Halloween, Hawaii and holiday celebrations - the Hawaii section THIS SECTION COMPLETED 1/13 - Page 25 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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Excellent thought on the snorkeling reef and time of day. I've added our rash guard shirts to my packing list and longer swim shorts. That should let us do the snorkeling reef without sunburn. I've found that when I have on a full covering swim shirt and longer swim bottoms, I'm pretty well protected.
I think that's a good addition to your packing list. Glad I could help with that.
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The water features look so inviting!!
Do you recall what the extra cost was for the snorkeling? And would it vary if you had your own gear?
I can do better than remembering - it's on Aulani's website. They don't say anything about having your own gear, so I don't know about that. You could always email to ask them...
From every angle Aulani is such a beautiful resort. The exterior aspects like the reef and lazy river look inviting, and then the shops and restaurants are well done. again for all the pictures.
I noticed that the store was selling ear hats...did you ever see anyone wearing them?
I think the only people I noticed wearing them were couples with bridal ears, as Aulani is a huge wedding destination, but I saw maybe two or three of those.
Tuesday 5 November – part nine: this lazy river is a bit too…. well lazy!
We headed back towards the lobby, and got some photos of the areas they have for you to sit outside in…
We also got a Photopass picture done. I didn’t realise they had Photopass here, and the fact that they can even scan your Disney World Photopass amazed me. Now Disney, just add these photos for free to my Disney World CD and I’ll be a very happy bunny… Sadly, it’s not like that, and they really haven’t got the whole Photopass thing together here. All you can get are individual shots, which are pricey. I would’ve happily paid for a CD, but it’s not an option. Disney also don’t help themselves, as they will always take a photo with your camera at the same time, so why would you buy the photo…
We walked through the rest of the lobby…
Na Pua Place – a little area just off the check-in area
… and had a look in the DVC Preview Centre.
We found out while we were in there that our initial thoughts that the resort was quite quiet were right, as it’s currently running at about 50-60% capacity.
We headed back to the room for a break, and we had a message waiting for us from the helicopter company for tomorrow, asking us to reconfirm our booking with them, so we called them back. The woman asked what time we were arriving, and when I told her 7:50am, she suggested we could take an earlier flight at 8:30am, so we’d pretty much land, then take the helicopter flight. Ok, works for me!
After a while, we went down to the lazy river to try that out. It was about 4:50pm by now, and it was still reasonably warm outside, although the lazy river wasn’t as warm as I’d expected, and by the time we got out, I was finding it distinctly cold, as when the sun went down, the warmth evaporated very quickly too.
Anyway, we went once all the way around the lazy river. Now don’t get me wrong – I understand the concept of a lazy river, but this river was so lazy, at points it practically wasn’t moving. It could’ve done with a bit more oomph shall we say. It probably took us about 20 minutes to get round, and just like Disney’s other lazy rivers, there are a couple of points where you will get wet, so be warned, especially as some of them come up on you unexpectedly. I had a near miss with my contact lenses on one, as I didn’t have my swimming goggles with me.
When we got back to the start, as it was pretty cold by then, we got out, and headed for the nearest hot tub, which thankfully was fairly close by. It was a huge thing. By the time we got out, there were 11 of us, and it wasn’t even half full. We spent about 10 minutes in there, then it was back to the room for a break before dinner. I took the opportunity to get some photos of the view from our room:
Next: our first experience at an Aulani table service restaurant…
Just to let you know that there won't be an update for the next couple of days, as we're heading out for the weekend - you can find out the details here.
As far as I know, the hotel has no Wi-Fi in the rooms, just public areas, so I doubt you'll see an update from me if that's the case, until Monday night our time.
Over here, most jobs start with 20 days vacation time and that's usually on top of any Bank Holidays (statutory holidays) - we do have less than the US (I don't know about Canada), just eight a year, but we do get generous holiday allowances to make up for that.
I was lucky enough to start a job a couple of years ago with 25 days holiday and I can take back time in lieu if I work longer days. I was on 30 days with my last employer and it only took me five years to get to that. It's the same where I am now, so it's a really good deal.
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Sounds like they need a bit more current in the river! I'd never make it around if you had to get yourself going--can't be too lazy on that river, I guess.
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Pixie Dust
I'm sure there is a name for them...
again for all the pictures.
Disney also don’t help themselves, as they will always take a photo with your camera at the same time, so why would you buy the photo… 
It could’ve done with a bit more oomph shall we say. 
It probably took us about 20 minutes to get round, and just like Disney’s other lazy rivers, there are a couple of points where you will get wet, so be warned, especially as some of them come up on you unexpectedly. I had a near miss with my contact lenses on one, as I didn’t have my swimming goggles with me. 
We spent about 10 minutes in there, then it was back to the room for a break before dinner. I took the opportunity to get some photos of the view from our room: 
Guess where we were headed??
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