So This is What a Dream Tastes Like - Page 4 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Ahhhhhh...the Grand Mariner Souffle!!!!!!!!!!!! I feel in love with that on our cruise. Wishing that I could get it somewhere around here, but alas, I am sooo out of luck.
Ahhhhhh...the Grand Mariner Souffle!!!!!!!!!!!! I feel in love with that on our cruise. Wishing that I could get it somewhere around here, but alas, I am sooo out of luck.
I t was good. Towards the end it was getting too sweet for me, but that WAS my 4th dessert.
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I started my morning off early again. I don’t sleep much on vacation. I wandered around and took many pictures and then headed off to Cabanas for breakfast. I told them I didn’t needed to be seated because I was taking it to my room. I got a few things on my plate and then decided to stay. I wasn’t sure if mom and Claire were still sleeping and the plan was to let them sleep in. So I asked to be seated and they just told me to grab any table.
I got some basics. Sausage gravy and biscuit, pancake, hash brown and a sausage link and milk to drink. I like pancakes just about anywhere. I don’t like syrup, I just eat them with butter. I thought that this pancake was good, but I have heard of others saying they are awful. I thought it was tasty and it wasn’t hard. The biscuit and gravy was fine, but not great. Nothing compares to Bob Evans Biscuits and gravy though, in my opinion.
The sausage and hash brown were again good. I would’ve liked ketchup though for the hash brown. I didn’t see any. I didn’t look too hard though and never asked.
I think Mom and Claire went up on their own to breakfast and I think they just got basics too. I never asked.
Lunch was at Cookies too BBQ.
We got in line. They were putting plates and silverware on trays. I asked for 2 so I could fill Claire’s plate as well. The girl working was a little slow, but she was working on it. The line moved to the right, but there was a fruit area to my right. This lady standing at the fruit just took the plate off of my tray while I was waiting for the 2nd plate. I looked at her and said…”uh no! that’s my plate and I’m waiting for a 2nd one” and I took it out of her hands. I’m not sure why the heck she did that. She could wait like the rest of us in my opinion. So she then says “well can you hand me a plate then”. Again, I guess she was special and didn’t have to wait. So I reached over and grabbed a plate for her. I’m not sure if we are supposed to grab our own off the stack. After all, the CM’s had been loading each tray themselves. But I just knew if I didn’t get her away from me, I might get a bit rude myself.
As we walked through the line, I just kept lifting my camera and taking random shots. This is back in the cooking area.
And those wonderful cookies!
I guess I didn’t take a picture of our plates….I MIGHT’VE, and if I did it must be on the lost SD card. I can’t remember exactly what we had, but I know mom and I had burgers. Claire had a hotdog. Each of us had a bag of chips. There were several salads to choose from, and I know we tried some of that too. And of course cookies!
There were drink stations outside of Cookies. I went up to get Claire and I a drink. There were no lids for drinks. Not sure if this is the norm, or if they were out. I hate drinks like this with no lids, but we survived. Also there was a kid who just stood in front of all the drinks and took his cup and tried each one. Parents….don’t let your kids do this. It’s annoying for one, because he was in the way for many others who were trying to get drinks, and two…not very sanitary.
After we ate we got some ice cream at another outdoor station. There were a couple of choices there too. I believe there was vanilla or strawberry or a twist of the two. Lemon or vanilla or a twist of the two and I think there was chocolate and a twist of that as well.
Again that same kid was there at the ice cream station. And this time was grosser. He was taking ONE cone and trying each flavor out. I told him this time he needed to step aside so others could get cones, and he did.
Claire got the strawberry, and I think I got the strawberry twist. I think mom had the lemon twist.
I would say this was my least favorite meal of the cruise. The food was very basic, and I didn’t think the burgers were anything great. It was just so-so food. Something to eat, but nothing to rave about.
This time our table was actually way in the back of the restaurant. I could tell that the CM walking us back really didn’t have a clue where though. We saw our guys and they led us the rest of the way!
Isn’t everything on this table so cute.
The Menu
The Wall
Shortly after we were seated Crush came out. Claire was in awe!!!
Claire had decided she would go to the kids club tonight after she was done eating, as long as we would come to get her as soon as we were done. That went out the window when she saw Crush. She didn’t want to miss a minute of him!
The bread was brought and we gobbled it up before I took a picture of it.
The Bread was Herb Foccacia and Ciabatta Bread With a Roasted Garlic Dip. I think this might’ve been my favorite bread of the trip.
Mom ordered her favorite wine, Claire a sprite and I got another Princess Delight. I REALLY liked this drink.
For an appetizer mom and I both ordered the Black Truffle Pasta Purseittes - pasta purse filled with trufflec scented cheese and coated with a delicate champagne sauce.
VERY good!
