Seven Fantastic Nights, Some Stormy Weather, and the first Star Wars Day At Sea! Updated 2/14 - Page 2 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Checking in for your trip. I am sure you had tons of fun. I was trying to decide if my family should try Oasis of the Seas for our next cruise but I don't even like reading non-Disney trip reports! The others seem so less...personal. The activities less...personal. I think that extra personal Disney touch just means so much to me that I don't want many things outside of Disney.
__________________
WDW August 1987 (wife), 4 trips before kids (married), Oct 2012, April 2013, Nov 2013, March 2014, Sep 2014, Nov 2015. DCL March 2014. DL May 1985 (me..Senior Trip), plus 4 trips or so before kids (married), June 2015.
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Checking in for your trip. I am sure you had tons of fun. I was trying to decide if my family should try Oasis of the Seas for our next cruise but I don't even like reading non-Disney trip reports! The others seem so less...personal. The activities less...personal. I think that extra personal Disney touch just means so much to me that I don't want many things outside of Disney.
We feel the same way! We saw a number of other ships throughout the cruise and none of them seemed to compare in terms of theming and design! Plus you can't beat the service!
By the time we were done at the Polynesian it was already 8:00 - so we gave the hotel a call to let them know we were going to be a bit late checking in (as if they hadn't figured that out ). We then headed off in the direction of Cocoa Beach, stopping at Target along the way to pick up some sunscreen and other essentials for the cruise.
We pulled up to the Four Points by 9:30 and headed to the check-in desk. The lady checking us in informed us that we had a room with one king bed - - I had called three weeks before requesting 2 queens and they had assured me that I was already booked in for that. I let her know and she told us that there were no more regular queens available … but that she would upgrade us to a suite with 2 queens and a sitting area. That worked for us!
We made our way up to the room and were quite impressed with the size and the beds. The rest of the room, however, was a bit lackluster. The furniture in the sitting area was pretty dated and stained - and the bathroom came with pumps in the shower for shampoo/soap/etc. - except they were all out . Our view was also pretty unique as it looked into the Cocoa Beach Surf Company (the store associated with the hotel) - it was cool for one night - although we both felt like we wouldn't that view for much longer.
Our room was the window right above and to the right of the Four Points sign.
Dad and I then headed down to the shop and restaurant - we were a bit hungry as it had been a while since the salads and we hadn't eaten much throughout the day. I ordered the fish tacos and he got french onion soup and a ham sandwich - sadly I didn't get any photos as we devoured it as soon as we got back to the room! However, both were excellent - really good for "hotel" food. We also stopped into the shop and I picked up a couple of postcards.
The store...
By that point we were both pretty exhausted and decided it would be time to head to bed!
Up Next: Exploring Cocoa Beach & Boarding the Fantasy!
Wow what a huge hotel shop! Glad the hotel food was good too and that they were able to accommodate your bedding request. Unfortunately with sites like Priceline and Hotwire your room type is almost never guaranteed, just that you will have a room.
Wow! You had a busy day! Glad you got the room situation straightened out. Of course, Priceline doesn't guarantee a room type, but the phone call to the resort 3 weeks early should have settled that issue.
Wow what a huge hotel shop! Glad the hotel food was good too and that they were able to accommodate your bedding request. Unfortunately with sites like Priceline and Hotwire your room type is almost never guaranteed, just that you will have a room.
I know - the shop was huge!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pris
Wow! You had a busy day! Glad you got the room situation straightened out. Of course, Priceline doesn't guarantee a room type, but the phone call to the resort 3 weeks early should have settled that issue.
We got up the next morning around 8 and ran to the Starbucks within the hotel to grab breakfast - I got a scone and Dad got a breakfast sandwich - both were pretty good. We then headed off to the beach, which was about 2 blocks from the hotel, to take some pictures and walk around. It was super foggy and a bit cool - which made for some pretty cool pictures!
Walking over from the hotel
The Beach
Lots of birds!
We walked along the beach for a little less than an hour before heading back to the hotel - along the way we stopped at the Ron Jon Surf Shop next door and I picked up two t-shirts, since the last time we were here I had got one and it fit really well, so I wanted to pick up a couple more.
By that point it was about 10:30, so we headed back to the hotel to load up the car and check-out. There was a bit snafu, however, as they had already changed the key cards for the day so we were locked out of our room . Once we got that sorted out, we were on our way. I'm not sure if we would stay at the Four Points again, unless we got another deal through Priceline - we both agreed that we wouldn't have been happy paying the full price of $199 for the night.
