Are You Ever Coming Home?...No! I am playing with Wizards, Farkles and Sparkling Friends completed 10/21/2017 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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We made our way over to the beach to find a spot. One of the reasons we wanted to get here early was so that we could hopefully find a good spot to set up camp.
We found a spot under a palapa and set our stuff down. Patty’s family was nearby. I had to go to the bathroom, so Claire and I went in search of one.
I found that everyone had moved….I guess there was a bunch of ants near our first spot, so we moved a row back and had plenty of room to have Patty’s family join us as well.
The bar wasn’t open yet, but there was a place that was making iced coffee and hot chocolate, so we went to get some. As we approached a guy stopped everyone but me and let them know that beyond this spot, shoes had to be worn. I was the only one with shoes on. LOL. So I went and made the orders and they all stood at the edge and I would hand them off as they were made.
We came back then and settled down a bit. We took in the views and enjoyed the area. It was still early and pretty quiet.
It’s a beautiful beach, but we found that to walk out in the water where we sat it was really rocky. You had to go to one end or another to get in the water without killing your feet.
We got the kids together for a group shot. At this point, Caleb hasn’t done a whole lot with us other than one dinner. Notice him on the end. (right side next to Claire). Just a little stand offish. A few days later you will see him with his arms wrapped around the girls. Hahahaha! The kids kind of bonded today.
Since it was early, they decided to go out to the float thing you climb on before other kids started taking it over. They all walked out, unbeknownst to us at that time that this was the rocky part. Later I walked down and found the better way to enter the water.
They swam over and we walked to get a better view of them playing on it. Claire was not about to climb it but had fun watching out there. Some were determined to make it to the top and we laughed so hard as they kept falling.
We then headed back to our seats for a bit and they played out there for a bit and then they came back and we all just relaxed and talked. I knew that Nick was getting more comfortable around us as he actually said my name and asked me a question. Jeanne had brought a game of Nick’s and encouraged Nick and Caleb to play together. So they both seemed to be opening up a bit.
The bar opening time now had come and we headed off to get some drinks. Claire and I got Strawberry/Mango daiquiris, her’s being a virgin one.
I had been walking around a bit. I never saw the inside of a room, but it looked like some might be better than others from what they looked like outside. Over on the further beach area, away from us, they had balcony type rooms, and the building just looked nicer. On this side, the rooms had small slitwindows and just a little less as nice. I did look on Trip Advisor when I got home and I couldn’t find pictures of the rooms that had the slit windows, but the ones with balconies did look pretty nice for a Value resort.
They also had a towel hut over here and I stopped to get us some extra towels so we could keep our cruise ship ones clean for our return trip. They asked for our room number and I told him we were just here on a day pass as we were on the Disney ship. The one guy was all excited and asked all sorts of questions about the ship. He said his dream is to sail on Disney someday.
Claire and I walked up and down the beach a bit. I wanted to snorkel and had brought my mask and snorkel. She just was coming along. I think some of the other kids went to play volleyball, which isn’t really Claire’s thing.
I just couldn’t get over how blue the water was. I swear I have never seen water this blue before. I am not sure if summer makes a difference or not, but all the ports seemed to be bluer than I have ever seen them before.
I then snorkeled a bit. It was hard for me to tell what I was taking, so a lot are just literally pointing and shooting and hoping for the best. I found out that at times I hit the settings and it would change from underwater settings to something else and also at times I accidently turned it off and I thought I was taking pictures, but I really wasn’t.
After a bit Claire asked if she could go back and sit down. I guess watching me snorkel wasn’t much fun. I told her she could use my stuff, but she said no.
I made my way over to the far side of the beach (towards where the ship was) and there was a rock wall and it had a lot of great things to look at. This is one of the times my camera turned off so I didn’t get as many pictures as I thought.
At this point the fish were really getting in my face and also my camera. I don’t like to touch fish, I only want to look at them. When one thought my finger was something to suck on I totally jumped and got the heck out of there. Too close for comfort for me. LOL!!!!
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