DREAMing of a Disney spring break COMPLETED - Page 34 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Oh wow, Cheryl - I spent a birthday on Castaway Cay, with dinner that night at Palo. It just doesn't get any better than that !! I'm so excited for you
Sounds like a perfect Fantasy (couldn't resist! ) to me....
Congratulations on booking the cruise for your birthday! That's some birthday present indeed!
The show looked like a lot of fun, and a lot of content to pack into one show! How long did it last? Seeing Genie reminded me of the Aladdin show at Disney's California Adventure. That's one fantastic show! I hope you get the chance to see it when you're in California (if you haven't seen it already)!
I haven't seen that show yet : but it is top of my "must-see" list. We've been twice in the last five years and haven't managed to make it either time, but I really want to. I thought I remembered something about the Aladdin show from Disneyland (or a version of it anyway?) making it on to the Fantasy?
And to answer your question - I think the show was about 40 - 45 minutes? I'm guessing here - anyone else?
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I am so interested in the balcony seating in the theatre! Thank you for posting pics from this vantage point! Love that you will be sailing on your birthday...most excellent way to spend the day!
Happy Birthday indeed!!!! That's wonderful. Where does the eastern cruise stop? Are they new places for you guys?
Would you tie that into another DisneyWorld trip as well? I hope so, because I do enjoy reading about your month long trips into the bubble!!
I am glad you got to ride "the Duck" and it sounds like so much fun!! The rainforest sounds amazing too and I am thinking about the possibilities! Really enjoying your trip report and photos!!
Happy Birthday indeed!!!! That's wonderful. Where does the eastern cruise stop? Are they new places for you guys?
Would you tie that into another DisneyWorld trip as well? I hope so, because I do enjoy reading about your month long trips into the bubble!!
It will stop at St. John/St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands and San Juan in Puerto Rico (both new to us), before going to Castaway Cay. It's an Eastern itinerary, but one with a difference and that's another reason why it appealed to us. It also gives us lots of time at sea to enjoy the ship, which is another bonus, as we didn't feel we had enough time on this cruise to enjoy the Dream.
We'd definitely tie in a trip to WDW, as heck you have to fly into Orlando anyway! I'm thinking it will be a three week trip, as it will take in Christmas and DH has a shutdown over Christmas. If work is kind to us and we have the money, I'd like to do a few days in WDW (maybe six?) and then almost a week in Hawaii - it'll probably end up as five days out there once you add travel time getting there and back into the mix, but we'll have to see about Hawaii and whether that works out for us or not...
Saturday 16 April – part five: some inaugural purchases
We headed down for our final dinner with Sean, Sharon and Ciaran, our other dining companions, whose names we never did find out. I know, how bad is that?
The Royal Palace was beautiful, like all the other restaurants, but because we were so late, it was difficult to get photos of everything, as I didn’t want to intrude on the people who were already there eating. I did get a photo of our servers:
We went for an appetiser each again. Mark had the avocado-citrus salad with Iceberg and Radicchio leaves and an orange vinaigrette, and from the taste I had of it, it was very good.
I had the Iced Lobster and Jumbo Shrimp with white and green asparagus, micro grill and lemon dill dressing with horseradish cream. It was just what I needed.
As everyone else was getting their main courses, I suggested going to see the shops, as the early show was still going on and I figured that it would be chaos when that finished.
We headed that way, but didn’t get far, before we stopped to do more professional photos.
Then Snow White came out and there was no-one around to see her, so I got a photo with her.
Finally, we made it into the shops and did some serious damage in there, with Mark getting two tops, me getting a sweatshirt, a scrapbook and scrapbooking kit. Finally somewhere that has some scrapbooking stuff! Of course, we also got the obligatory fridge magnet as well. We drew the line at the Christmas ornament as we thought $40 was a bit too much for one of those! Some of the Inaugural stuff wasn’t badly priced, while other stuff in the same range was a hideous price. I was delighted that they were still selling inaugural stuff. That was a lovely surprise.
We went back to the dining room, where everyone else was waiting for dessert by now. We didn’t stay very long, as Ciaran decided that he wanted to go back to the Oceaneer Club. Sean was waiting on dessert and figured he wouldn’t make it there and back in time, so we offered to take him there. He didn’t need anyone to show him the way, he knew it off pat, which was so sweet to see! Once he was in there, we were immediately forgotten and he went off.
We dropped off our purchases back in the room and found this wonderful towel creation:
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: but it is top of my "must-see" list. We've been twice in the last five years and haven't managed to make it either time, but I really want to. I thought I remembered something about the Aladdin show from Disneyland (or a version of it anyway?) making it on to the Fantasy? 
I am glad you got to ride "the Duck" and it sounds like so much fun!! The rainforest sounds amazing too and I am thinking about the possibilities! 
Really enjoying your trip report and photos!! 
I know, how bad is that? 
Of course, we also got the obligatory fridge magnet as well. We drew the line at the Christmas ornament as we thought $40 was a bit too much for one of those! 
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