At that point in time, you could only access Silvermoon and Exodar if you had purchased the expansion. Quel’Thalas was originally introduced in Burning Crusade - the first World of Warcraft expansion (in Jan 15, 2007).
I think everyone pretty much knows about the portal and the loading screen to be reminded of it… unless it is a tease - which brings me to speculate whether Battle for Azeroth will finally merge Quel’Thalas and the rest of Eastern Kingdoms together without the loading screen.
