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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I set my alarm for 7 am because I intended to be at the excursion desk by 8—when it opened—to book a VERY last minute excursion. By ‘last minute’ I mean ‘it left at 8:15!’ However, I hit snooze too many times, so I ended up rushing to the excursion desk…only to find out that the one I’d picked was not running that day. There was another very similar sounding snorkel cruise that I could have joined, but something told me to let it go. So I did.
All of the above is very, very unlike me. You see, I’m usually a ‘go go go!’ type person—and I also always plan things in advance. So it was strange to sit on the deck enjoying my breakfast, knowing that I had no actual plans for the day. And by ‘strange’ I mean ‘relaxing! I finally snapped a photo of my typical breakfast—though I was mostly intending to snap a photo of my beautiful view…
That’s my three hashbrowns, three pieces of bacon, one chocolate croissant breakfast of champions. I convinced myself that as long as I could still SEE THE PLATE, it couldn’t be too bad for me. Right…
The view was very lovely…here’s one with my real camera…
…and as I sat there I was actually able to watch people leave on the snorkel cruise I chose not to take. I cannot tell you how glad I am that I didn’t take that excursion. The boat they left on was SO INSANELY FULL that I honestly don’t know how it did not sink. And so, happy with my decision, I mopped up the rest of my bernaise sauce and wandered off the ship—at the late, late hour of 9:30!
My plan was simple—I’d see about booking a non-NCL snorkel cruise. If that didn’t work, I’d go to the snorkel park. Heck, it was right there! And so I meandered up to the little shed that acts as a tour booth and asked the lady three important questions: 1. Do you have a snorkel cruise leaving any time soon? Yes, yes she did—leaving in less than 20 minutes in fact! 2. Are there toilet facilities on board? (this is very important!) Yes, yes there are. And finally 3. Do you take Visa? Yes, yes she does!
After chatting with the nice ticket lady about public education and healthcare in Bermuda (have I mentioned how much I love the people in Bermuda?) I boarded this boat…
..which you can clearly see was almost empty. I cannot stress how glad I am that I didn’t book the excursion! Here’s how glad I was…
This random tour was FANTASTIC—and almost private! I counted fifteen people total on the tour—and it was a REALLY BIG BOAT! Also, I love love loved the men that were in charge. They were laid back, funny…ok, and a little cute!
After maneuvering through this tiny little opening…
We first were treated to a witty narrative of the land we were passing. Apparently this is the ‘ghetto’ in Bermuda…
…though it looks like cheerful ocean front property to me! Next, we enjoyed the cruise out to the ship wreck that we visited—the Vixen. On the way we passed more beautiful Bermudian coastline with the typical pretty houses…
…and these cute little huts that jut out over the water (that I’ve since learned are part of a resort)…
We then stopped directly over the shipwreck and were able to go down to the ‘first floor’ of the boat and check it out using the glass bottom viewing areas. Now, I’ve never had any desire to do a glass bottom boat tour, but it was pretty neat. I don’t ever need to do it again—I’d rather be IN the water. But neat it was—and anyway, I was about to be IN the water for a good long time!
After the ship wreck part we were given bread and told to feed the fish. I’ve never seen so many fish in one place before, and this includes the fish hatchery by my house!
While I didn’t take photos of the shipwreck OR of the fish, here’s one of me as we moved out to the snorkel site. Don’t I look just awful? Oh well—I’m about to go snorkeling! I don’t care!
And trust me—the photos of me are just going to get worse and worse!
We were given a brief lesson on how to wear the snorkel and mask (I learned that I had it on wrong at Tobacco Bay, which is likely why my goggles kept filling up with water!) and then they actually moved a part of the wall on the TOP part of the boat and said we were welcome to JUMP off. None of us took them up on that offer—though I did go back later and contemplate it!
Off the back of the boat I went, and after I got over how freaking scary it is to be all by yourself in water too deep to stand in with strange fish swimming all around—I had an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING TIME. Seriously, this may rank in the top 10 list of ‘best things I’ve ever done’. I realize it is ‘only’ snorkeling, but I’d previously only snorkeled one time—in Tobacco bay two days before—and this was WAY cooler. We were out in this crazy-clear water among these giant coral formations—you can kind of see them in this photo—they are the dark parts…
…Of course, lots and lots of fish hung out here--and I found a particularly cool looking one that I bonded with for a good long time (it was kind of awkward like a puffer fish, but had a LONG sort of snout with big puffy lips. I have no idea what it was!) And as I swam (amazingly quickly with the aid of fins) and the waves splashed up against my goggles I thought ‘holy crap, I’m snorkeling in Bermuda’. Perhaps this only came as a surprise to me because I’d booked the cruise so last minute—two weeks prior to that exact moment I didn’t even know I’d be GOING to Bermuda. So it was all just kind of surreal. And beautiful. And relaxing. And, eventually, exhausting! We were given what I’d say was at least 90 minutes of snorkel time, though I came back to the boat after maybe an hour and ten minutes. I was beat! But so happy.
See…
…I was so happy that I allowed myself to be photographed wearing a bathing suit (shudder!) I’m laughing because the man taking the photo (one of the crew) told me that if I had a problem with being photographed in a bathing suit, I was welcome to take it off! Ha! Here’s a less awful one, self-taken with my iPhone (from the neck UP!)
It was an amazing day. And, to top it all off, after the snorkeling we were welcome to enjoy as many rum swizzes as we wanted. Now, I truly believe that there was no actual alcohol in them—but that was ok. Because the citrus cut right through all of the sea water I’d accidentally swallowed, so they were much appreciated!
We returned to the dockyard by around 1:00. The ship was not sailing until 5. So did I go directly back to the ship? Of course not!
Up next—my last few hours in Bermuda (they involve rum!), sailing away, and dinner in the specialty Italian restaurant!
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