Our “Wonder”ous Adventure To The Mexican Riviera - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
This vacation is long overdue. The last time I had a day completely off from both of my jobs was August 9th… 201 days, in case you were wondering! (And that was for a long weekend trip to Disneyland! ) I am definitely ready for a break, and I can’t wait to spend some quality, relaxing time with my daughter. Just 8 more days, and we are off to experience the WONDER of the Mexican Riviera!
I am a single mom, and have raised my daughter alone since she was 18 months old. She is now 18 YEARS old (!!!) and is in her second semester of freshman year at Arizona State University. I wanted to plan something fun, exciting and DIFFERENT to celebrate her graduation and entry into adulthood. We are huge Disney fans, because, ya’ know, who isn’t?? So a cruise seemed like a perfect fit – I get my fix of Disney, but we are doing something different from visiting the parks. A cruise seems so grown up, somehow. The only problem…my DD is afraid of boats. So, talking her into taking a cruise took some doing. I mean, it took A LOT LOTLOT of talking into. As in 5 years of bugging her, nagging her, begging her, before she finally agreed. Now that I read that over, it sounds kind of bad. I gotta be honest – the movies ‘Titanic’ and ‘Poseidon’ did me no favors. I am hoping that this cruise helps her overcome her fear. So, to sweeten the pot, I have bribed her with … err, I mean, booked a dolphin swim for her and I. She has ALWAYS wanted to swim with dolphins, and she is really looking forward to that. I think – between her love of, and comfort level with, all things Disney, combined with the dolphin swim and all of the other fun things we have planned, she will be fine. Otherwise, we will be flying home early from Mexico!
CAST OF CHARACTERS:
Amy (me) – I will be celebrating my 41st birthday while on board! I grew up in San Diego, and have been to Disneyland too many times to count. Literally every school trip, family weekend or break I get is spent at Disneyland. My excitement NEVER goes away. I am still like that guy on the commercial, that can’t sleep the night before because he is too worked up and excited to go! I have been to WDW 3 times, and am planning our 4th trip in December. This is our first cruise ever, and of course I would not consider anything other than Disney!
Kaitlyn (DD) 18 yo – This trip is Kaitlyn’s celebration of the start of college / ‘welcome to adulthood’ trip. She loves Eeyore, which always makes me giggle because her personality is so polar opposite of his. She is the most amazing child anyone could ever ask for, and I am always so awed that she is mine. She is studying to become a teacher. She works, and maintains a crazy-busy school load with straight A’s. She could definitely use a break!
Everyone knows how crazy things are in the world right now, so for safety’s sake Disney has pulled Mazatlan from our itinerary. I am a little sad about this, as I have never been to Mazatlan before. But, if I am honest, when I was researching the possible options for port excursions, Mazatlan was the one stop I didn’t find anything to do that knocked our socks off. Instead, we have we will enjoy a stop in Puerto Vallarta and two stops in Cabo San Lucas. Our itinerary looks like this;
Sunday, February 27, 2011
The only thing I really have planned for this day is the ship tour, which I read on some Navigators that were scanned (thanks Sue! ) starts around 2:30pm the day of embarkation. My FE group from The DIS is having a meet at 3:00pm, but I would rather have a good ‘lay of the land’, so that’s what we are going to do. Then I think we will just spend the evening getting comfortable in our cabin, attending the Sail Away Party, eating dinner and relaxing.
Monday, February 28, 2011
This is an At Sea day. I have a Swedish massage scheduled for Kaitlyn, and a facial booked for me. These are firsts as far as spa services go for both of us. I am really looking forward to a little pampering! It seems like the perfect way to kick off our vacation!
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
This is also an At Sea day. I was lucky to score a Palo brunch! What I am HOPING happens this day is that we are able to sleep in a little, then enjoy ourselves at Palo. I am really looking forward to this reservation!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Puerto Vallarta. This day we have The Puerto Vallarta City Tour planned at 8:15am. Although there were some excursions that looked a little more adventurous and exciting than this one, Kaitlyn and I chose this for one simple reason – SHOPPING. Neither of us have ever been to Puerto Vallarta before, so I wanted to do something where we would actually be able to see the city. In this excursion, we will be able to stay in Puerto Vallarta proper, and have enough time to do some serious shopping. I know this isn’t everyone’s ‘thing’, but Kaitlyn and I could seriously enter a competition for marathon-shoppers. So needless to say, we are looking forward to some time to part with some hard-earned cash.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
My birthday! Today we will be in Cabo San Lucas. This is the day Kaitlyn is waiting for – today we get to swim with dolphins! We have the Cabo Dolphin Swim booked at 11:45am, and then I scored and was able to get Palo for dinner this evening! Amy (iamgrumpy) wrote such good reviews, and I just couldn’t decide between brunch and dinner at Palo! I am really excited we get a chance to experience both meals during this trip. Plus, between the dolphins and dinner at Palo, I think this is going to be our most exciting day of vacation!
Friday, March 4, 2011
Cabo San Lucas, take 2. I love Cabo, so I am not in the least bit sad about getting to spend 2 days here! Today we have the Coastal Highlights Tour planned, which includes a stop at a glass blowing factory. This looks so neat! I am excited about checking it out! The tour also includes a stop at a cactus garden, which I am not looking forward to quite as much, since I live in Phoenix and all . But it’s a short stop in Cabo this day, we have to be back onboard fairly early in the afternoon.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
The only thing we have planned on this day are pedis. Oh, and bingo! We are looking forward to fitting some bingo in somewhere.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Home - today, after the ship docks, we will drive to my sister's house in Apple Valley CA to pick up our dog (she is dog-sitting during our trip!), and head home to Phoenix. Kaitlyn is very stressed out about spending so much time away from her boyfriend, so I am sure she will be ready to get home as soon as she can!
