 | |  In
This Newsletter From the Authors: Remembrance
Travel
Feature: Taking A "Greener" Trip To Walt Disney World
Disney Feature: Food & Wine Festival
Updates:
What's
New and Changed
Tips: Guide of the Day, Great Groceries, Memo Memories
Captain's Corner: Jack's Play
Q&A: What should we do with our bags on rides?
Our Sponsors: We Recommend...
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Updates:
What's
New and Changed
Here are a few items of relevant news:
Cell Phone Service is now available on the
Disney Magic. The
service is only available in guest staterooms and is provided by a
wireless cellular network that supports over 340 cellular
providers including Cingular, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Alltel.
Users are billed by their cell service provider and rates vary
according to plan. The service will be available on the Disney Wonder
by mid-summer.
Jiko, the signature
table service restaurant at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge, will be
hosting two Signature
Wine Dinners
during this year's Food & Wine Festival on October 4 and
November
1, 2007. The cost for these dinners is $150 per person (including tax
& gratuity). Reservations can be made by calling
407-WDW-DINE. Major League Baseball will hold
the 2007 First-Year
Player Draft
at Disney's Wide World of Sports on June 7, 2007. The Draft will be
telecast live for the first time ever on ESPN2 from 2:00 pm - 6:00 pm
ET. The Draft will then continue until 8:30 pm once the live telecast
has concluded. This event is open to the public.
Our
thanks to AllEars.net
and MousePlanet.com
from which we get some of our news leads.
>Things To Do: Hear some news?
Send it to us at
news@passporter.com
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Disney
Tips:
From Fellow Readers
Our readers
deliver a wealth of information! Here
are the winners in this month's tip contest:
GUIDE
OF THE DAY
"My family of 15 will be traveling to Disney in August. In
order
to get everyone involved in the planning for our upcoming trip we
designate "Guides of the Day." We pair up the adults and children and
then each group is in charge of planning the daily itinerary for a
different park during our stay. Then when we arrive, they act as our
tour guides leading us to attractions, shows and keeping us on schedule
for our meals.
Not only does this get everyone more excited prior to our trip, it also
takes some of the burden off of the main trip planner and gives
everyone a turn at leading the crowd."
-- contributed by Lois
L.
GREAT
GROCERIES
"On our recent trip to Walt Disney World we were traveling with quite a
few little
ones. We decided to order from Garden Grocer to have extra food and
snacks in the room. When we checked in our items were waiting at the
front desk. We had ordered bottled water, yogurt, juice, snacks and
fresh fruit. The prices were comparable to home, and now that most of
the Disney resorts have refrigerators in the room at no extra charge
this was a great money-saving and time-saving route! The fruit was
fresh and nice, and we could pack extra snacks and beverages in our
daily backpack before heading out. This is something we will
definitely do again!"
-- contributed by Laura B.
MEMO MEMORIES
"When staying at a Disney resort, we take a photo of the memo board on
the lifeguard's chair. The board is usually themed with
artwork
to go along with the hotel. They list the park hours, that
day's
weather, etc. It makes a great addition to our vacation
scrapbooks."
-- contributed by Teresa W.
Notes:
Send
us your tips ! You may see them in this newsletter and win a
copy of
PassPorter!
Want
more Disney tips? For
Walt Disney World fans, we've collected 500 of the best tips submitted
by readers over the past six years. All have been edited for accuracy
and
categorized. For details, visit the PassPorter
Disney 500 info page or the PassPorter store. For Disney
Cruise Line
fans, we have an e-book with 250 cruiser tips,
as well as a special cruise
line comparison section and seven customized packing lists. For
information,
visit the Disney
Cruise Clues info page.
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Captain's
Corner:
Treasure
Hunting Game
Play our fun and quirky
treasure hunting game, hosted
by Captain Jack Skatt from our book, "PassPorter's
Treasure Hunts at Walt Disney World."
