A special birthday, a diamond anniversary and a west coast adventure COMPLETED IN THIS FORUM 12/2 - Page 39 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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That was quite an excursion you had with so many great photos of the scenery as well as the momma bear and her cubs! Although, it got a a bit scary with the encounter and at least you can laugh about that now with Marks' warning!
Oh it's like so many things that were scary at the time (being trapped at Cairo Airport during the troubles springs to mind...), but afterwards, you can look back and see them in a very different light.
Some beautiful photos of the scenery on your hike! That's a bit odd with the child Caden on this excursions regarding when he can ask questions!
How shall I put it? He was a little full of himself and would quite happily have asked questions continuously had they not said something to him...
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That was quite the bear story, from your guide David and a bit too close!
I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be with him when he had that encounter!
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Glad your whale excursion is starting and hope you have some good luck in some sightings and capturing this! What setting are you using for animal photos, for future reference?
I was using the sports setting, because of the bobbing around on the water and obviously the "target" could also be moving at speed. It's worked very well in the past for photos at athletics meetings we've been to and now I've started to use it for photos as we're driving along as well.
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Glad you got your DVC sweatshirt back! I once left my camera on a bench outside the main entrance to the Grand Floridian a few years ago. I went back outside to retrieve it and it was gone. I went to guest services inside and they had it!
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!
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Great pictures of the glacier! Such a shame that it has receded a lot since you last saw it. Looking forward to your next update to see if you finally get to see a whale!
This is such a cool excursion, and I'm remembering it in case it's still available whenever Luke and I finally get to do this cruise. The Mendenhall Glacier is so beautiful, but I'm sadden by how much it is shrinking. I sure hope we get to see some photos of whales in the next update.
Great pictures of the glacier! Such a shame that it has receded a lot since you last saw it. Looking forward to your next update to see if you finally get to see a whale!
This is such a cool excursion, and I'm remembering it in case it's still available whenever Luke and I finally get to do this cruise.
I think you'd absolutely love it!
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The Mendenhall Glacier is so beautiful, but I'm sadden by how much it is shrinking. I sure hope we get to see some photos of whales in the next update.
Friday 4 September – part five: am I ever going to get a photo of a whale?
My first efforts seemed to come out Ok, although I will be honest, I was doubting that I’d ever be able to take a photo of a whale, given that we were bobbing up and down like corks every time the boat stopped. However, I did see a whale, I saw it surface, blow air and hear the noise that made, which was louder than I could ever have imagined, and I even saw a tail fin! At long last, I had finally seen one of these elusive creatures…
We motored on a bit further, and there was me cheerfully trying to follow two different whales in different parts of the bay, when the cry of “fin” went up from one of the others. You just couldn’t make it up. I was resigning myself to never getting that money shot, although now I was at least starting to get a bit more than just empty water shots, I was getting blows of air, and the occasional dark lump in the water, not that you could really see it was a whale.
Then finally I got a tail fin shot… completely blurred!
Oh boy, this was really not going to be my day! Thankfully we were soon surrounded by the whales, to the point that whichever direction you looked in, you could see activity somewhere. We also got used to hearing them breathe, which was a very eerie feeling.
Then I got a slightly better shot, but still not great…
I was getting a bit more used to trying to shoot with as much zoom as I could, not knowing where the whales would bob up next, while being whipped around in the water ourselves. It was definitely what you could describe as a challenging environment to work in!
Finally, I got my first decent tail fin shot!
A few minutes later, we were joined by this guy:
The next tail fin sighting I got turned out to be a bit over exposed, but it shows great detail of the detail on their fin. Apparently the white markings are like our fingerprints and David did say if we got a shot like this, he could then identify which whale it was, although I wasn’t checking back at the time to see what I’d got, so I only realised later when we got back on board the Wonder.
I got some more shots of various whales, and hopefully this gives you an idea of just how many there were out there. At one point, it felt like we were completely surrounded by them, as we were seeing them on all sides. Despite that, I can honestly say I never once felt scared. I don’t know whether that was something to do with the fact that you couldn’t see the whole size of them, but if you think about it too much, it is a very daunting prospect to be out in such a small vessel surrounded by such massive animals. David explained that fully grown they’re something like 30 – 40 feet, and weigh about a ton per foot.
Finally, done with whale sightings for the day, we headed over to this island…
…. where we found a bald eagle waiting for us, and just happily posing!
Next: heading back to the Wonder and out of Juneau
Wow, you really hit the jackpot with all the sightings! You got some great shots despite the challenging conditions. I'm curious with all the bobbing around if anyone experienced seasickness?
I'm glad you finally got to see your whales. Your pictures came out great considering the conditions. the pictures of the glacier are wonderful and the scenery around there is so pretty.
Liz
So glad you were finally able to see some whales! Getting a picture of one is HARD, though, isn't it?!?! I was shocked to find I did get one breaching (even if it isn't the best quality shot). Like you, I have lots of "whale back" in my pictures.
I almost think I'd just skip even trying to take pictures if we ever get back to Alaska and do another whale watch. I'll just live in the moment as then I won't be distracting myself in wondering if I got a good picture or not.
Wow, you really hit the jackpot with all the sightings! You got some great shots despite the challenging conditions. I'm curious with all the bobbing around if anyone experienced seasickness?
Fortunately not and I am prone to it. I was glad I took some meds before we set out, otherwise I think I probably would've been ill.
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Although, it got a a bit scary with the encounter and at least you can laugh about that now with Marks' warning! 
That's a bit odd with the child Caden on this excursions regarding when he can ask questions! 
I sure hope we get to see some photos of whales in the next update. 
At long last, I had finally seen one of these elusive creatures… 
I was resigning myself to never getting that money shot, although now I was at least starting to get a bit more than just empty water shots, I was getting blows of air, and the occasional dark lump in the water, not that you could really see it was a whale. 
And how great you finally were able to see some whales! 
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