To Alaska and Beyond! Updated 4/28 x 3 and it's COMPLETE!! - Page 26 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I'm even more interested than before. We always thought we'd wait for Disney to go to Alaska. We've decided that with the rates and ports of call that RCCL is the better way to go. More please....when you get time.
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Oct '99: CSR ~ May '02: CR ~ Nov '04: SOG ~ May '06: SOG ~ Dec '07: Solo @ Pop ~ May '08: Pop w/friends ~ Oct '08: SOG ~ Dec '09: Pop w/LeAnn ~ Sept '10: Solo @ Pop ~ Spring '11: AKL ~ Jan '12: Pop for 1/2 Marathon ~ Sept '12: 1st trip for DL 1/2 Marathon? ~ Feb '13: Pop w/pals? ~ Mar '13: Tokyo Disney w/PP's?
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I'm even more interested than before. We always thought we'd wait for Disney to go to Alaska. We've decided that with the rates and ports of call that is the better way to go RCCL. More please .... when you get time.
If anything, this trip made me a believer that DCL is not the only good cruise line out there (I'm ducking for cover..).
And now, on with an installment- Yay Me! ( And it's a school night too!)
We woke up to the most horrendous noise ever, only to find the ship's docking process in Skagway-the noise turned out to be finishing it the Gangway set up. Matt and I were still too sleepy to be moving very fast, so Kevan and Aaron set off for Windjammer.
Matt crawled up into my bed and we just half talked to one another in desperate attempts to wake ourselves up . It worked eventually, he and I took turns with showers and by the time Aaron and Kevan were back-Matt and I were ready for Windjammer. Kevan and Aaron did not mind going back up with us, which I thought was kind of nice of them.
Today's character accosting was brought to us courtesy of a moose with abnormally large antlers. We had quickly learned it was better to submit to the photo op rather than decline. I did not have my camera though so no photos for this.
After breakfast, we headed back to the room and the ship had been cleared for folks to disembark, so off we went. All four of us were very excited to get to a city port and off the Serenade for awhile-as wonderful as she was.
As soon as we started walking, I realized I was in cruise ship haven-as we were not alone. In front, of us was the Diamond Princess. I was quite taken with how she showed her age close-up, however she was still quite elegant.
To the right, the historic White Pass Railroad came into view very close by.
We also enjoyed seeing all the cruise ship mini murals painted on the rocky walls that were just beyond the railroad tracks. Some of them dated back to the late 70's and many of the major lines and their ships were represented. I tried a few pictures but they did not turn out so well.
Our dog-sled excursion was not to meet until 9:45 and it was only 8:00, so we decided to head into Skagway to look around before meeting up for the tour.
As we made our way further in, NCL ships came into view as well.
There was a little development of some small fish places and a mini-store as you made your way in towards town. I found the Skagway Fish Company ito be quite charming, although I do not eat fish. It just had a very quaint and welcoming way about it.
As we got into the center of town, Matthew noticed a Holland America Line tour bus with a lovely bear on the back-so I ran over and told the boys to take my photo-who knew .... this might be the only bear sighting we had the entire trip.
The incredible landscapes and backgrounds were just about everywhere we looked. Every spot seemed like a photo spot.
We checked out a few shops that interested us but with the mile or so trek back to the meeting area for the tour-we decided to head back to the musher's camp meeting place about 9:00. I was very impressed with the organization of tours- there were plenty of RCCL crew helping passengers get to the right place.
We found our tour group quite easily and there were 18 of us altogether. Erin was our tour guide and driver. She was fun and very friendly. She also made sure everyone had gotten notice of the cart pull issue which I thought was extremely smart-then no one could say when we got to the camp, that they were not informed. We loaded up on a bus covered in paw prints-which I thought kind of funny and headed off. The drive was about 35 minutes and she took us through Skagway-including some residential areas. Being a teacher by day, when she took us by the school-I was keenly interested. It was a new building, and cost $ 8 million-more than the original purchase price of Alaska.
She also showed us the local medical center. I might add medical center might be a tad misleading. It looked more like a one room shack.
If you have a medical issue that can not be handled in Skagway, a life flight to the nearest facility in Juneau will cost you $ 10,000. It was very interesting stuff. Erin also told us that a bear walked through her kitchen the week before we were on the tour-in one door and right out another.
The winding roads were also in some parts unpave and provided for an interesting ride. She stopped a few times too-to let us get out and take photos, which was lovely.
Coming Up Next: These horseflies are not of this earth!
Oct '99: CSR ~ May '02: CR ~ Nov '04: SOG ~ May '06: SOG ~ Dec '07: Solo @ Pop ~ May '08: Pop w/friends ~ Oct '08: SOG ~ Dec '09: Pop w/LeAnn ~ Sept '10: Solo @ Pop ~ Spring '11: AKL ~ Jan '12: Pop for 1/2 Marathon ~ Sept '12: 1st trip for DL 1/2 Marathon? ~ Feb '13: Pop w/pals? ~ Mar '13: Tokyo Disney w/PP's?
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