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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 don't want to spend the time it takes for sit down dining at lunch but I don't really like fast food. Let me know some of your favorite Counter Service meal finds.
I'm looking for meals that are filling, a decent value and quality. Something similar to that of a Table Service meal.
One of my favorites is the BBQ plate at Flame Tree BBQ in the AK. I think it is one of the best values in the park and the quality and price is in line with somewhere I would eat at home.
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Cosmic Rays in the MK used to have a chicken and rib combo plate with potatoes and veggies but I think they've discontinued the rib portion (at least I don't see it on the online menus anymore).
I've never eaten in WS at Epcot but I would think you'd have better luck in the countries finding something more along TS fare than traditional CS but those that have eaten there will be able to give you a better idea.
DHS has nothing like that IMO - they're dining choices are really lacking.
At MK, Columbia Harbour House has some nice offerings and BOG for lunch is very good. At Epcot I enjoy the quick service in Japan, France has some very nice sandwiches, and Morocco is a good choice for the more adventurous eater. At DHS. I usually go to Studio Catering. It's hard to find something at this park that's really good.
We also like Columbia Harbor House at MK, a friend of ours liked the pork shank at Gaston's Tavern in MK.
The Counter service in Epcot has a lot of choices Morocco at Epcot is REALLY good and filling, then Liberty Inn at Epcot has a NY strip steak with fries and broccoli on their menu (we have not ordered that though..so I'm not sure how good it is). We enjoyed the bratwurst at Sommerfest in Germany and I believe they had a few other different sandwich and potato salad choices and there is also Sunshine Season's that is over by Soarin...they had a ton of different food choices.
DHS has the worst food choices to us... we usually always eat at Starring Rolls Café b/c they have Sushi there and my dd's get that...the sandwiches are good and HUGE as well, and their cupcakes are DIVINE!
AK-we've had good and filling meals at both Yak and Yeti and Flame Tree BBQ.
Last edited by saibot0001; 05-11-2014 at 09:14 AM..
Here are some of our favorites that offer what we consider "big" meals:
MK: Cosmic Rays and Pecos Bills (I've had Columbia Harbor House on my "must do" list for the past 2 trips and I keep getting out voted by the rest of the family. I keep hearing good things about that place, though.)
EP: Sunshine Seasons. Lots of good options.
DHS: The kids always like Toy Story Pizza Planet. While the pizza is certainly not "gourmet", I've definitely had worse. And they come with a salad so we often order 3 or 4 pizza and salad combos for 5 people because it's a lot of food (and the kids don't want the salad anyway so DH & I fill up on those)
AK: Flame Tree BBQ
DTD: Wolfgang Puck Express -- probably our favorite counter service overall. It really feels more like a table service restaurant to us. Huge portions and delicious food.
Since you didn't mention the DP, I assume you are paying out of pocket. If you can live without a soda, just ask for ice water at CS places--no charge. That saves a couple of dollars right there.
We like CHH at MK for its variety of non-burger choices. Salads, fried fish, fried chicken, shrimp platter, salmon platter, large sandwiches (tuna=Anchors Away, hummus with broccoli slaw=Lighthouse). Cosmic Ray's chicken platters are a decent size too, with mashed potatoes and a veggie (sadly, the combo rib/chicken platter is no more). AT BOG, go for lunch and enjoy the great theming, plus a sandwich (beef, turkey, grilled ham and cheese) with fries and refillable drinks if you choose a soda. Many people around us seemed to be enjoying the stewed pork with veggies over mashed potatoes, if you want a more dinner-like meal.
At Epcot, Sunshine Seasons has hearty meals (The Land), with platters like pork chops or roast chicken and veggies. World Showcase restaurants also offer good value. We particularly like Morocco's Tangierine Cafe, and my son loves the orange chicken at Lotus Blossom in China. Yes, it's like what you get at the mall, but the portions are decent. My husband, a hearty eater, couldn't finish the curried veggies and chicken he ordered because they piled a huge amount of chicken on top! I like the meals in Japan too, where you can get sushi but also salmon with veggies and other platters.
At the Studios, we like Backlot Express, which has burgers and chicken but also salads and grilled veggie and cheese sandwiches, with refillable drinks.
At AK, you already like Flametree. We most often eat at Restaurantosaurus which has burgers, salads, chicken, a shrimp po' boy, and a fixing bar plus refillable drinks.
At DTD, it's hard to beat Earl of Sandwich if paying OOP, but I'd go to Wolfgang Puck Express if on the DP.
We thought that ABC Commissary at DHS had some different options. Flame Tree BBQ is also one of our favorites. At EPCOT there is Sunshine Seasons, Tangeriene Cafe, Yorkshire County Fish Shop. I've also heard that the CS place in France is also really good. MK has Columbia Harbor House and Cosmic Rays for something more than the usual "fast food" type things.
I see someone else mentioned ABC in DHS. I had a great salad there, baby greens tossed with quinoa and a light dressing, topped with a huge piece of warm salmon (I think chicken and/or beef was also available). Art of Animation's food court has tandoori choices and a make your own pasta station as well. They also serve on real plates with real flatware.
The American pavilion in Epcot has a decent steak, CS in France is good-I like the lobster bisque.
We hadn't been to Columbia Harbor House in years and were pleasantly surprised at how good the food was. Cosmic Rays hasn't been as good on our last couple of trips, and I wasn't pleased with their new seating arrangement. You have to stand in line with your food to be seated.
At DHS, Pizza planet seems to be our choice-pizza is okay, but the salads are pretty good.
At DTD, I also like Cookes of Dublin near Raglan Road. The scallops there are really good. DH likes their meat pies.
You have to stand in line with your food to be seated.
This seems to be something that they do at Cosmic Ray's at rush times; we haven't encountered it when we've been there (normally right after Thanksgiving), picking up our food, hitting the fixings bar, and then seating ourselves. At CHH, they had a CM directing you to an ordering line, which did seem to speed things up a bit. But you still self-seated.
MK: CHH and Cosmic Rays are our favorites. If you are looking for a quickie carry with you breakfast, the Main Street Bakery was always one of my favs.
DHS: We normally do 50s Primetime or SciFi (because we love them) so I can't really give you suggestions here.
Epcot: LOVE Sunshine Seasons....lots of choices. Most of the QS places in WS are yummy. We love the fish and chips, the turkey legs and the stuff you can get in Norway, but most of that is not really similar to table service.
AK - Flame Tree!!!!!!
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great choices - I am glad to see the ABC Commissary listed a few times because we have always had a nice lunch there. Their Asian salad is great and I don't know what they put in the chocolate pudding/mousse but we love it too. I think people often just fall back to the idea that there is no decent counter service at DHS but ABC is definitely worth a try plus if you look on AllEars net for the menus, you can get some of the Brown Derby choices from the neighbouring lounge and sushi at Starring Rolls so although it is not as varied and exotic as the World Showcase, it's better than it gets credit for, I think. We've also always planned to hop the boat over from DHS to eat at Beaches and Cream CS area but have never made it
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