The trip of many changes... TRIP REPORT UPDATED 4/25 - Page 47 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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That must have been quite the sight with the ECV on the ramp! At least no damage! Nice score with the sushi at Cabana's and I'm sure you enjoyed it. Funny with the napkin at dinner! Always love the small touches like this.
That is not fair leaving us in suspense with your dinner! I want to know that item you're looking forward to! You're taking after Tara!
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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!
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That must have been quite the sight with the ECV on the ramp! At least no damage! Nice score with the sushi at Cabana's and I'm sure you enjoyed it. Funny with the napkin at dinner! Always love the small touches like this.
Oh me too, it's just so Disney isn't it?
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That is not fair leaving us in suspense with your dinner! I want to know that item you're looking forward to! You're taking after Tara!
Friday 19 January – part seven: the menu item we all came to try…
Tonight it was ourselves, Julia and Mark and Mark and Barbara. Brian and Maisie, who’d been on our excursion earlier, were nowhere to be seen and Mark and Barbara said they’d seen them heading off the boat as they came back an hour or so ago, so I guess they went into Aruba for dinner? Apparently they didn’t turn up last night as well, so Mark and Barbara were on their own. I felt bad for a moment, but at least we had explained where we were going. Just disappearing and leaving people for two nights without warning is a bit out of order, for me anyway…
For appetiser, I went for the lightly breaded baked eggplant filled with sweet ricotta and mozzarella, served on Toscano sauce and drizzled with aged balsamic, which was very nice.
However, my interest was piqued by Mark’s dish (not mine) when the marinated tiger shrimp turned up with celery hearts and remoulade. It looked very nice, so I asked if I could add that in and a plate appeared, as if by magic. Now on this note, other Mark had asked what the tiger shrimp were marinated in and Henri couldn’t answer at all, which really shocked us.
Mark had the prawns as well, but also had the aged prosciutto served with sun-dried tomatoes, parmesan cheese and roasted garlic.
Now the one item we all came for, with the exception of Barbara, who had something else, was the oven-baked lobster tail with sun-dried tomato, lemon pesto mash and roasted asparagus and this was good.
It also put Henri to work on each lobster, getting it out for us. Some of us tried to start on it, but figured he’d be quicker, plus he might as well work. Poor old Maibel, who all of us had fallen in love with by now, as she is lovely and tries so hard, unlike the others, did somehow manage to drown Julia’s lobster in butter, which she was so apologetic for – bless her.
The other motley member of our serving team, Geoffrey, arrived and started to tell jokes. He was behind us and they were just so bad. I don’t remember what he was saying now, but it was so cringe worthy. He just needed to shut up. Other Mark said our faces were pictures, as we were trying so hard to laugh – not at his jokes, but at how creepy he was being.
I went for two desserts, as I wanted to try and raspberry vanilla crème brulee with lemon madeleines. Oh my goodness, what a disappointment. It was just a vanilla crème brulee with some raspberries inserted into it. I was about halfway through before I found any taste of raspberry. Not what I was hoping for at all.
Then Mark and I both had the captain’s table sundae, made up of mint chocolate chip ice cream topped with chocolate sauce, whipped cream and crunchy meringue, which is probably the best ice cream sundae I’ve had on board.
We both decided that this was probably the best meal we’d had so far on board. As for tomorrow night, it’s the second night at Animator’s Palate – the one where you design your own characters and frankly we don’t have an artistic bone in our bodies. Ok, not entirely true, as I can create photo books, but drawing? That made our mind up that we wouldn’t be coming. We knew Julia and Mark were already going to Cabana’s and we arranged to meet them and Barbara and Mark were also talking about going somewhere else, so they may end up with an empty table on the final night…
Oh and we also discovered Julia and Mark are doing express walk-off, as their flight is at 9:45am! Wow, and we thought ours was early! Ok that makes me feel a little better…
Your food looks really nice and I am glad that you both enjoyed it!! I am so sorry about your waitstaff. Tonight, it sounds like too little too late. That can truly make or break your dinner experience even if the food is meh.
I have to chuckle at the asparagus. OK, I realize lobster is the star of the show, but it looks silly with only the lone vegetable there... they could have put like 3 or 4 on the plate!
Bummer the creme brulee wasn't any better. Good choice to back it up with a second dessert. So smart!
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Your meal this night looked absolutely delightful! I would have enjoyed any of your choices. The mint chocolate chip sundae is my favorite! With the exception of Maibel, it certainly sounds like your servers were not very tip worthy.
Your food looks really nice and I am glad that you both enjoyed it!! I am so sorry about your waitstaff. Tonight, it sounds like too little too late.
Definitely!
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That can truly make or break your dinner experience even if the food is meh.
You are so right. It is so sad to say this, given this is Disney and they're renowned for customer service, but we've only had one really standout serving pair and that was on our Eastern Med cruise in 2014 and we still talk now about how fantastic they were. Up until that point, we'd never experienced truly amazing service and, now having been through that experience, it makes us even sadder when our servers don't come up to their standards, as we know how much difference an amazing service team can make to a cruise.
I have to chuckle at the asparagus. OK, I realize lobster is the star of the show, but it looks silly with only the lone vegetable there... they could have put like 3 or 4 on the plate!
Maybe they didn't get their delivery of asparagus? In fairness to Disney, I spot two - one on top of the other.
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Bummer the creme brulee wasn't any better. Good choice to back it up with a second dessert. So smart!
That is one of the things I love most about cruising - you can try more than one thing if you want to and you don't get charged extra.
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Your meal this night looked absolutely delightful! I would have enjoyed any of your choices. The mint chocolate chip sundae is my favorite! With the exception of Maibel, it certainly sounds like your servers were not very tip worthy.
Not really, although we didn't do anything about it in the end. They were Ok, just nothing special. The only time we've removed tips from a server is because they've been truly appalling.
What a nice meal and I'd love every bit of that from the tiger shrimp, the lobster (which looks amazing) and of course the desserts. Probably a good idea to go to Cabana's on your final night. I did the drawing part at AP and managed, but just deal with it. I remember the meal being good as all were on my Magic cruise. Too bad you can't get another ADR for Palo!
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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!
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Yeah! You got to see The Last Jedi! 
At least no damage! 
Nice score with the sushi at Cabana's and I'm sure you enjoyed it. Funny with the napkin at dinner! 
I want to know that item you're looking forward to! 
You're taking after Tara! 
Wow, and we thought ours was early! Ok that makes me feel a little better… 
Tonight, it sounds like too little too late. That can truly make or break your dinner experience even if the food is meh.
The mint chocolate chip sundae is my favorite! With the exception of Maibel, it certainly sounds like your servers were not very tip worthy.
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