DREAMing of a Disney spring break COMPLETED - Page 16 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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Wow, what a swanky ship! You sure got some great photos during your peaceful morning. Can't get enough of that artwork/Walt photos though. It's those little touches, isn't it?!
I didn't realize the Enchanted Garden was a buffet! Is that only for breakfast though, and dinner will be table service? I guess I didn't read all the details that closely. In my defense, I didn't read details because I know I won't be sailing on her for quite some time....
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Wow, what a swanky ship! You sure got some great photos during your peaceful morning. Can't get enough of that artwork/Walt photos though. It's those little touches, isn't it?!
I didn't realize the Enchanted Garden was a buffet! Is that only for breakfast though, and dinner will be table service? I guess I didn't read all the details that closely. In my defense, I didn't read details because I know I won't be sailing on her for quite some time....
Dinner is table service, but the lunch and breakfast are both buffets, as far as I'm aware.
I've been following your trip since the start although I haven't commented up until now, I'm truly enjoying every one of your updates! We took our first cruise last summer on Royal Caribbean and loved everything about it, I didn't think I would ever be able to justify the cost difference to take a Disney cruise, but after seeing all your pics I feel I must cruise on the Dream or the Fantasy some day! In defense of RC, we did cruise on one of the older ships and I will definetely cruise with them again, but WOW the Dream is just spectacular, I can't wait to see more!
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I love the look of the Enchanted Garden, those booth tables are so cool. Looks like they give you a great selection for breakfast. Love the pictures of Nassau...the view from the ship is amazing.
I've been following your trip since the start although I haven't commented up until now, I'm truly enjoying every one of your updates! We took our first cruise last summer on Royal Caribbean and loved everything about it, I didn't think I would ever be able to justify the cost difference to take a Disney cruise, but after seeing all your pics I feel I must cruise on the Dream or the Fantasy some day! In defense of RC, we did cruise on one of the older ships and I will definetely cruise with them again, but WOW the Dream is just spectacular, I can't wait to see more!
Glad to be able to help out with justifying a Disney cruise!
Friday 15 April – part three: learning about the art of the Dream
Then it was into Palo, which continues the theme of having an Italian restaurant on board all three ships. Apparently, this tradition started because the first two ships were built in Italy. I’m glad they decided to stick with it and not introduce a German restaurant to the Dream. No offence to German friends, but somehow German cuisine doesn’t thrill me the same way that Italian cuisine does.
We headed into Remy and learnt how it was Art Nouveau, rather than Art Deco, as the rest of the ship is. I was surprised that in our group of about 12 people, we were the only ones booked to eat at Remy. People started asking us about how we had done that – well, getting up at 5am on the first day we could book had a lot to do with it...
Next we headed down to deck five to see some of the interactive art. I didn’t realise, but you can take a detective tour of the ship, exploring the various bits of interactive art and finding out who the villain is on the way. It’s another wonderful addition to the Dream. I love the way they’ve used technology to enhance your vacation.
We next learnt about the theming for both the Oceaneer Lab (discovery) and Oceaneer Club (magic) – they both looked like amazing places and I was kind of disappointed that we didn’t go with Sean and Sharon yesterday to see them.
We headed towards the atrium and from there, it was down to deck four to visit the Walt Disney Theater.
We then walked along the exterior of deck four, discussing the colours of the Disney Cruise Line and how Disney had become the first cruise line to apply for the colour of the lifeboats to be changed from the orange on the ship opposite us to the Mickey yellow colour. They also explained how they found the navy blue colour that looks black from a distance. Apparently, in a meeting, a woman was there in navy blue pants and it was declared that these were just what was needed. When the meeting finished, she gave them the pants and they modelled the colour on that. It was then called Monica Blue in her honour.
We then went back inside to enjoy the District, the adult only entertainment district. We walked through Pink and I’d totally missed the pink elephant on the logo and the link to Dumbo, which was very neat.
We went into Evolutions, which is where adults can transform themselves from caterpillars into butterflies away from their children. Very cool idea.
Then it was off to see the Skyline Lounge. I had been in here first thing, but there were no images of a skyline then. Now we got to see Rio de Janiero and it’s amazing how they’ve done this.
It was down one more deck after that to Animator’s Palette to learn about the transition into this area and the thinking behind it. Then we walked along to the Atrium, where we finished our tour. It had lasted just over an hour and it had been fascinating. I’m really glad we took it.
Pierre-Luc, our guide Playing the part of a princess!
The tour sounds really informative. It was great on the Magic as well. On the Dream I'm sure they could have made it twice as long and not run out of information. I like the look of Palo much more than Remy. Remy is very elegant, but I guess I just prefer the Italian influence to the French.