A special birthday, a diamond anniversary and a west coast adventure UPDATED 9/7 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Oh my goodness, we had so much fun at dinner last night as we celebrated Mark's birthday again... there is a funny story to that, but I'll save it for the trip report.
The scenery today has been beautiful as we've been making our way back to Vancouver. It's amazing how close you actually get to the various shorelines. We are bobbing about a little bit more now - ironically that started the minute we started packing - you couldn't make it up.
We had our second brunch at Palo, which was wonderful - all I can say is we're in there, as we have a second dinner there tonight as well.
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Sounds like another great day for you and how can you go wrong with Palo? Looking fwd to the details in the TR!
__________________
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!
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
I've gotten way behind on this thread! Can I say that I'm super jealous that you got to see bears, and up close! Glad Mark had a great birthday and you got to see whales, even though no Ocras made an appearance. It's a little late for this tip now, but it may help others planning an Alaskan Cruise. We did a whale watch in Vancouver out of Granville Island as there is a "local" pod of Orca and they keep pretty good tabs on them so they can head in their direction. Granted, we traveled all the way to Washington State to see them ( the San Juan Islands) but it was amazing! I'm wanting to go on another Alaskan Cruise now.
Another tip: I see you're going to the Disney Family museum in SF. They offer a DVC discount on admission - don't forget! I think it's $3 off.
I've gotten way behind on this thread! Can I say that I'm super jealous that you got to see bears, and up close! Glad Mark had a great birthday and you got to see whales, even though no Ocras made an appearance. It's a little late for this tip now, but it may help others planning an Alaskan Cruise. We did a whale watch in Vancouver out of Granville Island as there is a "local" pod of Orca and they keep pretty good tabs on them so they can head in their direction. Granted, we traveled all the way to Washington State to see them ( the San Juan Islands) but it was amazing! I'm wanting to go on another Alaskan Cruise now.
We're hopeful we might still some on the ferry to Victoria, as we heard they sometimes hang out around those parts.
Quote:
Another tip: I see you're going to the Disney Family museum in SF. They offer a DVC discount on admission - don't forget! I think it's $3 off.
Too late - we were there last Sunday. I didn't know about the DVC discount, but we bought our tickets online in advance anyway and I think we got a discount, although I don't remember how much now.
We are back in Vancouver waiting for the all clear to disembark and the cruise is over. However, it really has been magical, and perhaps the best of our eight cruises to date.
I hope to update later today, but that will be over in the Globetrotting forum, as we're not doing anything Disney today. See you over there hopefully and also in the Disneyland forum in due course!
Glad you had such a "Magical" cruise and saying it's the best of your eight cruises, certainly means it was quite unbelievable for sure! Looking forward to the TR and so many photos and how great this cruise really was, celebrating Mark's 50th!
Just, wondering that without the presence of Piglet made it the best cruise for Mark
Looking forward to the DL portion and give us a heads up for the link, so we can begin!
__________________
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!
About This Page: 
PassPorter Guide Author
We are bobbing about a little bit more now - ironically that started the minute we started packing - you couldn't make it up. 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Looking fwd to the details in the TR! 
However, it really has been magical, and perhaps the best of our eight cruises to date. 
Looking forward to the TR and so many photos and how great this cruise really was, celebrating Mark's 50th! 
Linear Mode
