National parks, natural beauty and a bit of Disney wonder! COMPLETED - Page 32 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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So glad you saw the bear, as scary as it may have been! Waterfalls are so beautiful, I'm glad you made the trek to find it. The Fab 5 all look so nice, although Goofy looked a little odd without his hat! Great photos!
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How great to see the bear up a tree--and a bit scary when he was no longer there! The waterfalls are beautiful, and the photos from formal night are great. Good thing you got the CD, as already you have so many great shots. It's wonderful when you find a photographer you really like. I'll remember Margarita's name.
Just getting caught up over the past few installments--
You certainly are learning a lot this trip, aren't you? I'm going to have to remember to take pictures of not only the exhibit, but the explanation as well.
Cute story about the bear falling onto the plastic--can imagine that hurried lunch along for quite a few people! Brings back memories of when I was little, my parents took us camping in northern Maine. We stayed in a lean-to, and the next morning we awoke to a black bear sniffing our feet!
Digression over--great pictures of the two of you in your semi-formal wear. And may I say that you are Rockin' those slacks, Cheryl!
Why thank you! That is a classic story about the black bear, although I think that would've freaked me completely!
How great to see the bear up a tree--and a bit scary when he was no longer there! The waterfalls are beautiful, and the photos from formal night are great. Good thing you got the CD, as already you have so many great shots. It's wonderful when you find a photographer you really like. I'll remember Margarita's name.
If you do happen to find her - and I cannot remember whether she was due to move to the Fantasy or not? - then be sure to remember us to her. It's interesting, a lot of the crew we spoke to said "we might see you on the Fantasy", as they had already been told apparently that they'd be moving over there, which was interesting.
Bear in a tree? Waterfalls? Whales? The food apparently hasn't been up to your expectations, but it sounds like the sights are making up for that! What great pictures!
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Not sure how comfortable I'd be sitting under a bear in a tree. I guess Yogi was out of picnic baskets and was checking out the offerings on the buffet. Love all your photos. Getting the CD was definitely worth it.
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If you do happen to find her - and I cannot remember whether she was due to move to the Fantasy or not? - then be sure to remember us to her. It's interesting, a lot of the crew we spoke to said "we might see you on the Fantasy", as they had already been told apparently that they'd be moving over there, which was interesting.
I will let you know what I find out and if I see her, will say hello for you. If she is moving to the Fantasy that will be great for you-- birthday pictures next year!
Bear in a tree? Waterfalls? Whales? The food apparently hasn't been up to your expectations, but it sounds like the sights are making up for that! What great pictures!
you're definitely right on that count - the sights really were something.
Not sure how comfortable I'd be sitting under a bear in a tree. I guess Yogi was out of picnic baskets and was checking out the offerings on the buffet. Love all your photos. Getting the CD was definitely worth it.
Saturday 3 September – part five: a Toy Story and a great dinner
We found another great Cast Member on the way into the Walt Disney Theatre, Kat from England. We asked where she was from and she started what’s obviously her usual spiel about being from near Manchester and I told her that was obvious by her accent and where in the northwest? It’s amazing how the Cast Members get conditioned to no-one knowing where they come from and just have a spiel ready to deal with the question. We had a good chat, as my parents are from the northwest and we knew some of the same places.
With that, it was inside to see Toy Story the Musical. We found some good seats in the middle section, just at the beginning of the second show and ordered some drinks. I was very impressed that we could get the Godiva chocolate martini here.
The show was absolutely excellent. I had heard some negative comments about it beforehand, so I didn’t have much expectation about this, but it was so well done. You could tell that it was their newest show, the way that they used video technology interspersed with the show. Some of the songs were a bit too long and I think they probably could chop it down in total by about 10 minutes, but that’s about it. Apart from that, I couldn’t fault it and loved it. If it’s showing on your cruise, do not miss it, as it’s well worth seeing.
When the show was done, we headed back to the room for a little while, then it was up to Palo for our 8:00pm dinner with Bruce, Marta and Katherine. If I say that we were shattered when we got up there, I think we did amazingly well to make it through the meal.
