I LOVE Comedians with Guitars......You didn't tell me that part...COMPLETE 2/28/13 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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DH and I took the last NYC/Canada cruise in 2012. As soon as we left the Magic was on it's way to TX! I agree there were some places where the Magic needs some major work but all in all it was in very good shape. I did take the walk around Deck 4 and saw the crew at work each time in that room. I love the Magic and Wonder. I hope to also experience the Dream and the Fantasy too.
Breakfast looks yummy! I can't pass up a chocolate frosted Krispy Kreme!
I know. I love them!
Quote:
Originally Posted by sydmacsmom
Thanks so much for the great trip report! I am really enjoying reading it.... I get home and the first thing I do is check to see if there are more pictures....
My family and I will be sailing out of Galveston in February. We would love to participate in the Fish Extender thing - but not sure how to do that - can you point us in the right direction?
Thanks again!
It's mostly a Dis boards thing. If you belong there, you can find a group for your sailing. They usually have a thread for each date that someone starts and then those who want to participate join. Sometimes they also make facebook groups for your sailing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
I hear you about the Magic looking its age - we felt the same about the Wonder when we were on it last year.
Yes, She was definitely not brand new like the Dream, but I was stil lvery happy and even impressed how nice she looked compared to what I had prepared for.
She will need that dry dock next year though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grammy Grumpy
DH and I took the last NYC/Canada cruise in 2012. As soon as we left the Magic was on it's way to TX! I agree there were some places where the Magic needs some major work but all in all it was in very good shape. I did take the walk around Deck 4 and saw the crew at work each time in that room. I love the Magic and Wonder. I hope to also experience the Dream and the Fantasy too.
I am amazed how much they do every single day. It never ends for them.
We headed out for our walk around Deck 4. On the way we stopped and took a peek inside the Buena Vista Theatre. We had a goal of seeing at least 1 movie at some point in time.
And a look out the porthole.
And then we started our walk to burn off a few calories.
The crew was constantly stripping things and varnishing them.
I think we walked at least 3 times around; we might’ve done 4 for good measure.
It was already quite hot too that day.
I showed Lisa the awesome anchor room we had found the night before.
These cracked me up.
Guys were working and at one point we had to turn around and come back after about 5 minutes.
We headed back in then, passing the future cruise booking desk.
And got a drink too cool off with.
Lisa wanted to lay out by the pool, so I came along and brought my notebook. This was the only time I really worked on my notes very long. I most wrote about our traveling day and after that I have hardly any other notes from the whole trip.
It was hot, but sitting there wasn’t too bad. Lisa read, I wrote, and at one point in time I decided to get a drink when the server told me there was a special. I said Ok, and Lisa asked me what I got. I had no clue. LOL. I couldn’t understand the server, but I heard mimosa and bloody Mary, so I knew it was probably one of those 2 options. I ended up with a bloody Mary. It was good, but VERY spicy. I like them a little mellower. Once the ice melted, it was better tasting for me.
I think we stayed out there for 1 1/2 to 2 hours before lunch started calling our names.
We decided to get lunch and I think we ran into Brook right as we were about to walk inside to go to Topsiders. If I remember right, we had to wait a few minutes for the restaurant to officially open. Luis, our assistant server was working the door area and we chatted with him a few minutes and then I decided to take a potty break before we ate. When I came out, Topsiders was now open. I looked up and didn’t see Brook and Lisa, so I went directly towards the buffet. Luis asked me if I was just going to leave my friends. LOL! I said no, they must’ve went in, and he points to them standing right where I left them. I guess hunger had made me blind. Luis is hilarious. He has a very serious, dry humor, and you have to watch his eyes, because he can make a lot of expressions with them. We just loved him so much.
We got in line, and I am not sure why, but I recorded video of part of the buffet, and not very good video at that.
I think today was a pasta or Italian type buffet. We found plenty to keep us happy.
Our view while eating.
Such a nice, relaxing lunch. We found we really loved sitting out on the back deck while eating, even if it was really hot.
I had to get some dessert. VERY good. You can never go wrong with the chocolate chip cookie.
I think Carolyn might’ve eventually joined us too. Brook and Carolyn both had gone to a DVC member meet earlier that day and were planning on attending the one open to the public after lunch. Lisa and I both thought we would like to go to. After all, there is a chance you could win some onboard credit!
I think we headed that way right after lunch.
It was in Studio Sea.
We had a good time, but I really didn’t learn anything I hadn’t known already. This was all new to Lisa though. Susan was really good with the questions and won some prizes. Finally the moment we had all been waiting for. The drawing for the $300 onboard credit. And guess who won? Not me! But shelly did. I was so happy for her.
After the DVC meet, we were going to head back to our room. We wanted to change and get ready for a meet and greet we had scheduled with facebook friends at 3 PM. It was called the Beauty and Beast champagne party. We had an open bar scheduled for an hour. The cost was really great too. I think it was only $13.25 per person.
Brook had an informal meet and greet planned as well that some of us could drop by at in the Promenade Lounge from 1-3, I believe. We walked through there and only saw 2 others there, 1 being Mary. I took a few pictures before we headed back to the room.
We said goodbyes and headed back to change and freshen up a bit.
We debated on ordering a snack from room service. I wanted to get the cheese plate and a Mickey bar. Lisa said she wanted one too. And then she asked, what’s a Mickey Bar?” LOL! She is not a huge ice cream fan, but she said she would probably enjoy it. We called and asked how long it would take to get delivered and they must’ve been busy, because it was going to be at least 45 minutes to an hour. That would cut it too close to our meet, so we just decided not to get anything for now.
We still had some time to kill though, so we headed out once again.
This bathroom was right down the hall from us.
We stopped and took a look at where were we.
And took a quick walk through the shops to see if there was something we couldn’t live without.
We made our way up then and peeked in the arcade.
And all the way up top then. I thought it would be fun to go to the front of the ship.
This was actually kind of scary. The wind at the front is VERY strong and Lisa was worried we would blow off, so she quickly went behind the glass. I braved a few seconds and took a couple of pictures.
We walked down to deck 9 and stood near the front but to the side. This was in the window to the gym. I just found it kind of funny being there.
They had this set up near the adult pool, I assume to advertise their services, along with a few Cast Members.
We still have 15 minutes before the meet.
These were just outside the spa if I remember right.
And we started making our way toward the meet and greet.
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