A special birthday, a diamond anniversary and a west coast adventure COMPLETED IN THIS FORUM 12/2 - Page 17 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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A special birthday, a diamond anniversary and a west coast adventure UPDATED ...
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Oh I can imagine that would be very inviting, now you're in Vegas.
I don't know whether others can help on this, but I think you can ask to be seated alone on Disney cruises. We were seated near a couple on our Med cruise last summer and they were alone, which is what makes me say that.
Oh, that's good to know - thank you! And the donuts do look especially yummy! [emoji39]
Both your meals looked very delicious and so nice to have the timing of the courses well done. Sounds like everyone was doing their shopping early in the cruise.
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I can see how windy it was by looking at the water. That's a pretty decent chop going on the waves there. The mountains do indeed look like a desert mountain!
I don't know how I could pass up donuts to save room for Palo. Kudos to you because that would be really hard to do!
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Both your meals looked very delicious and so nice to have the timing of the courses well done. Sounds like everyone was doing their shopping early in the cruise.
They were. I guess, like us, they worked out if it was the last cruise of the season and there were deals on, they might run out of items later on. That was certainly the reason we were shopping at the start of our cruise.
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Wednesday 2 September – part two: so I missed another whale then?
I headed off to the Rainforest just after it opened at 8:00am, and couldn’t believe how many people had had the same idea as me. Ok, that wasn’t the plan. I was able to grab a hot stone chair, and sat there for some time, reading my book, and before long I was on my own out there, well save for the tours they kept bringing in there, which I did find mildly irritating. I guess they haven’t sold all the Rainforest passes, and are still marketing them, but I’m sorry, that is what day one is for, when the place isn’t in use. It’s also not nice to have people walking around in bare feet, while others walk in in their shoes.
After a while, I headed into the “mild” steam room. It certainly isn’t, it’s a hefty steam room, but I lasted a reasonable amount of time in there, and given my sinuses weren’t clear, I also used my Olbas Oil, as I was alone in there.
Then I tried the aromatic steam room. Although it was working today, it was certainly not aromatic in any way, shape or form. I was asked when I left if everything was Ok, and it did mention that, as it just smelt damp in there, which wasn’t very pleasant. Needless to say, I didn’t last long in there.
I went into the sauna for a while, taking my book to read, but unfortunately it wasn’t relaxing in there, given that there was a group of three on one side all chatting away. When I felt myself getting hotter than I wanted to be, I retreated back to my hot stone chair, and finished the chapter of the book I was reading, then wandered over to the changing rooms.
These were pretty packed out with people arriving, I assume for spa treatments, as certainly the Rainforest wasn’t overly busy. I was surprised to see it was 9:10am on my watch, as I had no concept of time in the Rainforest. They don’t have any clocks in there, and I didn’t want to risk my Eeyore watch in the steam room or sauna. I couldn’t believe how much time I’d spent chilling.
I headed back to the room to hear that, surprise, surprise, Mark had seen another whale, and this one had surfaced from the water. Well, without photographic evidence, and apparently it didn’t stay around to say cheese for the camera, I no longer believe it…
We headed down to deck four, so I could go and exchange the T-shirt I bought yesterday, as it was too small for me, which is frustrating, as it’s the right size, but Disney are, to my mind, still cutting the women’s clothes far too tight. It’s fine if you’re a model, but if you’re not, then tough really.
We then headed over to Shutters to have a look at our photos, and we were already accumulating quite a collection. I think that $349.95 package is going to end up being a bargain…
That done, we headed out to deck four to marvel at the views…
We ended up chatting to a couple of officers, and try as I might, I couldn’t get anything out of them about what had happened last night. They kindly took a couple of photos of us though, so I forgave them for not dishing the dirt…
We made our way up to deck ten, and battled through the wind to get some shots that yet again give no concept of what the weather was really like, as beautifully blue as the skies were, the wind was downright evil.
We soon found out why everyone at the front of deck 10 was behind glass, as it was almost impossible to hold the camera to get any shots, and at one point, the wind literally propelled me along the deck.
We made our way back along deck 10, although sadly we couldn’t get to the back of the boat (so technical, huh? ), as it was roped off ahead of the barbecue they’d be doing later. Oh great, right as we’re having brunch at Palo – that’ll be a nice view then.
We headed back to the relevant warmth of our room, and took in the views…
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You got some spectacular scenic photos! 
Sounds like everyone was doing their shopping early in the cruise. 
I was able to grab a hot stone chair, and sat there for some time, reading my book, and before long I was on my own out there, well save for the tours they kept bringing in there, which I did find mildly irritating. I guess they haven’t sold all the Rainforest passes, and are still marketing them, but I’m sorry, that is what day one is for, when the place isn’t in use. It’s also not nice to have people walking around in bare feet, while others walk in in their shoes. 
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