Trip Report "Dreams Really Can Come True" 6/1/09-6/8/09 - COMPLETED 7/19 - Page 26 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
Love the SWW updates!! MY DS7 really wants to be "trained" this next trip. So, we'll sit in front and jump up and down and yell a lot !! Thanks for the advice.
You had a fantastic day at the Studios. So glad that DS got chosen for the JTA - those pics are awesome! And sorry you missed Jiko, but the Brown Derby is a fine substitute (I've recently decided it's my favorite - for the moment, anyway ). Hope you liked it, too. Can't wait to hear!
__________________
Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Backlot Express mini-review
We went in right after JTA, so it was a little early. (They opened at 11am.) It got crowded pretty quickly, so I was happy that we were there at opening. DH got the double cheeseburger with fries (he was soon going to start mooing from all the beef so far! ) I got the kids Sloppy Joe meal so that one of the boys could have a hot dog, and another kid’s meal with the chicken nuggets. (They only offered sloppy joes and chicken nuggets for kid’s meals! ) The desserts were cheesecake and strawberry parfait, both decent. There’s also a pretty good fixin’s bar.
Impression: It was good fast food. I kind of braced myself when I bit into the sloppy joe, but it was actually okay – it tasted like the ones you make a home. I would eat there again. It was clean and fairly quiet (at that time of day). The best part about the place was the very theming. The kid’s didn’t really get it, so we had to explain. The area where we ate was themed like a break room in the back of a movie studio lot.
Check the time clock!
There was another seating area that looked like a working paint shop, including work tables .
Hollywood Brown Derby review
This restaurant was impressive. It’s definitely old school, none of that feng shui, trendy, hip, bling stuff. Dark woods, recessed lighting, hidden kitchen – a proper steak and potatoes joint. Only the menu shows off its contemporary leanings, with things like Asian noodles, Ahi tuna, and Lobster Corn Bisque. Our server, Angela was the best. I felt like a shlub, wearing sweaty theme park clothes, but the way she treated us, we could have been decked out in Versace. We asked her for her recommendations and she took her time, highlighting the menu items. We were in the mood for farm food, so we bypassed the gourmet stuff and went for the meat.
DH: “Char-Grilled 12 oz. New York Strip Steak with herb-roasted red potatoes, cremini mushrooms, tiny onions and cabernet syrup” It MORE than made up for the steak at Tony’s. It tasted like the grill man (or lady) made it just for him. Good steak flavor went great with the crisp/tender, savory potatoes. With his tall glass of cold Coke to wash it all down, DH had officially hung up the “Do Not Disturb” sign.
Me: Sterling Silver Pork Tenderloin with white cheddar mustard spaetzle, Swiss chard, onion-pomegranate relish and cider jus” The most moist, most tender and flavorful pork that I’ve had since I can remember – and I’ve put some decent time in with “the other white meat”. The spaetzle (like German pasta) was creamy, the relish was tangy and the “juice” was delicious. Excellent. (BTW, before I ordered, I really wanted a Cobb Salad, but I had to stick to the Plan – the DP that is…)
The boys: The Tempura Fish Strips with steamed broccoli. For appetizers: Chicken Noodle Soup and Chopped Salad. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, their meals were very good also.
Desserts: The boys had the “Hidden Treasures” (Make yer own sundae) You can’t go wrong with ice cream and fixin’s.
We took our desserts to go:
...so I couldn’t take any pix. Later, back in our room, I had the Grapefruit Cake. It was all it was supposed to be. Whoever thought about putting grapefruit and cake together was either crazy or a genius. Maybe a crazy genius.
DH got the Flourless Chocolate Cake, but he was too tired and full to do anything but taste it. I ate it later that night without any problems. I really liked the red wine sauce, but it would have been even better with the ice cream that was supposed to come with it.
Overall impression: A very nice place to eat, made extra special with being able to just walk-in. The food was outstanding, worth the 2 TS credits ($125.23 + tip.) The ambiance was classic and upscale without being stuffy. Our server Angela was excellent. We will be eating there again.
It was a nice evening out when we left the HBD, so we just walked around enjoying the scene.
I think we went to go see if we could catch Indiana Jones, but it was closed. We had a little fun with the boys:
“Don’t do it!”
We left DHS in good spirits. Whatever we missed, we would be back tomorrow to experience. (I had purposely planned 2 days here.) We went swimming later in the pool that night. It was nice in the water, but cold out! The kids really liked the water slide – they had never been on one, so that was a perfect intro. It was very convenient to be able to borrow life jackets and towels there.
I went out later to get a pin lanyard. I had been wearing the pins on my pretty straw hat, but after getting rained on for two days, it wasn’t pretty any more . I gave in and got just a plain old black lanyard. I didn’t get the metal medallion – it was just too heavy and expensive. So I improvised instead. I got a Round Mickey keychain and used that. (He’s so cute!) I later got a compliment from a CM who said that she had never thought of using that instead of a jumbo trading medallion. Yay me!
It was a great day and there would be more fun tomorrow! 3 words: TOY STORY MANIA.
What a busy day at DHS. Glad the kids had so much fun doing some SW activities. What great luck that you were able to get into HBD, we have always enjoyed our meals here and the service is amazing. A very nice break on a hot day...and very filling too
Can't wait to hear all about your adventures on TSMM.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
!! Thanks for the advice. 
Liz 
And sorry you missed Jiko, but the Brown Derby is a fine substitute (I've recently decided it's my favorite - for the moment, anyway 
) I got the kids Sloppy Joe meal so that one of the boys could have a hot dog, and another kid’s meal with the chicken nuggets. (They only offered sloppy joes and chicken nuggets for kid’s meals! 
) The desserts were cheesecake and strawberry parfait, both decent. There’s also a pretty good fixin’s bar.
theming. The kid’s didn’t really get it, so we had to explain. The area where we ate was themed like a break room in the back of a movie studio lot.
I felt like a shlub, wearing sweaty theme park clothes, but the way she treated us, we could have been decked out in Versace. 
We asked her for her recommendations and she took her time, highlighting the menu items. We were in the mood for farm food, so we bypassed the gourmet stuff and went for the meat.
)
I really liked the red wine sauce, but it would have been even better with the ice cream that was supposed to come with it.
The kids really liked the water slide – they had never been on one, so that was a perfect intro. It was very convenient to be able to borrow life jackets and towels there.
it wasn’t pretty any more 
. I gave in and got just a plain old black lanyard. I didn’t get the metal medallion – it was just too heavy and expensive. So I improvised instead. I got a Round Mickey keychain and used that. (He’s so cute!) I later got a compliment from a CM who said that she had never thought of using that instead of a jumbo trading medallion. Yay me! 
so much for the review of HBD as both your entrees would interest Luke as nothing I've shown him so far has appealed to him.
PassPorter Guide Author
Linear Mode
