Trip Report "Dreams Really Can Come True" 6/1/09-6/8/09 - COMPLETED 7/19 - Page 17 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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Sounds like everyone is having fun. I tried Tony's once and never felt a need to return, but after your review of the scampi, I may rethink that! And this picture...
Quote:
Originally Posted by goofyboysmama
so precious! Glad you were able to keep ahead of the crowds at the MK. You got a lot done! Can't wait for more!
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
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Wow, what a great day at MK! With the crowds and the heat I can't believe what incredible wait times you had. You really lucked out! Can't wait to hear what you thought of Chef Mickey's!
Wow, what a great day at MK! With the crowds and the heat I can't believe what incredible wait times you had. You really lucked out! Can't wait to hear what you thought of Chef Mickey's!
I know! It got to be a joke between us. There was definitely a crowd - I've been watching the videos to make sure it wasn't my imagination. DH thinks it was because we timed it right with school still in session up north. I think maybe we just hit the rides at the right time or something. I could try to attribute our luck to the touring plans, but we were really just hit and miss with those. Whatever it was, we were spoiled! I don't think I can ever schedule a trip to DW during "normal" crowd times.
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What a great day at MK!! And I too LOVE those cinnamon rolls !! What great luck you guys had for the rides and for being in the right place at the right time for the shows/parades. I can't wait to see the Move It...stree party. My boys are little dancin' machines. Sometimes you need the "seasoned mama" to get out there and get the party started!! And what a great idea! I've never E-bay'd before, but maybe I should look there to get the boys started with pins. Thanks.
My 4 yo tripped so many times on our "trip" (hee hee, sorry) that I almost ran out of bandaids. Tripped over on on the first day of our stay and every time we went back to the Poly he'd scold the rock "Bad rock" and shake his finger at it. But, you are right...bandaids make it all better.
My 4 yo tripped so many times on our "trip" (hee hee, sorry) that I almost ran out of bandaids. Tripped over on on the first day of our stay and every time we went back to the Poly he'd scold the rock "Bad rock" and shake his finger at it. But, you are right...bandaids make it all better.
Lovin' this report...keep it coming!
I kept trying to lighten my bag for the park, but just couldn't leave the bandaids. Glad they worked for you too!
so cool – a towel birthday cake! There was also a photopass and an autographed picture of Mickey.
We had time to decompress and freshen up for about 45min. Our ADR was at 7:40pm, and we had to catch the bus to MK, then the monorail to Contemporary. Of course, this would be the time that we had a long wait for a MK bus! We must have just missed the last one. We made it in time, after some confusion on where to get on the monorail for the Contemporary, but it was all good. We were checked in by 7:40 (nothing was said about the 15 min prior thing). We were offered the photo op with Mickey, but it didn’t make sense to me to take a pic with a statue of Mickey, when we would be meeting the dude in a few minutes!
We were seated shortly, our server was Claudette. I didn’t even have to look back at the receipt to remember her name, she was awesome!
Chef Mickey’s “Review”:
Okay, I can’t honestly call this a review - I am so ashamed that I don’t remember everything I had to eat! The moment we sat down, our server Claudette was there, explaining how things worked. I was trying to listen carefully, but Goofy was 2 tables away! (Yeah, we saw him earlier, but he’s a rock star!) I remember something about “salad bar”, “spice-rubbed something”, “dessert bar” and “kids can eat whatever they want”. We were hungry, but Goofy was getting close and I had to get my camera ready. Sigh. For some reason, I didn’t have it on flash, it was on a weird night setting, so we didn’t get very good pics . (The ones posted here are fiddled with.) We had already gotten his autograph.
I fixed the boys their plates, with just little bits because I knew it would just be wasted. There is a kids section that had pizza (really good! ), nuggets, and mac n cheese – no surprise. I remember the actual buffet not being very big (long), but it had good things to offer. I started with the salad bar. It had different sorts of prepared salads on it, along with standard salad bar type stuff, including cocktail shrimp. I purposely looked to see if it was clean. (According to other reviews, some had found the buffet “messed over” by kids.) It was very clean – there was even a CM that I saw making sure the dessert bar was in order. I tried a little bit of many things and I can say that it was all pretty tasty. I specifically remember the scalloped potatoes, which were yummy and tasted fresh and homemade, not like from a “box”. The meat offerings were standard buffet fare. The online menus say prime rib, but I don’t think it was prime rib that night. There was also ham and both were okay, obviously not particularly memorable. I remember DH commenting on how surprised he was that everything was “so good.” There are veggies, but the boys were just too excited to eat right.
The place is geared for one-on-one character interaction. While we were there (about an hour), the Fab Five came by us 3 times. I was starting to feel kinda weird, like we were there too long, but Claudette reassured us and encouraged us to relax and have a good time. She purposely brought both the boys birthday cupcakes with a candle, even though only DS4 was wearing his pin. She timed it so that when the napkin-waving song came on, the cupcakes were lit and the boys got special attention from the characters. (They probably do that for all the birthday kids, but we felt special ) We ended up doing the napkin dance twice while we were there.
Titus still talks about the kiss he got "right on my forehead!"
I didn’t think I ate that much, but when I came to dessert, I was kind of full. But you know me, ever the trooper, I had to sample the dessert bar. It had mini-desserts, like cheesecake and key-lime pie. There was also a chocolate one that was good. Was there a mini-fruit tart? I think so. There were also cookies and actually bananas for a healthy touch. There is also the obligatory soft-serve ice-cream machine. (Again, looking for a mess, I didn’t find one.)
Overall impression: Chef Mickey’s has a decent buffet, albeit expensive ($108.59 +$20 tip). Being on the DDP, we felt it was worth it because of the personal character interaction and good food. We got the rest of the Fab Five autographs here, saving us time in line in the parks. It’s loud, but it’s supposed to be. Don’t go for a romantic night out! It was clean and, for us, had outstanding service. We will go back, maybe for breakfast next time. We had a blast!
(no room for Pluto pic- sorry!)
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