To Alaska and Beyond! Updated 4/28 x 3 and it's COMPLETE!! - Page 11 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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thinking in July it would automatically be good weather up there
Actually, this was the worst day we had and then for the rest of the week we had amazingly sunny, warm weather. In doing the research, typcially most cruisers to Alaska during July will encounter rainy periods and temps in the 50's-60's. Stay tuned for our experiences..
We continued to play around in Latte-tudes and watch the weather make massive changes..
I noticed on the Cruise Compass that there was an art auction beginning within the hour, so when I mentioned checking that out, I scattered those boys back to the cabin within seconds. LOL!
When we got back, Marcilano had been in to tidy up. Aaron being a consumate teenager, announced he was tired and promptly crashed! Matt and Kevan decided to brave the balcony once more, and I headed off to the art auction. I took this photo of the set up (this spot was around the corner of our room) but then took the camera back- as I didn't feel like dragging it along.
The art auction was fun to watch but no one made any big bids. The highest item went for just over $1000.
When I made it back up to the room, I got a note from the boys they had gone out to explore, so I threw my sweatshirt on and sat on the balcony for a few minutes. They returned about 15 minutes later and we all were in the mood for hot chocolate and cookies from room service.
It seemed like less than 10 minutes later, we had it and Aaron announced we had not taken a brochure picture in some time- so he set this one up and Kevan and I became the participants. It's a pretty funny one. We'll call this "Enjoy our Gold Anchor Room Service in your stateroom..."
Matt had found something of interest in the Cruise Compass- The Dark Knight was playing at 2:00 in the cinema. All of the boys decided they were up for that- but as it was nearing 12:30, we decided to head back up to Windjammer for lunch. On the way up there, Matt asked if we should go buy tickets to the movie first in the event it might sell out. I told him that the movie was free - well, not free, but included in the cost of the cruise so you just walked in without a ticket. "This is UNREAL!" he exclaimed! If only real life exsisted as it does on a cruise ship.
Back up to Windjammer we went, with the boys going for make your own pizzas, Kevan hit the curry station and I decided to have at it with the salads. I was pleased to see they were all different from yesterday- and they were just as good. There was a bow tie pasta with the most wonderful bacon flavor to it.
By the time we finished at Windjammer it was nearing 1:15 or so. The fellas decided they wanted to brave outside and see what the weather was doing from the top deck- which I wanted no part of, so I headed back to the room- kicked my heels up and turned on the televsion. Rest works for me on any vacation- whether I'm on land or not.
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Wow! I have somehow totally missed your TR until today! I'm trying to talk my DH into the same cruise......even though we've lived up here for years and years, we've never taken a cruise. Looks fun so far!
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