From no trip to celebrating 20 years together… planning it all in less than 100 days! UPDATED 6/30 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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I'm loving all your F&GF photos because they are getting me so excited about our own F&GF experiences. We'll be in Epcot in 6 days.
It's coming around really quickly now - I hope you have a wonderful time there and I'll look forward to seeing your photos from the Festival when you get back!
Tuesday 28 February – part eleven: will we get a waterfront table?
We went to check in for our Rose and Crown reservation, and met the rudest couple in front of us, who magically couldn’t speak any English, when he left the queue. We assumed he’d given up, but his wife couldn’t carry two beers from the neighbouring stand, and instead of saying something before he left, he just barged back in. Amazingly, they didn’t seem to speak any English, until it came to checking in for their dinner, and then they could. Thankfully karma bit them, as they were told (very politely) to go away, as they were trying to check in for their ADR at 7:50pm, which was more than an hour away.
When we got there, we enquired very nicely about availability for a waterfront table, said we were prepared to wait, and that we’d love to see IllumiNations from there. I figured given we were British as well, if anyone was going to get a favour, it would potentially be a Brit…
We were given a buzzer, and headed off to explore the shops…
However, we didn’t get very far, as literally a couple of minutes later, as our buzzer went off. I figured that was it, we were out of luck, and we wouldn’t have a waterfront table. However, I was very wrong. We were escorted to one!
I did ask if we could stay for IllumiNations, or whether they’d be pushing us out, given it was only 7:00pm, and the Cast Member told us they couldn’t move us, although quite rightly, she did say if we were going to do that, could we order an extra round, which was fair enough.
Secretly, this has been on my Disney bucket list for some time, so I was really excited to finally get a waterfront table.
We quickly found Annie from Liverpool, our server, who was an absolute gem, and really looked after us well. I had to confess my allergies, as I wanted to try the English Rose cocktail, which came with apricot brandy, which I couldn’t have. I then had the chef, Joe, out to speak to us. He was from Chicago, which we weren’t expecting. We thought he’d be British too. Annie later told us the head chef is British, which made me feel better. After all, if he wasn’t, it would hardly be that representative of our home.
He went through all my allergies with the dishes I was thinking of having, and I thought we were sorted, more of that in a moment.
Anyway, I got the English Rose cocktail, which is made up of Beefeater Gin, (not apricot) brandy, sweet vermouth, pineapple juice, orange juice, and cranberry juice. It was very sweet, just how I like it, but dangerous, as at points you couldn’t taste the alcohol. Mark went for a shandy, and of course here, he didn’t need to explain what that was… As you can see from this photo, I spent a long time talking to Joe about my allergies – look how much Mark had already drunk of his!
For appetiser, Mark had the scotch egg, golden fried hard boiled cage free egg wrapped in sausage with mustard sauce. I joked when I photographed it that it was like having two eyes looking at me!
Now here’s where mine got a bit silly, and this is why I often don’t declare my allergies. I knew I wouldn’t be getting any fruit accompaniments to go with my cheese, which is fair enough, but nothing turned up at first, apart from the cheese. I’m sorry, there’s got to be something. They started to talk about a reason why I couldn’t have the crackers, and I told them I was having the crackers, as that was just crazy. If not, I’d have a bread roll, but I wanted something else. Finally the crackers did appear…
Now don’t get me wrong. Disney does an amazing job with allergies and cross contamination, but I’m not that bad. It doesn’t matter if there’s a hint, I won’t regret, which is why I don’t like to get dragged into having to declare my allergies, as I prefer to make my own mind up, based on what I see on the menu, if that makes sense? I do appreciate if you have a severe allergy, Disney are amazing at accommodating those.
For entrée, Mark had the grilled New York strip steak and fried fish with loaded Yorkshire pudding, seasonal vegetables and Jameson Irish whiskey-peppercorn sauce. We did joke that New York strip steak is hardly a British dish, and I know Mark was a bit concerned about the idea of adding fried fish to it. It did sound a bit weird, but he said it did go together very well, and the fried fish was very light, which was good.
However, this is what turned up for me. It was the pan roasted Scottish salmon with colcannon potatoes (I asked for these to be left off, as they contain bacon and they subbed in these potatoes), green beans, and a citrus-herb butter. Again I didn’t get the butter because of the allergy issue and it desperately needed it…
Frankly if you’re thinking it didn’t look appealing, that was the same thought process going through my head as well. It looked dry and overcooked, but I thought give them the benefit of the doubt, I will try it. Oh my goodness, it was just appallingly overcooked. I know I had discussed with Joe that I didn’t like pink bits in my salmon, but this had gone far too much the other way. I called over Annie, and she said she’d get it re-cooked.
At least I had these to keep me going – naked Yorkies as we ended up calling them! I didn’t want the loaded version, as it came with more potato in it, and given my dish already had potatoes, I thought that would be too much. Anyway, naked Yorkies gave Annie and Joe quite the good laugh!
When my dish eventually came back out, it looked a lot better, and tasted much better – thankfully!
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How cool that you got a waterfront table at Rose and Crown!! Dinner looks very good and I must say your second version looks way better than the first!!
Well of course the Brits get the good table. I can't believe you haven't sat there yet for Illuminations!
What a difference in the second plate for dinner, wow! Good thing you sent the first one back.
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Congrats on scoring a waterfront table! It must be frustrating to have Disney go overboard on protecting you from allergens, when you know best what you can and can't handle.
How cool that you got a waterfront table at Rose and Crown!! Dinner looks very good and I must say your second version looks way better than the first!!
Congrats on scoring a waterfront table! It must be frustrating to have Disney go overboard on protecting you from allergens, when you know best what you can and can't handle.
It is and that's why I often don't mention them, as I know how to manage them. I understand it from Disney's point of view, don't get me wrong, and they have to protect themselves, but sometimes it does just go a bit far.
Nice score with the waterfront table! Looks like a good meal for the most part with the exception of your first salmon.
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
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his wife couldn’t carry two beers from the neighbouring stand, and instead of saying something before he left, he just barged back in. Amazingly, they didn’t seem to speak any English, until it came to checking in for their dinner, and then they could. 
Thankfully karma bit them, as they were told (very politely) to go away, as they were trying to check in for their ADR at 7:50pm, which was more than an hour away. 
I’m sorry, there’s got to be something. They started to talk about a reason why I couldn’t have the crackers, and I told them I was having the crackers, as that was just crazy. If not, I’d have a bread roll, but I wanted something else. Finally the crackers did appear… 
It looked dry and overcooked, but I thought give them the benefit of the doubt, I will try it. Oh my goodness, it was just appallingly overcooked. I know I had discussed with Joe that I didn’t like pink bits in my salmon, but this had gone far too much the other way. I called over Annie, and she said she’d get it re-cooked. 
I think you could market that name!
Looks like a good meal for the most part with the exception of your first salmon.
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