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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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As the party was winding down we were starting to move so we went in search of Skip. I found him towards the back of the ship. He had gotten some sail away drinks. I asked him what they were and he didn’t know but thought they were strawberry daiquiris. He had gotten one for me and I took a sip. It tasted like it had a touch of coconut in it and I just cannot stand coconut. I sipped it off and on as I didn’t want to hurt his feelings too badly, but in the end I gave it to him because it just wasn’t good to me.
We decided to do a family selfie to post on facebook before we got out of port.
Good bye PC!
Lots of well-wishers sending us off.
I was also messaging some of my friends and they were watching us on the webcam as we sailed away.
There was the mystery drink.
Skip parked himself at that table and Claire had to use the restroom so we went inside and used the one outside of Palo.
Yes I took a picture of the tampon machine. If you may remember….I have a running joke with a group of friends. When we see free tampons we report it to each other and take pictures. It started for the most part in Feb. when I found free tampons in the Disneyland Hotels. I took a picture and posted it in our facebook group and since then we joke about it all the time. Well the Magic has free tampons too. I actually knew that from last time when my friend who sailed with me and I discovered it and had a good laugh then. It’s still true for the reimagined Magic as well.
Back outside we watched the world go by as we headed out to sea.
Good bye! See you in a couple of days!
This boat kept buzzing around and I kept telling Claire it was the pilot boat…and then I saw it was a police boat. I spotted the pilot boat later.
As we floated out many people left the decks. We had late dinner so I was in no hurry to go back to the room to get changed.
I took a few more pictures around the ship.
I think these were some of the food offerings at Daisy’s deLites.
We headed back to our room
And went out to our balcony. That’s when I saw the real pilot boat.
We then got ready to head to the show tonight. I don’t think we changed our clothes yet. I think we went as is.
I loved how fresh and bright the new carpeting was.
Tonight’s show is Twice Charmed.
The ritual each night at the show was started tonight….Claire wanted Popcorn and she only had to bat her baby blues at her dad and he would buy her some……Yes popcorn is not free for the shows. (I don’t think there is any free popcorn or candy bars on the ship) They sell it right outside the entrance. Skip would typically get a beer as well. They do have servers coming around before the show too. If you ask, they will also bring back popcorn as well. The popcorn was really good, but pricey for the amount you got, which was a very small bag. It is now freshly popped though.
Sadly you can no longer take pictures at the shows so I don’t have any. We really enjoyed the show though and Claire thought all the costumes were just beautiful.
After the show we headed out with the masses and Claire and I wanted to peek in the shops. Skip said he had no desire to so he was going off on his own. He said he would meet us outside the restaurant for dinner at the designated time. Bye dear!
After we shopped around we headed towards the atrium.
We did a little people watching.
And then we headed back to our room. Earlier I had done some unpacking, though I don’t remember exactly when. I also had brought several magnets for our door and had put them out as well.
We got ready for dinner and relaxed a bit and then headed back out.
I just love Deck 4!
A ship off in the distance.
We still had time to kill so we walked around a bit, kind of hoping we would bump into Skip.
It’s pretty dead up here.
We moved on.
We then made another stop back at our room and noticed our beds had been turned down.
This is when panic set in.
Claire sleeps with silky…the blanket…and Penelope…a doll, every single night. She also had been sleeping with her Figment and her Dumbo she got at the parks. As you can see, only silky and Figment are in the picture.
We did some searching and found Penelope right away but Dumbo was missing. Last seen he was on the couch. My guess was he got folded into the bed, and I kept trying to figure out how to unfold it to check and I just couldn’t get it to budge.
I found our stateroom host, who was a lady and asked her and she said to look around more as she never saw him. I am going to say it now……she was very nice but never seemed to want to do anything extra. I think she was probably one of the worst stateroom hosts I have ever had…though the one I had on our first Dream cruise was not that good either….I never saw him once.
