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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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It's not as crazy trying to get the ressies, but you should make them. Case in point, we ate at Cafe Orleans on Sunday, December 6, which is a slow time. They were only accepting PS, no walk-ins. We also had ressies for Wine Country Trattoria (DCA) on Monday, when it rained all day (ALL DAY!). So, the patio wasn't open, thus reducing the number of walk-ups they could take. While we were there, they also seated a large pre-arranged party in one of the 2 inside rooms, therefore taking up even more room.
So, if it's somewhere sit-down and you want to eat there, make ressies to be safe. If you want to try it, but don't want to tie yourself down to a timetable, then you may have a shot (except Blue Bayou), but be prepared to have a looooooong wait or potentially not getting in at all.
Boy oh boy, now that is a hard question to answer. As DopeyGirl pointed out, BB is a great place to eat as is NR. As one who visits the resort on minimum of once a month and usually stay for the weekend either on property or a local motel, we have eaten at every sit-down there is to be had in the resort. These include the ones in each park, those in DTD and all 3 hotels. The price range is from $ to $$$, with Napa Rose being the only real $$$ on property. We have eaten at most if not all of the local restaurants and like those on property the most.
To get an idea of the menus and pricing of these fine eaterys, go to Deb's web site Deb's Unofficial Walt Disney World Vacation Information Guide - WDW Planning Guide - Walt Disney World (she had a section for Disneyland as well)and spend a few monents glancing at what they have to offer. Garden Walk, just east of the DLR (a 10 minute walk) has several very fine restaurants as well, Bubba Gump Shrimp Company and P. F. Changs China Bistro.
Where ever you decide to eat we hope you have a grand time and enjoy the meals.
If you aren't keen on the price of Blue Bayou (yes, the ambiance is killer, but we usually skip it with the young kids), you can get their world-famous Monte Cristo sandwiches at Cafe Orleans which was a new discovery for us on our last trip. They have a great French Onion soup, too!
Other "standards" for us are:
- Goofy's Kitchen (best character assortment of the character meals)
- Wine Country Trattoria in DCA (sit down restaurant at slighty above counter service prices)
We are looking forward to trying the Carnation Cafe on our next trip - in all these years of going, we've never tried that one and it looked like a nice little sidewalk cafe.
If you aren't keen on the price of Blue Bayou (yes, the ambiance is killer, but we usually skip it with the young kids), you can get their world-famous Monte Cristo sandwiches at Cafe Orleans which was a new discovery for us on our last trip. They have a great French Onion soup, too!
Other "standards" for us are:
- Goofy's Kitchen (best character assortment of the character meals)
- Wine Country Trattoria in DCA (sit down restaurant at slighty above counter service prices)
We are looking forward to trying the Carnation Cafe on our next trip - in all these years of going, we've never tried that one and it looked like a nice little sidewalk cafe.
Oh Heather, talking about Cafe Orleans, you forgot to mention thier Mickey shaped Beignets. They serve 5 at a time and the wife and I have fun over the 5th one until I cut it in half and tell her to take which half she likes. LOL.
As for Carnation Cafe, we've been eating breakfast there for so long, the CM's know us by name. When you go, ask for BOB. He is, we think, the best server they have. Go early.
On our last trip, we ate at Carnation Cafe for dinner one night (right at parade time. ) and then a couple of mornings later for breakfast. Both meals were pretty tasty!
If you aren't keen on the price of Blue Bayou (yes, the ambiance is killer, but we usually skip it with the young kids), you can get their world-famous Monte Cristo sandwiches at Cafe Orleans which was a new discovery for us on our last trip. They have a great French Onion soup, too!
I second the motion on Cafe Orleans for both the Monte Cristo and the French Onion soup! So yummy! We enjoy Storytellers Cafe (the Corn Chowder is delicious) as well as Goofy's Kitchen (kiddos love it and the food is nice). We did breakfast at River Belle Terrace a couple months ago and the boys inhaled their pancakes, always a raving endorsement , I did not eat so I cannot say more.
I also never leave the parks without at least one Dole Whip and a Mickey Bar!
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Oh Heather, talking about Cafe Orleans, you forgot to mention thier Mickey shaped Beignets. They serve 5 at a time and the wife and I have fun over the 5th one until I cut it in half and tell her to take which half she likes. LOL.
As for Carnation Cafe, we've been eating breakfast there for so long, the CM's know us by name. When you go, ask for BOB. He is, we think, the best server they have. Go early.
The only problem with the Beignets at Cafe Orleans is that you have to do a sit down for breakfast, which takes prime time out of touring the parks when crowds are down. We ended up getting the regular ones from Ralph Brennen's in DTD on our last morning and were completely satisfied! I'd love to try the Mickey ones, but unless you can make a PS for before park opening (highly doubtful, but you never know), or they offer them at a walk-up, we'll probably never take the time to do it...
The only problem with the Beignets at Cafe Orleans is that you have to do a sit down for breakfast, which takes prime time out of touring the parks when crowds are down. We ended up getting the regular ones from Ralph Brennen's in DTD on our last morning and were completely satisfied! I'd love to try the Mickey ones, but unless you can make a PS for before park opening (highly doubtful, but you never know), or they offer them at a walk-up, we'll probably never take the time to do it...
We actually had them for dessert. I don't believe Cafe Orleans is open for breakfast. We thought they were better than the ones at Ralph Brennan's. Not sure if it was the shape of the beignet or not !
The only problem with the Beignets at Cafe Orleans is that you have to do a sit down for breakfast, which takes prime time out of touring the parks when crowds are down. We ended up getting the regular ones from Ralph Brennen's in DTD on our last morning and were completely satisfied! I'd love to try the Mickey ones, but unless you can make a PS for before park opening (highly doubtful, but you never know), or they offer them at a walk-up, we'll probably never take the time to do it...
We've only gotten then at Cafe Orleans at dinner time. Never did breakfast there.
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I don't believe Cafe Orleans is open for breakfast.
It is . . . but only seasonally.
I still have never had a beignet in my life. I have been to New Orleans (I stood right next to Cafe du Monde but thought the line was way too long to wait) AND Ralph Brennan's and never had them. It's blasphemous, I know.
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, I did not eat so I cannot say more.
Waiting to eat with Goofy - DLR May 2010
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