Better late than..later?Western Sept 05/09 **Completed 02/17** - Page 9 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Kenny, you may have had the right idea, think I need to cruise again and try more balcony time, you know just for fair comparison
I don't think there will be any more updates until the middle of next week but I am determined to finish off before I go to WDW on the 22nd. Lots of photos to get on photobucket for the next one.
I need to do another cruise to make a fair comparison of doing more stuff and less balcony... wait..., no. I'm not that energetic!
But I would like to do some of those things.
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I need to do another cruise to make a fair comparison of doing more stuff and less balcony... wait..., no. I'm not that energetic!
But I would like to do some of those things.
Kenny, that's funny! We do lots of stuff, but still find time for the balcony..mostly early morning sunrises (when else would they be, if not early in the morning...) and afternoon tea delivered to the stateroom, enjoyed out on the "veranda".
Yes, sunrises are usually in the early morning, Baloo!
But the balcony (verandah, veranda,.. or whatever that thing is called) is good for a.m. coffee, p.m. tea or coffee, room service lunch, end of day cocktail, and just general lazy relaxation... (that was my problem... LAZINESS!!)
(Sorry, Roberta, for stealing the thread... but it was just a little steal...)
I'm just joining in... I read your whole TR today and I'm loving it! Looking forward to more!
I noticed that your DD is 11 and seems to be able to come and go as she pleases from the kids club. My DD will be 10 when we (hopefully) go on a Disney cruise this summer. Do you know what the age requirement is to check one's self out of the kids club? I'm thinking that it might be 10?
Hi Pam, thanks for reading! I think you are correct about it being 10. I thought that we would have the option to have a pager but I was wrong. I was a bit apprehensive about her "wandering" between club and the room. She is a reponsible kid and there were no issues. We would always give a time to meet back at the room and she always beat us to the room. I know there's been changes to the kids club since our cruise. I think there's a greater age range together so maybe pagers will be an option for you. Your DD will Love the club I'm sure. It was a wonderful holiday for all of us.
I would finish up for you Roberta, but there's that itty-bitty problem of not being there that keeps me from accepting the offer... but, if we could just go back and sit out on the veranda with a FAB, watching the Sea float by and discuss it...
Hi Pam, thanks for reading! I think you are correct about it being 10. I thought that we would have the option to have a pager but I was wrong. I was a bit apprehensive about her "wandering" between club and the room. She is a reponsible kid and there were no issues. We would always give a time to meet back at the room and she always beat us to the room. I know there's been changes to the kids club since our cruise. I think there's a greater age range together so maybe pagers will be an option for you. Your DD will Love the club I'm sure. It was a wonderful holiday for all of us.
Thanks! I think I would be a bit nervous having my 10 year old wandering the ship alone, but she would probably love having the responsibility! We'll see what happens.
I forgot to say in the last update that when we returned to the room after tea there was a message waiting for us. Guest Services called within an hour of me dropping off the survey. They were pleased for the feedback and sorry to hear about the showers not working on the Cozumel excursion and offered up free snorkel rentals for us at Castaway Cay.
I think this is great service from Disney but I do find it odd that they offered up the snorkel gear for the lack of showers but no mention of the non functioning seat belt in the jeep.
It was another beautiful blue sky/ blue sea morning and we headed to Lumiere's for breakfast. We had another hearty breakfast there but no sign of Plaman.
It was finally time to head to Castaway Cay. We stopped for a photo
It was VERY hot as we strolled along. We soon strolled by the post .
I have to say I was unprepared for the post office to be so close to the ship. I wanted to mail postcards and we had done a few from the postcards provided in our stateroom but still had a few more to do.
So we caught a tram and headed to the Cay. We shopped and bought some t-shirts , postcards and stamps. We were melting in the heat. I decided to head back and mail the postcards since I was worried about them getting sandy and wet . Mike and Rachel headed off to get the free snorkel gear in the mean time.
When I got back to the tram site there was a lot of CM's at the site and I soon noticed they were surrounding a woman on the ground. It didn't look too serious but I assumed they would be loading her into the next tram and I decided to walk to the post instead.
The fellow working the post office was very friendly and he encouraged me to use up my change to buy the stamps. This was a great exchange for both of us since I can't use the American cash once I return home. Back to the beach where I found our beach bag and a gentleman a chaise lounge over assured me that my crew were in the water. It took a little longer for me to locate them.
The snorkel area is quite large and I was soon in the very warm water enjoying myself. Mike had the underwater camera and was snapping away.
We snorkelled for about an hour then I suggested everyone head to the beach to reapply sunscreen. Reluctantly they dragged themselves out of the water and we decided to get a bite to eat before heading back so we were off to Cookies BBQ
We were soon seated with our lunch under a nearby umbrella and just as we were finishing our lunch the sky which had been growing darker and darker finally opened up and poured down. Which didn't dampen Rachel's spirits.
The rain was short lived and I spied the soft ice cream machine and we headed over to try the cookie dough ice cream that some PPer's had given rave reviews. I LOVED the ice cream and actually went and had a second cone. There was also chocolate and vanilla. That done we headed back to the snorkel area .
I went into the rental shop to inquire about the hidden mickeys in the water since we had yet to come across anything but pots and signs. A CM brought me to the back of the shop and showed me a hand drawn map of where the "treasures". They were all quite far out with the hidden Mickey being the furthest away. Armed with this info I explained to Mike and Rachel where we should go and we headed out.
We soon found Minnie
We spent another half hour or so trying to track down another treasure but weren't having any luck. I was starting to feel the effects of the sun . I also had decided not to wear the flippers and I was getting tired and decided I wasn't strong enough to head out to find the Mickey. I said goodbye to my crew and headed back to shore and back to the ship. My crew persevered and here's the photos of the rest of their afternoon.
And FINALLY
By the time they found Mickey , Rachel was tired and decided to head into shore. Mike back tracked to Minnie to take a better photo and they decided they were feeling waterlogged and tired enough to head back to the Magic.
So proud they now find Hidden Mickey's without me
Apparently I'm under attack with viruses from photobucket so I will call it a day here.
Castaway Cay was really lovely but we really didn't explore it . Just another reason to return.
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) and afternoon tea delivered to the stateroom, enjoyed out on the "veranda".
)
There was also chocolate and vanilla. That done we headed back to the snorkel area .
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