We settled down and perused the menu, and to be honest, we made our decisions quite quickly, but we waited ages to order. I know the idea is to have a leisurely meal, but this was a bit beyond a joke. I know they were probably letting us chat, but it did get quite uncomfortable sitting there with the menu, as it’s quite a big size.
First, they brought over the pre-appetisers and here they have borrowed from the Dream, with the same cart being used for those as they now have on there. It’s a nice change and everyone else was very impressed with it.
My plate.... ... and Mark’s
For appetiser, Mark and I shared two... the mozzarella and plum tomatoes with a balsamic dressing...
... and the Sicilian pesto marinated grilled shrimp on a mussel, crab and cherry tomato ragu...
We’d had the former on the Dream and been very underwhelmed by it, as it had no salt added to it, but this version was absolutely perfect. The other dish was new to us, but we were both very impressed with it, with a good range of flavours to it.
We also ordered the ai gamberi flatbread, which comes with tomato sauce, mozzarella, grilled shrimp and asparagus. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a photo of it, but this was wonderful as always, with a beautiful combination of flavours.
It was around this time that a photographer turned up, so we got a photo:
After those arrived, we seemed to wait a very long time before the entrees made it, which was a shame, as it made for a bit of a “bitty” meal as the evening wore on. For entree, as I’d enjoyed it so much on the Dream, I had the lobster and mascarpone ravioli with a light truffle burro bianco and this was as superb as I remembered it.
Mark had the beef tenderloin “Palo”, served with Palo signature Barolo red wine sauce. He described it as the best steak on board so far this cruise.
We didn’t have too long to wait for desserts. We’d already had the discussion about how many of us wanted the chocolate soufflé with vanilla bean and chocolate sauce, with Mark and Katherine both opting for it. I went for Palo’s homemade tiramisu and that was divine, although there was far too much of it for me. Sadly, that was the case around the table, as our server, Januar, brought over an extra soufflé for us to enjoy and none of us could even manage a bit of it.
Both Katherine and Mark were presented with plates, thanks to Marta, which was a nice touch.
We rounded off the meal with some limoncello mixed with lemon sorbet, which was the perfect end to the meal. Despite the fact that the meal had dragged on and we were very, very tired towards the end of the meal, we still had a fantastic time and loved every minute of it. We had shared a bottle of Riesling Spatlese, which is one of our favourites, so that probably contributed to the tiredness..
At least hopefully we should sleep well, as Bruce had told us that we could have 12 feet waves tonight. We made it back to the room and I went to take a photo of our evening’s towel animal, but I had a nasty discovery – my flash unit has given up the ghost on my camera. My beloved Sony, which I’ve had since October 2005 is finally starting to die... : Not good... Fortunately it would still take photos, just not with flash. I guess it knew I was looking for a new camera.
The weather today was very wet with temperatures in the low 50s. The best thing today was the whale watching. The worst thing today was the rain and just missing the Orcas. The funniest thing today was seeing the bear up the tree! Today we tried going out whale watching And the result was I finally got to see some! The most magical moment today was seeing the whales and the bear up the tree.
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That's just - wow. "Cool" doesn't even begin to describe it!
That is a classic story about the black bear, although I think that would've freaked me completely! 
it certainly was a 
- then be sure to remember us to her. It's interesting, a lot of the crew we spoke to said "we might see you on the Fantasy", as they had already been told apparently that they'd be moving over there, which was interesting.
If it’s showing on your cruise, do not miss it, as it’s well worth seeing. 
I know the idea is to have a leisurely meal, but this was a bit beyond a joke. I know they were probably letting us chat, but it did get quite uncomfortable sitting there with the menu, as it’s quite a big size. 
plates, thanks to Marta, which was a nice touch. 
My beloved Sony, which I’ve had since October 2005 is finally starting to die... 
: Not good... Fortunately it would still take photos, just not with flash. I guess it knew I was looking for a new camera. 
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