Passing through the Panama Canal - a Passporter's Tale **Updated 8/21** - Page 30 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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PassPorter Guide Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
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Location: Jacksonville, FL
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An afternoon surprise...
When Lesley and I were walking along Deck 10 - we passed the entrance to Palo, and Cecilia (my Palo Server from the Wonder 4 years ago) was standing in the doorway. We stopped to chat with her - and she said there had been quite a few cancellations for brunch that day. Lesley and I looked at each other and asked her if we could get into Palo for the brunch... she invited us into the lobby and we looked at the reservation book.... she had a table for 2 in 15 minutes. We grinned at each other, smiled at her, and told her "we'll take it" - and then ran back to the room to change clothes!!!
We returned to Palo after a quick freshen up (and my third clothing change in 5 hours) and headed up to Palo - for the brunch on Canal Day that we had been completely unable to get when we made reservations!
I can't remember our server's name (we had 3 servers at Palo by the end of the trip) but I do remember he was wonderfil (Emile??). We started with a tour of the brunch offerings -
The cheese and bread table
Anti-pasto....
Personal pizzas
Looking into the Palo kitchen (as well as some of the daily breakfast offerings)
Seafood offerings
More breads and berries.... stollen bread
Lunch specials
My first plate
The dessert table with single servings sizes.
Can you see the Palo Hidden Mickey???
My fritatta (It was HUGE!!!)
Lesley and I enjoying brunch!
Lake Gutan from Deck 10 right outside Palo
Next - crossing through the Gillard cut and passing through the remaining locks to the Pacific Ocean.
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Pictures of the brunch are not helping me in any way right now. I'm trying not to have a snack and not to even think about booking another cruise right now. Trying to save money to afford DVC, which will mean more vacations in the long run...I love the spontaniousness of it. Sigh. Thanks for the update.
PassPorter Guide Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
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I hate to say this -
but it ended with me meeting my now fiance, getting accepted into a major year long training program that requires a huge amount of travel, moving in with my then BF, having surgery, renting my townhome, three weeks of travel, my cat dying, my family coming for Christmas; four more weeks of travel, three more weeks of travel, getting engaged and planning a wedding...
I just found this trip report and had a few things to comment you on. First; great pictures! I especially love the ones of Aruba and the Panama Canal! Makes me wonder if I will ever get through the panama canal on the magic....
I'm sad to see you not updating. But I understand you're busy. Congratulations on the wedding! I like your siggy picture now! You look so happy! And I see you went Disneymooning! That's great! If you ever find time to come back and finish this, please do! I am really enjoying it!
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I'm trying not to have a snack and not to even think about booking another cruise right now. Trying to save money to afford DVC, which will mean more vacations in the long run...I love the spontaniousness of it. Sigh. Thanks for the update.
PassPorter Guide Author
You did say at the beginning we should hold you to finishing this TR. So how about it 
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