A Christmas Ship Comes Sailing In (A Cam and Luke TR) Completed 2/16 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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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Neither of us slept very well last night. We’re not really sure why, but except in Disney resorts or ships, we just don’t sleep well in hotels. I gave up at 6:00 AM and read a novel on my Nook until my alarm began playing at 6:45. I was up soon afterwards to get ready. Luke got up and shaved while I was in the shower. A word here about the bathroom. It was around the size of a small walk-in closet. Two people could only co-exist in it if one was in the shower. It also got quite steamy, so we didn’t want to shut the door as that would have created a sauna. Luke actually stepped over the toilet to get in the shower. So we got ready in turns, moving in and out for each other.
By 7:45 we were heading down to the Breakfast Room. Nice offerings, though small on variety. We both had eggs, skipped the odd looking turkey sausage, picked out biscuits (Luke’s with sausage gravy; mine with grape jelly), and drank orange juice. Luke also got a coffee that he refilled after we’d eaten and were ready to leave.
Back at the room, we took our meds, brushed our teeth, checked the room, and then lugged our four bags back down to the Edge. Before leaving, I searched one suitcase for my transderm motion sickness patches. Elated to find them! Then checked another bag for my belt. With those items properly stowed in one of the bags that would go into our studio at Old Key West, we were now ready to travel with Luke taking the wheel first. The GPS gave us a mini tour of Macon but safely directed us back to I-75 and the last 5 hours of our journey began at 8:41.
Along the way, a million billboards kept reminding us to “Think Tifton.” So when we saw that a McDs was at one of the exits, we pulled off I-75 for a bio break and for caffeinated drinks around 10:00. Our lack of sleep required an alertness aid. Tifton, at least the portion we saw, seems to have been hit hard economically. Many stores and restaurants were boarded up. I found it rather sad. A funny story though as we got back in the car at the McDs, I asked Luke where we were. I fail at “Think Tifton.” In a short time we were back on i_75 heading toward Valdosta. We passed numerous pecan orchards for a while, and then it seemed to turn into a wasteland. Luke continued driving until we reached the Florida Welcome Center where we checked out brochures, wet our beaks with real Florida orange juice, used the restrooms, and purchased a Sun Pass. Afterwards, I took over driving while Luke got everything taken care of with the Sun Pass app. Around 12:00, I knew I was in need of restrooms again. I blame it on all that caffeine. At 12:25, we exited I-75 at Alachua, stopping at a BP because the low fuel light had also come on. Luke filled up the gas tank while I made a mad dash to the restroom. It was a single-seater, but thankfully unoccupied as I stormed in. Soon I was back with Luke who was cleaning the back window as fuel continued pumping. When that was done we went further down the road to Mo’s Southwest grill for lunch. Luke got a Chili Con Queso Burrito and I got a Joey Jr. with chicken. Luke tried a Coke with lemon, which he says he’ll never do again, as it tasted like someone had dumped lemonade in his Coke.
I got us back on I-75 and didn’t relinquish my post until the last service plaza before we got off of I-4. I started raining as I pulled into a parking space for us to swap seats. Another good reason in addition to Orlando traffic to let Luke do the driving. I-4 was very busy ;and therefore, we moved slowly. And then we were in the bubble. The GPS took us in a slightly wrong direction, but corrected itself and finally got us to OKW.
Travel Date for the trip down: 13 hours 9 minutes; 848.5 miles; 23.4 MPG
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Tifton has been hit hard…my home town of Albany is not far from Tifton and also badly hit. The flood of '94 caused extreme damage and lots of manufacturing left. I'm so sad when I go home…
Great Update Cam. The last time I "drove" was in 1978! The Blizzard of '78 to be exact - yikes. All the way from Massachusetts at the time. It was a long long trip for this early teen, at the time. Although, I have actually thought if I had 2+ weeks off at a time, I would consider driving down again.
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A funny story though as we got back in the car at the McDs, I asked Luke where we were. I fail at “Think Tifton.” In a short time we were back on i_75 heading toward Valdosta. We passed numerous pecan orchards for a while, and then it seemed to turn into a wasteland.
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