The Captain makes a study of the delightful details
-- sometimes hidden, sometimes in plain sight but often overlooked --
at
Walt Disney World and aboard the Disney Cruise Line. Using notes from
his
journals, he will lead you to this "treasure" at Disney with clues,
questions,
photos, or riddles. Your challenge is to discover the answer by
searching
your memory, visiting Disney, or even just looking really hard on the
Internet.
If you think you've found the answer, e-mail it to jackskatt@passporter.com
-- the first person to correctly submit the FULL answer will receive a
free PassPorter enamel pin or PassPorter name badge pin.
Here is this week's journal entry:
"Today I bumped into a fellow old salt by the name Jack (common name for sailors, I gather). After catching up on old times, Jack gave me a ticket to some sort of production he's in this weekend. It's probably a silly little play, knowing that old Captain, but I figure I'll give it a look-see. He says it's called "Lands' End" ... no, wait, that was his new jacket. I think his play was called "At World's End" or something to that effect. I wonder if anyone else has ever heard of it."
What is the official name of Jack's play and when does it open?
Send your full answer to jackskatt@passporter.com
-- the winner will be notified by e-mail and announced in the next
newsletter,
along with the correct answer!
Congratulations
to Mary Spina who was the
winner of last week's treasure hunt game! Mary correctly identified
the chair as bring a shoeshine chair located in the Harmony Barber
Shop. To view the original clue, see last
week's newsletter.
If you enjoy
treasure
hunts, we've got an entire book with over 100 distinct treasure hunts
and
over 1500 questions, complete with clues and contributions from Captain
Jack Skatt. Get more details on "PassPorter's Treasure Hunts at Walt
Disney World" book at http://www.passporterstore.com.
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Q
& A:
With
Jennifer and Dave
jldisney2007
asks: "What should I do with my camera
bag and backpack? On our previous visits our children were much younger and we were able
to carry our back pack and video camera with us on most rides. However, we plan to ride more
aggressive rides and don't know what to do with the camera and
backpack. For example, we'll be riding Expedition Everest, Kali River
Rapids, and more. Is
there a place close to rides where we can secure items? or should we
trust Cast Members to hold our backpacks?"
Dave and Jennifer answer: "On the rides other than
soaking-wet Kali, the strategy is to place the bags under your seat,
behind your legs. I usually also make sure my foot/leg goes through one
of the straps. The ride operators may be willing to help you out if you
ask, but it's probably a better idea to not ask - they've got so many
guest safety issues to attend to, any distraction is probably not a
great idea."
Have a question? Post questions at http://www.passporterboards.com
-- and if you're lucky, you may find that folks have already asked and
answered the same question that's on your mind!
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Future
Newsletters:
Want
To See Your Name in Print?
PassPorter
News is published
weekly, and this means we're always in need of articles! We're on the
lookout
for guest columnists who want to contribute articles to this
newsletter.
No professional writing experience is necessary, just a desire to share
your experience with others! Not only is this a great way to give
something
back to the PassPorter community, but you get to see your name in
"print"
and receive a $25 gift certificate for use at www.passporter.com.
For
details and our article submission guidelines,
please e-mail news@passporter.com.
Articles about Disney and general travel are welcomed!
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Our
Sponsors:
We
Recommend...
PassPorter
only accepts advertising from services of the highest quality -- we
recommend these companies because we use them ourselves. Please support
our sponsors and, in turn, support this newsletter! This week's
sponsors are (in order of appearance):
MouseEarVacations.com -- Disney
Cruise Line special offers
Mouse Fan Travel -- Magic Your Way with FREE Dining Specials
ALL STAR Vacation Homes -- Choose from more than 150 homes within four miles of Disney World
Thank you, sponsors!
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| | | From the
Authors: Remembrance
Hi,
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Memorial
Day Weekend is nearly upon us. Whether you travel out of town or stay
home and dodge record prices for a gallon of gas, whether school just
let out for the summer or classes resume on Tuesday, we wish you a
good holiday. May the memory of the men and women who sacrificed all
out of love for their country be honored and respected not only this
weekend, but every day of the year.
