Better late than..later?Western Sept 05/09 **Completed 02/17** - Page 10 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Marnie , those things are hard to find even if you're in the right area. There are coloured buoys marking where things are but with the waves and wind they drift abit or alot from the area. I needed to be in better shape to have the stamina to find all the treasures.
You had a great day at Castaway Cay! I like the photo of the 3 of you and the Magic, and I love the one of Rachel enjoying the lunchtime shower.
It seems pretty easy to find reasons to revisit the Magic and Wonder of it all, doesn't it?
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Yes, sunrises are usually in the early morning, Baloo!
But the balcony (verandah, veranda,.. or whatever that thing is called) is good for a.m. coffee, p.m. tea or coffee, room service lunch, end of day cocktail, and just general lazy relaxation... (that was my problem... LAZINESS!!)
(Sorry, Roberta, for stealing the thread... but it was just a little steal...)
Oh, whoops, sorry for the hijack, Roberta. My bad.
My notes are very scarce at this point in the trip. I was back to the ship first and cleaned up and started packing . I then sat on the balcony with a glass of white wine and soaked up the heat, sky and water. Although our view was of construction.
We were in Lumieres for supper and I have no memory of what we ate but I know it was an enjoyable meal. I do remember being disappointed that Disney hasn't bothered to get more countries flags for the "Nations parade" at this dinner.
We went to the final show and all I wrote was " a little lame but sweet". I do remember that the comedian/juggler had Rachel laughing so hard that she had to leave her seat and run to the washroom because she thought she might ummm... have an accident!
After the show Rachel was keen to head back to club and Mike and I strolled the deck before heading back to the room for more packing and of course a final drink on the verandah. Ahhhh...
We were up very early since we had the first breakfast sitting at Lumieres again. It occurs to me that I only ate a Parrot Cay 2x and AP once but Lumieres about 6x. No matter it was another great breakfast although bittersweet. We said our goodbyes to Plaman, Erwin and Silvio. They were a terrific team and we made sure to recognize them both financially and on the survey. We also tracked down Fermin to say goodbye and to thank him for doing such a great job on our room all week.
There seemed to be some delay in getting of the ship. We waiting in a long line by Lumieres for about 10 minutes but once it got moving we were aboard the little bus to the rental car in about 10 minutes.
We found a Wal Mart and did a quick shop and also stopped at the Ron n Jon surf shop but bought very little. It was raining quite hard and it was cool so we decided to head to the airport instead of Downtown Disney. Mostly we were just feeling a little blue and tired .
Once at the airport we were put on an earlier flight to Philly but once again they were unable to move us from Philly any earlier. We were glad to get on an earlier flight since the bad weather was increasing and flight delays had begun.
Another 3 hours or so in the Philly airport passed by quickly as we had lunch and then just roamed the entire airport. We roamed so far we ended up having to pass through security again.
By early evening we were back home in Ottawa, happy to have Sunday to rest before returning to the real world.
I'm hooked on cruising and glad that my first was with Disney. I have to say the the Passporter cruise book as well as the boards were invaluable to me. I especially enjoyed reading cruise TR's before I left.
7 days seemed too short ! It was a very relaxing holiday and all 3 of us believe it to be our best family holiday yet. I think the main benefit was that there was adult time and Rachel certainly enjoyed being able to have her own club to go to and having kids her own age to hang with was a real plus to her.
I loved going to bed and waking up surrounded by blue sky and water heading into a new country.
I think having the verandah was worth every penny. We spent quite a bit of time relaxing and listening to that lovely swishing sound the ship makes as it passes through the waves. I found myself on the verandah first thing in the morning and the last thing I did before bed.
Palo was also worth every penny. I sadly never did try out room service and there are many other things I wanted to do but didn't get the chance all reasons to return again.
For my family it was a Magical experience that will live on in our memories forever.
Thank you for letting us cruise along with you on your first (first of hopefully many, that is!) cruise. I especially agree with you on the worth of a verandah--absolutely priceless. Thanks again!
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