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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I like Goofys Kitchen at the DL Hotel. It is kind of pricey, but it is very high energy, with great character interaction.
My DD's favorite one is the breakfast at Storytellers Cafe. That one is the Chip N Dale Critter breakfast. Good food on the buffet. You can also order off the menu. The characters and the park ranger have the kids parade around the whole place. It is very cute.
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We prefer Goofy's Kitchen. Whereas the other places usually only have maybe 4-6 characters, Goofy's has more and the variety is better - a mix of princesses, Fab Five, others (we've met Gepetto and Max). I'm not a fan of the Storytellers' characters, so we don't go there. In the park, the meals seem a little more rushed to me. Food-wise, Ariel's Grotto was really good. But I left there feeling like it was more expensive than Goofy's, even though the price was similar. The value was missing - it seemed rushed and VERY structured.
I also like that Goofy's has the most options for meals (it's a dedicated character dining room for all meals). Storytellers is only breakfast, I think Minnie's is only breakfast and Ariel's is only during DCA park hours. I've heard good things about PCH (in Paradise Pier), if you're a Stitch fan (I am SO NOT a fan). But, again, it's only breakfast and we were not impressed with our dinner there on our last trip, so I'm not sure how the food would be at breakfast...
I went to DL for the first time in Nov and we did Gooofy's Kitchen and I loved it I think thats the only reason Ill go back to DL lol. I didn't try any of the others But Gooofy's kitchen is A++++ to me!
I have always been a huge fan of Ariels Grotto at DCA, because there is some amazing character interaction with the Princesses. The food is ok/good, but the view and the face time is amazing.
Last June, my daughter, her friends and I went to Goofy's Kitchen for the first time. Holy cow, we had such a great time! Goofy and the other characters were dancing in the middle of the restaurant with a bunch of younger children. My DD and her friends - 17 and 18 year olds - hopped in the conga line. The characters were amazing about involving them, embracing them, including them, and not making them feel 'goofy'. They had such a great time! Yes, I agree, it is pricey. But for my money, I would much rather eat and have character interaction in one place than to waste park time waiting in line for 2 seconds with a character. And the food and selection at Goofy's Kitchen was fabulous!
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Saturday, October 9, 2014 - Kaitlyn and I before the Happy Haunted 5K at ESPN Wide World of Sports
I have always been a huge fan of Ariels Grotto at DCA, because there is some amazing character interaction with the Princesses. The food is ok/good, but the view and the face time is amazing.
Keep in mind that for awhile still, the view is compromised with the construction. When we ate there, the lake was drained because of The World of Color beginning construction and this past Dec, there was some water, but still most of the middle was a bunch of metal pipes and such as they put everything in place. Not sure what the view will end up being once World of Color finally opens, but with other construction still going on...
we just got back from a trip to Disneyland and had dinner at Goofy's kitchen.
I wasn't really that impressed. The food was alright but not really worth the $45 per person we paid. And the character interaction was the worst we've had on any disney trip. My daughter was very disappointed when four different times characters walked right past her to go outside or to other tables past us. And the only way we actually got to see Goofy and Minnie was to call/wave them over to our table. I love disney but this was definatly not our best experience
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I'm sorry to hear that, donalds_daisy. We had an experience like that at the miserably failed Princess breakfast they tried a few years back (where Minnie's breakfast is held) - it was so bad that we got our money back for it (as did the family sitting next to us).
We've only had one time where we felt the characters at Goofy's were not coming around enough and we mentioned it to our server to make sure they all came over before we left. I agree that the food isn't the greatest, but that's also not what I measure the price against - a good portion of the cost goes to the salaries of the characters, too, and not just food. So I try not to think of the meal as a $45 pricetag, but the experience itself. Unfortunately, your experience certainly wasn't worth $45 either, from the sound of it.
Have you considered writing a letter? If character service was off that night, they need to know so that they can retrain/reprimand/whatever the specific CMs who were working that night. I'm a firm believer in letting someplace know, not to see what I can get out of it (though it'd be great if they offered the chance to make it up to you), but so that they can improve upon their service and make it more enjoyable in the future.
We went to DLR with a just-turned-9-year-old girl so didn't consider anything other than Ariel's Grotto. We loved it. Lots of princesses, great food. A very special and memorable birthday celebration for DD.
We ordered a special cake for DD's birthday. Fun, cute and glad we did it, but the included desserts would have been more than enough. We were there in Feb so everyone sat indoors and the construction was a non-issue.
I have one more question to add to Dolphin's original post (if you don't mind )
I don't have kids, nor will there be any kids traveling with us, so...Which character meal is the most fun for "big" kids?
Like with kids, part of it depends on who you like. I like Goofy's because it is a mix of characters and includes several main ones. Ariel's is all princesses. Storytellers is only for breakfast and is the woodsy characters (Chip and Dale, Meeko, Koda, etc), PCH is only for breakfast and is Lilo and Stich (and Minnie and Donald?). People have said that Storytellers is the best food, so if that is a concern, consider that in your decision. I prefer to eat character meals for dinner, so that limits our choices also.
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- hopped in the conga line. The characters were amazing about involving them, embracing them, including them, and not making them feel 'goofy'. 
They had such a great time! Yes, I agree, it is pricey. But for my money, I would much rather eat and have character interaction in one place than to waste park time waiting in line for 2 seconds with a character. And the food and selection at Goofy's Kitchen was fabulous! 
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