A Hop, NO Skip, and Many Mishaps to a Disney Dream - Page 17 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I liked your sweatshirt so much, I bought one for myself with my onboard credit I won!
Great shots around the ship!! I also had quite a few Aquaduck sign photos. LOL I just loved all the little hidden nooks and crannies. Such great photo ops.
Can't wait to hear about the rest of your encounter! We're really debating what to do in Nassau, and were astonished at the money for Atlantis. For 4 of us, we'd be able to almost do another cruise, rather than a shore excursion!
I'm so excited that you did the Dolphin Encounter! We did that and although we had rainy weather and my DH pooped out on us (he got up and left cause he was cold and miserable waiting for the dolphin to cooperate) we thought it was a good value for the money. Lots of good, fun interaction with the dolphin! I can't wait to hear more about it!! . . . . and the pictures!!
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.
Gosh, I swear I came and made replies yesterday...I guess I was doing it in my head!
Quote:
Originally Posted by B.M.
Sounds like a great excursion so far
More coming up!
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
Awesome! I'm so excited to see pictures from Blue Lagoon. Dot was one of our dolphins when we did the dolphin swim last August!
BTW, I love Claire's giraffe print dress/coverup!
Thanks. I got that dress off ebay a little over a year ago. She wanted it so badly and then when we got it she said it wasn't twirly, so she's only wore it a few times.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rhinohunter
Dolphin encounters sure look like a lot of fun.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcc0313
Just caught up (and I had quite a lot to catch up on) Sorry that your first day was filled with rain, I am sure that a sunny send off would have been more enjoyable, but it did not seem to stop the fun at all, and I am glad that the weather cleared up for a late night swim. Love the pictures of the Aquaduck - that just looks so amazingly fun.
You pictures are amazing, I love the shots as you were pulling into Nassau. Can't wait to hear more about your excurision.
Thanks. Yes it got better and we still had fun. I beleive if you dwell on the rain, you are just ruining your onw fun.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nalexander
Sorry about the lost card, but the pictures you do have look great.
The excursions sounds great so far. Can't wait to read more.
I'm still bummed about that card.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
Oh, dear... that darn (insert stronger word!) memory card! I'm amazed, though, that the photos taken with the waterproof camera came out so well. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of the dolphin encounter.
I got a few strong words for that card too! LOL! My waterproof camera is new and it's digital, so it did take decent shots. Not perfect, but pretty good for a point and shoot.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
What a great excursion so far! Sorry about the lost card, although you have some wonderful photos of the excursion already.
I got the main photos, so thats good. But it still saddens me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wendyismyname
I liked your sweatshirt so much, I bought one for myself with my onboard credit I won!
Great shots around the ship!! I also had quite a few Aquaduck sign photos. LOL I just loved all the little hidden nooks and crannies. Such great photo ops.
How did you win credit? You lucky dog!! I probably could go back and take 2000 more pictures of stuff I never even saw this time around.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nikkilovesmickey
Finally caught up after being gone for a few days.
Love the pictures you have taken. Love how excited your duaghter is about this excursion. Can't wait to see and hear more.
Update coming up! I'm behind too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
Can't wait to hear about the rest of your encounter! We're really debating what to do in Nassau, and were astonished at the money for Atlantis. For 4 of us, we'd be able to almost do another cruise, rather than a shore excursion!
Atlantis was more, I do remember that. And from what I read it's not as nice. Blue Lagoons Dolphins got better ratings in my research.
Quote:
Originally Posted by smcnaught
I'm so excited that you did the Dolphin Encounter! We did that and although we had rainy weather and my DH pooped out on us (he got up and left cause he was cold and miserable waiting for the dolphin to cooperate) we thought it was a good value for the money. Lots of good, fun interaction with the dolphin! I can't wait to hear more about it!! . . . . and the pictures!!
That water was cold on a sunny day too!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lazanya
Sorry about the lost card.
The excursion sounds great so far!
Yeah, I'm stil lbummed, but life goes on!
Quote:
Originally Posted by WHMom
Looking forward to reading more about the dolphin encounter!
More coming soon!
Quote:
Originally Posted by mojjo
Love the dolphin pics so far (and so does DS). Can't wait to hear all about it.
Dot did a few tricks while our guy (I can’t remember his name, but he was really good and friendly) told us about her.
The photographer also told us about few options. One was a book and a CD of the pictures he took. No one wanted it. I asked about just a CD, and he didn’t know the price…which led me to believe that he didn’t take a lot of pictures unless you bought the book. I didn’t buy the book, but looking back, I wish I did.
Claire and I also wore water shoes, and they asked us to take those off.
