A Christmas Ship Comes Sailing In (A Cam and Luke TR) Completed 2/18 - Page 31 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Oh Cam!! I am so sorry that your journey is coming to an end!! You have truly inspired me to take a Disney cruise in December. We are booked on the Fantasy from November 28- December 5. I hope you had a safe trip home!!
Oh Cam!! I am so sorry that your journey is coming to an end!! You have truly inspired me to take a Disney cruise in December. We are booked on the Fantasy from November 28- December 5. I hope you had a safe trip home!!
Tara
Congrats on the cruise! I really hope you two love it as much as we did ours.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
Great final night! I always find it sad saying goodbye to all the great crew!
I did, too. The staff had become our friends who took such special care of us.
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What a great evening, even if it was your last.
Your next update sounds like it may be longer than anticipated. I can't remember how long of a drive it is for you.
A fabulous last night! The photos of "'til We Meet Again" are wonderful. Such a talented group of people. Those photos of Donald posing in the mirror are just adorable! What a great cruise.
So sorry to see this come to an end, as I've loved reading all about this cruise! What a great last night - and I'm embarrassed to say we've never seen the character meet and greets on the final night of the cruise. Maybe we'll have to do it on the Dream later this month...
It's been several years since we have cruised as well; your report definitely reminds me how wonderful it was and how much we would like to do it again!
I'm embarrassed to say we've never seen the character meet and greets on the final night of the cruise. Maybe we'll have to do it on the Dream later this month...
Really?!?! You should definitely do it! You get to see not only the characters, but the performers from all the shows!
What a great final night of your cruise! The dinner sounded so good as did the on board entertainment for the final night! Love those photos of Donald...such a ham!
One thing you mentioned is giving out tips to your servers and porter. I thought, these were prepaid with your cruise package as I know they are for me. Could you explain this?
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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 great evening, even if it was your last.
Your next update sounds like it may be longer than anticipated. I can't remember how long of a drive it is for you.
Actually, we shaved 35 minutes off the trip home. But this was our first time driving back home rather than flying, so the thought of it made it seem long.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
A fabulous last night! The photos of "'til We Meet Again" are wonderful. Such a talented group of people. Those photos of Donald posing in the mirror are just adorable! What a great cruise.
We didn't get in Donald's line, and no one else did at first. So I just kept snapping pictures and he enjoyed posing and entertaining me as he did.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
So sorry to see this come to an end, as I've loved reading all about this cruise! What a great last night - and I'm embarrassed to say we've never seen the character meet and greets on the final night of the cruise. Maybe we'll have to do it on the Dream later this month...
We didn't do the meet and greets, but enjoyed watching the families rush from character to character. It felt like such a happy send off.
It's been several years since we have cruised as well; your report definitely reminds me how wonderful it was and how much we would like to do it again!
Now that I'm nearly done with the TR, I realize how much I'd like to cruise again. So I must get busy saving some funds for that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
Really?!?! You should definitely do it! You get to see not only the characters, but the performers from all the shows!
I forgot to mention that you get to see the performers from the shows who also pose for pictures. Back in 2006 we made sure to get in line for one of the actors who had been awesome as a Dalmation. He had an incredible voice.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
What a great final night of your cruise! The dinner sounded so good as did the on board entertainment for the final night! Love those photos of Donald...such a ham!
One thing you mentioned is giving out tips to your servers and porter. I thought, these were prepaid with your cruise package as I know they are for me. Could you explain this?
We did prepaid, but Disney provided a slip of paper with the amount of the tip and envelope for us to present to the Head Server, Server, Assistant Server, and Host so that we could personally thank them on our last night aboard. I enjoyed being able to talk to each so that they really knew how much I had appreciated the care they had taken of us on the cruise.
So sad your cruise is coming to an end . Reading along has given me quite a few ideas of my own for a future cruise. Boys need to be potty trained first.
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