To mark the occasion, we're holding a "little" Memorial Weekend Sale with 20% off ALL books in the PassPorter Store ... and you can use a coupon on top of these discounted prices for excellent savings. For example, if you use the PassPorter Newsletter Subscriber coupon code (look at the very bottom of your e-mailed newsletter for the code), you can get a copy of PassPorter Walt Disney World 2007 spiral (or pre-order a 2008 spiral) for just $17.21. And if you already have a PassPorter and you register it to get a coupon, you can get those same spiral editions for a mere $14.92. This sale ends on Monday, May 28 at midnight ET. For details, visit the PassPorter Store.
Peer reviewer and friend Bruce Metcalf continues his live
trip
report of his trans-Atlantic crossing cruise on the Disney
Magic. To read his live reports, visit 25 Days on the Disney Magic
Meet us in person: Will
you be at July's sold-out MagicMeets
event in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania? We sure will! We'll be on
hand to meet, greet, and maybe put on a presentation or two.
In
this issue, Beverly Carr and
Craig Jackson describe how you can "offset" the carbon dioxide released
as you travel to Disney in Taking
a "Greener" Trip to Walt Disney World, and Newsletter
Feature Columnist Cheryl Pendry describes some of
the tasty morsels to be had at fall's Epcot
Food and Wine Festival.
Enjoy!
Jennifer and Dave
PassPorter Publishers and Authors
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Did You Know?
Great
Cruise Rates are available at
MouseEarVacations.com!
 Disney
Cruise Line® Special Offer
Dec.
2-6, 2007 - MouseFest Cruise -
4 night Disney Wonder
Save up to $210* per cabin
compared to current Disney pricing.
Click
here to get a quote for December 2, 2007
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Travel
Feature:
Taking
A 'Greener' Trip to Walt Disney World
by Beverly Carr and
Craig Jackson, PassPorter Guest Contributors
The flights are booked, our Beach Club Villas studio is confirmed and the dining reservations are made. I am in Disney planning heaven! My husband and daughter share my passion and excitement for everything Disney. However, my excitement is tinged with a little guilt. I love my Walt Disney World annual trip. I love sharing happy times with my family and friends, but I'm not being a friend to the environment.
I am told that airline flights are among the
fastest growing sources of
global warming gases. Our trip in August will include a return
transatlantic
flight of 8,455 miles. Each one of us will add about a ton and a half
of CO2
to the atmosphere. Obviously, the greenest option is not to fly at all
-- I
could sell my Disney Vacation Club points and holiday much closer to
home ... but
I love Walt Disney World!
So, this year,
part of my Disney-obsessed vacation planning took the
form of investigating ways to help the environment in exchange for us
taking
those flights. A fitting choice seemed to be to offset the CO2
from
our flights, so I began checking out various web sites. It transpired
that a
friend and colleague of mine is a regular transatlantic Disney-goer
too! He'll
be in Orlando again this
year
and has already offset the carbon emission for his flights. He knows
what he is
talking about, too. He's an architect who specializes in
environmental design, so
he understands the issues behind carbon emissions and climate change
and
the effects that we can have on the environment in our day-to-day
lives. I
asked him to explain the technology behind my proposed solution.
In
an ideal world we'd be able to hop across the
'pond'
in aircraft that gave out no emissions, but we live in the real world
so have to be a
little bit more imaginative in our approach. Carbon offsetting is one
of those
imaginative approaches and one that a 'light' green
like me
can get behind. It's
still a bit controversial because it doesn't stop harmful
emissions taking place,
but it does invest money in technologies and projects to counteract (or
offset)
those emissions.
Offsetting works like
this. We know that a UK to Orlando flight
produces
around 1.5 tons of CO2 per person. A simple
online calculation
estimates the monetary cost of preventing 1.5 tons being emitted
somewhere else
to balance things up. There are lots of ways in which CO2
can be
offset. Your money could be used to plant new trees to help absorb CO2,
or it could be invested in renewable technologies like
hydro-electric power stations or even something as simple as providing
additional insulation in houses.
