A Magical voyage across the pond LIVE UPDATE 9/30 - Page 15 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Trust me, it's not just you...we've begun to wonder if Disney has reached the point we feel priced out, at least as far as cruises go, unless we use our points. Especially after I retire.
Given quite a lot of us are starting to feel that way, I wonder how long will it be before Disney has to stop the price rises or even cut prices to entice people back? Surely it's got to come at some point...
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But how exciting your traveling buddies are joining you for the Transatlantic portion of your cruise! That's fantastic!
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That is just great news that Mari and Raleigh will be on your TA cruise! The four of you will once again have an amazing time together! I hope they have good luck with their bookings for excursions and on board activities as they're a bit late on some of this!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
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That is just great news that Mari and Raleigh will be on your TA cruise! The four of you will once again have an amazing time together!
I really cannot wait and I'm so glad they're joining us.
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I hope they have good luck with their bookings for excursions and on board activities as they're a bit late on some of this!
I was concerned about that for them, but they seemed to manage fine. I don't know if they got all their first choices, but they found things they wanted to do, which is the main thing.
Pre-trip report – part fifteen: “she’s got to be wrong”
Since the excitement of the news that Mari and Raleigh would be joining us, things calmed down considerably. There were little things that we did over the next few weeks, but nothing major.
Firstly, I started to look into getting a taxi back from Heathrow airport when we return from our trip. We’d be fine getting to Dover, as we’d had a couple of people volunteer to drive us there (it’s about 40 minutes away), which is just as well, given we’d now need two cars to get there, as we had two more people to take… along with their suitcases and ours. With the best will in the world, I didn’t think we’d all fit in one car!
However, getting back from Heathrow was another matter. For starters, you never know if there are going to be delays to a flight or they can even turn up early on the way back from America, given you sometimes have tail winds to help you on your way home. It doesn’t help that our flight is due to land at 10:30am on a Sunday morning. Sure, we’re boarding at Dover on a Sunday morning and will be asking to leave to ensure we’re there for about the same time, but the drive to Heathrow is about an hour or so and along the M25 motorway, which can be a nightmare. Admittedly, it should be Ok on a Sunday, but I just figure we’ll have used up all our favours on the way to Dover. I was pleasantly surprised by some of the prices I found for taxis, so I think that’s the way to go. I just need to enquire whether we need to pay upfront or pay a deposit or pay when we come back and then get something booked…
In other preparation for the trip, I spent ages playing with options for Newport in Rhode Island, where we’ll be staying the night at the tail end of our trip. Now don’t get me wrong, I had some options I was perfectly happy with there, but I just wasn’t happy with what we were having to pay. There didn’t seem to be anything decent for much less than £150 ($195) and I just object to how much hotels are charging these days.
I did find out that there were some options that Disney Vacation Club members could use their points at, so I investigated further. Frustratingly, on the night I found this out, the RCI website (the collection we’d trade points into) was down, so I had to wait until the next night to check it out. I was to be disappointed. They had nine properties there and all of them were full on the night we’d be there. Oh well, it wasn’t to be. I guess we’ll have to stick with the original plan then. That’s for next month’s credit card bill…
I started work copying pages out of my trusty Dorling Kindersley guidebooks, so that we wouldn’t have to take them all with us. After all, there’s no point taking the whole book about Ireland just for one night’s stay there. I think probably the only one we’ll take is the one for New England, as we’ll be driving there and we might pass somewhere and decide to stop, depending what’s written about it. However, I may copy that one too. We’ll see. Canada and Ireland are done anyway.
I also had one of those appalling moments in the planning of this trip, where I wondered if I’d screwed up really badly. Someone at work was talking about how her husband was due to fly to Toronto later that week and it looked as if he might not make it, because he hadn’t got his ETA visa for Canada through yet. What????
My first thought was “she’s got to be wrong”, as surely this would’ve been mentioned somewhere on the Facebook group by now, but I thought I’d better check it out just to be on the safe side. Sure enough, I quickly found the details online and, with a sinking heart, accessed the page. It turns out you only need to apply for it if you’re flying into Canada. Phew! That will be why we didn’t need it in 2016, as we drove in. I guess maybe we didn’t need one for our 2011 and 2015 visits either, as we flew in from the States, rather than the UK? Anyway, one less thing to worry about – and something I didn’t even know I had to worry about!
Elsewhere, there were snippets of information coming out about the cruise on the Disney Cruise Line blog, including one thing that made me very jealous that we’re staying on board in New Year. Disney are doing a number of pre- and post-cruise port adventures based around their current Broadway productions. As well as being able to book seats at Frozen (which I wouldn’t mind seeing, given it’s not in London’s West End… yet ), Aladdin and the Lion King, you can also book a behind the magic tour at the New Amsterdam Theatre (currently home to Aladdin). Oh wow, I bet that’s amazing. Mind you, I bet the pricing is quite something is as well. I haven’t even looked it up, as we can’t do it and I don’t want to make myself feel any worse about that…
I would have really been amazed if you could fit 4 people and the bags needed for a long cruise, into one car. Especially since there’d presumably be a fifth person, since someone would be driving!
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I guess your only other option besides a taxi on the return would be if you drove all the way up to Heathrow and left your car there before you left! Seems silly. And expensive.
Oh yeah, I forgot about that ETA visa for Canada. That's relatively new. Not expensive, but still, glad you don't need to get it!
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Tanya
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How fun traveling with your Passporter friends!!! It's too bad that some of the drink tastings were already sold out but I'm sure you'll all have a magical time on the ship and doing walking tours together.
I would have really been amazed if you could fit 4 people and the bags needed for a long cruise, into one car. Especially since there’d presumably be a fifth person, since someone would be driving!
Well, we just about fitted the four of us in with all our luggage for our Scotland road trip... remember that one? Mark had fun getting everything in the car each night!
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We’d be fine getting to Dover, as we’d had a couple of people volunteer to drive us there (it’s about 40 minutes away), which is just as well, given we’d now need two cars to get there, as we had two more people to take… along with their suitcases and ours. With the best will in the world, I didn’t think we’d all fit in one car! 
I was pleasantly surprised by some of the prices I found for taxis, so I think that’s the way to go. I just need to enquire whether we need to pay upfront or pay a deposit or pay when we come back and then get something booked… 
and I just object to how much hotels are charging these days.
That will be why we didn’t need it in 2016, as we drove in. I guess maybe we didn’t need one for our 2011 and 2015 visits either, as we flew in from the States, rather than the UK? 
Anyway, one less thing to worry about – and something I didn’t even know I had to worry about! 
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