Florida flowers and Caribbean cruising - the trip report! THIS SECTION COMPLETED 4/12 - Page 46 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
Lunch was a real treat. Judy and I visit this restaurant almost everytime we go to MK. I was glad that she and you shared Eeyore and we didn't have an issue. I say that knowing how you both feel about the donkey. I have been too busy to hardly even look at our pix from this trip. We did four 2 week trips to WDW over the past year so we have a lot of pix to go thru. Not sure how I am going to put a report together.
What a great day at the MK - love how much you could get done with the early hours. I was showing Jasmine the crane shots you took....she loved your close up ones, she said well I always wondered what they were doing up there
Glad you and Mark enjoyed the 7DMT, I agree with those lap bars, the first time I just pulled it down fast not realizing how fast they went down....so through the whole ride I wondered how long I could go without breathing....LOL
We learned from that experience and bring the lap bar down much slower now and kind of lean down a bit this way it locks when it is not that tight.
You got such great shots of the parade, I loved it so much. The past few years I have to admit I have not been much of a parade goer. Not since they removed Spectro (as that was my favorite). We got to see it last summer and then again this February and loved it both times. Just so colorful and so much energy.
I love the interaction at CP (as we always do breakfast so Jasmine can have her Eyeore time) but I agree...we always end up waiting and waiting once we are there and we always get in just as the characters go by and it is quite a wait sometimes before they come around again.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Lunch was a real treat. Judy and I visit this restaurant almost everytime we go to MK. I was glad that she and you shared Eeyore and we didn't have an issue. I say that knowing how you both feel about the donkey.
I can always share Eeyore with a fellow donkey lover!
Quote:
I have been too busy to hardly even look at our pix from this trip. We did four 2 week trips to WDW over the past year so we have a lot of pix to go thru. Not sure how I am going to put a report together.
Wow, you will have a lot of pictures! I'm still trying to upload highlights from this trip to Facebook and it's taking me forever to go through everything I took....
What a great day at the MK - love how much you could get done with the early hours. I was showing Jasmine the crane shots you took....she loved your close up ones, she said well I always wondered what they were doing up there
Credit where credit's due - some of the close-up shots were Mark's and I can't honestly remember whose was whose now out of the ones I posted, but I'd hate for him not to get any credit.
Quote:
Glad you and Mark enjoyed the 7DMT, I agree with those lap bars, the first time I just pulled it down fast not realizing how fast they went down....so through the whole ride I wondered how long I could go without breathing....LOL
Saturday 21 February – part twelve: a drink with the runners!
Eventually, it was time to get ready, as we were due up to the Top of the World lounge by 6:00pm to meet Amy (Amy L) and her husband, but we found them and Kim (kadterp) in the lobby. The system for getting up to the Top of the World has changed again. Rather than waiting for a Cast Member at the north elevators (I think I got that right ), you now go to the lobby to check in, and they scan your MagicBand, confirm you’re a Member, and then they take you up there.
When we got up there, we stood there transfixed by the sight of people still in the pool. It wasn’t that cold, but it was certainly way too cold for me to consider swimming.
We then had fun and games getting in, as Amy was touching her MagicBand on the pad by the door, which seemed logical enough to me, but nothing was happening. Then her husband said “maybe we just open it” and that was right. Isn’t that always the way?
There was literally one other group of about four people in there, and that was it. It was so lovely to pretty much have the place to ourselves.
I got a Bay Lake Sunset cocktail, although I couldn’t tell you what was in it, as I forgot to photograph the drinks menu. In fact, I actually had two, as the Cast Member offered me a second one, and I figured it would be rude to say no.
I headed out to get some final photos of the beautiful sunset…
…. and then for the next hour and a half, we just sat and chatted away like old friends, even though we’d never met before today. I honestly do not know where the time went, as the next thing we knew, it was 7:20pm and our dinner reservation was rapidly approaching!
We settled up the check, saving $4.30 with the Tables in Wonderland card, and said our farewells to Amy, Peter and Kim, wishing them the best for the race in the morning.
We made our way over to the California Grill, and by the time we got there, we were about 10 minutes late, but they didn’t seem fussed, and we were checked in with no issue at all.
We ended up being seated right by the outdoor walkway where you can view Wishes from, and we were nowhere the window. At first, I thought this wouldn’t be a good table, but because you’re at the back, you could people watch and see what was going in the rest of the restaurant.
Mark happened to say that it was our anniversary when we checked in downstairs, a little white lie, as that was in November, but heck, Disney loves to celebrate, and look what was waiting for us!
Now I will say neither of us was overly hungry. I think we’d been so hungry early on that we’d over eaten at the Crystal Palace, and now we weren’t in the mood for a three course meal, but heck, we’ll give it our best shot.
