National parks, natural beauty and a bit of Disney Wonder! VANCOUVER SECTION COMPLETED - Page 11 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
The digital orca looks like it should be at the Lego Store! How great to see the Wonder coming in to port - the pictures of it emerging from behind the trees are great!
Now that's worth getting up early for!! What a sight. The digital orca is really cool! It looks like it's going to fall over - such a large sculpture standing on such a small tail. I don't know if I could ever fly in a seaplane. It's scary to watch, can't imagine actually being inside one of those things!
__________________
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
Love the digital orca sculpture--my DS16 said it looked like the sculptures in front of WoD.
And how cool to watch "your" ship dock in the early morning. Great pictures of it coing around "the bend".
And I'm betting that you meet up with friends in the next segment?
P.S. I'm glad that half naked guy chose to clothe his "bottom" half!! Phew!
I hadn't thought of that before, but it does look like those sculptures. And there may be some old friends making an appearance in the next segment...
What a busy and full day you had...but so many new experiences.
I love the excitement of the Wonder coming in! I was able to see the Dream come in last Spring (in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep) and it was such an awesome sight and feeling! I can't wait till you board!
I remember reading about that in your trip report at the time and thinking how cool it was to see it come into port.
We got up early and watched the Wonder come in for our cruise, too. Wasn't it amazing? The first peek of her smokestacks coming under the Lion's Gate Bridge gave me goosebumps! Of course, it was also my first time seeing her (or any DCL ship) in person.
Now that's worth getting up early for!! What a sight. The digital orca is really cool! It looks like it's going to fall over - such a large sculpture standing on such a small tail. I don't know if I could ever fly in a seaplane. It's scary to watch, can't imagine actually being inside one of those things!
Ah well, stay tuned - you'll find out what it's like on one of our shore excursions.
Tuesday 30 August – part two: you look very familiar!
We didn’t have long to wait before we were due downstairs to meet up with the others. Wouldn’t you know it – we came out of the elevators and saw two people in front of us who looked very familiar, even from behind... it was Sue and Steve finally joining the party!
We quickly found Barb and Bob and there we were, all chatting happily away, as if we’d never been apart. Eventually, I reminded everyone that breakfast at some point might not be a bad plan!
We headed downstairs to McDonald’s and I swear that I never saw this yesterday...
Interestingly, neither did Mark or Bob, so maybe they did add it last night, just for us...
We put our orders in, taking up the whole counter at one point...
... then we settled down for breakfast and boy were we loud! We know that we got some evil looks from some of the other diners... let’s just say that they knew we were there!
Once we’d finished eating, I suggested heading into Gastown to go and show Sue and Steve some of the T-shirts we’d found yesterday, as I knew that would be just their humour. We headed outside and immediately Tracey (politizania) found us and introduced herself. We immediately asked her to grab a photo of all of us together.
We headed off in the direction of Gastown and got a really cool view of the Wonder on the way.
It wasn’t long before we found the mounties shop, which we’d had a look in yesterday...
... then we found a souvenir shop, packed with loads of those entertaining slogan T-shirts. I tried to capture as many as I could, so that you guys could see what I mean. They are just classic!
I think it’s fair to say that we all put down some serious money in there, as we all found various things we liked, either for ourselves or for presents... here’s one that Mark bought for me:
When we came out, Barb and Bob headed back to the hotel, but we gave Sue and Steve the option of going down to see Steam Clock and they immediately agreed. It was literally only a few steps away and you could see the steam from it much more clearly today.
That done, we wandered slowly back, getting more photos on the way and getting another neat angle of the Wonder on the way back.
Next: welcome aboard the “crazy Disney PassPorters”
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
The digital orca is really cool! It looks like it's going to fall over - such a large sculpture standing on such a small tail. 
I don't know if I could ever fly in a seaplane. It's scary to watch, can't imagine actually being inside one of those things! 
PassPorter Guide Author
it does look like those sculptures. And there may be some old friends making an appearance in the next segment... 
We know that we got some evil looks from some of the other diners... let’s just say that they knew we were there! 
Linear Mode
