A 40th celebration to end the world! THREAD 1 COMPLETED 2/16 - Page 78 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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Glad CA Grill was so good. Your scallops looked fantastic. And, I would like to try Mark's dessert next time. The Disney Parks Blog had some pics of new food they will be serving when they reopen - hopefully it won't change too much.
Just a few comments...
As always, great review! Your smile is contagious which makes me smile like an idiot while staring at the computer! So glad no one is in the same room as me!
Happy belated 40th Bday! I too, turned the big 4-0 this past year (September) and I really wish my B-day was as eventful as yours! DH was gone (works in Africa) so it was just me and the kiddo's.... and my personal pity party.
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Looks like a fab evening at the California Grill. It is one of my favorites but we haven't been since 2002.
Wow! Definitely time for a return visit...
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The shops in the contemporary used to be the best on property for me but I was disappointed in them last July. I started my Mickey and Minnie collection there and they always seemed to have different things to anywhere else but not anymore.
I've always enjoyed the selection there and their Disneyland shirt was certainly different...
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My plan is to do as you did and keep my receipts and see if the plan would have saved us money. I think because we buy food from Publix, snack in the room and do light meals in the room TIW will work out for us but nice to see someone saving money on the plan.
I think you're probably right - it sounds like Tables in Wonderland is probably the way to go for you....
Your food looks so good! I'm still disapointed that California Grill will be closed during our visit in May Guess we'll just have to return to Disney soon so I'll finally get to try this restaurant out!
You've never been? I didn't realise that. If our visits ever overlap to WDW in the future, we'll have to go with you....
Love the pics of the Castle all lit up now you have me wondering about our plan not to hit Cali. Grill this trip We missed it last year when boat between resorts broke down and ended up picinicing on beach of campground. Want so bad to show my DW your pics but once she see's shopping venue I'll be doing that for 2 days
I say go for it - I doubt you'll regret it...
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Have to agree with you as to meal plans. If you take the time to make them work for you not only will you eat at places you have considered too pricey for oop but you'll experience some of the best places WDW has to offer. I tend to be a lot more adventurous than Lucille where food is concerned so I will try things I normally wouldn't and where better than WDW to that
Mmmmm.... a great meal at CG! I ate there earlier that night, and also had a great meal, but I had great service as well. The service issue is what bothers me about the long closure for the renovations. I'd assume that the servers and kitchen staff will all need to find other jobs during this period and I'm afraid that some of the long-time (and very good) servers there will have moved on by the time they re-open. It's one thing to just re-open with a new decor, it's another to train a mostly-new staff all at once!
That's a very good point. Our server told us that they'd be finding out in the next couple of days after our meal there what they'd be doing while the restaurant was closed. We were speculating on that over dinner, saying you could hardly stick them on a quick service place for six months, so it will be interesting to see where they go. Hopefully a lot of the old favourites will return when it reopens.
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Glad CA Grill was so good. Your scallops looked fantastic. And, I would like to try Mark's dessert next time. The Disney Parks Blog had some pics of new food they will be serving when they reopen - hopefully it won't change too much.
Oooh interesting - just found that and it looks intriguing. Not sure about some of the sushi offerings, but I love sushi, so I'll give them a go. Shame there's no further detail on non-meat dishes....
Just a few comments...
As always, great review! Your smile is contagious which makes me smile like an idiot while staring at the computer! So glad no one is in the same room as me!
I love the fact that you smile when reading that - that's so good to hear!
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Happy belated 40th Bday! I too, turned the big 4-0 this past year (September) and I really wish my B-day was as eventful as yours! DH was gone (works in Africa) so it was just me and the kiddo's.... and my personal pity party.
Sorry you didn't have a great day - I hope you made up for it at a later date when your DH got back?
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I'd be interested in seeing the price break down of those four days for food. Things like this always interest me.
You asked for it:
Cost of food on Deluxe Plan 1:
Via Napoli $ 83.42
Chefs de France $106.40
Yak and Yeti $ 89.40
Fulton’s Crab House $153.00
‘Ohana $ 44.17
Teppan Edo $126.20
Cape May Café $ 53.23
Crystal Palace $ 49.98
California Grill $164.92
Cost of Dining Plan $697.46
Total of food $870.72
Plus snack credits $ 56.00
Refillable mugs $ 28.98
Cheryl, you take the most amazing pictures! I love looking at them! Your room in BLT looks amazing! I want to stay there so bad! I'm sorry FL didn't live up to your expectations but hopefully when the Mine ride is open, things will be different. It looks and sounds as if you and Mark were having a fantastic time!!
Thanks Cheryl! That's a lot of food. I'm not sure if I could eat that many meals in 4 days unless I just nibbled at them. I'm glad it was worth your while though.
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So glad no one is in the same room as me!
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Definitely time for a return visit... 
Guess we'll just have to return to Disney soon so I'll finally get to try this restaurant out! 
I say go for it - I doubt you'll regret it... 
Sorry you didn't have a great day - I hope you made up for it at a later date when your DH got back?
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