From no trip to celebrating 20 years together… planning it all in less than 100 days! UPDATED 6/30 - Page 79 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
Yes, Artist Grill is a signature restaurant. And yes, one should dress up for that fact. So yes, that is annoying that a lot of people did not! I remember when the character meals were at this place before they switched the riff raff over to WCC. It is a beautiful spot indeed!
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
Great photos of the WL. Last time I was there was 2005.
I'm planning on wearing a dress when I go to the California Grill, on June 16. I have a 9:30 reservation. So looking forward to seeing the fireworks from there.
Oh I'm sure that will be amazing, although I have read reports that the new show has less that can be seen outside of the park. How true that is, I don't know though, not having seen them for myself.
Glad to hear that you were able to get your Moonlight Magic wristbands with no problems. We've noticed the dress code seems to be extremely relaxed at some of the signature restaurants in the last few years. It just seems like anything goes nowadays there. Your soup selection looked so delicious although I have to say that the description of Mark's appetizer did not sound appealing. So glad you were able to get such a nice window view and Katy sounded like the perfect server!
I have no desire to eat tabbit, but I'd at least try the other offerings on Mark's board.
I think everything is becoming more casual these days. I see what people wear to work and I'm sometimes surprised. Same as on the cruise, and the scant number of folks who really dress for formal night. I love comfy casual clothes, too, but there's something nice about getting dressed up now and then - especially when the surroundings call for it.
I have no desire to eat tabbit, but I'd at least try the other offerings on Mark's board.
I think everything is becoming more casual these days. I see what people wear to work and I'm sometimes surprised.
Yes, I hear you on that one!
Quote:
Same as on the cruise, and the scant number of folks who really dress for formal night.
Thankfully, we still tend to find those in formal gear outnumber those who aren't, but then again, September 2015 was the last time we had a formal night, so it'll be interesting to see what it's like during our three formal nights on our various cruises next year.
Quote:
I love comfy casual clothes, too, but there's something nice about getting dressed up now and then - especially when the surroundings call for it.
I am so with you on that. I'm happy lounging around the house in a T-shirt and leggings, but love getting dressed up when the opportunity presents itself.
Nice photos from around the WL and love the resort as it was the first WDW resort I stayed at back in 2012, so it's quite special to me! That is crazy with some of the attire for the sigs and I witness it in many places, including the Cali at times! I try to get dressed up for these eateries, but not always easy when coming direct from the parks, but if I am I will wear a collared shirt and a nice pair of khaki shorts. Can't wear long pants to the parks on hot days!
The start to your meal looks very good so far. Being a non meat eater you probably don't know that Berkshire pork is probably the best there is, so not a surprise at AP, which I have enjoyed a number of very good meals! The smoky portobello soup looks so good and I've enjoyed it a few times. I think it may be the best soup on property, even though quite rich. The smoked bits do taste like bacon!
__________________
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!
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Your soup at Artist Point is my favorite soup at any place at WDW. Someone here on the boards had raved about it, and so the minute I saw it on the menu I knew I wanted to try it. Now I'm craving a bowl of it. Need to see when I can fit Artist Point back in to our dining.
Nice photos from around the WL and love the resort as it was the first WDW resort I stayed at back in 2012, so it's quite special to me!
I can understand that, although it's ironic I say that, as we first stayed in Port Orleans Riverside and we have no special memories of the place, even though it was our honeymoon. Something to do with visiting other resorts and, when we got to the Beach Club, we fell in love with that resort and that's the one that took our hearts.
Quote:
That is crazy with some of the attire for the sigs and I witness it in many places, including the Cali at times! I try to get dressed up for these eateries, but not always easy when coming direct from the parks, but if I am I will wear a collared shirt and a nice pair of khaki shorts. Can't wear long pants to the parks on hot days!
Oh my goodness, no you can't!
Quote:
The start to your meal looks very good so far. Being a non meat eater you probably don't know that Berkshire pork is probably the best there is, so not a surprise at AP, which I have enjoyed a number of very good meals!
No I didn't know that, thanks for sharing.
Quote:
The smoky portobello soup looks so good and I've enjoyed it a few times. I think it may be the best soup on property, even though quite rich. The smoked bits do taste like bacon!
Your soup at Artist Point is my favorite soup at any place at WDW. Someone here on the boards had raved about it, and so the minute I saw it on the menu I knew I wanted to try it. Now I'm craving a bowl of it. Need to see when I can fit Artist Point back in to our dining.
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Friday 3 March – part twelve: then the most magical thing happened…
For entrée at Artist Point, we both went for the two best sellers here, and the dishes that have consistently been on the menu for many, many years. I had the Chinook cedar plank salmon, with baby sweet potato, chicory greens, forelle pears, yoghurt and lemon vinaigrette, although I made it clear the pears had to be left off. I have to say this was the weirdest combination of flavours I have tasted in a long time. I felt as if the chef thought he/she was going to be clever, and just chuck them all on the plate, and see what happened.
