Dreams do come true **Updated 7/24** THREAD 2 *COMPLETE* - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Tuesday 29 May – part one: misery out on the water
When the wake up call came just after 6.00, it was still a bit rough outside, but fortunately we were only a couple of miles from docking at Naples. I have never been so glad to get into a harbour in my life. At least we could now move around the ship much more easily.
We got up and headed out for breakfast at Topsiders Buffet, sitting outside to get some fresh air. I just stuck with fresh fruit and toast, as I didn’t want to upset my stomach.
We had a quick walk around the ship to get some photos and then headed down to the Walt Disney Theatre, where we were meeting for our tour of Capri, Sorrento and Pompeii, only it soon became a tour of only Sorrento and Pompeii. We were told at first that because the weather was so rough, they didn’t know if we could go to Capri and then it was confirmed that we couldn’t. At least Disney reduced the price from $199 to $129, which sounded about reasonable to me. For us, the most important stop was Pompeii and we’d still be going there. Mind you, at one point, the girl making the announcements in the theatre said that we couldn’t make it to Pompeii by mistake. My goodness, she was nearly lynched on the spot!
Finally, after waiting ages, we were off the boat and it turned out that we would be going to Sorrento first and then Pompeii later. This would turn out to be the wrong combination for the day, as you’ll see….
We walked through the port and picked up our radio sets, so that we could hear our guide Connie. She told us a bit about the history of Naples and what we could see in front of us
Then it was off to get a jetfoil. We had to wait quite a while to get on it, as another boat was coming into dock. Then we were off.
At first, during the harbour part of the journey, it was fine. Then we got out into what had been called “protected waters” earlier on at the theatre. That’s why we were told this part of the journey would still go ahead, but the section over to Capri couldn’t go ahead as planned. My goodness, if those were protected waters, I hate to think what it would have been like to go to Capri in unprotected waters. To say this was choppy would be a big understatement. It was extremely rough and we were going up and down and almost from side to side. You could see the white tops of the water a lot of the time. At first, it was an adventure with everyone shouting with delight and commenting that it was Disney’s new thrill ride, but that soon dried up and soon a lot of people were being physically sick, including Mark. I reckon in total about 20% of the boat was physically sick and I’m just delighted that I managed to make it through in one piece. I love the sea sickness tablets I took this trip! Thank goodness they made it out with the sick bags, as we later found out that they didn’t make it around the upper deck in time, which must’ve been gross.
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.
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.
Tuesday 29 May – part two: escape from the jetfoil to Sorrento!
I almost wanted to kiss the land when we finally stepped ashore at Sorrento and, although I was fine, I was relieved to get off the boat, as let’s just say it wasn’t in a pleasant state by now. It took a lot longer to get off the boat than I would’ve liked in that stench. Thank goodness for fresh air! Mark told me that his head was bouncing and he felt very off balance after the experience on the jetfoil. I just hoped he’d be OK.
The view at Sorrento harbour
We walked over to catch a minibus up into Sorrento itself. At first, I was quite disappointed that we went past so many great sights, but what I didn’t know was that we would have plenty of time to explore all of those later. We were dropped off at a shop that specialises in inlaid wood, a Sorrento speciality and it was interesting to hear how they made it, but we had no interest in buying.
As we came out of there, you could get water or coffee and also lemon cakes or doughnuts, both much needed. The lemon cakes were excellent and I ended up having three. Fortunately, Mark was feeling well enough to get some food and water in him, which was a good sign.
From there, we were allowed to explore Sorrento for ourselves for the next 90 minutes. That was certainly plenty of time for us. We walked through the old city with its winding streets and down to get some views of the harbour. As we stood there, we saw the jetfoil on its return journey back to Naples. Seeing it go up and down as it cut through the water made me realise exactly what we had put ourselves through this morning. It wasn’t pleasant.