A Magical voyage across the pond TRIP REPORT UPDATED 12/31 - Page 60 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
It sounds like you had fun at the Captains Hide and Seek!
We did!
Quote:
How wonderful that the weather was so beautiful that it allowed you to enjoy your meal outside on the deck! You really did luck out with the weather on this trip.
Oh my goodness, we were so lucky. We couldn't believe it!
Such a nice day out on deck 10 and even better as you got to enjoy it all to yourselves. Too bad Mark couldn't do a salon treatment with his discount and hope he finds something good later in the cruise. Nice start to your mixology class and hope you enjoy it and get a lot out of it. I hope you won't be stubling out of there in an hours time!
__________________
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!
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Such a nice day out on deck 10 and even better as you got to enjoy it all to yourselves. Too bad Mark couldn't do a salon treatment with his discount and hope he finds something good later in the cruise.
I'll say now, he didn't. We got put off the spa completely by that manager's attitude. She was not a good salesperson.
Quote:
Nice start to your mixology class and hope you enjoy it and get a lot out of it. I hope you won't be stubling out of there in an hours time!
Friday 14 September – part five: learning how to make cocktails!
Denton started the mixology class by explaining what you need if you’re going to run a bar, including the means to mix a drink properly. He also showed us how you check if it’s sealed properly before you shake it and the right way to shake it – and trust me, there is a wrong way. He also explained that, while you can improvise with a lot of the tools, the one thing you can’t improvise is a muddler, you really do need one of those….
Denton told us that the definition of a cocktail is two drinks mixed together, so if you put tequila in your beer, it can be a cocktail. Interesting…
He also explained that when creating a cocktail, you have to be mindful of three things:
1. Alcohol
2. Acidity
3. Sugar
He then told us that, provided you have those three things right, you’ll be fine with your cocktail. Good to know!
Our first drink to arrive was a limoncello spritzer, if I remember right. Well, let’s put it this way, it definitely had limoncello in it. I think it had champagne in it too and it was a very easy drink to sup, which wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
The next one out was a Bombay something (we’d both had a drink by this point and couldn’t remember the rest of the name of it!), while mine was a Yellow Bird, as it had light rum in it. Thankfully Denton had been very attentive to that little issue of mine and I had no such problems during this mixology. He actually came up to me after the session to thank me for declaring my allergies early on. He did ask at the start of the session and I was quite shocked by how many people put their hands up. The bar team did a sterling job of working about them, but I wouldn’t do that – I’d always want to let them know in advance.
Anyway, this drink was similar to a Bahama Mama, according to Denton, but in all honesty, I preferred that. There was a slightly odd taste to this one that I didn’t enjoy as much as the Bahama Mama.
Denton also showed us a version of the drink he’d made to make the point that anything that’s properly mixed and has a bit of garnish on is much more appetising…
I loved his story that he quite often makes a chocolate Martini in the Promenade Lounge, often before dinner and, by the time he’s done one, he has orders piling up for another 10-15, as everyone’s seen him mix it and wants one!
Next up it was time for us to do some work with the Mojito, the one drink I was not looking forward to at all. I am so not a fan of this drink, as usually it’s nowhere near sweet enough for me, but this was lovely and I was very impressed. I tried a sip of Mark’s and it was much more lime flavoured than mine, probably because he knocked seven bells out of his lime, whereas I didn’t quite so much…
Now the next drink (number two as one guy put it – we liked his style! ), number four, was a pineapple upside down cake, but mine didn’t look like that, as they had to do a bit of subbing out for me. I had to wait a while for mine to be brought out to me, but it was worth it in the end. I really enjoyed this one, it was so lovely and sweet.
Tequila in your beer.... ewww!!
Yes, I would think with allergies, that's something you want the restaurant/bar/what-have- you to know ahead of time. Saves them time and stress if they can prepare ahead of time.
This is such a dreamy class. Totally worth it! The pineapple upside down sounds just lovely.
__________________
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Well, as I can't stand beer full stop without anything it, perhaps adding something would make it appeal more to me?
Quote:
Yes, I would think with allergies, that's something you want the restaurant/bar/what-have- you to know ahead of time. Saves them time and stress if they can prepare ahead of time.
This is such a dreamy class. Totally worth it! The pineapple upside down sounds just lovely.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
I had a class this week and as a result, fell woefully behind. But just finished catching up.
We’ve never done hide and seek (not sure I’ve ever noticed it in the Navigator) but now I’ll be watching for it on our next cruise! Glad the officers lived up to my praises!
Mixology is always so much fun! I did just find out that DCL will not offer private ones on the DVC Member Cruise, so here’s hoping I can get signed up when my window opens!
I love mojitoes - and did a whole class on them on our TA!
I had a class this week and as a result, fell woefully behind. But just finished catching up.
Glad you're all caught back up again.
Quote:
We’ve never done hide and seek (not sure I’ve ever noticed it in the Navigator) but now I’ll be watching for it on our next cruise! Glad the officers lived up to my praises!
I must admit I did remember your comments about officers from your cruise.
Quote:
Mixology is always so much fun! I did just find out that DCL will not offer private ones on the DVC Member Cruise, so here’s hoping I can get signed up when my window opens!
Hopefully that means they'll have a lot open, if none of the times are taken up by private groups?
Quote:
I love mojitoes - and did a whole class on them on our TA!
We've been having internet issues all week and yesterday was the worst. I had your trip report open and then the internet went down. But I'm on right now and love all the photos you got of the ship without crowds.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.