But before we all
rejoice at such a simple solution let me sound a note
of caution. Sites are springing up all over the web offering to stamp
out your
carbon footprint at the click of a mouse. "Deep"
greens will tell us carbon
offsetting schemes don't work and that all we're
doing is lining the pockets of
a few dot com entrepreneurs who appease our guilt at
flying by taking our cash.
So we need to be aware that not all carbon offsetting sites are
necessarily the
same.
It's very
important to do your research before you part with your money
and make sure that the measures you are paying for really are going to
make a
difference. They are using your money, so only give it to those who
will use it
wisely.
Look for sites with a
wide range of carbon offset projects where your
money can be invested. Make sure they have a strong verification
processes and
are regularly reviewed and audited independently. Good sites will have
a clear
Corporate Responsibility statement where you should be able to check
these
things out.
Another good sign is if
the site follows the Carbon Neutral Protocol.
This is currently a voluntary standard, but it's likely to
form the basis of
the UK Government's independently regulated Code of Practice
early in 2008.
Once you've
done your research, actually offsetting your carbon is easy.
It's just like booking your park tickets online. You tell the
site where you're
traveling from and it'll work out the cost. All you need then
is a credit or
debit card! At
the moment, we in the Western World are using up
natural resources at such a rate that we need three whole Earths to
support us. In
the future we want our children to be able to enjoy their own
visits to
Walt Disney World and to introduce their own children to the
magic.
They have a much better chance of being able to do that if we all make
a few
simple changes now.
About the Authors: Beverly Carr is the Finance Manager for a Housing Association in Sheffield, UK. She is Disney Vacation Club member and with her annual trip planned for August 2007 she's already getting rather excited. Craig Jackson works with Beverly in the Architects Department and is a Disney novice in comparison. His next visit in late August will be only his fifth since 2000!
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Did
you enjoy this article?
Have questions? E-mail us at news@passporter.com or visit http://www.passporterboards.com
to discuss your travel plans. Also check out our
Article Collection for more great information!
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Disney Feature:
Epcot's Food &
Wine Festival
by Cheryl Pendry, PassPorter
Feature Columnist
We all know that Disney loves to celebrate.
Whether it's a birthday,
anniversary or family gathering, Disney will do all they can to make it
especially magical. So when you think about Epcot's annual
Food and Wine
Festival, immediately you just know that Disney will do something to
make these
things, which many of us hold dear to our hearts, extra special.
That's what I
discovered on our first real exploration of the Festival last year.
The most
important thing you need to know about the Food and Wine
Festival, so that you're not disappointed, is that the vast
majority of food,
wine, and activities offered during that time will cost you more money
on top of
your park admission. Sure, there are some things that you can do for
free,
which we'll touch on in a moment, but the food and wine
booths that you'll see
scattered around the World Showcase lagoon definitely aren't
free. We saw the
booths on our honeymoon in 1999 and I remember being very disappointed
that the
items they offered weren't free samples being given away, but
that you had to
pay for.
Having said that, where
else can you sample food from around the world
to see if you like it or not? Last year's samplings, which
ranged in price from
$2 to $6, included such varied items as kiwi and custard rolls from New Zealand, spicy beef empanadas from Argentina, sauteed corvine from Chile, lingonberry mousse from Scandinavia, and vegetable curry with jasmine rice and lemon grass from Thailand. The beauty
here
is that if you take a bite of something and decide you don't
like it, you
haven't wasted a fortune on it.
And let's not
forget the wines that accompany all the wonderful food at
these booths. From green tea plum wine in China to sake in Japan, and Irish
Cream,
unsurprisingly found at the Irish booth, there was something for all
tastes. As
for wine, whether you prefer white, rosé, or red; dry or
sweet, you won't be
disappointed. The Australian wine walkabout was a particular favorite of mine at
last year's festival, allowing you
to buy a certain number of samples of wine and then pick them as you
walked
about -- hence the name!
