from coast to coast with your host – Westbound Panama Canal Cruise - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
from coast to coast with your host – Westbound Panama Canal Cruise
From May 10th – 25th 2008 my husband and I were on the spectacular Westbound Panama Canal Cruise.
Before the cruise I found many helpful information in the Passporter books and in the forum. Now I want to share my impressions with you.
We are a couple from Germany, we are both in the early/middle forties. Most of our vacation we spent in the US or in Canada. Usually we plan an itinerary by our own and tour by a rental car.
Since we were so enthusiastic about our first cruise, we were so happy that we got a reservation for the Panama Canal cruise. Being on a Disney cruise is so special but in combination with the canal - this would be an event of a lifetime.
Our journey started about a week before the cruise. Our first flight took us from Nürnberg to Frankfurt, the second flight from Frankfurt non-stop to Orlando. We wanted to have some time before the cruise to get used to the time zone (-6 hours). Also we wanted to see what was new in the last 2 years or what we have missed on our last visit in WDW.
So here I start with Animal Kingdom (2008/05/02):
One of our stops was the new attraction Finding Nemo – the musical. That was very nice.
But I was very curios about Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade, which we missed last time.
This parade I loved very much because of it’s ethnic style, wonderful customs that remind me of the Musical ‘The lion king’, great music and the characters in their outdoor outfit.
Always a must is Kilimanjaro Safaris for us. Since one tour is never exactly the same as the other, there is always something different to see, like these mud covered rhinos.
At the end of our day in AK the whole gang (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy) where waiting at entrance area for the personal meet & greet. What a perfect end of the first day at WDW.
will be continued …
__________________
with Daisy in Disneyland Hong Kong
Last edited by cruising_Minnie; 10-20-2008 at 02:42 PM..
Reason: links changed
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.
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.
Hi Lesley and Terry!
It is so wonderful, that we can share our memories of this fantastic cruise that way.
In the beginning I had some trouble posting my pictures. I hope that now they are between the text and visible.
from coast to coast with your host – Part 2
Since we had tickets with the park hopper and the water park fun & more option we used the possibilities. On 3 days we went to my favourite water park – typhoon lagoon. That is the perfect playground for me. I even like the way to the parking lot with the signs along the way
where you can read the story of the lagoon. Then after passing the entrance , you have your first viewpoint overlooking the big wave pool and see ‘Miss Tilly’ on top of a rock – that’s cool. I enjoy so much swimming in the wave.s The further you go into the pool (the closer to the rope), the better it is. But I love the rides too. They are not just simple tubes, they are embedded in the scenery and in the story about the typhoon. Here DH and I were just coming out of crush’n’cusher:
The next theme park we visited was EPCOT, with the flower and garden festival.
Since we’ve been to the flower and garden festival 2 years ago, I was curios what there would be this time. And again there were lovely topiary but newly styled for the motto ‘fun in the sun’.
Unfortunately we had to interrupt our first day in EPCOT, because our camcorder broke down. We had to buy a new one. We were not happy about the fact, but it was better that way than it would have happened on the cruise. Now the post-processing is more complicated, because in Germany we use PAL instead of NTSC as TV-code and so we have to transform our video in some way. However there will be a solution, we are happy that we had our video at all. So EPCOT became the practice area for our new camcorder.
Among the many things we did in Future World, I want to highlight the new version of ‘spaceship earth’, where we could even choose our language for the interactive part, and ‘soarin’. It is such a breathtaking ride. For Mission:SPACE we prefered the ‘light’ version, though it was sensational.
At Worlds Showcase we enjoyed the new ride in ‘Mexico’. Caballero Donald was already waiting.
Of course we also went to ‘Germany’. It is interesting to see what kind of German products they are selling. Most of them are really typical. The architecture really reflects a style that is still to be found especially in small Bavarian villages. Here is my Bavarian DH with a Bavarian-styled Mickey:
In ‘Canada’ we saw the new movie and listened to the dynamic music of ‘Off Kilter’.
The visit of EPCOT ended with the spectacular firework of IllumiNations.
will be continued …
__________________
with Daisy in Disneyland Hong Kong
Last edited by cruising_Minnie; 10-20-2008 at 02:33 PM..
Petra - It's been a long time since I went to any of the water parks. You and Peter look like you're having so much fun that I may have to try it again soon!
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.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
More please 
your pictures! Especially the one of the two of you with Mickey! I almost didn't recognize Peter - he hadn't been in the sun much yet. 
]
PassPorter Guide Author
Linear Mode
