A special birthday, a diamond anniversary and a west coast adventure COMPLETED IN THIS FORUM 12/2 - Page 14 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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So sorry that you missed out on the whale sighting again! I hope that wasn't the last one of the trip!
Thankfully it wasn't....
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The scenery is just so beautiful and you're right about it being still untapped by man. It's great that the cruise allows you a glimpse into nature's world there! Great pictures of formal night and how lovely that you got to talk with one of the officers. Sorry that you missed the Orca sightings!!! Your salmon appetizer looked delicious and I'm glad to hear that your service at least went well this evening.
I was relieved, as I must admit after the first night, I was dreading the rest of the cruise....
Wonderful photos of the two of you! Sounds like a very nice conversation with the Irish officer too.
He was absolutely charming.
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See, this is the part that makes me wonder about an Alaskan cruise. I would be torn between watching the scenery outside for orcas and other cruising essentials - like dinner!
There is that problem, but then again, if you opted for the later dining rotation, that would be less of an issue, provided you were prepared to miss the early show of course...
Very nice formal photos! You two must have a wonderful collection from your cruises.
We have a few, but not as many as you might think, as there's no formal night on the three or four night cruises and of our eight with Disney to date, three have been three or four night ones.
Even though there seem to be some issues with things being not as good as in the past, your cruise sounds great! So glad Mark got to see some whales first thing, and glad you'll be getting to see some as well. Looking forward to more.
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Beautiful pictures of the views! I'm sorry that you miss the whale sighting. Hopefully you'll be able to catch one sometime during the cruise. Great pictures from formal night. Dinner sounds like it is off to a great start, but I'm a little nervous about your teaser for your next update.
Even though there seem to be some issues with things being not as good as in the past, your cruise sounds great! So glad Mark got to see some whales first thing, and glad you'll be getting to see some as well. Looking forward to more.
Oh gosh it was still great and I wouldn't want to give any other impression than that. I think the problem is that the more times you experience Disney, be it cruises, Walt Disney World, Disneyland or, for us, Disneyland Paris etc., you go into the next trip with certain expectations that other people wouldn't necessarily have. That means sometimes you can be disappointed and that's what happened to us with things like the gold and platinum Castaway Cay reception. All in all though, it was superb and I'd still thoroughly recommend a Disney cruise through Alaska to anyone.
Beautiful pictures of the views! I'm sorry that you miss the whale sighting. Hopefully you'll be able to catch one sometime during the cruise. Great pictures from formal night. Dinner sounds like it is off to a great start, but I'm a little nervous about your teaser for your next update.
Hmmm.... you may be right to be a little nervous, that's all I'll say for now....
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Such beautiful scenery! Love the formal night shots - I think my favorites were the ones by the staircase.
I think they were my favourites too and I was thinking I might use one of them as my new signature picture, so thanks, as you've helped me to decide which one to go for!
I finally got some time to begin reading this portion of your TR. So glad you snagged the tickets to meet Olaf! Thank goodness you've made it on board and are now out of the rain. Love your room and so sweet of Sarah to have it decorated for you.
Just catching up--the scenery really is something--love how the mountains go right into the water as it reminds me of Arcadia in Maine. Too bad about the non-whale sightings for you. Doesn't seem quite fair of them, now does it? I noticed all the deck chairs were tied up on the pictures of the upper decks. Was it fairly breezy up there? And I would expect there wasn't much demand for them as people probably weren't sunbathing?
Love that dress on you--the cut and the aqua color is very flattering on you! (And Mark looks all spiffy in his suit, too)
I finally got some time to begin reading this portion of your TR. So glad you snagged the tickets to meet Olaf! Thank goodness you've made it on board and are now out of the rain. Love your room and so sweet of Sarah to have it decorated for you.
Just catching up--the scenery really is something--love how the mountains go right into the water as it reminds me of Arcadia in Maine.
It's good to hear it's similar, as that's on my list for a future visit.
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Too bad about the non-whale sightings for you. Doesn't seem quite fair of them, now does it?
Nope, it doesn't.
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I noticed all the deck chairs were tied up on the pictures of the upper decks. Was it fairly breezy up there? And I would expect there wasn't much demand for them as people probably weren't sunbathing?
I don't remember it being windy that day - other days, but not that day. I suspect it's more to do with the lack of people out sunbathing...
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Love that dress on you--the cut and the aqua color is very flattering on you! (And Mark looks all spiffy in his suit, too)
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I hope that wasn't the last one of the trip!
Sorry that you missed the Orca sightings!!! Your salmon appetizer looked delicious and I'm glad to hear that your service at least went well this evening.
Looking forward to more.
I think the problem is that the more times you experience Disney, be it cruises, Walt Disney World, Disneyland or, for us, Disneyland Paris etc., you go into the next trip with certain expectations that other people wouldn't necessarily have. That means sometimes you can be disappointed and that's what happened to us with things like the gold and platinum Castaway Cay reception. All in all though, it was superb and I'd still thoroughly recommend a Disney cruise through Alaska to anyone. 
)
but not that day. I suspect it's more to do with the lack of people out sunbathing... 
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