A Magical voyage across the pond TRIP REPORT UPDATED 12/31 - Page 57 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Well if you had to be up, at least you made the best of it!! I love the photos from around the empty ship!! Those staterooms doors continue to amaze me as well!! They are just beautiful!!
I'm not surprised there were a handful of people up and about that early. I've always wondered how the time changes and "jet lag" might affect some people on such a journey!
The ship looks really cool at night, and in the dark. As do those doors, wow! Some people are so creative!
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I'm not surprised there were a handful of people up and about that early. I've always wondered how the time changes and "jet lag" might affect some people on such a journey!
I can imagine for those who'd flown in from the USA maybe a day or two before the cruise, perhaps it might still be hitting them a little bit, as it always takes us a few days to fully recover. I think a lot of people though tend to be night owls when they're on vacation. Not me!
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The ship looks really cool at night, and in the dark. As do those doors, wow! Some people are so creative!
Too bad you had that whole bottle of sparkling wine to yourself! I'm sure it didn't go to waste! Your meal at Rapunzel's looked very good with some nice choices. Too bad the soup was off. Too funny with the Bailey's! The gallery tour sounds good and glad you asked about it. Should be a good one! Seems great that you should have Andrae on your next cruise!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
What a nice tour you had of the ship with no one around! Some nice views through the various portholes. I love those doors with many passengers being quite creative with them!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Too bad you had that whole bottle of sparkling wine to yourself! I'm sure it didn't go to waste!
Oh I made sure of that!
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Your meal at Rapunzel's looked very good with some nice choices. Too bad the soup was off. Too funny with the Bailey's! The gallery tour sounds good and glad you asked about it. Should be a good one! Seems great that you should have Andrae on your next cruise!
I was so pleased that we were able to continue with him.
Friday 14 September – part two: what is this all about?
We drank our tea and slowly got going, before heading up to deck nine to have breakfast at Cabana’s. We saw Andrae and Simone, our head server, who we chatted with for ages. It turns out that he and his wife live just down the road from where Mark’s parents have a villa in Spain. Altogether now, It’s A Small World.
After we were done eating, we took a short stroll along deck 10. It was a lot cloudier than previous days, but thankfully the rain had stopped by now.
We then headed back to the room and decided to watch Guardians of the Galaxy, as it was on our stateroom TV. Mark’s seen it, but I haven’t, and to be honest, if it’s free and I don’t like it, it’s not a big deal. It was good and I’m glad I’ve seen it, as maybe I’ll understand some of the Disney rides that are either getting or already have Guardians of the Galaxy makeovers.
As you can see, it had turned into another beautiful day outside.
We headed out just before 10:30am, hoping to go and chill in the Promenade Lounge for a bit and read before the hide and seek with the officers at 11:00am. I had no idea what it was, but it sounded like fun. However, when we got there, they were finishing up a session of pirates crafts and it was packed, so instead, we headed off to lounge around for a bit here…
As we were there, we heard an announcement about the Hide and Seek with the Officers, so we decided to head over there before it became swamped. We were lucky, as the Pirates Crafts were just clearing out. I did think that they had far too much going on in here. Literally one thing would finish and they’d be moving into the next one.
Now I will be honest, I have no clue what on earth this was about. All it said was that it was a twist on the original. We quickly found out when Erin introduced the ship’s steering committee of eight officers. They literally went on stage for about 30 seconds, then disappeared again. We barely had time to photograph them and, try as I might to remember their faces from the photo (I have a photographic memory), honestly it was no use to me.
We then had to stay behind for 15 minutes, which after everyone had asked their questions, got a bit torturous. It turns out some people had done this before and apparently the officers don’t always play by the rules, which are that they will be in communal areas – i.e. not in the kids’ club or adult areas, but someone said previously the officers were in the kids’ club.
After the questions, we moved on to Disney trivia, which soon became pointless, as there was one woman just screaming out all the answers. As Mark said, it’s time to change the questions.
Then Erin moved on to pirate jokes and they were really, really bad… in fact they were so bad that when she asked kids for their pirate jokes, they were better than hers!
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I love the photos from around the empty ship!! Those staterooms doors continue to amaze me as well!! They are just beautiful!! 
As do those doors, wow! Some people are so creative!
PassPorter Guide Author
I'm sure it didn't go to waste! Your meal at Rapunzel's looked very good with some nice choices. 
The gallery tour sounds good and glad you asked about it. 
I was really pleased with those, they were very unusual ones to get.
All it said was that it was a twist on the original. We quickly found out when Erin introduced the ship’s steering committee of eight officers. They literally went on stage for about 30 seconds, then disappeared again. We barely had time to photograph them and, try as I might to remember their faces from the photo (I have a photographic memory), honestly it was no use to me. 
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