I LOVE Comedians with Guitars......You didn't tell me that part...COMPLETE 2/28/13 - Page 20 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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
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Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
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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.
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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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Awesome interaction with Chip and Dale!! Is that Costa Maya? We went there on the Fantasy in April, but our excursion got rained out, so we just stayed in the port area.
great interaction with Chip and Dale. You'd never get that at WDW anymore. to just have them wander around and not be over run with guests - that is pretty cool.
I'd have been nervous at that port. it really doen't looked all that developed. Good idea to stay close to the ship
I love that on the cruises you can still have impromptu encounters with the characters. It's so much fun just to see Goofy or Chip and Dale wandering the corridors or decks.
I must have missed it somewhere in your text, but what port is this? It certainly looks like the island is mostly jungle!
It is Costa maya. I thought I mentioned, it, but maybe i didn't. I'll be sure to say it in my next post. LOL
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
Awesome interaction with Chip and Dale!! Is that Costa Maya? We went there on the Fantasy in April, but our excursion got rained out, so we just stayed in the port area.
Yes, Costa maya. My least favorite stop.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
What a wonderful encounter with Chip and Dale! Yes, that port certainly looks interesting...
It is different
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shari2137
Great morning, your wondering paid off in great pictures and fun encounters. Also curious what port??
Costa Maya.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mommapants
great interaction with Chip and Dale. You'd never get that at WDW anymore. to just have them wander around and not be over run with guests - that is pretty cool.
I'd have been nervous at that port. it really doen't looked all that developed. Good idea to stay close to the ship
Thanks. I did love Chip and Dale. They are so much fun.
I need to go back and look. I swore I mentioend this is Costa Maya, but since everyone is asking, I either missed putting up an update, or didn't mention it like I thought.
After leaving the room, I decided to go straight up to the top to find Lisa. That put me on the floor that Palo is on, so I took a few pictures as I walked by.
And back outside to search for Lisa
I looked for what seemed like a long time. I just couldn’t find her. I had run into Brook and some of the girls earlier and they were going ashore to Costa Maya right away, and I told them if they saw Lisa before they left, to let her know I would be back soon. No one was in sight now. It was practically empty up top, which you would think would make it easier to find someone, but it didn’t.
This guy was just chillin’ ….. Hey dude, have you seen Lisa?
Finally I saw her across the deck talking to Susan. Susan was staying on the ship again and had run into Lisa. Yay! I was no longer lost! LOL.
We said goodbye to Susan and we headed for a quick bite to eat before disembarking.
After our quick lunch we headed down to get off the ship. I guess we stopped off at deck 4 first, because I have more pictures from there.
And down again we went.
And off the ship. I was glad we waited to leave, because we didn’t really have a line to get off the ship then.
Looking up at the ship, our balcony is the one right next to the porthole balcony.
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The pier to the plaza is kind of long. They do have a trolley going back and forth, but we chose to walk.
A look back
We thought this was kind of funny. A lot of people can’t read, because many stepped across the red line!
And there is the Trolley leaving pretty darn full.
I thought this looked so pretty.
As you can see it was a bit windy today and cloudy. But it was still warm out.
We finally made it to the plaza!
Immediately we had vendors asking us to come in their shops. This can be annoying as you tell them maybe later, etc., but they really pressure you. Do they really think you will buy something if they harass you?
We had to stop and get a quick picture.
Yay! I was happy to see that they did sell lots of touristy junk though.
Lisa was on the lookout for a dress, but she never did find one she liked enough to buy.
This sign totally cracked us up.
I thought this was so cute, especially since we live on a dairy farm, but getting it home wouldn’t be easy and honestly, what the heck would I do with it?
We kept browsing, looking at all the “junk” for sale.
I found this top, and I really liked it. Lisa took a picture of me wearing it, so I could see how it looked. Well it doesn’t look good with shorts! The price was too high too.
I tried to haggle, but they wouldn’t go down enough. I told them I would think about it. I ended up getting a top like it in pink a little later, only mine was a tank top version. The guy haggled with me and I set my price and kept saying no to his. He finally agreed, and then he said he wanted a tip for lunch too. Here’s my tip, don’t drink the water in Mexico! LOL. Seriously, I was not paying a dime more than the price I said, and he seemed kind of irked about it, but I got that dang thing, didn’t I?
We went out exploring some more.
We looked at a lot of these dresses, but the price was never right for Lisa and she didn’t find a style she was in love with.
There was this huge pool here in the plaza and it was free to use. Lots of families did use it too.
We decided we each needed another picture.
I brought my kindle off with me, as I heard at one time they had free wifi here. No such luck. I gave it a try, but couldn’t find a network that wasn’t password protected.
These chairs totally “cracked” me up.
Our beautiful ship in the distance.
And more shopping.
And look who we ran into.
Brook said they had taken a taxi in through town. She said I was just ok, neat to see, but nothing great.
A little fun area for sprinkler running.
It did start to sprinkle at one time, so we stayed in a few stores till it stopped. We also noticed a few stores were closed. Later we found out that it was some sort of Holiday and the “big” stores (like the jewelers) were closed because of it.
They had a dolphin swim area.
We checked it out a little later and it was very small. If I was going to do a dolphin swim, it wouldn’t be here.
I wish the vendors wouldn't be so aggressive with trying to get you into their stores! Turns me right off. Sounds like you're very good at haggling to get the prices down. I need you with me when I shop at places like that. I hate doing it!
Your photos remind me of our stop in Costa Maya. We were supposed to do a jeep tour, but it was rained out, so all we did was walk around the port area. It was okay, but I think I would have enjoyed the jeep tour much more.
I wish the vendors wouldn't be so aggressive with trying to get you into their stores! Turns me right off. Sounds like you're very good at haggling to get the prices down. I need you with me when I shop at places like that. I hate doing it!
I can be kind of "cold" when I need to be. LOL. Not always, but it was working that day!
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
Your photos remind me of our stop in Costa Maya. We were supposed to do a jeep tour, but it was rained out, so all we did was walk around the port area. It was okay, but I think I would have enjoyed the jeep tour much more.
Yeah, I sure wish we booked an excursion. I think we would've enjoyed it more, but we were trying to keep it cheap too and didn't want to spend what the excusrions we liked cost.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Looks like a nice place!
it was just Ok to me. But it was nice how much was offered right in that area.