Dreaming of a Disney spring break - part three COMPLETED - Page 11 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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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
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Moving on with the current of the years.
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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.
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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.
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Just a thought - but maybe some of you who liked the idea of the tour should e-mail Disney and enquire about it? It might encourage them to re-introduce it...
I just added this on my to do list right next to the tour - I was thinking of doing the tour on my next visit, guess not!
What a shame that Disney have cancelled this tour. It sounds like you had a great time. Another great example of excellent customer service from Disney too.
We walked up to the hub and here we saw Walt in action, picking up trash. He later told us that it’s every Cast Member’s job to clear up trash anywhere they see it, regardless of who they are in the company, something I never knew.
I had read this in "Creating the Magic". Basically it said there are 45,000 janitors employed at WDW. No, not all are actually janitors, but it is everyone's job to pick up trash if they see it.
Sad that they cancelled the tour so soon as it sounded wonderful...and I feel like they just came out with it. I agree I think Mickey needs some better marketing in this area.
Glad to hear that they straightened out the whole cost issue, how great that you got a complete refund but there definitely is a communication issue problem if they had you down on a tour that was cancelled even though the tour was actually still going on.
Finally all caught up with this third installment of your trip. As usual, excellent pictures and commentary. Sorry the California Grill's service was bad but your meal looked wonderful. Please continue.
That is sad that is was canceled, but I know Disney listens to its guest, so we should send e-mails. Glad you were able to get the cost straightened out on your credit card.
Ah, I'm so sad to hear that they cancelled the tour but I'm so glad to have gotten to "go along" with you on yours . Can't wait for your next update!!!
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Monday 18 April – part three: the best pizza... ever!
We had got an ADR at Mama Melrose’s for 12.25pm, but we didn’t even finish the tour until 12.30pm back at Epcot, so I figured we’d get something to eat there instead. I tried calling WDW-DINE. Oh my goodness.... with online booking, I haven’t tried calling them since they introduced the new system. You cannot speak to a human being, no matter what you try. I gave up and when we cleared bag check, I went to guest relations. With the new system, they can now only book about an hour ahead for you, which is a real pain. We got a booking for Via Napoli for 2pm in the hope of getting in there early when we got there.
We set off and found a very short line for Stitch, so saw him.
The line for Spaceship Earth was showing 30 minutes and was insane.
We walked through World Showcase Plaza and headed for World Showcase. I asked Mark if he wanted to go on Test Track. That and Soarin’ were both showing huge waits, but he wasn’t interested in either.
I wasn’t going to let him off Maelstrom though, so we did that and it was fun as always, although we skipped the film, as we just don’t think that it does Norway justice. :
We carried on into China, where we found a Photopass photographer who got some shot of us. I was thinking “great, finally, they’ve put someone in here” but no such luck, as she was here for Mulan, who was due out shortly. Why can’t they put more Photopass photographers into World Showcase, so that you could get a photo in each country?
We went inside the Temple of Heaven and had a look at the Terracotta Warriors display.
Then it was into the shop. I tried on a T-shirt, but I didn’t like the way it was cut, as it cut into my neck. I saw something else I liked, but they didn’t have it in my size. All too often, that’s the story here.
We walked around to Italy and asked at Via Napoli if we could be seated before 2.00pm. We weren’t holding out much hope, as it was 1.30pm and there were lots of people already waiting, but we were told that we could sit within a few minutes and literally two minutes later, we were taken to our window table with a great view.
First they brought out some bread and olive oil:
Mark got a sangria....
... while I got some strawberry water:
I had such a hard job deciding what to get here, but eventually I went for mozzarella caprese, the mozzarella and tomato to see if it was any better than Palo. It was a little better, but it was still lacking salt. I’m sorry, but mozzarella is usually a bit salty and I don’t know how Disney is managing to take that away, but it doesn’t do much for me without the salt. Maybe it’s a healthy eating thing with Disney?
Mark had the Arancini, fried risotto balls filled with mozzarella and meat ragu and he was a bit disappointed by the little amount of meat in them.
For entree, we both went for pizza, as I had heard so many good things about their pizzas. Those comments were not wrong. : I had the funghi with Portobello and crimini mushrooms and it was truly amazing, the best I’ve ever tasted.
Mark gave a similar verdict on his create your own pizza. We were both very impressed with this place.
We were just as impressed with Gaby (male), our server who was very good and looked after us very well. It’s now a relief every time I get to say that, as it’s not happened often this trip, sadly.
Via Napoli
Appetiser 9 9½
Entree 10 9
Service 9 9
Atmosphere 9 9
Value for money 8½ 8
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This TR every time you come to a meal review I sort of hold my breath waiting for either the food or service-- or both!-- to fail. It's great that you got another one with good marks for both! I was considering cancelling my first meal at VN based on Heather's review, but now I'm thinking I'll give it a try.
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It sounds like you had a great time. Another great example of excellent customer service from Disney too. 
. Can't wait for your next update!!!
PassPorter Guide Author
We got a booking for Via Napoli for 2pm in the hope of getting in there early when we got there. 
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