The trip of many changes... TRIP REPORT UPDATED 4/25 - Page 20 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Dinner looked delicious. It’s a shame the music wasn’t performed for the whole evening. It’s so nice to have it as background while relaxing after dinner. The two of you looked very nice for formal night. I really enjoy the formal nights as I don’t get dressed up at home very often.
Oh me too! I don't know about you, but once upon a time, many years ago, people used to get dressed up a lot more. If you went out to see a show at the theatre, you'd get dressed up. Not now. If you went out for dinner, you'd get dressed up. Not now. You get the idea. I find that sad and I love having the opportunity to get all glammed up and get into a dress.
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Tuesday 16 January – part one: we’re docked early!
I was up just after 6:00am again and we were already in port. I wasn’t expecting us to be docked this early, given our all ashore was 8:15am. I went outside to see what the view was like, but it was still quite dark…
It was really weird out there, as I could hear dogs yapping and then what sounded like chickens or turkeys – i.e. the sound hundreds of them would make. I guess maybe there’s a farm somewhere near the port?
I headed up to deck 10 to get some photos of the view from the other side and from the back of the boat…
I would later find out that this is the shopping complex you disembark through…
As I was walking back to the elevators, a few rain drops came down, then suddenly it was a lot heavier. I was glad I was heading inside, otherwise I think I’d have got very wet in a split second almost!
As the door to Cabana’s was open, but they weren’t actually open until 7:00am, I decided to have a look inside and get some photos while it was deserted in there..
When I got back to the room, you could at least see the view in the daylight…
We headed up to Cabana’s just after opening and the crowds were insane up there. It didn’t help that you had people, both adults and children, who couldn’t make their minds up and just stood there staring at dishes. Good grief people, it’s a buffet – if you’re not sure, you can grab it and not eat it. Honestly!
I got some asparagus, hash brown and mushrooms with a bit of French toast, syrup and pancake. I was hoping for another eggs benedict, but rather foolishly, Disney had decided today’s special would be with ham. Thanks guys – that’s what the regular one comes with!
Once we were done eating, we made our way down to deck three, passing these two beautiful paintings…
Been to one (Venice in 2014) and will be going to the other one (New York City) in September!
Interesting that you mention the dogs and chickens. Many years ago we vacationed on the island of Anguilla, (also in the Caribbean) . My uncle was a missionary priest there, so we stayed at the rectory, which was in the main village. We were awakened early every morning (like 4:00am) by barking dogs and crowing roosters!
Interesting that you mention the dogs and chickens. Many years ago we vacationed on the island of Anguilla, (also in the Caribbean) . My uncle was a missionary priest there, so we stayed at the rectory, which was in the main village. We were awakened early every morning (like 4:00am) by barking dogs and crowing roosters!
Maybe I wasn't imagining it then. It was the weirdest thing, as I didn't hear anything later in the day - just at that time.
Glad you didn't get caught in the rain! Sure looked beautiful anyway. Even with chickens and dogs.
Food buffet decisions are so hard for some people.
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Tanya
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Such a calm and beautiful feeling when you pull into a port that early before the world wakes up! I'm sure there were dogs and chickens around as we have found that a lot on different islands that we've visited. Sorry it was so crazy at the buffet line. I agree with you about picking something, and if you don't like it , then don't eat it.
Not sure if you mentioned this but what island is this now?
Funny with those people at the buffet and can't make up their minds! It's not that difficult! I remember an experience like this at Cabana's on my cruise and the guy it front of me was sifting through the bacon with the tongs looking for that perfect piece! Good grief and the guy was holding up the line. I bet he spent a good minute doing this. I guess he thought the line was just him.
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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!
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Not sure if you mentioned this but what island is this now?
Sorry about that - this is St. Lucia.
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Funny with those people at the buffet and can't make up their minds! It's not that difficult! I remember an experience like this at Cabana's on my cruise and the guy it front of me was sifting through the bacon with the tongs looking for that perfect piece! Good grief and the guy was holding up the line. I bet he spent a good minute doing this. I guess he thought the line was just him.
Tuesday 16 January – part two: a little British enclave!
We headed through the deserted Promenade Lounge…
… and found the atrium empty as well. Not often that happens during a cruise!
The Port Adventures desk wasn’t open yet, so we headed into After Hours…
… and to the Crown and Fin pub, where we ended up chatting to Jess from Derbyshire, who was then joined by two other British crew members. It was like a little British enclave!
I’m pretty sure this is Newcastle-Upon-Tyne… We’re sure there’s some relevance to these, but we were struggling to work it out (apart from the obvious Crown and Fin one (top left) – any ideas anyone on the others?
Then we made our way back to the room…
The atrium as seen from one of the elevators
… and watched as yet another ship turned up. However, this was very different to the others already in port…
When I first got up, we were the only ones in port and now we’d been joined by three others and goodness knows if there were more to come today…
We headed down to Azure to meet up for our tour, Soufriere Island Delight, and while we were there, Goofy arrived. We have no idea what he was dressed as. Anyone?
We made our way down on to the dock and immediately I liked the look of St. Lucia, more so than Antigua yesterday. It was something to do with the fact that you enter into a shopping complex that’s effectively a gated complex, which means there are no hawkers, but in all honesty, as we drove along, we didn’t really see any either.
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I was thinking the same thing about Goofy being in a robe or pjs. The ship sure is deserted, wonder where everyone is?
My parents used to go to St Lucia every year for vacation they loved the island and people.
Your beautiful, quiet morning continues. And with a little British nostalgia.... I have no clue what the other plates might mean. If they're acronyms, I can't figure them out!
The sky cleared up nicely; looks like it'll be pretty day!
I forgot to say - a shame they pulled into port so early that you couldn't watch the arrival. I'll stay tuned (obviously) to see how the departure looks though!
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Tanya
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I don't know about you, but once upon a time, many years ago, people used to get dressed up a lot more. If you went out to see a show at the theatre, you'd get dressed up. Not now. If you went out for dinner, you'd get dressed up. Not now. You get the idea. I find that sad and I love having the opportunity to get all glammed up and get into a dress. 
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It didn’t help that you had people, both adults and children, who couldn’t make their minds up and just stood there staring at dishes. Good grief people, it’s a buffet – if you’re not sure, you can grab it and not eat it. Honestly! 
It was the weirdest thing, as I didn't hear anything later in the day - just at that time.
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