I also ordered the Wild Mushroom Risotto and Porcini Twist - served with Parmigiano-Reggiano. This was very good as well, but the little bread thing with it wasn’t to my taste.
Claire got the Chicken Noodle Soup.
Claire loves chicken noodle soup. It’s one of her favorite foods (up there with hot dogs). I don’t remember if she liked it or not. It looks like in the picture that she was digging right in, so I assume she did. I do know if it has carrots or celery in it, I have to dig those out, and I don’t remember doing that, but if they are small enough she will eat them.
Claire’s main course was Filet Steak Medallions on a rich Tomato Sauce….minus the tomato sauce.
Mom and I then also got the Baked Potato and Cheddar Cheese Soup with bacon bits and chives. This was good too. Not terrific, blow your mind away good, but still good and I would get it again. The other 2 appetizers were better though.
I had thought about getting the Marinated Angus Beef Tenderloin, but I had had steak every night and knew I would be having steak at least 2 more times at WDW. Brent suggested the Lemon-Thyme Marinated Organic Chicken Breast with sour cream mashed potatoes, roasted root vegetables and grain mustard jus. Mom and I both decided to get that.
I enjoyed this as well and it was a nice change.
Claire had decided for dessert to have ice cream. I think she chose strawberry.
Mom and I got for dessert Cookies and Cream Sundae - vanilla ice cream, chocolate wafer cookies, and whipped cream. And this was heavenly good. I think it had those wonderful chocolate chip cookies in it.
We asked Srdjan and Brent to pose for us, and they were all too happy too.
At the end of the dinner, Crush came back out and led a little chant/song type thing and then acknowledged the celebrations. Back when we had booked the CM asked if we were celebrating anything. I had said that basically all our birthdays. We originally planned to go over Claire’s birthday, but that had changed when Skip had his hip replacement replaced. This was a birthday gift for me, and We also were celebrating Skip’s 50th a few months early. Obviously Skip didn’t come, so it took it down to two celebrations. If I had thought of it when I changed my mom over to the reservation we could’ve added her b-day. Hers is just a few days after Skip.
Anyways…..While this celebration was going on the servers brought out little chocolate mousse cakes to those celebrating, and we got one at our table for Claire and I. We also each got a Birthday button. I took a picture of this, BUT later I was clearing out pictures on my card and accidentally deleted it, along with about 3 others from Animators Palate.
Take my word that it was good. It had a little chocolate birthday banner across the top and I think Claire might’ve snatched that pretty quickly. The mousse cake was really good, but I was so full at that point that we could only each take a bite or too and that was it.
This night I was really uncomfortably full. I think all the food was catching up to me.
A couple of snacks from that day, that I DO not have pictures of.
I bought Claire a strawberry/Raspberry non-alcoholic Daiquiri in a souvenir glass before our show. I also got mom and I a Mango daiquiris in the souvenir glasses. A pink one for mom and Claire and a blue one for myself. They were all very good, but hefty in price. I think after I left a few more dollars for an extra tip (the guy was very helpful), it was close to $40 for the 3 drinks.
Chocolate covered Strawberries. I found these late in the evening when I had run down to guest services. I can’t remember the exact location now, but they were in the District area somewhere. I grabbed 6 for the 3 of us. I ate one when I got back to the room and they were not so good. I don’t know if they were old, or had been sitting out too long, but the actual strawberry part was mushy. My family grew strawberries…for a living…not just a garden thing…and I know what a strawberry is supposed to taste like…and these weren’t even close.
I ate another in the morning to see if that one was any better and it wasn’t. We ended up throwing the rest.
Great meal at AP!
And I wonder if they've changed the celebration cakes!??! I would be so happy if that was the case!! It has been white cake with a strawberry cream filling forEVER, so I would LOVE the chocolate mousse cake instead!
The meal at AP looks wonderful. Sorry about the mushy strawberries, though-- ick! And at those prices, I think I'll skip the specialty drinks! I must really be craving bread lately--even the photo of the empty bread basket has me salivating!
Great updates! You are making me sooo hungry and ready to go on another cruise!
I want to go on another one too. The food is just the icing on the cake. There was so much to do.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcc0313
What a great meal at Animator's Palatte
It was good and a fun meal too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
Great meal at AP!
And I wonder if they've changed the celebration cakes!??! I would be so happy if that was the case!! It has been white cake with a strawberry cream filling forEVER, so I would LOVE the chocolate mousse cake instead!
I have hear that they did make the change recently. Both actually sound good, and O would be happy with either. I happen to REALLY like dessert....maybe thats why I am having problems losing weight!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
The meal at AP looks wonderful. Sorry about the mushy strawberries, though-- ick! And at those prices, I think I'll skip the specialty drinks! I must really be craving bread lately--even the photo of the empty bread basket has me salivating!
I love bread too. Give me bread and dessert and I have had a good meal!
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