Beer drinkers aren't left out either,
with various offerings at the different
booths, along with a hops and barley market and great beers of the
world,
highlighting some familiar -- and perhaps not so familiar
-- names. It seems that
there aren't many people who are fans of champagne, at least
judging by the
bottles still chilling in our fridge. But if you are a fan of the
bubbly, don't
miss the champagne booth and the delightful pairing with chocolate
truffles, a
must for anyone with a sweet tooth.
Although
the Food and Wine
Marketplace food booths are the most common way for visitors to Epcot
to enjoy
the festival, there's much more to it, depending on how much
money you're
prepared to spend on food. If the answer to that question is
"nothing," then
don't despair. There are a number of free events during the
festival, but you
may just find you have to give up park time to wait in line for them.
Last
year saw complimentary
cooking demonstrations, book signings, and even tasting sessions of
both food
and wine. As you can imagine, these are exceptionally popular,
especially the
ones that involve some eating and drinking for free! If you want to try
any of
these out, grab a festival program as soon as you can and work out
which ones
interest you, then be prepared for a long wait. You'll need
to get in line at
least 30 minutes before the event you want to see gets underway.
Another
free event during
the Festival is the Eat to the Beat concert series, staged three times
a night
at the America Gardens Theatre. If any of the acts performing while
you're
there appeal to you, arrive early to guarantee a seat, although we were
able to
catch some of the final parts of Gloria Gaynor's performance
on her last night,
standing at one side of the theatre.
Of
course, if you love your
food as much as I do, then you might want to spring for some of the
more
expensive options during the Festival, but be warned, when Disney calls
them
the "exclusive wine and culinary programs,"
it's for a reason. These events are
not cheap and the prices would make many people faint! However, as
you'd expect
from Disney, if you do attend any of these events, you'll
have an amazing time.
We went to the Party for the Senses last year and I'll be
reporting on our
experience there in an upcoming issue of PassPorter News, but
let's just say it
was worth every penny and definitely something we'd do again.
In
previous years, other
special events have included the Food and Wine Pairings, offering three
tasting-sized portions of food, along with their paired wines for $40 per person. If you
prefer cakes and pastries, then you could enjoy those at Sweet Sundays,
with
three dessert items created for you by a celebrity chef, at $65 per
person.
You
could enjoy a three-course lunch with a celebrity chef at The Cook, the
Book, and the Bottle for
$150 per person, while the Chef's Showplace allowed you to
learn
from the
experts as you create a themed lunch with a visiting chef for the same
$150. If money is no object, then the Exquisite Evenings would set you
back
$195 per person, but for that, you would get a team of chefs, some
celebrity
and some from around the Disney resort, preparing an amazing
five-course feast
for you.
All
prices are from 2006 and
did not include tax. These prices may increase for this
year's Festival and the
events are subject to change. As you can see though, there's
certainly
something for everyone to suit all budgets, from free to megabucks.
It's
worth knowing that the Food and Wine Festival is a very popular event
these
days, especially with locals. We found Epcot to be packed out on Friday
and
Saturday nights in particular, meaning long waits at many of the food
booths.
If you want to experience the festival at a quieter time, try heading
for Epcot
during the week and at lunchtimes. Whatever you do, if you're
heading to Walt
Disney World during the Food and Wine Festival, don't miss it
-- there really is
something for everyone to enjoy there!
Note: The
2007 Food and Wine Festival runs from September 28 through November 11.
About
the Author: Cheryl and husband Mark live in England and love to travel, particularly to America. Their last visit to
Disney World was in the fall, when they enjoyed both the Food and Wine
Festival
at Epcot and the Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom.
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Did you enjoy this article?
Have
questions? E-mail us at news@passporter.com or visit http://www.passporterboards.com
to discuss your Disney vacation plans. Also check out our
Article Collection for more great information!
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for PassPorter News readers:
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