The trip of many changes... TRIP REPORT UPDATED 2/25 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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How neat to come across Mary Poppins with no long line! A bit of magic! We are returning to The Plaza on our May trip as we realized it had been a while since we've eaten here. Can't wait to read your update on your dining here.
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What a nice character meet you had with Mary Poppins and quite a surprise! Nice photos of the windows along Main Street as I enjoy those. Hope you had a good meal at The Plaza and looking forward to hearing about it!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
How neat to come across Mary Poppins with no long line! A bit of magic! We are returning to The Plaza on our May trip as we realized it had been a while since we've eaten here. Can't wait to read your update on your dining here.
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.
Friday 12 January – part six: something in the corner of my eye…
We were soon called into the Plaza…
M first order was for a mint choc chip milkshake. Honestly, the fact these are refillable make them amazing value for $9. I didn’t go for a refill, as there was too much first time around, which tells you something. This is what arrived and in the cup there was even more mixture!
I opted for the vegetable burger served on a Kaiser roll with lettuce, tomato and onion and I got American cheese, grilled mushrooms and grilled onions. They were listed with “or” in between them on the menu, but as far as I was concerned, they all needed to be together!
Mark had the honey-barbecued beef brisket burger served on a Kaiser roll with bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion and provolone and look what turned up!
As we were eating, I became aware out of the corner of my eye of someone outside and something made me look. I realised almost instantly it was Ginger and gestured at her to come inside, as there was room where I was sitting for her to come and join me. She came to the main doors and I went there to explain who she was and they let her in, no problems! It was so wonderful to finally meet her and I’m so glad it all worked out, given the problems we’d had with the American cell phone.
We chatted away throughout the remainder of the meal, well as best we could, given we were eating. She is so lovely and I’m so glad we were able to meet her.
Once we were done, we looked at the dessert menu, but couldn’t stomach anything else, so we paid up and headed out. I had really enjoyed the Plaza. It’s good food, good value and great milkshakes, just far too small, that’s why it’s so hard to get a reservation here. In that respect, it reminded me of Beaches and Cream.
Plaza Restaurant
Entrée 9 8½
Service 8 8
Atmosphere 8½ 8
Value for money 9 9
Average score: 8.50
We’d seen earlier that Stitch’s Great Escape had been converted into a Stitch character meet and greet experience, so we headed there next. We waited maybe 10 minutes, although Stitch had to head out just before we got to him. We had a great time with him.
Then we headed out through the exit. What the heck? Oh my goodness, we saw what we assume was the additional queuing area for this ride, which presumably was never needed. There was so much of it! We did wonder where we were going, as there seemed to be different ways out, but they eventually all lead to the same place. Our photographer, who’d photographed us earlier at the castle and then recognised Mark, was also heading out. Now she’d been miserable both times, but now she was full of the joys of spring. Maybe she just needed a break?
We stopped to get some Photopass pictures done…
We then got stopped by the Move It, Shake It, Dance and Play It! street party. We waited ages for Donald to turn around, but finally got him. Honestly, we were screaming “Donald” and that darned duck ignored us. We caught some duck butt, as it was the “shake a tail feather” bit of the routine, which was quite funny!
Catching up a bit here...
How nice to have such a short line to meet up with Mary Poppins! We saw her on our one MK day, and went around to get in line, but they were just pulling a rope across the entrance.
Lunch at the Plaza looked delicious! And how fun to meet up with Ginger!
Your meal looked great, I love Disney milkshakes, we will have to add the Plaza to our list of places to try. I am one of the very few that use to like Stitches Great Escape oh well Disney always has to change things up.
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.
Can you believe I've had to cancel Plaza maybe 3 or 4 times and have yet to actually eat there?! I'm determined to eat there on the next trip, whenever that is! In Disney terms, that is indeed a good deal for $9 on that milkshake, if one could eat more than one glassful!
So glad you saw Ginger and could spend some time with her.
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Tanya
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How great that you came across Mary Poppins like that with no one around!!! I think I've only seen her in Epcot at Great Britain. Sounds like you had a wonderful lunch with Ginger at The Plaza. You were able to get some nice PP pictures by the castle too!
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.
Another bottomless milkshake option? I don’t know that I could ever do a second on those - maybe if I wasn’t eating anything else? Shakes also tend to make me really thirsty for water. The rest of lunch looked delicious!
Duck butt always makes me laugh, and think of Cam’s Stefanie.
Catching up a bit here...
How nice to have such a short line to meet up with Mary Poppins! We saw her on our one MK day, and went around to get in line, but they were just pulling a rope across the entrance.
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Your meal looked great, I love Disney milkshakes, we will have to add the Plaza to our list of places to try. I am one of the very few that use to like Stitches Great Escape oh well Disney always has to change things up.
They do - and I think you summed it up when you said you were one of the few. I can't remember the last time I went on it. It was a nice idea, but for me, when Stitch used to jump on you and the shoulder restraints came down, it was really painful, so I avoided it.
Can you believe I've had to cancel Plaza maybe 3 or 4 times and have yet to actually eat there?! I'm determined to eat there on the next trip, whenever that is!
That sounds like us with Trail's End. That's happened so many times to us there and we've never eaten there as a result.
Quote:
In Disney terms, that is indeed a good deal for $9 on that milkshake, if one could eat more than one glassful!
So glad you saw Ginger and could spend some time with her.
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Nice photos of the windows along Main Street as I enjoy those. Hope you had a good meal at The Plaza and looking forward to hearing about it! 
PassPorter Guide Author
It was so wonderful to finally meet her 
and I’m so glad it all worked out, given the problems we’d had with the American cell phone. 
Liz 
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