To Alaska and Beyond! Updated 4/28 x 3 and it's COMPLETE!! - Page 30 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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So great to see you writing again Mo - I'm glad you've come back to this trip report. I know there are a lot of people, myself included, eagerly waiting for you to finish this off, as we're booked on Alaskan cruises ourselves.
Glad everyone was willing to stick with me and pick back up in reading- I appreciate your comments and feedback.
As we made our way back from Skagway towards the ship, we noticed the weirdest- what I guess was intended to be- photo opportunity. I found it kind of tacky. And that's all I really want to say about it - those of you traveling to Alaska on future cruises- you'll get my drift.
As we came back towards the ships in our docking area (there are two and NCL's ships took up the other side) Matt and I found ourselves just wanting to admire the Diamond Princess and our ship from shore. Kevan and Aaron were ready to just head back so we sent them on ahead.
Here's the NCL ships from our dock:
There is something so fantastic about cruise ships. I don't know what it is- the sheer size, the lines, whatever but I am lucky in that Matt saw my point so we stayed and checked out the Diamond Princess. We could even see inside some of their dining, common areas but some of my best pics were of the outside of the ship.
And then there was our beautiful Serenade of the Seas..
By this time it was about 2:45 or so. Matt and I headed to Windjammer so he could do a soda refill and then we took a walk around the upper decks admiring the views. We played a quick round of mini golf and then headed back to the room.
Aaron and Kevan were zonked- both snoring away. I booted up my phone and was happy to see I had service so I called home and talked to my other kiddos. It was really good to hear their voices. Matt picked up one of his books and began to read on the balcony.
The massive lines to get back on the ship were well in place..
About 5:30, I woke Kevan up to see if he wanted to go find dinner and he was game- however Aaron and Matt- who were both now sleeping- had no interest, so we decided to go to Windjammer. Kevan went for some curry on the buffet and I just went for the salad bar again- their cold salads were sooo tasty- I made a meal of just that.
When we got back to the room, we found a note that the boys had gone to the Arcade with a request to order them some pizza from room service. Kevan went on up to find them and check on them and I placed the order. One thing I was really impressed with was the ship's room service- extremely fast and courteous. The kids' pizzas arrived shortly after they did.
I asked the crew if we were in for the night and all of them agreed they wanted just to watch tv and watch scenery from the balcony. We all pulled up chairs and I am so glad we did because we witnessed quite a show from nature.
This is what things looked like around 7:30 pm:
Then around 8:30...
And another look around 9:30 to really limited visibility from our vantage point...
We came in around 10:30. We also came up with the "Call of The Throne." This began as a result of the boys finding the "swoosh" noise of the toilet when flushed hilarious. We all began talking about how funny it was and Aaron mentioned he was always afraid of being sucked in. All of a sudden, someone (and I can't remember who but I know it was not me) yelled out. WooOO Hoooo... almost like a cowboy call. Well, that did it. Everybody did it from that point on when they flushed. That's the Call of the Throne. Enjoy, borrow, steal and amuse your cabinmates on your next voyage as you see fit.
We all settled in by 11:00 and read for a bit and I tell you what, that's about as relaxing as it gets.
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Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
I know there are a lot of people, myself included, eagerly waiting for you to finish this off, as we're booked on Alaskan cruises ourselves. 
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
for the update 
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