National parks, natural beauty and a bit of Disney wonder! 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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
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.
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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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What a shame about the food. This was the last sailing of the year? right? Maybe the chefs were being lazy at that point? Ready to get on with the Mexican Riveria ....anyways, it should've been top notch for the price of those cruises.
That thought did cross my mind, especially as the Wonder was then heading for dry dock for a few days at the end of this cruise.
Monday 5 September – part one: can we get lunch anywhere round here?
We were up perhaps earlier than we planned, especially with the clocks having gone forward, but it was our last full day at sea and that means one important thing – laundry! Neither of us wanted to get going that quickly, but we did, as I figured the laundry would be chaos later on, so we put everything we had into a washer straight off and then into a dryer before we headed off for breakfast.
We’d agreed that we’d meet at Triton’s for breakfast at 8:30am for anyone who was up, but we went down a bit earlier to go and sort out the gratuity envelopes, as I knew it would be really busy at guest services later...
We found Bob and he joined us for breakfast, which turned out to be a bit painful. I did mention about wanting to see the movie at 9:00am and I thought that might mean that they speeded things up a bit, but sadly not at all. It was only when the head server came along that he got things moving for us.
I went for the mango mountain hike, made up of mango and yoghurt, which I love on here, along with the Disney Cruise Line breakfast trio, but without the whipped cream and bacon. This consists of French toast, Belgian waffle and buttermilk pancake and it was good.
Mark had the express breakfast, which is scrambled eggs, grilled ham, bacon, sausage and hash browns but subbed out the scrambled eggs for eggs on toast. That took a bit of explaining, but luckily, a server from Italy overheard and explained. It turned out he’d spent about seven years working in Spain, serving mainly Brits, so understood what we like!
As soon as I was done eating, I headed up to the Buena Vista Theatre to see Winnie the Pooh, as I was worried I might have missed the start, breakfast had been so slow. However, I was fine, as there was a short about Nessie first. I must admit when I arrived and saw that, I thought I was in the wrong place!
Bob and Mark soon arrived and we found Barb and settled down to watch it. It was a lot of fun, with lots of donkey action although it was very short. I’m glad we didn’t pay to see it at the cinema, as it wasn’t good value for money, running to about an hour, although I don’t think it could’ve been any longer without needing cuts.
We headed back to our rooms after the movies and retrieved our washing. Thankfully, after two drying cycles, everything was now dry.
We started work on the packing and got some photos of the beautiful islands we saw along the way. My goodness, some of the channels we were negotiating were pretty narrow. The last time we went through this area, I think it was at night, so we never knew how close everything was....
My interest in packing waned after an hour or so and I left Mark to it and departed to enjoy some time in the Tropical Rainforest. By now, I was obviously a regular at the spa, as the second I walked in, I was asked if I was heading there and they took my card.
I headed in there and found Sue immediately and we sampled the mild steam room (good grief, it’s getting hotter by the day! ) and the aromatic steam room, before she went to enjoy one of the hot stone chairs. I headed for the fog showers and got my hair washed, before drying off a bit in the gentle sauna and then joining Sue. We lay there chatting for ages, wondering occasionally what had happened to Steve, who was doing a workout. It must’ve been a long one, as it took him a long time to join us.
We soon headed back to our rooms, where I found that one case was fully packed and was still coming in under weight. Well, you know what that means, right? Of course, it means open it back up and throw a few more bits and pieces in it!
We did that and then checked the second one and that was a little underweight too, so that was a good sign. The plan was to pack up two completely and not touch them while we were in Seattle, so that they’d be ready for our flight to Montana on Thursday and then just live out of suitcase number three.
Around 1:00pm, we headed down to lunch and found a huge line snaking its way around the atrium for Triton’s for lunch. Eventually, we moved forward and were told by the guy there that the restaurant was full and it would take at least 15 minutes to seat us, maybe longer, as by now, we were a group of eight, having found Bruce and Marta in the lobby. And the best news? It was already 1:10pm and Triton’s would be closing at 1:30pm. I guess we won’t be eating in here then...
We were thinking of going to Parrot Cay, but apparently, as the breakfast ran late, they were closed for lunch, which was crazy. That’s something Disney needs to look at. One restaurant open for lunch on a sea day is not enough...
We headed up to Beach Blanket Buffet, which had a wonderful seafood buffet, with lots of choices for me, so I was happy!
However, the seating was not so wonderful, with everywhere inside already filled up, so we headed outside. My goodness, I was very glad that I had my hoodie with me, although in all honesty, with that on, I wasn’t cold at all, which was good.
We got some wonderful photos of the scenery we were passing while we were up there...
Then it was off to the Cove Cafe to enjoy some of their petit fours desserts and some drinks. Mark and I had hot chocolate with Amaretto, which we’d first sampled at a Christmas party in London in December and it tasted just the same and just as good as then! Sue, Steve and Barb went for the more traditional coffee.
We sat there for ages, enjoying the atmosphere and chatting. Some of the sights we saw were quite amusing. Let’s just say that it was not a warm day outside : and some people really were not dressed appropriately for the weather.
