Florida flowers and Caribbean cruising - the trip report! THIS SECTION COMPLETED 4/12 - Page 10 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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"Jerusalem" is so beautiful! I always think of "green and pleasant land", "chariots of fire", "arrows of desire"-- so many memorable phrases by William Blake.
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You're on your way and it looks like a nice way to travel.
Hope you're feeling better!
I must admit I am feeling a lot better this morning, after a second good night's sleep. I was back in work yesterday, but not really with it - I stuck to very simple tasks, but today I think I'll be able to tackle a bit more.
Friday 20 February – part four: this is the first time we’ve ever experienced that!
After the film finished, we both dozed for a bit, although in my case, I only really closed my eyes, and could still hear all of the music on my iPod, but I was like that for about an hour recharging my batteries a bit, as it would be a long day. Then I read a bit of Carolyn’s (silvercat) mammoth trip report. If she’s reading this, can I just say “seriously jealous” that you got to see David Tennant? Wow! I literally had my mouth hanging open like this: when I read that. How cool is that. If you have some photos (I think you said that you managed to sneak some ), I’d love to see them.
Next, I decided to brave Gone Girl, and see what I made of it. Well, I have to say, with the exception of one very violent scene (I spent most of it looking away), I absolutely loved it. It was more psychological drama than anything else, and I think that’s sometimes more scary than real violence. I actually thought there was a lot less violence in it than the Equalizer, which had a 15 rating, while Gone Girl was an 18 rating. By the way, for those who don’t know, the number is the age at which you can see a film over here.
One thing I will say is that with so few passengers on board, we had a lot of attention from the cabin crew. They were constantly round, offering us drinks (non-alcoholic) and asking if we wanted snacks or if there was anything else they could get us. We really did feel like Royalty, and I have to say it was one of the most relaxing flights we’ve had in a long time, simply because it was so quiet on board. If only all flights could be like this.
One of the snacks we were given
Interestingly, we found out that we were taking a very different route:
This was just under three hours from our destination, and usually we’d be around the New York area, but we’d obviously taken a route straight across the Atlantic, which is the first time we’ve ever experienced that. We suspected it was to keep us away from rough weather, and the cabin crew confirmed that.
By the way, if you’re wondering why there aren’t any cool photos of the scenery outside, there’s a very simple reason for that. It was literally absolutely dazzling out there, and despite the fact the cabin was almost empty, every single blind was down on every window. Occasionally, someone would raise one to peek out, and then everyone realised that it was still far too bright out there to open theirs. It was quite cool to have a darkened cabin for the trip, and it’s the first time we’ve ever seen glare like that from outside before.
I settled down to listen to some music on the iPod for a while, including the IllumiNations music, which always makes me cry. I had my eyes closed, and figured I’d done really well not crying… that was until I opened my eyes and realised I couldn’t actually see anything through the tears. Oops!
About an hour and a half before we were due to land, we were served afternoon team, made up of cheese and tomato chutney finger sandwiches, Tyrrells Plane Crisps (chips to you guys) and I am not joking about the name of them. Proof will be in one of the following photos… We also got a home made Broderick’s bar.
After we’d finished eating, I risked opening the blind a bit, and it wasn’t quite as dazzling now, with some perfect views of the Atlantic Ocean beneath us. I have to say, it really didn’t look that far beneath us, although the map view told us we were still flying at 39,000 feet.
As we were nearing our destination, we got ourselves ready for landing, just refreshing ourselves, as by now, our bodies were telling us it was evening at home, even with all the dozing we’d done during the flight.
Soon, we were finally seeing land – a novel concept, as usually we’ve had a good few hours of flying over land by now.
I managed to get some fairly neat photos as we passed over Cape Canaveral, although to be honest, through my eyes at the time, it wasn’t this hazy outside. Some came out Ok though…
Then we were flying across central Florida, potentially taking the same route we’ll be taking to and from the Dream.
Next: look what was waiting for me on the edge of airport property!
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You got some great photos of Florida! I never remember to take my camera out so I can get some pictures as we're arriving to our destination. But then again, I never get the window seat.
Ok, now on to Gone Girl. WOW! What a movie! That violent scene was so shocking. I caved and watched before reading the book, I don't usually do that. Anyways... I thought it was a good movie. I love psychological thrillers! And I agree that they are scarier than those horror/violent movies.
So by now you've seen the photographic evidence - phwoar! He is very tiny in real life, but just as cute as you would imagine!
LOVE your pictures of Cape Canaveral, you can see the VAB and the crawlerways to the launch pads - amazing! Really lovely pictures, so clear - well done you!
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Silvercat
(Enjoy reading trip reports? Why not try my books, "Tiggerific Travels Parts 1, 2, 3 & the new volume 4" - available now as e-books)