We then took turns getting into the water by families. We picked one family member to get a kiss from our Dolphin and they shot a picture of it. That water was SOOOO COLD! The adults had to crouch down into the water and WOW!...Quite the shock.
Another thing, the platform you stand on is full of algae. Really gross feeling. And slippery too.
I handed off my camera to another family to take our picture. That’s what most of us did while in the water. We just asked some another family who was not in the water to take pictures. It worked out pretty good. I know I took a ton of one family with their camera. LOL!
Take note of the girl sitting on the right side in the background looking at her camera…….
After each family got a picture taken with Dot, we then got called back into the water in groups to interact with her. This is when I realized I hadn’t put sunscreen on. Luckily we didn’t get TOO burned, but we both got red. I was sitting with my back totally exposed to the sun, and I knew Claire was getting hit hard too. But the sunscreen was up in the locker, so we stuck it out.
Every so often Dot would swim away and we would have to wait for her to decide to come back. And every so often we would get some other rogue Dolphin coming in for a visit.
We were not in the first group to interact with Dot, so I just took some pictures and watched. I believe we were the 2nd group though.
Here she is blowing out her blow hole.
Our turn!!! We got to run our fingers across her teeth and feel them.
Dancing with Dot! I make some of the weirdest faces!
Can you tell she liked it?
And this is the copied redneck version from the site.
And the redneck version of Claire’s kiss.
Claire and I were done with our turn with Dot. We told her goodbye and headed back up to the dock.
Claire and I went back to the locker and got our things. We dried off and wrapped up in towels.
I got a tap on my shoulder and heard….”that certainly isn’t the camera you had last night”. It was the couple from the show who had asked me about my settings/camera. They had done a dolphin excursion as well. I laughed and told them no, that one was left back on the ship.
While we were gathering our things they played the video that was taken while we had our excursion. I asked Claire what she thought. She kind of wanted it, I wasn’t sure. I told her we would go look at our pictures first and then decided.
Of course Claire spotted the gift shop! She instantly fell in love with a pillow with a dolphin on it.
I made sure this was something she really wanted and told her it would be coming out of her spending money and she was fine with that.
I snapped a picture of Claire with the pillow
and then put that camera away and pulled out the point and shoot. So all the rest of the pictures are lost…….
I took a look at our pictures…and WOW! How can you refuse. BE AWARE!!!! If you go in thinking you won’t buy, you will be VERY tempted. Luckily I didn’t go in thinking that! LOL! They had 3 pictures displayed and I wanted them all. We found out that if you got the DVD, which was on sale, the price wasn’t too bad…Ok it was bad, but not full price bad. LOL!
I decided on the DVD and 3 picture package. It also came with some magnets and key chains with our picture on them as well.
Claire and I headed off to the bathroom while we waited for the DVD to be made. Remember that girl I had pointed out earlier, well she was in there and she was dressed…..in Disney kids club CM clothes. I asked her if she had the afternoon off and she told me that when they do good things Disney rewards them with prizes. Her prize was the dolphin encounter.
Claire and I then stopped for a drink and some ibuprofen from the little store. I think Claire might’ve gotten an ice cream bar of some sort too. We walked around a bit in the area and I took several pictures. We didn’t wander to far though, as I wanted to get my DVD as soon as it was done and be on the next boat back which was at 1PM.
About 10 till 1 the DVD was ready and we paid for our purchases and headed to the dock.
Here is what we got.
This is the redneck version of the DVD. I can not find anyway to actually copy the DVD to my computer, so I recorded it with my camera off the TV and loaded it to youtube. Of course the quality is not great, but you get the idea. I am the one with the horrid laugh too!
Wow ! You are fast. I just posted a 2nd installment, not sure if you read that to or not. LOL!
I can't sleep tonight (It's 1:45 AM here). I know I will pay for it tomorrow though.
Wow ! You are fast. I just posted a 2nd installment, not sure if you read that to or not. LOL!
I can't sleep tonight (It's 1:45 AM here). I know I will pay for it tomorrow though.
I actually posted, just as you posted your second installment. I have now read that as well. I thought you were up a little late... It's time for getting ready for work over here (6.45am)
I actually posted, just as you posted your second installment. I have now read that as well. I thought you were up a little late... It's time for getting ready for work over here (6.45am)
I was up till almost 2:30 AM. I don't know why, but I'm sure I'll be tired today. LOL!
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Sorry about the lost card, although you have some wonderful photos of the excursion already.
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Pixie Dust
LOL! My waterproof camera is new and it's digital, so it did take decent shots. Not perfect, but pretty good for a point and shoot.
It's time for getting ready for work over here (6.45am) 
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