Putting a boot into our original Easter plans… COMPLETED 5/3 - Page 20 - 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
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Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
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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.
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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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So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Even with the funky water, the sea is still so peaceful to stare at. Ahhhh......
Well I was going to say it sounded like a good start to dinner with dressing up and a reserved table until I see your teaser. Uh oh!
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Nice to have that flexibility for dinner. Guess they don’t plan on serving more than one group of people per table each night?
Well, each table represents every room they have in the hotel, so pretty much... from what I could see, if there are more people in one room, they just change the table size (i.e. if the room could sleep three and there's only two in there, they'd set the table for two, but if there are three, the table would be set for three). Does that make sense?
Even with the funky water, the sea is still so peaceful to stare at. Ahhhh......
Oh my goodness it was. I worked in a seaside town for many years and I never found the sea that calm there. I guess SIdmouth is a little bit more sheltered?
Quote:
Well I was going to say it sounded like a good start to dinner with dressing up and a reserved table until I see your teaser. Uh oh!
Thankfully dinner was very good, I'll tell you that much...
Well, each table represents every room they have in the hotel, so pretty much... from what I could see, if there are more people in one room, they just change the table size (i.e. if the room could sleep three and there's only two in there, they'd set the table for two, but if there are three, the table would be set for three). Does that make sense?
I guess they don’t expect reservations from anyone not staying in the hotel then?
I would've taken more pictures of that gorgeous view as well! That is a simply stunning area!! Very cool to have that flexibility for dinner and I agree, people just don't bother getting dressed up anymore and I miss it!!
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Love the idea of how the dinner reservations work. Quite a nice system. More hotels should do this but not easy usually as tables can be limited in larger hotels. I wouldn't get tired of that view from your room as so good.
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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!
I guess they don’t expect reservations from anyone not staying in the hotel then?
Certainly not when it's full. Having said that, they did have a price for non-residents, so I guess provided they're not full, you can get a table there.
Just catching up again! What an amazingly big place the Donkey Sanctuary is. I can’t believe how many donkeys they have helped! How great you pretty much had a private tour! Thank goodness you weren’t hurt when you spilled your hot chocolate on yourself. Your hotel in Sidmouth looks great! What a view!
I am impressed with that dining arrangement. And the setting looks lovely. I hope the meal is too. And I am so with you about dressing with respect to the location and occasion.
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Just catching up again! What an amazingly big place the Donkey Sanctuary is. I can’t believe how many donkeys they have helped!
And it's expanding all the time. By the way, I forgot to say that the one we visit only has a few of the donkeys they have in the area. They have other farms that are only available to the public to visit as part of Donkey Week. It's held every year in early May, but usually we have other plans, as it's the week with the only national holiday where the schools are still in, so we always go away and this year is no exception - we're off to Switzerland for a long weekend. One day, I'll go on Donkey Week...
Saturday 31 March – part nine: does that have the word “pear” in it?
Dinner at the hotel is a four course meal, with coffee and mints served in one of the lounges after dinner, but as all of them seemed to be getting loud and busy with the coach trip, we decided to just head straight back to the room. We did share a bottle of White Zinfandel and I was pleasantly surprised at how reasonably priced it was. In fact, if we had paid for the meal, it would’ve been £26 (c. $37) per person.
For appetiser, we both decided to go with the avocado pear and crab salad, although I did have a horrible moment when I realised it had the word “pear” in and thought that it included pear, but no it was referring to the avocado. I will say that the food here came very thick and fast. They obviously wanted to clear the tables as quickly as they could, which surprised me, given that they didn’t have a second seating coming in. The salad literally arrived about two minutes after we ordered it.
For the next course, there were only two choices and I went for the raspberry sorbet, which was lovely (they were a bit worried about the fact it had fruit in it, so I had to reassure them on that )…
… while Mark had the deep fried scampi with lemon and tartare sauce…
For entrée, I had the baked fillet of cod with a parmesan crust and cream sauce, which was very nice. I was concerned that there wouldn’t be enough of the sauce, but it turned out there was.
Mark went for the roast English leg of lamb with rosemary jus mint sauce…
Both came with fine green beans, savoy cabbage and a choice of either onion boulangerie potatoes, which I went for and loved, or parsley new potatoes, which Mark had.
For dessert, Mark had the maple and pecan tart with clotted cream….
… while I went for the selection of sorbets and I had the champagne and orange, both of which were lovely…
All in all, I thought it was a very nice meal and harked back to a previous age where good service and good food really mattered. Mind you, with the clientele they seem to have, I can imagine it’s important to deliver that, as things like that are what the older generation here really care about, which I for one, think is good.
Royal York and Faulkner Hotel Restaurant
Appetiser 9 9
Second course 8½ 7½
Entrée 9 9
Dessert 8½ 9
Service 9 9
Atmopshere 9 9
Average score: 8.79
As the meal is included in with our package, there’s no value for money rating, but honestly if we’d paid out of pocket, I’d have been impressed with what we got for the money.
We literally closed the restaurant down, as we were the last ones in and by the time we left, technically there was still five minutes for any late comers to head down for dinner. I guess everyone eats early here…
The weather today was wet to begin with, but generally dry and cloudy later, albeit cold with temperatures in the high 30s. The best thing today was the Tea in the Paddock event at the Donkey Sanctuary. The worst thing today was how cold it was today, given it’s the end of March. The funniest thing today was little Vijay with the crowds. Today we tried staying at the Royal York and Faulkner Hotel And the result was we really liked it. The most magical moment today was getting some lovely photos of Benji and his friends.
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That is a simply stunning area!! Very cool to have that flexibility for dinner and I agree, people just don't bother getting dressed up anymore and I miss it!! 
Quite a nice system. More hotels should do this but not easy usually as tables can be limited in larger hotels. I wouldn't get tired of that view from your room as so good.
I'd say you had a fabulous day overall!! 
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