loved eating around the world during the F&WF. You are right if you share you can cover a lot of the countries. It's always good to take a break to recoup and head back out again especially in the heat you're describing. BTW how was the escargot? It looked different from what I remembered. I admit you made me hungry so I'm munching on cookies and having a mug of hot chocolate. I'd trade that heat anytime for the cold we have now. Great TR. Can't wait to read more.
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I didn't realize there are now so many booths! 37?? Too bad you ended with a not-so-wonderful taste, but there was a lot of good stuff. I'm so sad that Off Kilter isn't there any more. I loved their shows and you're right-- the lumberjacks may be very nice guys, but they're not kilt-worthy. Bring back Jamie!
all your food pictures. Just thankful I had already had a big dinner before reading this update. You have made me a little sad though as we're skipping WDW in October this year to make our first ever trip to DLR. I know we'll love it, but I really do love the F&WF.
Sorry, Cam. But you will love DLR! That is one of the things i miss about LA - we'd go pretty regularly when we lived there. I still think it is better than MK. And the way they do Fantasmic!? Awesome!
Quote:
Originally Posted by shadowryter
I think I'm caught up. I've always loved eating around the world during the F&WF. You are right if you share you can cover a lot of the countries. It's always good to take a break to recoup and head back out again especially in the heat you're describing. BTW how was the escargot? It looked different from what I remembered. I admit you made me hungry so I'm munching on cookies and having a mug of hot chocolate. I'd trade that heat anytime for the cold we have now. Great TR. Can't wait to read more.
Sharing was the only way to go. And splitting it up into 3 legs. If we'd had Park Hoppers I would have gone daily for all our meals!
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
Oh wow, great food porn! It all looked so good, including the yummy drinks!
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There was a lot of beer offered, and while I like some beer, there is a lot I do not like. But they also had a lot of wine and then some liquor-based offerings. I enjoyed every one of my frozen drinks. I could go for the limoncello and tequila one now. (Or maybe in a few hours since it's only 7:20 am)
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
I didn't realize there are now so many booths! 37?? Too bad you ended with a not-so-wonderful taste, but there was a lot of good stuff. I'm so sad that Off Kilter isn't there any more. I loved their shows and you're right-- the lumberjacks may be very nice guys, but they're not kilt-worthy. Bring back Jamie!
There was a lot of good. Don't know if we got lucky in timing at some booths (as I liked some things others panned), or if we just tend to like most things?
Oh, how I wish Off Kilter would come back!! Based on how popular they are, I do wonder if they asked to end their run?
Oh, how I wish Off Kilter would come back!! Based on how popular they are, I do wonder if they asked to end their run?
I'm pretty sure it was Disney who decided not to renew their contract at the same time as many other live entertainment changes at Epcot. During their final day of performances some mild digs at Disney, such as "If you can chop wood, you can get a job at Disney" were made from the stage. The offkilter.net site hasn't been updated since 2010!
Your food pics are wonderful and your descriptions sure make me want to try most of stuff! Sorry about the Greek cheesy thing.. It looked good. I am definitely putting the F&W festival on my list for next year. We are already committed to too much this year, but it looks amazing!
What a great afternoon at Epvot with some great eats and drinks!
Really there was just one thing each day - the pineapple wine day one, and the Greek cheese day two - that wasn't something I liked.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tara O'Hara
Your food pics are wonderful and your descriptions sure make me want to try most of stuff! Sorry about the Greek cheesy thing.. It looked good. I am definitely putting the F&W festival on my list for next year. We are already committed to too much this year, but it looks amazing!
Tara
That's the fun of the event, trying as much as you can. We had a number of things I may not have otherwise come across. I love experiencing cultures through food.
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.
We did a split stay this trip, although all at Port Orleans. First part as you may recall was at POFQ, and after 2 nights there we moved over to POR. We’d never stayed in the Riverside section; I still actually think of it as Dixie Landings! So, when we finished up at Epcot, we were anxious to check out our new digs. We’d had our luggage transferred when we left the resort that morning, so it was only a matter of finding out our room number. We were happy to be moving, as our second room had one king bed instead of 2 doubles (or are they queens?).
View from right outside our room.
We really enjoyed POR, and both commented that there was something about it that made it feel more like a DVC resort. Not sure what it was, maybe the grounds, and all the various activities? We said once our kids were on their own, we’d suggest they stay there if they wanted to get that DVC feel (until they can afford to buy their own points – we’ll be using ours and won’t be sharing! )
We had dinner at Boatrights (which we didn’t really love, but it was the only place we could get an ADR, and we wanted something close as it was raining by then). After dinner we did some shopping at the gift shop, and then went back to watch TV and relax. The previous few days had caught up to us – guess we’re not as young as we used to be when we’d open and close a park every day!
Our last full day was devoted to MK (as you recall, we had the DVC ticket that only allowed 1 park per day. We’d only been able to go from AK to Epcot the previous day because we also bought a one day ticket to Epcot to enjoy more F&WF, since that was the main purpose of the trip). We got there bright and early – walking up just as the train pulled in to Main Street Station with Mickey & his friends to welcome us.
I don’t know that I have much of a recollection of what we did, aside for those rides I have pictures from! So, here are some pictures that will at least show you some of the rides we enjoyed:
None of my pictures from inside the new SDMT turned out – they were too blurry. So of course then I wished I’d just ridden and experienced it fully rather than trying to take pictures. It was a lot of fun – very smooth, but too short!
A note about the holiday version of the Jungle Cruise – we rode it last year when we were there for Christmas, and weren’t all that wowed by the holiday additions. This year it seemed they went all out, and I thought it was much better. Of course, I love all the punny lines on this ride, and we had an exceptionally good CM guiding us on our cruise.
I know we had lunch at Casey’s at some point (hello corndog nuggets!), and then we found a good spot to watch the new parade, which I was so excited to see for myself! Again, we were able to get a great spot in the wheelchair section. While we waited, I was kind of appalled at the number of people trying to sneak into the wheelchair section. They all acted as though they had no idea – even though we saw each of them step over the rope that was blocking the section off. You’d think the fact that everyone there had someone in a wheelchair in their group would have tipped them off. The CM’s were fairly good about catching them and asking them to move. But worse, were the ones who seemed disgusted by the request to move elsewhere, and save space for other wheelchairs. I actually sat on the ground right in front of my DH to take up the least amount of space in the section.
LOL! I ate before this one too! That's ok< I'm making notes for our November trip..we will hit the last week. I will definitely look for some of the things you mentioned (though not the lamb meatball as I don't care for lamb, but I'm sure DH will take one for the team! )
I love POR…even more than FQ though that is not a popular statement. We loved Alligator Bay the best. Out there in the 'woods' very quiet and secluded. Or it could be that was our very first visit to WDW is what makes it close to my heart!
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I was unfortunately hit with a tummy bug the night before we went to F&WF, but I did try the meatball. It was so good. I also tried my friends escargot tart. It was a different style than the first time my DD tried it there and she fell in love with it. They were simply served in a brioche bun with all that yummy butter and garlic. So good (to her...my brain said it was good, but my stomach was like "oh no she didn't!!"). I was really looking forward to the amazing lobster roll we had in America that same year, but alas, it was no longer available...
I've stayed at POR twice and really enjoyed it! I've heard several people say that the SDMT is too short... that's a bummer. I guess they didn't have enough space there to make it longer?
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all your food pictures. Just thankful I had already had a big dinner before reading this update. You have made me a little sad 
though as we're skipping WDW in October this year to make our first ever trip to DLR. I know we'll love it, but I really do love the F&WF.
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Lots of MK fun! 
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