A special birthday, a diamond anniversary and a west coast adventure COMPLETED IN THIS FORUM 12/2 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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.
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A special birthday, a diamond anniversary and a west coast adventure COMPLETED IN THIS FORUM 12/2
This is the second part of this trip report, which will be all about our Alaskan cruise, the final one of the 2015 season.
It follows directly on from the trip report in the Globetrotting Trip Reports forum, which covers our arrival in San Francisco and our day there, including visiting the Walt Disney Family Museum, and our time in Vancouver before our departure, so that's where we now pick up from....
Monday 31 August – part four: are we going to have a good cruise Mickey?
We ended up going back to the hotel via the food court in the Waterfront Centre. It’s nice to visit this, as they have some neat history about the waterfront area of the city.
Once back in the room, we chilled for a while, having done a fair bit of walking in the rain. We headed down to check out not much after 11:00am, having heard the cheery news that there was a natural gas leak in downtown Vancouver, in fact right outside the part of the Pacific Center Mall where Bath and Body Works was located.
Check-out was simple enough, and I’m glad we were on that level, as the elevator down to the cruise ship level was full, so that those trying to board at ground level had no joy. We made our way over to the cruise ship area, and this was where it started to get very complicated. Last time, we had done everything on the same level, but I assume because Norwegian were also in today, we had to go upstairs up escalators to check in. That was a fairly painless process, even though there were less people in the non gold and silver Castaway Club members line. I figured that Disney wouldn’t want us standing around long, given we’re regular cruisers, and sure enough I was right.
What did make me laugh was all the people who seemed to have mountains of paperwork with them. I started to wonder if I was missing something as all I had were the passports, the health questionnaire and the completed signature form, but that was all that was needed, then we were presented with our yucky yellow… oh sorry I meant gold… lanyards. Honestly, the colour is horrible. The sooner we can make it past our 10th cruise and we can have one of those nice black platinum lanyards, the better. Well, this one is number eight, so we’re gradually getting there…
From there, it was back downstairs again to go through immigration, and this has to be a first, although it has happened to us before when cruising with Disney, the line for non-US and Canadian passport holders was almost non-existent. I think there were two parties in front of us, while the line for Americans and Canadians snaked round and round. It’s not often that there’s a bonus to having a foreign passport, but today was one of those days.
We were quickly seen, and my fingerprints matched up to the ones I’d done in San Francisco two days ago, which was a relief to me. The system wasn’t quite so sure about Mark though, and while I was recognised after just four fingers on my right hand, he had to do all ten. The guy explained there’s no rhyme or reason to what the system wants. That sounds about right…
We then headed into the Disney Cruise Line waiting area…
Hmmm…. Maybe we’ll see some of this on the cruise…
The first thing I noticed were the greeters standing there with “boarding group 1” showing. Oh boy, this isn’t good. It’s now 11:50am, and they haven’t actually started to board yet. Fortunately, a couple of minutes later, they started boarding group 1, and from then on, they hurtled through them, as they usually do.
When they got to about group six, we decided to head over and see Captain Mickey. I figured while we were there, they’d get to group 10, but they slowed up completely. No matter, Mickey was a lot of fun. I asked him if we’d have a good cruise, and he promised me we would – well Mickey, I expect nothing less…
Once we’d seen Mickey, we went over to wait to be called. There was no sneaking in early, as they were checking everyone’s boarding number, so the second we heard 10 being called, we were off. We headed off for our boarding photo…
… and then we made our way on board. I have to say this was a bit different, as you went down a curling ramp, as obviously we were higher up than deck three where we’d be boarding.
Once the Pendry family had been announced, I made a beeline for guest services, as I knew you could get tickets to meet Olaf, and that was my top priority for today! They told us we need to go to WaveBands, so off we went. There wasn’t a long line to get to the characters, but it did take some time to get to the front.
When we did, we booked a character breakfast for 8:00am tomorrow. I know, I know – early, but heck with our track record so far this trip, I doubt that will be a problem! And I am now booked to meet Olaf at 2:10pm tomorrow! Can you tell I’m excited?
From there, we headed over to guest services to try and book some beverage seminars, but the line was insane. The Navigator wasn’t clear about whether it was there or Triton’s, so we tried there next, and guess what? You got it – the line was insane there as well.
Next: “when the heck did they extend the Cove Café?”
You're on board, got your tickets to see Olaf and booked a character breakfadt, Hooray!
is a curling ramp the same as a spiral staircase?
And I'm liking the sound of a bigger Cove Cafe. It's one of my favorite places to hang out, but I always feel a bit squished in there.
Looking forward to reading more!
So glad you got reservations for Olaf! I was sad that they weren't giving more info about that, as we totally missed it.
Isn't Cove Cafe excellent now?!?! We spent so much time there!!!
I feel like you've done so much already this morning, and you're just getting on board - and it's just getting to be lunch time. Wow!
Great photos with Mickey, I love that they offer that.
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You're on board, got your tickets to see Olaf and booked a character breakfadt, Hooray!
is a curling ramp the same as a spiral staircase?
Not really, it was essentially a ramp that went down, changed direction, went down a bit more, then changed direction again - that's the best way I can put it.
Quote:
And I'm liking the sound of a bigger Cove Cafe. It's one of my favorite places to hang out, but I always feel a bit squished in there.
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So glad that you are on board. Can't wait to read more as it will give me a preview of what to expect for our 1st cruise in April. We are less than 180 days out and I am starting to get excited!!
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Waiting for our next adventure after enjoying our Alaska cruise. Jenn
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that was all that was needed, then we were presented with our yucky yellow… oh sorry I meant gold… lanyards. Honestly, the colour is horrible. The sooner we can make it past our 10th cruise and we can have one of those nice black platinum lanyards, the better. Well, this one is number eight, so we’re gradually getting there… 
The Navigator wasn’t clear about whether it was there or Triton’s, so we tried there next, and guess what? You got it – the line was insane there as well. 
Waiting for our next adventure after enjoying our Alaska cruise. 
Jenn
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