I was also a bit surprised that there was an addition not mentioned on the menu, which I’d call a poppadum (we have them all the time from the local Indian takeaway), but Katy told us it was a lentil chip.
The chicory greens, for me, really didn’t go with the salmon at all, while there were way too many baby sweet potatoes. I literally ate two, and felt as if I’d barely made an indent on the plate. Don’t get me wrong, the salmon was beautifully cooked, but that on its own did not make this dish, and all in all, it was a real disappointment.
Mark had the aged buffalo strip loin with turnip mashed, hay-smoked carrots, wilted greens, radish and wheatgrass. His first disappointment was the knife. Gone were the huge things you used to be presented with, and this is all he got…
His second disappointment was, I think it’s fair to say, the dish as a whole. He found the combination of ingredients just as weird as the ones on my plate, and just looking at the menu, it did strike me as “here’s a set of items I can just plonk down on a plate”. It didn’t feel as if any of them would really go together…
We were both feeling quite disappointed by this stage, although we said that we weren’t going to say anything. It wasn’t as if we’d paid for them per se, if that makes sense, and equally they’re the two big sellers, so obviously other people like them. I guess our tastes are just out of kilter. However, we did wonder if Katy heard us talking about our views on the food, as the maitre d came to visit us, and we noticed he didn’t go to any other table. Perhaps wrongly, we still bit our tongues, and maybe we should have been honest, but equally it’s just down to everyone’s individual tastes, and if we’re in the minority on something, you know what? That’s fine with us, it just happens sometimes.
By the time we got to dessert, Mark was out, as he was stuffed, but I just about had enough room to try the cobbler with seasonal berries and black raspberry ice cream, and this was really good. It was lighter than I thought it would be, and the ice cream was a real delight. It’s just a shame the entrees couldn’t have been this good…
The meal came to $160, plus the bottle of wine we ordered, and we left there a bit disappointed. It’s been five years since we were last at Artist Point, and honestly, based on what we’d experienced tonight, I suspect it may be about that long before we make it back there again. It just didn’t set us on fire, and we were both disappointed with our food, although we couldn’t fault Katy’s wonderful server.
Artist Point
Appetiser 9 6
Entrée 6½ 8
Dessert 9 N/A
Service 10 9½
Atmosphere 8½ 9
Value for money 8 9
Average score: 8.41
We headed back to the room to change and have a bit of downtime before the DVC Member event. Honestly, I think both of us could’ve just given up there and then and gone to bed, we were both so shattered, but we hauled ourselves up just before 9:00pm, and set off towards the boat dock…
The whole thing, we were saying to each other “if you don’t want to go, it’s Ok”. Eventually, as we walked out to the dock, a boat was there. I turned round to Mark and said “if it goes before we get there, it wasn’t meant to be, but if it doesn’t, we’ll go”. There you go, we’ll let fate decide. It was still there, so we boarded, and I have to say it was freezing cold in the bitter wind. I was glad of my thick sweatshirt, the first time it had been out since we left home.
We set off, and eventually the wind subsided a bit, which was a relief. As we went over, we chatted to the family of four next to us. They were asking how late the Magic Kingdom was open, and we told them 10:00pm, but three hours later for DVC Members. They kept mis-understanding, and saying “oh good, is it Extra Magic Hours?” We asked them if they were Members, and they said so we explained again that the park would close at 10:00pm, but would remain open for Members. I’m still not sure they got it, and I felt so sorry for them, as they had obviously set off, having no clue about opening hours – a real rookie mistake.
As we headed towards the Magic Kingdom, the most magical thing happened. Wishes was in full flow, so we were able to watch a bit of it. I figured it would just be a couple of minutes at most before we were docking, but there was a boat on our dock, so we literally had to sit out in the water, near where the fireworks cruises would be, for the entire show. Wow! Whereas you’d pay whatever the going rate is for a fireworks cruise ($300 now? ), we got the whole show for free. It was so cool!
Honestly, every time we thought it was done, it just carried on. I hadn’t realised how long the show is when you’re not immersed in the music in the park.
After that finished, we even got a glimpse of the Electrical Water Pageant. It felt as if that started literally the second Wishes finished.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
You are really making me feel like I made the right choice in staying here in November!!
The WL is simply beautiful!!
So glad you were able to get such a nice window view and Katy sounded like the perfect server!
I try to get dressed up for these eateries, but not always easy when coming direct from the parks, but if I am I will wear a collared shirt and a nice pair of khaki shorts. Can't wear long pants to the parks on hot days! 
I think it may be the best soup on property, even though quite rich. The smoked bits do taste like bacon!
Hope you're able to.
Linear Mode
