The trip of many changes... TRIP REPORT UPDATED 4/25 - Page 40 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Glad you enjoyed your lunch so much! Both of your fish meals looked so appetizing with all the vegetables served with it. Sounds like your servers were everything you had hoped for during this cruise, too bad they weren't your servers for all your meals!
Oh my goodness, I so wish they had been.
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Disney should have a way of recognizing good service right away because a lot of guests might forget the names of the outstanding cast members if they don't note it at the time.
I know. I was so shocked by that. I thought they'd have other ways of recognising their staff. I guess not.
Beautiful sunrise and start to the day. That bridge is crazy! I'd be scared driving over that thing.
Isn't it funny? That thought just didn't occur to me at all.
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All the bright colored buildings really remind me of Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort...
Yes, I can see what you mean...
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well, we'll see what it looks like when renovation is done there anyway!
That's a good point. I have no idea.
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The museum looks to be really interesting, even if you breezed through it.
I've often wondered what KLM stood for too! Cool.
Flamingos!!
They're one of my favourites.
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Oh that family on the bus. We're a family of 5 and yeah, sometimes you just gotta split up the group. Kids gotta learn at some point, don't they? Can't always be with mommy or daddy, but you can be really close across the aisle and it's ok!! We've had to to that on airplanes too.
I had no idea there were caves like that on Curacao!! Wow, having just returned from Mammoth Cave on our road trip, I know it's a really cool thing!
Oh jealous - I want to go there one day!
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OH MY GOSH, you drove over the bridge!!
Yes we did!
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The painted buildings really are so unique. Glad you had time to go over another scary bridge for some shopping!
I'm getting the feeling you're not a bridge person...
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Excellent choice for lunch! Warm pina colada bread pudding with coconut ice cream? Oh my, that's like a little bit of heaven. Mark's looks pretty darn yummy too!!
I tell you I could've eaten that dessert every night!
Looks like a great meal in every way at Tiana's with your salmon and lemon sole entrees. That salmon is one big portion for an appetizer, but looks like you won! Sole can be a bit mixed ordering out as it can be overcooked very easily as not a dense fish and quite flaky. Seems you did fine!
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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!
Looks like a great meal in every way at Tiana's with your salmon and lemon sole entrees. That salmon is one big portion for an appetizer, but looks like you won!
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Thursday 18 January – part ten: how many people in those hot tubs?
When we were done eating at Tiana’s, we went to see guest services to make positive comments about Eddie and Luis, but were told we couldn’t, so we gave up and headed back to the room. We went out on to the veranda for a while and toasted ourselves in the sun until we both felt we were starting to burn, so we ventured back inside.
A little while later, I came up with the not-so-great plan of going to sit in the hot tub. By now, it was about 3:00pm and the Quiet Cove was frankly mobbed. There were about six people in each hot tub and no loungers. Forget that! On the way back to the room, I devised a crafty plan B, which you’ll learn about later, provided it works of course.
We had some downtime in the room, just chilling and relaxing. We ended up watching the bulk of the Lion King and I’d forgotten how good it is. Do you think that when they finish a classic like that and gather to watch the whole thing for a first time people actually think “wow, this is really something” or do they think it’s just another good movie? I’d love to know. It’s a bit like Frozen. Did the people involved with that realise it was going to be so big or not the first time they saw it?
We headed down to the Disney Vacation Club member mixer at 5:00pm and they were a little late opening. You should’ve seen the line to get in by the time they did. Yet again, they had a cocktail with dark rum, which I’m allergic to, but thank goodness, they also had wine options, so I enjoyed a couple of free glasses of white wine while we chatted to fellow Members from South Carolina. That’s literally all this was, an opportunity to mix with other members – no presentation, which was a nice change from the previous one.
Most people headed off just after 5:30pm and we did as well. I had my cunning plan B for the hot tub to deal with, except it wasn’t so cunning. We headed up to deck nine, but the hot tubs were still full and I mean four or five people in each one. No that’s a bit busy for me! I ended up going into the pool for probably 15 minutes or so, not to swim, just because the pool is so small, but I did some exercises in the pool, while Mark relaxed on a lounger.
Eventually we headed back to the room and Winnie-the-Pooh was on the TV, so I finally got to see my donkey on a Disney cruise ship! However, Mark told me it stopped just a couple of minutes later, even though it was right in the movie.
I wasn’t watching it, as I’d gone out on to the veranda to enjoy some time chilling out there and to watch the sun set. It was so perfect out there – peaceful, as everyone was either at dinner or a show, so I had the place to myself and I could just enjoy the view. My idea of paradise!
About 7:00pm, we headed down to the Crown and Fin pub to get a drink. It’s my plan to get a drink in each of the lounges and I think we’ve accomplished that now with this one. I was stunned at how many people were in here. I thought it would be a lot quieter, but our server told us that it’s often like this. I guess people finish the main dining seating quicker than we do, as we’re not usually out before 7:30pm.
I got a glass of Moscato and Mark got a Peroni, which we ended up having to take with us, as we were getting tight for Palo. We stopped at guest services on the way, as we’re also getting tight for US dollars and couldn’t get any yesterday in Curacao, as I quickly realised any ATM would give out their local currency, the Guilder. The woman on guest services told us we might have more luck tomorrow in Aruba…
We normally found the pub to be the most active of the bars on the TA. Sometimes when it was trivia or other activities it was standing room only.
Sorry you didn’t get any hot tub time. I also don’t go in when there are so many already in. And it can get frustrating when a group sits in there all afternoon.
I don't blame you for avoiding the hot tubs when they're that full. I know how much you and Mark enjoy them on vacations. You captured some beautiful sunset pictures from your balcony. Looking forward to some food pictures from your Palo dinner! Hope you got the needed cash in Aruba.
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Now that's a way to spend an entire afternoon. So relaxing! Even if the hot tubs were full, oh well. You still had a few drinks, watched a movie, got in a swim, and enjoyed the sunset. Sounds perfect to me!
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Tanya
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We normally found the pub to be the most active of the bars on the TA. Sometimes when it was trivia or other activities it was standing room only.
Interesting. I guess a pub appeals to everyone.
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Sorry you didn’t get any hot tub time. I also don’t go in when there are so many already in. And it can get frustrating when a group sits in there all afternoon.
It's not good for you to spend too long in there. I'm really spoilt as usually when I can get to the pool (it's been a long time with this vacation and my recent op), I have the pool completely to myself. I like it that way and, as a result, I don't share well.
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We're a family of 5 and yeah, sometimes you just gotta split up the group. Kids gotta learn at some point, don't they? Can't always be with mommy or daddy, but you can be really close across the aisle and it's ok!! We've had to to that on airplanes too. 
Oh my, that's like a little bit of heaven. Mark's looks pretty darn yummy too!!
That salmon is one big portion for an appetizer, but looks like you won! 
that’s a bit busy for me! I ended up going into the pool for probably 15 minutes or so, not to swim, just because the pool is so small, but I did some exercises in the pool, while Mark relaxed on a lounger. 
However, Mark told me it stopped just a couple of minutes later, even though it was right in the movie. 
Sounds perfect to me!
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