A Foodie Celebrates 40 TR (Sept. 28-Oct. 7, 2012) - Page 9 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
Finally all caught up! Wow! What an incredible trip this has been! I'm almost full reading about all that you've eaten so far. We had narcoossee's for the first time on our last trip and felt kind of the same way - even without having V&A the night before. Can't wait to read more!
I fell way behind, but I'm all caught up now This TR is making me hungry, you've had so much great food. Dinner at V&A's sounds simply amazing, I hope to get to try it someday! You did a good job checking off things on your F&WF passports, I wish I tried more things when we were there last week. Looking forward to more!
Finally all caught up! Wow! What an incredible trip this has been! I'm almost full reading about all that you've eaten so far. We had narcoossee's for the first time on our last trip and felt kind of the same way - even without having V&A the night before. Can't wait to read more!
The amount of food we consumed on this trip was pretty obscene. But, hey, you only turn 40 once, right?
Quote:
Originally Posted by tcmary
Thanks for sharing all of your adventures with us. You had me hooked with your title, but it seems like an awesome vacation in so many ways.
We did so much new and different stuff on this vacation -- it really was one of our best trips ever!
Quote:
Originally Posted by JKnott17
I fell way behind, but I'm all caught up now This TR is making me hungry, you've had so much great food. Dinner at V&A's sounds simply amazing, I hope to get to try it someday! You did a good job checking off things on your F&WF passports, I wish I tried more things when we were there last week. Looking forward to more!
No worries -- I've been so slow in updating, I'm leaving plenty of time for people to get caught up!
David got up early to go workout. I thought that sounded like an admirable idea, but ended up sleeping until 7:15 instead. We were out the door around 8:20 and caught the boat to DHS. For some reason unknown to me, the bag check line was extremely backed up. I chalked it up to it being so close to rope drop. But when we left the park later in the day, it was still really long. It kind of made me wonder if there had been some kind of threat?
Anyway, we got into the park shortly after 9:00 and went straight to TSMM to get FPs. But the return time was already 11:59, which was too late because we had lunch plans at Epcot. Oh well, at least we’d had the chance to ride it during the after-race party.
For this trip, I wanted to slow down and take the time to see things we usually skipped over during the rush from one ride to the next. So we headed to One Man’s Dream, which we’d never seen before. We still had more than 10 minutes until the next movie, so we got to spend time looking around in the exhibit area. We both really enjoyed the movie. I knew I would, but I was a little surprised that David liked it so much.
From there, we went over to the Magic of Disney Animation, which we had also never seen. That was cute. When it let out, I knew I wanted to go over the Animation Academy. As luck would have it, it was less than 5 minutes until the next class, and there was still space for us! We ended up drawing Goofy, and I think ours came out pretty well! There was a kid in there -- maybe 12 or 13 years old -- who was clearly an experienced AA class member. The first time the instructor said “no erasers,” the kid let out a “woo-hoo!!” The instructor thought that was great, so every time he said, “no erasers,” the kid responded with “woo-hoo!!” and soon we were all doing it.
This one is mine. David’s isn’t substantially different.
I stopped in the gift shop to see if they could give me a piece of Scotch tape to keep our drawings rolled up. The CM did me one better and gave me 2 rubberbands.
We walked over to Hollywood Blvd. to see about riding RNR, but the standby line was 45 minutes, so we went over to ToT instead, which was only 20 minutes. I saw the ghost in the corner right before the first drop! I had read about it here, but never seen it before. We were in the first row again, and I was between David and another guy. I think was the other guy’s first time on the ride, and he was solo. During the first drop, he very nearly grabbed my leg out of fright. He tried to cover it, but I clearly saw his hand heading for my thigh. It was pretty funny (to me, at least -- he probably didn’t think so).
When we finished our drop, it was exactly 11:00, so we headed to the boat dock. We decided to disembark at BC and walk the rest of the way to Epcot so we didn’t have to go over to Boardwalk on the boat before arriving at the Epcot boat dock. We were headed for Tutto Gusto, where we had signed up for the Italian Regional Lunch, as part of the F&WF. We checked in at 11:45 and were instructed to wait in the waiting area of Tutto Italia.
Just before noon, they started calling out guests names and seating them. We were seated with an older couple from Long Island. His name was Leon, but sadly I forgot his wife’s name. Over the course of the meal, we learned that they are in their early 70s (never would have guessed this!), they work out 6 days a week, he is a retired NYPD homicide detective, and they have 2 daughters, one of whom actually lived in Houston for a while. They clearly had lots of F&WF experience under their belts, so we asked if they came every year. They told us that they spend every winter (Sept.-March) in their RV at Fort Wilderness. Yes, they “winter” at Disney. OMG! We’re not worthy! Wouldn’t that be just the best life? The other 6 months of the year, they live in the “in-laws’ quarters” at their daughter and son-in-law’s house in Connecticut.