We looked all over the place for Dumbo throughout the night and never could find him. Later in the evening I had to insist that she open the bed up to take a peek and she seemed to fight me on this still…..sure enough when she did open the bed, there was Dumbo smashed in between. Claire was so happy to have him back and I gave our gal a “told you so” look but I did thank her too.
We headed out to dinner (at this point we still had not found Dumbo and Claire was still worried).
Tonight our dinner would be in the new Carioca’s. We waited outside for Skip and waited…and waited.
He didn’t show up and I was not about to miss dinner so we headed inside.
They took us to our table…..where we found my husband already sitting. UGH! I told him how we had been waiting for him out front like we had discussed but he said he just felt like being seated. Ok then…..not good with directions….does not play well with others….to name a few…..
We met our servers and for the life of my I know longer remember their names. They were good, but not great or memorable like some in the past. I do remember they were a little harder to understand than some of our past servers though. But they were super friendly and I didn’t really have any problems with them. I just didn’t bond with them. On my last Magic cruise I really bonded with our servers….as did I with the ones on our first Dream cruise.
We took a look at the menus. I had been doing a little menu peeking before the cruise and I wasn’t sure how I would like it, but I figured I would try a few things and if worse came to worse I could get a burger up on deck later or order some room service.
Bread was served. I think it was a type of banana bread.
I tried to take pictures of the restaurant since it was all so new.
I will gladly relieve you of any coconut based drinks that you don't want! Yum! How annoying of your stateroom host to not want to open the bed to look for Dumbo. (And obviously she wasn't paying very good attention when she squished him in there in the first place.) Cariocas looks great so far from your pictures!
So glad that you were able to find Claire's stuffed animals! That happened to my DD when she was about 5 years old in a Disney hotel room and it was never found! It was her favorite teddy bear that she slept with every night which was very traumatic! I can't wait to hear about your dinner.
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Wow. My DS has a special animal that we travel with, it was given to him on one of his early adventures (in Krakow, PL at age 7 weeks). We've been very lucky till now. I live in fear of losing that thing, I would be as sad or sadder than DS.
I will gladly relieve you of any coconut based drinks that you don't want! Yum! How annoying of your stateroom host to not want to open the bed to look for Dumbo. (And obviously she wasn't paying very good attention when she squished him in there in the first place.) Cariocas looks great so far from your pictures!
You can have them all!
I was not impressed with her at all and I thought the same thing....she should've paid more attention.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Thank goodness you were able to find Dumbo!
It could've been really bad!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lindawdw
So glad that you were able to find Claire's stuffed animals! That happened to my DD when she was about 5 years old in a Disney hotel room and it was never found! It was her favorite teddy bear that she slept with every night which was very traumatic! I can't wait to hear about your dinner.
That would be horrid! If Claire lost silky or Penelope I think the world might have to end.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KimmyAnn1147
Wow. My DS has a special animal that we travel with, it was given to him on one of his early adventures (in Krakow, PL at age 7 weeks). We've been very lucky till now. I live in fear of losing that thing, I would be as sad or sadder than DS.
Looking forward to the rest of your meal.
I do have a fear too and wish she still didn't insist on them traveling with us.
We made our orders. I ordered a few things and 2 entrees. I kept telling Skip as he was looking over the selections that he could order more than one thing from each area if he wanted but he didn’t seem to get it. I think he was afraid they would tell him no.
Claire sat next to her Daddy as she was so excited he was along.
She got the soup…I think it was chicken soup…but whatever it was we had to scoop out most of the vegetables because God forbid one would touch her lips.
I got an Empanada.
It was very good….I could eat 3 or 4 easily.
I think Skip got the Deep Fried Lobster Croquetas. I actually think we both got it but I must’ve eaten all of mine before I thought of a picture.
I believe we enjoyed them.
Claire working on getting those horrid veggies out of her soup.
Skip had a tomato soup. The menu has changed a few times and I am not sure if it still being served or not.