Sounds like a perfect sea day to me! Even doing the laundry sounded relatively painless. I can't wait to get back to the Rainforest room. Ridiculous to have only one sit-down restaurant open on a sea day and then the second buffet place closed! They really need more inside seating on the Wonder for Beach Blanket, especially if they're going to continue the more northern cruises.
I agree that they need more than one sit down restuarant open on a sea day! That's just crazy that they didn't have Parrot Cay available for lunch. Can't believe this cruise is almost over.
That sounded like a nice relaxing day. Although the lunch situation was definitely strange. Hot chocolate with Amaretto... hmmm... that sounds wonderful!!
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Just catching up on the last few updates! I can't believe the cruise portion of your trip is almost over. That does seem crazy about only having one restaurant open for lunch.
Sounds like a perfect sea day to me! Even doing the laundry sounded relatively painless. I can't wait to get back to the Rainforest room. Ridiculous to have only one sit-down restaurant open on a sea day and then the second buffet place closed! They really need more inside seating on the Wonder for Beach Blanket, especially if they're going to continue the more northern cruises.
I know. I made that point very forcibly on the comments I left with our survey.
That sounded like a nice relaxing day. Although the lunch situation was definitely strange. Hot chocolate with Amaretto... hmmm... that sounds wonderful!!
Hopefully we'll be able to get some more when we head back to London on Saturday, as we'll be going back to the Winter Wonderland, where we first enjoyed it.
Monday 5 September – part two: can you fit us into Palo tonight?
We eventually headed our separate ways, with Mark and I heading up to Palo to see if we could join Sue and Steve for dinner at 6:00pm. They’d managed to get in earlier today and I figured that a second Palo dinner worked for us. When we got up there, we met up with Gill who we’d gone flightseeing with yesterday, who was there for tea, and moments later, Barb and Bob arrived as well. We enquired about getting them in with us at 6:00pm and the wonderful Marco sorted it out for a table of six immediately.:
We headed down to tell Sue and Steve the good news and then it was back to the room to finish off the packing and of course to rescue Mark’s shirt for Palo, which had already been packed, as we weren’t expecting to be dining there.
We headed out around 5:15pm and first checked that all the photos we were expecting were on our CD at Shutter’s and thankfully they were. Looking at the number of photos we now had, it was definitely the right decision to get the CD.
Our next move was to get some more photos done! We were a bit disappointed with the selection available, with just Max and Goofy out for photos, but we got a shot with them... and asked them some difficult questions about where Max’s mum was...
We then wandered all the way round deck four, something we hadn’t actually done yet this cruise, but that we’ve enjoyed on previous cruises, as we love the glimpse it gives you into the ship’s inner workings. At least it also gave us some exercise...
Then it was time to head up to Palo and Sue and Steve were already waiting for us there, so we got a few photos before Palo opened and before Barb and Bob arrived.
Marco greeted us with a huge smile and suddenly, when I got talking to him, I realised that we had met him before on our Med cruise, as I remembered him telling us about working in the UK. He’s a lovely guy and definitely in the right job, managing this place.
We were taken to our table, which was perfectly located...
Next: the perfect end to a perfect cruise with great friends
It looks like a lovely evening-- calm seas and beautiful cloud patterns. I think my favorite thing about cruising is watching the sky. How great to end the cruise with a tour of the ship and coming up a last dinner with great friends at Palo!
Can't believe that your cruise is almost over. Congrats on getting Palo!
It's interesting that Parrot Cay was closed for lunch as I'm sure it was open every day during our cruise. I know we had lunch there on at least two occassions, one of which being that last at sea day I'm pretty sure....I'll have to check my Navigators and notes later. Maybe another side effect of being the last day of the last cruise of the season
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Neither of us wanted to get going that quickly, but we did, as I figured the laundry would be chaos later on, so we put everything we had into a washer straight off and then into a dryer before we headed off for breakfast. 
It was only when the head server came along that he got things moving for us. 
although it was very short. I’m glad we didn’t pay to see it at the cinema, as it wasn’t good value for money, running to about an hour, although I don’t think it could’ve been any longer without needing cuts. 
The last time we went through this area, I think it was at night, so we never knew how close everything was.... 
and I left Mark to it and departed to enjoy some time in the Tropical Rainforest. By now, I was obviously a regular at the spa, as the second I walked in, I was asked if I was heading there and they took my card. 
) and the aromatic steam room, before she went to enjoy one of the hot stone chairs. I headed for the fog showers and got my hair washed, before drying off a bit in the gentle sauna and then joining Sue. We lay there chatting for ages, wondering occasionally what had happened to Steve, who was doing a workout. It must’ve been a long one, as it took him a long time to join us. 
I guess we won’t be eating in here then... 
Sue, Steve and Barb went for the more traditional coffee. 
: and some people really were not dressed appropriately for the weather. 
Hot chocolate with Amaretto... hmmm... that sounds wonderful!! 
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