Lunch was delicious, but it was so dark inside Tutto Gusto that it was hard to get good photos. I pretty much gave up after the first 2 courses. The menu and wine pairings were:
1st Course: Crudo di Pesce allo Zenzero (oyster, shrimp, striped bass, radish, ginger, onion & celery) with Castello Mantauto, Vernaccia di San Gimignano, 2011
2nd Course: Gnocchi allo Sorrentina (potato dumplings, burrata cheese, pomodoro sauce) with Cecchi, Bonizio Sangiovese, 2010
Sorry it’s so blurry!
3rd Course: Brasato di Manzo (red wine braised short ribs, crushed potatoes, olive oil and herbs) with Cecchi, Chianti Classico, 2009
4th Course: La Tur (cheese course) with the same chianti
5th Course: Torta di Gianduia (chocolate and hazelnut cake) with Vigne Regali, Rosa Regale, 2011
We were not crazy about the first course -- we are not oyster fans, and the fish was a bit, well, fishy. But everything else was wonderful, especially the gnocchi (I think I could have eaten 2 or 3 plates of this!) and the braised short ribs.
Representatives from Banfi were there to tell us about the wines. But I wish there had been a bit more explanation about the dishes and how they represent the different regions of Italy.
The Banfi reps are in the center
Nevertheless, it was a wonderful meal and sharing it with Leon and his wife just made it all the more delightful!
Around 2:30 we emerged from Tutto Gusto back into the Florida heat. We walked over to China so I could take some photos, and we browsed the shops a bit, but didn’t buy anything. We tried to go see Reflections of China, but we waited several minutes past the allotted time (there is a timer on the wall counting down time until the next show) and the doors never opened, so we gave up.
We stopped at the Joy of Tea stand where I had read on Disney Food Blog that they have BBQ pork buns (char siu bao), and I wanted to try them. They were ok -- about what you’d expect from a kiosk in a theme park. They were selling a frozen adult beverage called Tipsy Ducks in Love. The name was so funny -- and the CM was so persuasive that it would cool us off on such a hot day -- that David decided to try one. I don’t remember what was in it, but I do remember that the taste got worse as we got further toward the bottom of the cup! David was sipping as we walked around WS, and his reaction to the drink just kept getting worse and worse, which just made me laugh.
We stopped at the Mitsukoshi store in Japan to shop for the boys (really shopping this time -- not killing time!). We ended up getting a Legend of Zelda wallet for Peter. I also spent some time here taking photos.
By now, all the morning clouds were gone and the sun was beating down on us. So, the obvious solution was to stop in France for Grand Marnier slushies! We found a shady spot to sit overlooking the lagoon and had our drinks. Once we had slurped up every last bit, we headed back to the villa to relax before dinner.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
The meal at Tutto Gusto looks amazing! I love gnocchi, but it's so hard to find it made really well. One Man's Dream is a must for me on every trip. Glad you both enjoyed it! Your drawing of Goofy is so good.
Oh wow that meal sounds amazing. I should not read something like this when I'm hungry.
It was wonderful, and they also brought us an endless supply of foccacia bread. I could probably have just eaten bread and wine for 2 hours! LOL.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
That dessert looks like a little slice of heaven
That pretty much sums it up!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
The meal at Tutto Gusto looks amazing! I love gnocchi, but it's so hard to find it made really well. One Man's Dream is a must for me on every trip. Glad you both enjoyed it! Your drawing of Goofy is so good.
I've not eaten a lot of gnocchi, but this one was by far the best I've had -- tender and not too doughy. I was pretty happy with my Goofy, especially since I'm not artistic by any means! Peter can draw, and I think he'd love AA -- I've made a mental note to be sure to take him there on our next trip.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
What a marvelous lunch! Love your pictures in China!
When I was planning this trip in my head, I knew I wanted to make time to get some pretty photos in WS, and China and Japan were at the top of my list.
Quote:
Originally Posted by disneydreamer33
No oysters for me either. Everything else looked delicious!
When the waiter described the braised short ribs dish to us, he did that cute Italian thing where he kissed his finger tips. After we bit into it, we completely understood why he was so excited about the dish!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
What a great morning at DHS and a great tasting at Tutto! Love the pictures!
Thanks! Now I'd love to go back to Tutto Gusto just to hang out, snack and have some wine!
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
Us 
This TR is making me hungry, you've had so much great food. Dinner at V&A's sounds simply amazing, I hope to get to try it someday! You did a good job checking off things on your F&WF passports, I wish I tried more things when we were there last week. Looking forward to more!
PassPorter Guide Author
I should not read something like this when I'm hungry. 
Liz 
Love the pictures! 
When I was planning this trip in my head, I knew I wanted to make time to get some pretty photos in WS, and China and Japan were at the top of my list.
Linear Mode
