The trip of many changes... TRIP REPORT UPDATED 4/25 - Page 36 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I'm really enjoying learning the history of all the islands that you've visited Cheryl! The museum was very interesting and I really loved the dark mahogany furniture! My dad's family had a lot of that in his family growing up but you don't see it as much anymore. How fun that you got to see the flamingoes in such a natural setting! Sorry you had to endure that family being so disruptive during the tour. They sounded like real winners.
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I'm really enjoying learning the history of all the islands that you've visited Cheryl!
Aw thanks!
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The museum was very interesting and I really loved the dark mahogany furniture! My dad's family had a lot of that in his family growing up but you don't see it as much anymore.
No, you don't and it's a shame. We have a lot and I really like it.
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How fun that you got to see the flamingoes in such a natural setting! Sorry you had to endure that family being so disruptive during the tour. They sounded like real winners.
Funny, I just flew KLM for the first time yesterday. Can’t say enough good things about them. Iceland Air rebooked me to KLM, nonstop Dulles from Schipol. Much better than the layover in Reykjavik I’d planned for! Service and food on KLM was spectacular.
I can honestly say I never want a part of my house decorated with red paint and white polka dots. Leave that to Minnie Mouse!
When we took a bus tour of Grand Cayman, I was a bit surprised by all the American fast food restaurants on this tiny island. Cool to see flamingos in their natural habitat, but so funny that every one of them is heads down, must have been lunch time.
Those are some very odd structures. That blue one seems to have a couple of satellite dishes on it. At least that what it looks like. That family on the bus was a bit lost to say the least and did more than enough complaining.
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Funny, I just flew KLM for the first time yesterday. Can’t say enough good things about them. Iceland Air rebooked me to KLM, nonstop Dulles from Schipol. Much better than the layover in Reykjavik I’d planned for! Service and food on KLM was spectacular.
Oh wow, that all sounds great!
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I can honestly say I never want a part of my house decorated with red paint and white polka dots. Leave that to Minnie Mouse!
When we took a bus tour of Grand Cayman, I was a bit surprised by all the American fast food restaurants on this tiny island.
I think it's a bit of a shame the way they've "invaded". I like seeing places that have a unique feel and to see chain names like that takes away from that feeling a bit...
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Cool to see flamingos in their natural habitat, but so funny that every one of them is heads down, must have been lunch time.
Those are some very odd structures. That blue one seems to have a couple of satellite dishes on it. At least that what it looks like.
I hear what you're saying. Goodness knows what it was...
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That family on the bus was a bit lost to say the least and did more than enough complaining.
The worst thing was, as I said in my report, I could see the problem coming from the second they said they'd sit together as a three. They should've thought that the bus might fill up. I guess it just never occurred to them.
Thursday 18 January – part five: listen to what you’re told people!
We had our next stop at the Hata Caves, which were truly breath taking.
We had to hike up 49 steps, although in truth, they were more dangerous on the way back, when they were wet and much more slippery. Now I don’t remember seeing a warning about that from Disney, as I reviewed the itinerary just before we left the ship, which was a bit bad, but everyone seemed to manage Ok.
At the top of the stairs, at least we were rewarded with a neat view…
The caves are run by the government, who’ve paved it inside and put in fans, although in truth, they didn’t do much. It was very hot and humid in there and I could feel myself sweating. As our wonderful guide told us “you’re going to work up a sweat in here” and he was right.
Now here’s where I did get a bit annoyed with our group. We were repeatedly told both on the bus and when we got into the caves that photography was only allowed in certain places and we’d be told when we could take photos. Simple, right? Apparently not. Many of our group just started to photograph as and when they felt like it and had to be repeatedly told not to do it. Some of it was down to commercialism, as at least they were honest enough to say they wanted to sell us postcards, although annoyingly, we couldn’t see a shop when we came out. However, part of it is also down to the damage the light is causing to the limestone and our guide pointed out how green algae is appearing, drawn by the light. Not good. I stuck to the rules, but why others can’t, I do not know.
As a result, I can’t show you anything of the earlier caves, but I can tell you there was one filled with water and another where bats lived. We saw some of them flying around and that freaked out quite a few people, I can tell you. I’m no fan of them, but I managed Ok with it.
This is the first cave we were allowed to take photos in, because there’s natural light in here…
While we were here, we noticed it was tipping with rain, as it was cascading into the cave…
The final section we went into was called the Chamber of Fantasy, because you could make up names of the various rocks. Our guide pointed out all sorts, including a donkey, an old witch and even the Virgin Mary, although I wasn’t able to get a decent shot of that.
With that, we headed back out and safely negotiated our way down the wet steps.
It really is amazing when people feel that the rules don’t apply to them ! The caves were beautiful. I’m glad everyone made it ok on the stairs as Disney didn’t put that info into the description.
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That blue one seems to have a couple of satellite dishes on it. At least that what it looks like. 
That family on the bus was a bit lost to say the least and did more than enough complaining. 
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