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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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Okay I admit it. We're THAT family-the family that goes to WDW every September because we love free dining. There-I said it--we love a good discount. okay we NEED a good discount! Yep, we're a family of 5 & free dining saves us a ton-plus thanks to the WDW free dining promo we've had just about every character meal in the World. So here's the problem: I have no clue where to start with looking for restaurants at Universal. There seems to be a lack of "character" meals, and that's fine but I need some suggestions. Please tell me we're not gonna be living on amusement park hot dogs, chicken nuggets & pizza the whole trip!
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I think Universal does have a "meal deal" ticket that you can buy. But the parks don't really have restaurants like the Disney parks do. I can only remember seeing one or two "sit down" eateries at each park. (The rest were more like Harbor House, etc) We ate fish & chips at Three Broomsticks ...it was good, but the meal ran us $50 and that was just for lunch!! So we waited till we left the park for dinner.
Look at this page on the Univerasal website for some idea.
When I traveled with my sister and stayed onsite, we ate counterservice during the day in the parks and hit a different restaurant in CityWalk each night.
When I travelled with my family, we stayed offsite and had a car, so we chose to eat at offsite restaurants and at our hotel after the parks.
we had an amazing meal at the italian restaraunt at the Portofino. Now it was not cheap, but the amounts are huge! My husband and I split and entree with no added charge and my kids loved their kids meals. My DD was 13 at the time and they even let her order off the kids menu.
There really is no cheap dinning at universal. I cashed in some points from a CC and got hard rock cafe gift certificates which worked out well. So that meal was free too. If you have any specific questions let me know. I was there in August.
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When on vacation, we like to try places we haven't eaten before and being near Destin & Pensacola, so many of the eateries at City Walk are within an hour drive of us since our area caters to tourists. But that Italian restuarant at Portofino's sounds tempting. We did do the Pirates Dinner Theater last spring, which is just minutes from Universal. DS got to be in the show and it was fun. While the food wasn't wonderful, it wasn't bad either. Food was served out like they do at Dixie Stampede.
Most of the restaurants at Universal are located in the resorts or in CityWalk. Emeril's Tchoup Chop is very good and we also loved Mamma Della's Ristorante at Portofino Bay. Bubba Gump's at CityWalk was surprisingly good as was the Hard Rock!
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Several have already suggested City Walk for dining. In our experience, it's far superior to the restaurants in the parks. IOA has one nice restaurant, called Mythos. Other than that, it's fast food, and I don't really like it. The Meal Deal is not a good idea. It's only good for a couple of restaurants in each park, and when we were there, in the middle of JUNE, one of the biggest quick service places on the Universal side closed at 4:00 pm...and they didn't serve breakfast...just lunch and then closed. I had a hard time believing it!
On the other hand, City Walk has several nice options for food...Margaritaville, Bubba Gump's, Hard Rock Cafe, NASCAR Cafe, and even an Emeril's for really fine dining. You need a reservation for Emeril's, but not for any of the others.
We loved Bubba Gump's, Margaritaville and the Hard Rock. We ate at the Panda Express as well which was in a building that housed a few different quick service places. Universal was limited on the sit down places but where we did eat was fantastic.
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We just got back from Universal. Since you're used to "free dining" you'll be in a bit of sticker shock. We ate at Emeril's Tchoup Chop.... the meal wasn't as good as what I can get back here at home and ran us $175....for 2 adults and an 11 yr. old! I was so disappointed in the meal, in fact we all were, but the restaurant was beautiful. We ate at Mythos and again, for the price, we were not happy. My panini sandwich bread was so tough it loosened my crown! So I got a sad sandwich and a dental trip out of that meal. I'm honestly not sure what restaurant I would happily suggest someone trying at the parks. We did eat at Finnegan's (Universal Studios) and I had a very good Rueben at a fair price and I've heard Lombardi's is good but can't verify that. If you stay at the Royal Pacific, I'd suggest trying Jake's. My steak there was perfect, the salads were large and delicious, and it was the only restaurant I'd go back to there. But they're all pricey. There's only one restaurant at Royal Pacific that truly offered breakfast, but we felt that laying out $65-70 for breakfast for 3 of us a bit excessive and their food didn't warrant the price tag. I guess, if you're going to Universal, the best suggestion I can give is to get ready to bite the bullet on dining costs and pick eateries that fit your budget and tastes. There's tons to choose from at City Walk, just not much dining offerings (sit-down) at the parks. And there's an IHOP just minutes from the parks....lots of food at a good price.
We ate at lombardi's at least once everyday when there. It is a bit pricey but we were full and snacked the rest of the time at the parks. My son has many food allergies and they had no problem making special food for him with no prior notice. Worth the price-about the same as Disney if not a little cheaper but it's been a couple of years.
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So we waited till we left the park for dinner.
Angie
Disney - 9.2012
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