A special birthday, a diamond anniversary and a west coast adventure COMPLETED IN THIS FORUM 12/2 - Page 52 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Oh my, your breakfast looked absolutely delicious!
What a great presentation too. Was it that crowded in there?
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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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The whale presentation sounds so interesting, and I love the story of Boo, the orphaned orca. Good thing you noticed the scenery because you got some great photos.
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The whale presentation sounds so interesting, and I love the story of Boo, the orphaned orca. Good thing you noticed the scenery because you got some great photos.
Sunday 6 September – part two: are you room number 6066?
Beautiful as this scenery was, I couldn’t help but think that it must be a brutal life to live here. It’s not exactly like you can pop round to your local grocery store for example…
While we were up there, we were trying to figure which way we were actually going, as all the exits from the wider body of water we were in seemed to be exceptionally narrow. I tell you, they certainly earn their money on the Wonder in Alaska, as it’s not exactly a simple journey on this cruise. You can see what I mean by looking at this map in the Outlook Café:
We went in there to get our customary hot chocolates with amaretto, but my goodness, what a long wait we had, as it was packed in there. I guess everyone’s discovered it now. While Mark waited, I kept nipping outside to get some photos, as I didn’t want to miss anything.
We decided to walk along the deck towards Palo, as we didn’t want to go and get changed if we couldn’t get in for brunch.
We passed by Palo, and saw Marcello wasn’t there but figured that we’d ask anyway. Immediately, the guy asked if we were room number 6066? Yes, we were. Obviously Marcello had left details of us with him, and he told us if we went to change, then he’d have a table for us when we got back, so off we went.
As we were changing, we saw this being pulled along by a tug.
Next: I think we can negotiate the buffet fine without a guided tour
A completely different way of living, that's for sure. It's not for me, but I'm sure those who live there absolutely love it!
Yay, you got in to Palo! Nice of Marcello to leave info regarding you guys!
__________________
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
A completely different way of living, that's for sure. It's not for me, but I'm sure those who live there absolutely love it!
I'm sure they do, but like you, that's not a way of life I could cope with.
Quote:
Yay, you got in to Palo! Nice of Marcello to leave info regarding you guys!
They are so good - honestly, every time we've done a cruise, once we've got to know the staff in Palo, if we've wanted to dine there again, they've always got us in somehow.
Your crab lunch looked good but sorry to hear it was a bit unorganized with the servers. Those 79 steps were a lot but nothing like the 400+ steps I had to navigate to and fro the Mer de Glace in Chamonix!
That was funny with the rehearsal birthday for Mark! Nothing wrong with free booze! I'm sure you can offer more critiques to obtain more!
Your meals for dinner and breakfast looked good on the Wonder! Some more nice scenery, but too bad it was a bit dreary outside. That seemed like a nice presentation regarding the whales!
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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!
Your crab lunch looked good but sorry to hear it was a bit unorganized with the servers. Those 79 steps were a lot but nothing like the 400+ steps I had to navigate to and fro the Mer de Glace in Chamonix!
No, that's true!
Quote:
That was funny with the rehearsal birthday for Mark! Nothing wrong with free booze! I'm sure you can offer more critiques to obtain more!
Oh definitely - I think Disney might wise up after a while though...
Sunday 6 September – part three: I think we can negotiate the buffet fine without a guided tour
We made our way back up to Palo, and had a lovely window table…
As we said to Alex, we figured we could negotiate the buffet fine without a guided tour, as probably things hadn’t changed much since Wednesday. In truth, we pretty much stuck to the buffet items, rather than ordering anything a la carte. I personally prefer the buffet offerings, so it was nice to just be able to enjoy those…
The only thing I did have was the strawberry soup, which I love, and prepared me nicely for dessert!
Mark was also offered the peach soufflé, which he thought contained almond liquor, but Alex told him definitely not.
Alex just let us take our time, and enjoy the view outside, which was perfect. Before we knew it, it was an hour and a half later, and we figured we should probably head off for a “food induced coma” as we put it!
On the way back to our room from Palo, we headed down to deck five, as we hadn’t actually seen the Buena Vista Theatre at all this trip, so we put that right…
We also got some shots of the lobby from deck five, which does provide you with a different perspective:
Brunch looked wonderful - what a view! Glad you were able to enjoy it.
Still love the glass work in the lobby. Chihuly I think? Beautiful.
__________________
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
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
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Was it that crowded in there?
PassPorter Guide Author
You can see what I mean by looking at this map in the Outlook Café: 
While Mark waited, I kept nipping outside to get some photos, as I didn’t want to miss anything. 
but figured that we’d ask anyway. Immediately, the guy asked if we were room number 6066? 
Nice of Marcello to leave info regarding you guys!
Nothing wrong with free booze! 
I'm sure you can offer more critiques to obtain more! 
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