PassPorter Podcast: Episode 76: Dining at Disney with Kids - 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
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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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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PassPorter Podcast: Episode 76: Dining at Disney with Kids
PassPorter Moms Podcast: Disney & Beyond Episode 76: Dining at Disney with Kids - (06-29-2011 11:00 AM)
Podcast Description: Join Jennifer and Sara as they discuss this week's news, announce celebrations and contest winners, and learn more about children's dining options at Walt Disney World from Disney Food Blog owner AJ Wolfe.
Special Guest: AJ has been a Disney parks fan since her first trip to Disney World as a wee one. Now she can’t ever decide between Disneyland and Disney World, and luckily lives in Texas, equidistant between her two favorite places. Her focus on Disney food started during a trip while in graduate school, when she was more excited about choosing restaurants than choosing rides. Today, she owns, writes, and edits the Disney Food Blog, which covers Disney food news and offers information and reviews on all things Disney food.
Loved this episode! I totally agree that Disney is a great place to try new things! The Disney Magic was the first place I had a Caesar Salad. Before that the anchovies in the dressing grossed me out.
Thanks for answering my question about Toyko Dining and Illuminations. Per your suggestion, I changed my rez to an earlier time (30 min lol) so we can eat then go outside and enjoy the show.
As for sites that list kid's menus, wdwinfo.com also lists updated WDW menus with the children's menu. I did a random check and there are at least 3 that didn't have the kid's menu available: Kouzzina, Shula's Steakhouse, and Paradiso 37. There may be more, but it was just a random check.
Have a great holiday weekend!
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Picky eater help
I loved this episode, as usual You reminded me of a neat thing I learned several years ago while visiting WDW. My son has been a picky eater since the age of 3, and it's changed very little now that he's 13. On one of our annual trips, we were at Pinocchio's Village Haus. They must not have had chicken nuggets on the menu (the only thing he wanted). I asked the CM if there was any place close by that I could get him some. She whipped out a 3-ring binder that listed all of the restaurants in the MK! She quickly looked through and told me several places I could go.
Another neat thing happened at Liberty Tree Tavern. We had avoided going here because of the picky eater. I finally threw my hands up and said that he could just eat bread, and we'd get him something later; this was when they still had the characters there. Our wonderful server did not charge us for his meal. We only had to pay for his drink. What a nice thing to do!
Lastly, in November we visited La Hacienda for a wonderful meal. However, the kids didn't like anything on their menu. I asked the server about nachos, and she got them from the counter service restaurant. So all 4 of us left happy
Jennifer and Sara, I love to listen to your podcasts! In this week's podcast, you mentioned what to do for picky eaters who are no longer considered Disney kids (10 and over). We've had to deal with this issue with my 13 year old daughter, Clara, for the last few years as she is SUPER picky. Buffets are never a problem since she can eat from the kids' section although we must pay the adult price for her. Our servers at the Hoop Dee Doo were also wonderful, bringing out mac & cheese for Clara even though it wasn't on the menu.
Table-service restaurants present a problem. For the first two years that Clara was 10 and over, my youngest, Sara, who is the total opposite and eats everything and bigger portions too LOL, was still under 10. So we would order a child's menu item for Clara and an adult menu item for Sara. The only time that was a problem was in Le Cellier - I should have just ordered the two meals and switched them myself. But when I told our server what I was going to do, she looked at me like I was making some kind of horrible violation of policy LOL
When Sara hit 10 for our most recent trip, I had to ask for help if there was nothing on the adult menu that Clara would eat. Sometimes they were able to offer the kids' menu items at an adult price (I think the Whispering Canyon added $10 to the price of a kid's mac & cheese plate) and sometimes they would just charge us the regular kid price. Sometimes they will "fix up" a dish on the adult menu to suit her taste - a chicken/pasta dish became a plain pasta dish.
We had lots of positive experiences on our trip with servers really being very flexible and offering great choices for her....until we got to La Hacienda. After having so many helpful servers, it felt very odd to be at WDW and told "no", we could not let her order from the kids' menu. Perhaps this is b/c many of the WS restaurants are not fully owned by Disney? Obviously, though, our server had experience with this type of situation. She explained that she could not put in a kids item for her at all (b/c she would "get in trouble") but she offered making a meal out of some of the appetizer choices by making some tweaks - like ordering the Queso Fundido (which had melted cheese and torillas) without the peppers and chorizo so that Clara could make her own quesadillas.
So until Clara decides to try some new foods (in retrospect, I wish I'd done as you did, Jennifer, with Allie LOL), I know that she won't starve but I do have a little pre-meal indigestion as we try to come up with a solution for each restaurant
Really it is very interesting. It’s a Fairy Tale come true when you visit Disney World. With Princess themed attractions, as well as opportunities to meet these enchanting ladies, you’ll soon feel like royalty.Any child who has ever dreamed of being part of a pirate adventure will enjoy this Treasure Hunt.