DREAMing of a Disney spring break COMPLETED - Page 37 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Sorry Palo wasn't quite up to snuff but still sounds like it was a pretty good meal. I can't believe your cruise is over already - so quick. You say 3 days is not enough. I'm doing the weekend cruise from NY next year and already thinking I'll need more time. You are heading back into the bubble after the cruise right?
Sorry Palo wasn't quite up to snuff but still sounds like it was a pretty good meal. I can't believe your cruise is over already - so quick. You say 3 days is not enough. I'm doing the weekend cruise from NY next year and already thinking I'll need more time. You are heading back into the bubble after the cruise right?
Sorry that parts of the meal was not as good as as expected or hoped, but glad other elements did make the meal enjoyable. Love the pictures of the sunset...I can't believe that the end of this cruise is here...the three day is definitely too short.
I can't beleive how quickly this cruise is almost over! Mark's dessert looks amazing.... who cares what it was called!!!
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Sunday 17 April – part one: time to say goodbye to a Dream....
I don’t think either of us wanted to know when the alarm went off at 6.00am, but we got going and were at breakfast by 6.45am.
We were the first ones at our table for once, although Sean, Sharon and Ciaran weren’t too far behind. Sadly, the rest of our table never appeared, but at least we said goodbye to them last night.
It was quite a subdued breakfast. Sean wasn’t feeling great, not having slept at all well and Mark wasn’t fully functioning yet either, after very little sleep.
When we were done eating, we said goodbye to Joyce. She had been a wonderful server and gave us all big hugs. Powel was nowhere to be seen, so we never said goodbye to him. Sean and Sharon later told us that they had spoken to him and he really wasn’t enjoying his time with Disney Cruise Line. He’s on a six month contract and is trying to leave early, which is a shame.
We headed outside and, after a quick restroom stop, we got some photos with the statue of Donald in the Atrium.
Then we could put it off no longer. It was time to leave the Dream. I was disappointed with the farewell we got. Last time, they had great big “see you real soon” banners, but this time, there was nothing and just a couple of Cast Members waving you off, which was a bit underplayed.
We had our Key To The World cards swiped one more time and then we headed downstairs to get our luggage. We immediately found a very helpful guy to help us with that and we soon located all three cases and then it was into the non-US line, longer than when we arrived, but we were up in about five minutes. We cleared customs and immigration with no problem and had quite a cheery guy.
Then it was outside and back towards the car with a couple of last photos on the way...
The guy loaded the cases into the car, we tipped him and we were off to pay for our parking. For three nights, $45 isn’t bad, but I doubt we’ll be parking when we’re on the Fantasy. I still need to work out what we’re going to do then, but seven nights of parking charges doesn’t appeal to me.
Anyway, back to now. We set off, getting some great parting shots of the Dream, as we left the port.
Soon we were heading back and it was a pretty easy drive back.
We were back on Disney property about an hour later and headed straight for the Contemporary to check in for our room at Bay Lake Tower.
We were checked in by Natasha from Plumstead in London, who was earning her ears and when I said that I used to study at the Elephant and Castle in south London, we got chatting about the number 53 bus route, that runs between the two.
Yay, you are back at WDW!
The cruise truly sounded amazing, and the shots from land with her moored up were great.
Sorry your departure from the Dream was a bit subdued.
Looking forward to reading some more...