Laurie and Carol's Panama Adventure **Updated 6/11** COMPLETE - Page 2 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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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Awesome Laurie! Looking forward to more. DH and I (among LOTS of others) will bring that ship back to FL in August. If you get a chance, could you tell of your experiences with your laptop. Is there WIFI available? I'm not sure whether or not I will bring mine with me.
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Wonderful pics! Thanks for the updates. Can't wait to hear more! We will be on that return trip as well! If this works well in the cabin, I might take mine as well! (And I love 7114! We were in that cabin last summer for our Eastern Caribbean cruise! )
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Laurie, were you at one of the lunch with an vet things at Jiko? When Dr Mark Setter was the speaker? I recognize you from that meal! I think it was May 2006?
Anyway, you pictures are wonderful and it sound slike you are having a fabulous time!
Laurie, were you at one of the lunch with an vet things at Jiko? When Dr Mark Setter was the speaker? I recognize you from that meal! I think it was May 2006?
Anyway, you pictures are wonderful and it sound slike you are having a fabulous time!
Yes, I was at that Jiko lunch! What a nice group of people that was. I've been wishing I'd stayed in contact with them and now here you are! Hello again. Wasn't that a wonderful lunch and presentation? I wish they still had that program.
Yes, we do have wireless in the staterooms, but, depending I guess on the stateroom location and the location of the ship, the signal strength varies. The best signal I've found was in Cove Cafe this morning. Just be sure to compose any post of any length in a word program before trying to send it. Several times I've tried to send short update here or write short e-mails and the signal disappeared just as I hit send. Very annoying. Also, thanks to Lesley, I changed the settings here to NOT show sigs, photos or avatars, which helps a lot with the loading speed. There are reminders on the instructions, but it's easy to forget, so I'll stress it again. Remember to LOG OUT when you end a session. Don't just close the internet window or you'll continue to be charged.
Had another great day today. So much to do. I had a nice, leisurely start in the Cove Cafe, then went to the shopping talk, had lunch at Goofy's Galley (I LOVE the selections here--I had a roasted veg panini and an asparagus and green bean salad, both delicious). Met up with Lesley and Terri at the DVC event, but Terri and I left early for the Panama Canal History talk. This was the only time this talk is scheduled and it was very good. It was given by Captain Ken Puckett, former Captain of the Canal Zone and Pilot. He had a lot of photos in the slide presentation that I'd not seen in any of the books or videos. Thursday he will give another talk on how the locks work and what will happen as we go through the process on Friday.
I've also seen Jean and George and said hello to Deb Wills, but haven't made contact with other PP.
Next I wanted to do the Art of the Theme Show Ship's Tour, but left after a short time. There were so many people (at least 50!) that by the 2nd stop I was too far behind to see or hear anything. So I re-set my plans and went to Bingo. Didn't win anything, but had a lot of fun. The big jackpot is already over $1000 and there are 13 days to go!
Dinner tonight was at Parrot Cay and again we had no complaints. Our delight in having such wonderful dining companions increases with each meal and the food has been really good. Very creative, too. As a vegetarian I'm used to having to settle for pasta with red sauce or prima vera, but so far the meals I've had are wonderful and surprising. Tonight I had an asparagus and citrus salad followed by roasted turnips, leeks and pumpkin with fried polenta. Both were excellent (and not only vegetarian, but vegan). The dessert wasn't vegan, but was yummy as well--riccotta creme brulee.
Carol had a great day today also. She worked out in the morning and afternoon in the fitness center, went to the wine tasting, and did some "real world" work.
Again, we both are too tired to go to the show. I'm sorry to miss Golden Mickeys and the party afterwards, but my eyes are closing....
Thanks so much for the real time reports. It's envious, I am, that you are able to do this! I can't wait for what the PC is like.....hopefully, you'll be able to post some pictures of that, too, so we don't have to wait!
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What great photos! You are an excellent photographer.
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