Four Points
On the way to Budget we stopped at the Post Office to drop off some postcards - the front desk at the Four Points didn't sell stamps and/or accept mail (which I thought was slightly odd for a hotel ) - and we also stopped to top off the car. Drop-off was pretty easy - there was only one person in front of us - and we got out right in time to squeeze into the courtesy shuttle as they had room for exactly 2 more people
First (kinda bad) shot of the Fantasy (with the Carnival ship in the background)!
Before I knew it, we were pulling up to the terminal, and walking through to security! We got upstairs and were directed to the Castaway Club line (first time going through that line ) - I was nervous that the wait was going to be really long and/or the terminal extremely crowded because we were later than usual (about 11:45) - but it actually worked out perfect as we seemed to arrive in between some of the more busier times.
Arriving
The cast member who helped check us in had some trouble with Dad's passport (which is Australian) and kept asking for his Visa; which he doesn't need since he has a U.S. Green Card. She kept insisting that he needed a Visa and called one of the other cast members over … who proceeded to tell her that in fact he didn't need a visa The rest of check-in was a bit quiet on her part
We were boarding group 15 - but since they were already at 19 - we were able to just walk right on. We opted to skip the "welcome photo" (something I didn't know you could do) since we knew we probably looked a bit crazed and boarded the ship!
Once we boarded the ship we made a quick pit stop at the couches by the Bon Voyage Bar - Dad had to call the bank to make sure the card was canceled and I gave my Mom a quick call. Since our room wasn't ready yet, we decided to head up to Cabanas to grab something to eat. We both got a random assortment of things - picking whatever caught our eye. I ended up with some sort of fish (I think it was bass ), some fries, veggies, and a big salad. Dad went with some sort of lamb dish and fries.
View from Cabanas
Dad with his Lamb!
By that point it was almost 1:30, so we decided to head down to Deck 6 and check out our room - we got there right before they opened up the hallways and were quite surprised by how many people were waiting (there were at least 50 people crammed into the aft elevator area ).
We were in Stateroom 6646 - a Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah. I was nervous when we booked it that it might feel cramped as last time we had gone for the bigger Cat. 4A, however, we were pleasantly surprised! The room felt pretty spacious and my fears about it being too small were quickly quelled.
View from the Verandah...
After spending some time getting situated and exploring the room we headed up to Senses for a tour of the spa. On our last cruise, I had been too young to use the spa/fitness center/rainforest room - so I was super excited as Dad had spent most of his time in the Rainforest Room ! Dad was a bit nervous that they would run out of Rainforest Room Passes (he read in the Navigator that they were "limited") - so before the tour even began we purchased our "cruise-length" passes ... it was probably their easiest sale of the day
Deck 11 - already Packed at 2!
The spa tour was as expected - they took us around and gave us the usual talks (teeth whitening, embarkation special, etc.) - we did get to see the "spa suites," however, and those were really cool!
Spa Suites...
By the time the tour was over it was time for the "Spa Raffle." We unfortunately didn't win anything - although there was a bit of drama because one woman was drawn multiple times as she had put in multiple entries The spa staff were not very happy with her
We then headed back to the room to get ready for the requisite Safety Drill - which was quick and painless! After a quick stop back in the room again (to pick up swimwear), we headed up to Deck 12 to get some "sail-away" shots and then went down to the Rainforest Room.
It was becoming slightly overcast...
The Rainforest Room was empty and I snagged a chair while Dad went in the hot tub - it was pretty watching the ship pull out of Port Canaveral from one of those lounger-chair things!
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
- not sure if we would do it all again as were quite tired 
<--- Disney Fantasy 2016!
). We then headed off in the direction of Cocoa Beach, stopping at Target along the way to pick up some sunscreen and other essentials for the cruise. 
- I had called three weeks before requesting 2 queens and they had assured me that I was already booked in for that. I let her know and she told us that there were no more regular queens available … but that she would upgrade us to a suite with 2 queens and a sitting area. That worked for us! 
. Our view was also pretty unique as it looked into the Cocoa Beach Surf Company (the store associated with the hotel) - it was cool for one night - although we both felt like we wouldn't that view for much longer. 
PassPorter Guide Author
. Once we got that sorted out, we were on our way. I'm not sure if we would stay at the Four Points again, unless we got another deal through Priceline - we both agreed that we wouldn't have been happy paying the full price of $199 for the night. 
The rest of check-in was a bit quiet on her part 
). 
- although there was a bit of drama because one woman was drawn multiple times as she had put in multiple entries 
The spa staff were not very happy with her 
Linear Mode