I won’t bore you with the details, but there was quite a lot of planning, then shuffling, then re-shuffling that went on after Mazatlan was pulled and the second day of Cabo was added. I am very satisfied with how everything eventually worked out, and am really looking forward to all of our excursions!
__________________
Saturday, October 9, 2014 - Kaitlyn and I before the Happy Haunted 5K at ESPN Wide World of Sports
Amy
Last edited by ilovedisney0_0; 02-22-2011 at 02:14 PM..
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Sue, you have helped SOOOO much in my plans! I am really excited, and can't wait to post my trip report. Hopefully it will help someone as much as you have helped me!
__________________
Saturday, October 9, 2014 - Kaitlyn and I before the Happy Haunted 5K at ESPN Wide World of Sports
Sounds wonderful, Amy! Looks like you've done a stellar job of raising your daughter and it's great that you can celebrate her graduation in this way. I'll just add that they often (always??) give a free pass to the Rainforest Room when you do a spa treatment, so be sure to ask about this on your first spa day. Rainforest room is an amazing way to relax--just don't do it right before you have anything important planned. I slept my way through the Pirate Party on one of the heated lounges!
I'll just add that they often (always??) give a free pass to the Rainforest Room when you do a spa treatment, so be sure to ask about this on your first spa day.
Just reading back over all of the comments, and for some reason I missed this one! When my daughter and I went to the Vista Spa for the first time, we were given a tour of the Rainforest Room as well as the prices for the passes during the cruise. When we went back for our first treatment, they offered us the Rainforest Room...for an extra fee.
__________________
Saturday, October 9, 2014 - Kaitlyn and I before the Happy Haunted 5K at ESPN Wide World of Sports
Just reading back over all of the comments, and for some reason I missed this one! When my daughter and I went to the Vista Spa for the first time, we were given a tour of the Rainforest Room as well as the prices for the passes during the cruise. When we went back for our first treatment, they offered us the Rainforest Room...for an extra fee.
Good to know! I guess the days of the free pass are over...
Wow! You are SO organized! Your itinerary looks WONDERful! Congratulations to your daughter's graduation AND Happy Birthday to you! Hope you both have an amazing time and see you on board!
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.
How exciting for you and Kaitlyn! You both deserve it! Sounds like some great things planned for your excursions and looking forward to reading all about them!
Almost time! Just 5 more days!! We are just making final preparations. I am in the process of doing laundry, and I still need to pack.
When I am at WDW, I like to have baskets of goodies delivered to my DD to make the trip extra-special. I am very disappointed that I haven't been able to find anyone to do that at DCL in LA. So, taking advice from DawnDenise, I have started to put together my own little goodie basket for my DD. I hope she is suprised! I found a cute little silver fish with diamonds, and a pretty little chain. So she will have that necklace.
My $20 keychain turned into $75, after all of my engraving.
I found some ADORABLE jammies that are Arizona State-themed. I know, I know - that has nothing to do with the cruise. But she goes to ASU, so I think she will like them!
Then, I found these cute cruisy nail polishes from China Glaze -
I REALLY REALLY wanted to get something DCL themed to give her. I have checked the Disney Store and online, and can't find anything DCL-specific.
If you have any other suggestions for her gift basket, I am open to them! I want her to have the time of her life, considering the fact that I KNOW she is afraid about this whole cruise-ship thing.
__________________
Saturday, October 9, 2014 - Kaitlyn and I before the Happy Haunted 5K at ESPN Wide World of Sports
Amy
Last edited by ilovedisney0_0; 02-22-2011 at 02:17 PM..
About This Page: 
) I am definitely ready for a break, and I can’t wait to spend some quality, relaxing time with my daughter. 
Just 8 more days, and we are off to experience the WONDER of the Mexican Riviera! 
(!!!) 
So a cruise seemed like a perfect fit – I get my fix of Disney, but we are doing something different from visiting the parks. A cruise seems so grown up, somehow. 
As in 5 years of bugging her, nagging her, begging her, before she finally agreed. 
I gotta be honest – the movies ‘Titanic’ and ‘Poseidon’ did me no favors. 
I am hoping that this cruise helps her overcome her fear. So, to sweeten the pot, I have bribed her with … err, I mean, booked a dolphin swim for her and I. 
I have been to WDW 3 times, and am planning our 4th trip in December. This is our first cruise ever, and of course I would not consider anything other than Disney! 
) starts around 2:30pm the day of embarkation. My FE group from The DIS is having a meet at 3:00pm, but I would rather have a good ‘lay of the land’, so that’s what we are going to do. 
What I am HOPING happens this day is that we are able to sleep in a little, then enjoy ourselves at Palo. I am really looking forward to this reservation! 
So needless to say, we are looking forward to some time to part with some hard-earned cash. 
Today we will be in Cabo San Lucas. This is the day Kaitlyn is waiting for – today we get to swim with dolphins! 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
When my daughter and I went to the Vista Spa for the first time, we were given a tour of the Rainforest Room as well as the prices for the passes during the cruise. When we went back for our first treatment, they offered us the Rainforest Room...for an extra fee. 
Congratulations to your daughter's graduation AND Happy Birthday to you! Hope you both have an amazing time and see you on board! 
PassPorter Guide Author
<--- Disney Fantasy 2016!
Hybrid Mode