I told Mark there was no way we were doing our usual and sharing sushi and a flatbread, as I just couldn’t face a flatbread, so we both went for sushi as our appetiser. Mark stuck to the traditional dish we usually share, the spicy kazan roll, made up of crab, shrimp, scallops, tuna and fireball sauce.
I had the California combination roll, made up of jumbo lump crab, avocado, cucumber and shrimp tempura, and if I’m honest, I found it a little heavier than their sushi usually is. Not what I needed when I was already half full…
For entrée, I had the shellfish mole, cold water lobster tail, bay scallops, gulf white shrimp, sweet potatoes, and cilantro-lime rice. This was not a good choice for me, as it was very rich, and while I ate the lobster (and it was absolutely perfect), the shrimp somehow did not taste good after that. I think they were just a little too richly flavoured maybe. And I’m ashamed to say I forgot all about the scallops until I wrote the trip report just now and I don’t recall seeing any. Needless to say, I didn’t make much of an indentation in the dish…
Mark had the bison striploin, with extra virgin olive oil potatoes, baby Brussels sprouts, cherrywood bacon, and dried cherry demi-glace.
With that, Mark was out, as he couldn’t face dessert, and I have to say I hate what they’ve done to the dessert menu here. It’s the same complaint as our last couple of visits here, as they’re trying to make it playful and fun, but it doesn’t work for us. I liked the sound of the sundae sampler, until I saw they were Frangelico toffee, reverse root beer float, and banana split. I’m still a traditionalist when it comes to desserts, so I ended up opting for the chef’s selection cheese board.
Tonight, they were offered barely buzzed (a unique espresso and lavender hand-rubbed cheese made from the pasteurized milk of Jersey cows), Moses Sleeper by Jasper Hill Farm (made from pasteurized cows’ milk, a bloomy rind cheese), Cremont (named for the “cream of Vermont, a pasteurized mixed-milk cheese, combining fresh cows’ and goats’ milk and a hint of Vermont cream), Mitica Sardo (a semi hard pasteurized sheep’s milk cheese from Sardinia, and production of it dates back to the 1700s) and Echo Mountain Blue Cheese (made from pasteurized sustainable raw cow and goats’ milk).
I have to say a word here about Tammy, our server. She was fantastic, following in a long line of amazing servers, but what we found most remarkable about her was that she’d only been here a few months, having moved from ‘Ohana. Now I’m sorry, I’m not being snobby here, but wow, what a move up in the world! From a buffet to having an extensive, and ever-changing menu. Fair play to her, and she did a superb job, despite the fact she hadn’t been here long. Even though she was busy, she took the time to talk to us, and if our water ever slipped below the half mark, she was immediately there to fill it up for us again. She’s an excellent addition to the team here.
We explained when we arrived that we knew about the pacing of meals, and that she shouldn’t worry about pacing ours for the fireworks, given they were at 10:00pm. She did say we were welcome to come back, but we explained about the jetlag and that we could watch Wishes from our room, and she expedited our meal, and we were done by about 9:20pm.
We asked Tammy to take a photo of us before we left, and it came out really well:
California Grill
Appetiser 8 9
Entrée 8 9
Dessert 8½ N/A
Service 10 9½
Atmosphere 9 9
Value for money 9 9
Average score: 8.91
Next: I didn’t know I’d be able to see that from here!
That's happened to me more than once - planned a nice meal then arrive not hungry enough to really do it justice. It seems you persevered though
I had the Sundae Sampler in October - it was adorably presented. DH had your cheeseboard. Heaven for both.
And so great you got a semi-private Top Of The World experience - what a nice relaxing evening.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
__________________
Don't let your heart be filled with sorrow, for all you know, tomorrow, the dream that you wish will come true.
I was hoping they'd give up on the silly desserts. Flying Fish was doing that, too, on my last visit. They try to make the food look like something else, all at the expense of flavor and real food styling.
What a lovely end to your day! It's always fun to meet passporters and I agree that most times, it's like talking to old friends. The Top of the World looks so cool and how fun to have it to yourselves!! Your dinner looked fabulous and I'm sorry you weren't completely up to it, but it was still nice to taste a bit of everything! That being said, we are eating at CG in July and I must remember not to order the lobster dish. I am not a fan of super strong sauce either. The cheese board looks delicious!!
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
PassPorter Guide Author
I'm still trying to upload highlights from this trip to Facebook and it's taking me forever to go through everything I took....
In fact, I actually had two, as the Cast Member offered me a second one, and I figured it would be rude to say no. 
And I’m ashamed to say I forgot all about the scallops until I wrote the trip report just now 
and I don’t recall seeing any. Needless to say, I didn’t make much of an indentation in the dish… 
She’s an excellent addition to the team here. 
Linear Mode