Claire’s entrée was brought out fast since she planned to do the dine and play and head to the kids club soon.
She surprised me by trying something other than chicken nuggets.
Soon our meals came out as well.
I don’t see what I got on a menu but it sure looks like prime rib to me. It was good...I do remember that.
I think Skip got the Lobster, Shrimp and Mahi Mahi skewer.
I also got the Jose Carioca’s which is different skewers of meat.
They were good too but I did not like the rice at all. I liked some meats better than others and my friend has told me you can request them to be just of the meats you like instead of getting all the different types…I will do that next time.
Skip looked at his plate and then looked at ALL of my food and stated…You clearly made out much better in this deal…..um yeah. I told you that you could order more than one entrée. I did let him try some of my foods and I told him he could ask for another entrée and they would go get it for him, but he said he was ok.
We were approaching the time for Claire to leave the kids club and she still had not received her dessert so I reminded our servers and they quickly brought it out for her.
She ate about half since she was in a hurry and then I took her up front and had her checked into the clubs. She wanted to give it a try but she told me she didn’t want to stay too long so she wanted us to come after her soon after dinner.
Skip and I made out dessert choices then.
Skip got the sweet temptations with a trio of desserts. I think it was a chocolate torte, a strawberry cheesecake and a cream cheese flan.
I can’t remember what this is….I am thinking cream cheese flan….and I don’t remember if I liked it or not.
This was the strawberry cheesecake and it was good.
We left quite full, so that was a good thing. I still would like to try more things here. The menu is a little “wild” for us and probably not a favorite, but I still had a decent meal.
With that we left and headed outside to take a stroll together.
One thing I haven’t mentioned….it was quite rocky. I take bonine every day while cruising and it helps quite a bit. Tonight the waves were starting to get to me. I wasn’t sick, but I could feel it enough to make me uncomfortable. I also was super tired and the motion just made me want to sleep. Skip had big plans for the evening still and I told him I wasn’t sure how much longer I would last.
We decided to walk around a bit. We took a walk through Shutters on the way.
And out towards the atrium.
And the clubs weren’t really happening yet.
Skip was bound and determined to hang out here tonight though because Andy said he had special stuff planned.
We then picked Claire up from the club. She was interacting with some CM’s. I think they were doing a dance type game and she looked like she was having fun. I was so glad she was giving it a chance.
We headed back to the room to change clothes. I think this is when I got our room host to find Dumbo for Claire. At that point I just couldn’t go on. I told Skip I was getting pretty nauseous and I was just so dang tired. (We had been going pretty strong at the parks for a week). Claire wanted to go see the karaoke so Skip said he would take her while I took a rest. I think it was around 10PM and I just totally died in the bed. I woke a little later when I heard Claire talking. She chattered about the karaoke a bit, I asked her if she sang and she said no (she is very shy) and that’s the last I remember. I guess she got herself ready for bed. I later found out she actually stayed up and watched TV for a while and then went to sleep and Skip went to the clubs and people watched and enjoyed whatever entertainment Andy had going on. I think he met a few guys to chat with as well. I never heard him come in. I did find several rum and cokes on our bill when I checked it the next day, so he must’ve had a good time. LOL.
I wish I could’ve stayed up later, but the lack of sleep and the motion was just too much for me and I am sure I needed to do a little catch up in the sleep department anyways.
That empanadas looks great! So sorry the sea sickness got to you a bit but overall it sounds like a great night with getting to take advantage of some of the late night fun!
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So glad that you and Skip enjoyed your dinner and that Claire had fun at the Kid's Club! The motion of the ship got to me on my last cruise and I didn't know in the beginning that the ship offered Bonine. I started taking it but too late really as I already had that motion sickness feeling once the seas got rough from the Nor'Eastern that we were heading into. Sounds like Skip enjoyed enjoyed the evening entertainment!
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Sounds like Skip enjoyed enjoyed the evening entertainment!
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