the EIGHTEEN years, TEARS, CHEERS & Hurricane FEARS TR - Page 6 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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The wait seemed to take a long time, especially since our first two TS ADR’s we were seated within a couple minutes! The kids were starving!! When they FINALLY buzzed us, we were seated in the furthest booth from the door, and I thought we’d never get there! Ok so it’s not like the place is THAT big, but it was still pretty crowded and like walking through a maze to get to our booth. I liked the open kitchen, but found the noise level to be really annoying. (Again, Karen’s hearing problem rears its ugly head!)
Being a booth, there are the typical “looks” between us (you know the ones that say “don’t think I’m sliding in cuz I’m NOT” and “Yeah, I know, you’re not sliding in!”) as Alica Jeff and Evan slide in, while Corey and I wait for our “outside” spots! The waitress FINALLY comes over to say hello and ask for our drink order. I wanted to try the Mocha Slide - Spoodles version of an original. Delicious blend of Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur and Skyy Vodka infused with Espresso Coffee Bean and blended with ice cream But given the last ingrediant (didn't think ice cream would be a good idea) I opted for the Blue Spoodle - blend of Stoli Razz, blue curacao, blackberry brandy, peach schnapps, and pina colada. Apparantly I DIDN'T READ the last ingrediant on this one, because I am NOT a pina colada fan! OH WELL! We ordered a couple of appetizers too!
Mediterranean Dips - with toasted pita and marinated olives
Four Cheese Flatbread - with roasted garlic puree and sage
Alicia had the Margherita Flatbread - with vine-ripened tomatoes, basil, fresh mozzarella cheese and balsamic vinegar reduction and a greek salad for her dinner.
Corey had pork chops, Evan had pasta, Jeff had the fish special.
I had Tomato-Buffalo Mozzarella Panzanella - with oak-grilled focaccia, basil vinaigrette, and fresh pesto. The waitress must have thought I was nuts because she said TWICE "that is just a salad appetizer ma’am." YES I KNOW!! It’s what I want! I wasn’t feeling very hungry!! (Bad Tummy!)
I did try the dips, which were delish but VERY small in size!! Everything else was rather disappointing! There is a Greek/Italian restaurant/pizzaria near me that I would go to 100 times over Spoodles any time. There was nothing BAD about it, but there was nothing special either. The wait staff was busy when we were first seated, but it was slowing down as we got there (late dinner – our ressie was 7:50 and we were seated around 8:20) and we seemed to be ignored by our waitress. PLUS BIG HEADS UP No more lamb! It was taken off the menu apparently in July. No biggie for me (I hate lamb) but my boys were looking forward to having it! Our waitress spent A LOT of time SITTING DOWN at other people’s tables chatting with them! Hmm… strange. Also the kids asked for refills on drinks and had to ask several times before they were brought out. I think we were being ignored! It's interesting because at the first two places we ate I didn't tell them until AFTER the check came that we had DDE (automatic 18% gratuity). Here I told them UP FRONT (after finding out that was the proper way to do it). INTERESTING! Maybe KNOWING she was going to get an AUTOMATIC tip made her not care how she treated us!!
After our meals, there was a shared gelato, but no one really seemed interested in dessert. Over all I think we just wanted to be done.
Review: I didn’t like my drink – MY own fault, I should have been more careful in my reading. I let everyone try a sip and the kids thought it tasted like blue raspberry freeze pops. Jeff didn’t care for it, but he doesn’t typically like tooty-fruity drinks. Over all, the reviews from my family for this restaurant were average. It was an ok meal. The food itself wasn’t bad, it was JUST AVERAGE Nothing really bad about it, but nothing special either. Doesn’t make me want to rush back to Spoodles anytime soon. For me personally, I think my expectations were set REALLY HIGH because of all the great reviews the restaurant has received here. It just didn’t live up to it for me. At the end of the trip, this was the only restaurant Jeff commented on that he would not want to eat at again. Didn't think it lived up to any of the other places! Again, not bad, but just not worth the $$ or time we spent there.
After dinner we had a nice stroll back to the hotel. No one seemed interested in MK EMH, which was a good thing! I reminded everyone that "we have an EARLY morning tomorrow" and that we should be heading to bed at a REASONABLE hour! Of course what do MY kids consider reasonable when they have to get up at 6am?
Did that happen? Up next… our first EARLY morning in Disney…
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Sorry to hear about the rude people! That's too bad about Spoodles -- maybe they were having an off night in there -- I guess sometimes, the staff kinda busy and don't pay attention like they should...
Sorry you didn't have such a great meal at Spoodles. I find it really annoying that they insist on automatically charging the gratuities under the DDE. They really need to remind their servers that just because they will automatically be getting their tip, they still need to provide exceptional service.
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I'm convinced it was US, not the fact that it was busy! Maybe because they were told about the DDE first? I don't know. But the waitress had PLENTY of time to SIT DOWN at other tables and CHAT with the patrons who were sitting at regular table/chairs!! Maybe because she couldn't SIT with us she couldn't be bothered?? Whatever. It was just one meal. And the worst has yet to come...
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to hear Spoodles didn't live up to your expectations. I know what you mean....it's like going to see the blockbuster hit that everyone is raving about, but when you see it you're kind of like, "That's it??" I wouldn't have liked that drink either. I like coconut, but not in a drink Can't wait to hear how your first early morning goes
Sorry that you did not enjoy your meal that much at Spoodles. I think there are always those off nights that every place must experience which is why you get such different reviews...but I am glad that your group enjoyed the nice leisurely walk to the Boardwalk and the entertainment...
Can't wait to hear about how the gang handled the "early morning wake up"....
Ok in preparation for my next installment, I was downloading Corey's pictures from AK. He didn't take any other pictures all week.. Kinda mad since he as the expensive camera and was the "official trip photographer" (spent extra money of stuff for his camera etc...). Anyway in explaination: I asked him to get some room pix, but thought he didn't. I was wrong! Look a beautiful picture of my room at the beach club:
There was a night when I could hear a lot of jumping around in the boys room. When I asked what they were doing, Corey told me he was trying out the rapid shutter on his camera. And apparantly he got some more beautiful room pix for me:
Bathroom that is!!
And for the GRAND FINALE:
Ok now back to your regularly scheduled programming...
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(Again, Karen’s hearing problem rears its ugly head!) 
The waitress FINALLY comes over to say hello and ask for our drink order. I wanted to try the Mocha Slide - Spoodles version of an original. Delicious blend of Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur and Skyy Vodka infused with Espresso Coffee Bean and blended with ice cream But given the last ingrediant (didn't think ice cream would be a good idea) I opted for the Blue Spoodle - blend of Stoli Razz, blue curacao, blackberry brandy, peach schnapps, and pina colada. Apparantly I DIDN'T READ the last ingrediant on this one, because I am NOT a pina colada fan! OH WELL! We ordered a couple of appetizers too! 
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to hear Spoodles didn't live up to your expectations. I know what you mean....it's like going to see the blockbuster hit that everyone is raving about, but when you see it you're kind of like, "That's it??" I wouldn't have liked that drink either. I like coconut, but not in a drink 
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