A special birthday, a diamond anniversary and a west coast adventure COMPLETED IN THIS FORUM 12/2 - Page 46 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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The fruit looked so very yummy! The spa time was indeed a special treat for you guys that morning, I have no clue on spa costs as I've never been, so the pricing was a shocker to me! I'm guessing it's about average though.
Hope the excursion doesn't include Kristine from Wales too....
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The fruit looked yummy at the end of the spa treatment! I think we got just strawberries when we did it?
I think of all the DCL captains, Captain Thom is the most personable. Most are quite stoic in my mind. And yes, quite Scandanavian (my DH's family are Norwegian - although 2nd and 3rd generation American now, but they are not as talkative as my family!).
The fruit looked so very yummy! The spa time was indeed a special treat for you guys that morning, I have no clue on spa costs as I've never been, so the pricing was a shocker to me! I'm guessing it's about average though.
I guess so. I'm very lucky in that I get regular massages and an hour and a half for hot stones sets me back about £45 ($68) and for a similar price, I can get a spa morning or afternoon at a local hotel, but in fairness, they're not in the same league, so I guess Disney's prices are probably broadly comparable with similar places...
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Hope the excursion doesn't include Kristine from Wales too....
The fruit looked yummy at the end of the spa treatment! I think we got just strawberries when we did it?
Maybe they had new supplies by our cruise...
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I think of all the DCL captains, Captain Thom is the most personable. Most are quite stoic in my mind. And yes, quite Scandanavian (my DH's family are Norwegian - although 2nd and 3rd generation American now, but they are not as talkative as my family!).
Isn't it funny how certain professions come from the same part of the world? I can't remember all the Disney captains now (I know, shame on me! ) but I do remember looking through the senior officers before and noticing a lot of them were Scandinavian. I can't imagine (and I am generalising horribly here, so I don't mean to offend anyone) Disney having a Scandinavian cruise director - the ones we've come across are American, Australian or British from memory....
I can't imagine (and I am generalising horribly here, so I don't mean to offend anyone) Disney having a Scandinavian cruise director - the ones we've come across are American, Australian or British from memory....
Now there, I have to say our all time favorite is Brent, who I believe must live on the Magic. He's an Aussie.
Saturday 5 September – part three: who knew Alaska had so much of this?
Finally, it was our turn to step off the Wonder, and it was colder than the last couple of days, and a little bit damp as well. That was to set in for the day, and get heavier as the day wore on.
When our bus arrived, we settled down and I got some shots of the Wonder and the scenery…
Now I’ll say here that everyone seemed to absolutely love our driver Jonathan, but I just didn’t click with him at all. He told various long winded stories, and to be honest, I couldn’t keep up my interest or concentration on them, although as I say, the rest of our group seemed to think he was great, so maybe it was just us.
We headed through the town…
… and made our way along the water…
… heading for this place:
Once off, we had to take any food, or any scented products out of our backpacks, so we reluctantly took our Mickey rice krispie treats from the gold and platinum member reception out and put those in the box provided, but we got everything back at the end of our trek, which was good.
We were introduced to our two guides, Maddie and DJ. I wasn’t sure who to go with, but DJ was setting off first, and she didn’t seem to have that many people, so we opted for her, and I’m so glad we did, as she was an absolute blast. She was so good at breaking down animal behaviour or what happens with plants into human behaviour. For example, she’d talk about the bears stuffing themselves and then sleeping, and liken those to your surfer dude friend who crashes on your floor. She was just great!
We set off into the forest, learning that there are something like 200 mosses here. Apparently that’s a mark of how clean the air is, as the more polluted it gets, the less species of moss you get. They found that out from Japan as it became more industrialised, they lost more and more species. It seemed very weird to see so much moss up here, as I tend to associate it with the southern states of the USA, not Alaska.
DJ showed us places like this, which is where bears like to curl up for the winter. I have to say I was very relieved that there wasn’t one waiting for us.
She also talked about the different types of trees, and I know we discussed things like cedar wood, and redwood, although I really don’t remember much about this. I have to confess I wasn’t listening completely, as I was taking in the scenery and photographing. It doesn’t mean she wasn’t good, as she was excellent, but there was just so much information to take it, that I forgot quite a bit of it.
Now this I do remember her talking about this – it’s the devil’s club I believe. DJ told us if you fall over in the forest, you can guarantee you’ll fall into one of these, as it’s covered in spikes. I got the impression she’d already been there, and done that. She did say though, that despite all the spikes, it’s also full of wonderful nutrients. Go figure!
With this, DJ explained how there are often dead logs in the forest, which lie on the ground, and because the ground is so hard, other trees start growing, and actually latch on to the dead log, which gives them nutrients, before they have to put their roots down in the ground. It was fascinating to learn how the ecosystem here works.
Oh I've been there - learning so many fascinating facts but you only remember them in the moment. Truly fascinating too, but just too hard to remember!! It's OK!
I just love the photo looking up at the trees and how they come together.... Always remember to look up for photos!
__________________
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
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Just got caught up with your last few updates! Your couples spa treatment for Mark's Birthday sounded wonderful! It's so nice that they served you fruit and tea during the experience. Although the price sounded expensive, it was probably comparable to other cruises and it was Mark's 50th Birthday celebration so it was suppose to be something very special! Your tour sounds quite interesting and it was so great that you got such a wonderful guide. What was the temperature like outside on this day as it looked quite damp out?
Oh I've been there - learning so many fascinating facts but you only remember them in the moment. Truly fascinating too, but just too hard to remember!! It's OK!
That's why I like writing my trip reports as I go, otherwise I'd forget even more.
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I just love the photo looking up at the trees and how they come together.... Always remember to look up for photos!
Oh definitely - and in towns and cities as well - you may see some unusual architecture.
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) but I do remember looking through the senior officers before and noticing a lot of them were Scandinavian. I can't imagine (and I am generalising horribly here, so I don't mean to offend anyone) Disney having a Scandinavian cruise director - the ones we've come across are American, Australian or British from memory....
Smart move to get a bite to eat! I'd have want something to tide me over, too. 
It's so nice that they served you fruit and tea during the experience. Although the price sounded expensive, it was probably comparable to other cruises and it was Mark's 50th Birthday celebration so it was suppose to be something very special!
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