From no trip to celebrating 20 years together… planning it all in less than 100 days! COMPLETED IN THIS FORUM 7/24 - Page 2 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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We've only sailed on the Wonder and the Magic, so I'm sure we would be so amazed to see the Dream or Fantasy in port. So sweet of you to confirm who Mark was.
Yes, you'd definitely get a shock at the size of them.
Sunday 5 March – part six: this is just unbelievable!
We made our way into the terminal building, and once again, we must have a lot of first time cruisers, as their line was really long, whereas ours was really short!
We were quickly seen, and given our gold lanyards. It’ll be the last time we’ll have these, as the next cruise, we’ll be platinum at long last! By now, it was open boarding, which is one of the reasons we arrive so late, so we headed on board immediately, bypassing the photo, as I knew we wouldn’t want it.
I was very excited to see the new look atrium, having seen some photos of it, but in truth, I only grabbed one quick shot. However, trust me, there will be more coming up of it, as it is beautiful!
We did our usual, and made our way away from the midship elevators, as they’re always chaos during boarding, as everyone’s using them. We headed through After Hours, which looked very slick and sophisticated from what we saw of it.
We quickly found our way to stateroom 7578, our home for the next four nights…
After the obligatory photos, we headed out to check out the spa and see what they’d done with the Rainforest, as neither of us really knew.
Oh my goodness, the transformation in here is just unbelievable! This is now along the lines of the décor of the Dream and the Fantasy, which we absolutely love. This is such a major step forward from what the poor old Wonder had previously. I am so pleased they’ve done this, and despite saying that we weren’t going to sign up to do the Rainforest, we were both so blown away with the amazing new look it’s had. Well done Disney – that is a superb upgrade you’ve done there!
The rest of the spa looked pretty neat too…
We headed outside to the adult pool…
Mark suggested going straight in the water, but as I had the camera and the cell phone with me, I went back to the room to drop those off. Thank goodness we booked a room that wasn’t that far away. I also grabbed my goggles and sunglasses, and headed back to the pool.
Here is where the Magic and Wonder definitely do win out over the Dream and the Fantasy, and we’ve been hearing that a lot from people this vacation who prefer the smaller ships that this is one of the main reasons – a bigger adult pool. The guy at valet parking at BoardWalk told us that there’s a rumour going round that they’re going to expand the adult pool area on the new ships, and if that’s true, that would be most welcome.
There was one other woman swimming when I got in, and two guys clutching the side. It is a bit deceptive here, as the main pool area is two metres (eight feet) deep, but the outer areas are literally for wading. I don’t know how many lengths I swam, as I wasn’t counting, but it was really good to get back in the water.
Mark headed straight for the hot tub, and stayed there until I joined him. It was a nice temperature, and not too hot, so we spent a while in that.
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The Wonder looks quite nice and seems they did a good job with the upgrading! Nice to get a swim on a hot day after just boarding!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Love the look of some of the changes.
We seem lately to only be doing cruises with far fewer new cruisers - Alaska, cruises out of Europe, and of course the inaugural year for both Dream & Fantasy - so we never seem to get the benefit of shorter lines.
This next one will be my final gold lanyard, too!
We seem lately to only be doing cruises with far fewer new cruisers - Alaska, cruises out of Europe, and of course the inaugural year for both Dream & Fantasy - so we never seem to get the benefit of shorter lines.
If it makes you feel any better, that's been our experience on the majority of our cruises to date.
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Sunday 5 March – part seven: direct sunlight is not good…
When we got out of the adult pool, it was breezy, therefore chilly, so it wasn’t long before we headed back to the room, where I grabbed a shower and washed my hair. However, before we left, I got rid of my dirty towels where you’re supposed to, and the lid on it came right down on my right middle finger knuckle – I knew about that! I ended up with a massive bruise on the knuckle, and reported it the next morning, as I didn’t think it was good enough for that to be happening.
At around 3:40pm, we headed down for the mandatory safety drill, as it was outside on deck four, and I knew there wouldn’t be much seating there, and I was right. I grabbed about the only seat there was, and explained about my chronic fatigue to the team leader, and she was fine with me sitting there, and no-one troubled me again to ask me to stand up.
We had some neat views of the terminal from here…
… but unfortunately it was also in the full sun, and of course I didn’t have any suntan lotion on, given I’d just had a shower, so I tried to keep in the shadow behind other people. However, it was tough, and I knew that I’d probably start to burn at some point. I appreciate the safety drill is mandatory, and there are only a number of places it can be held, but in the direct sunlight is not good.
I was pleased to hear we had a new cruise director for us, Carly, who sounded great, and not as over the top as some of the others – Brent step forward… I hope we get to meet her, as I already have an impression of what she looks like, and it will be interesting to see if I’m right.
Eventually, we were dismissed, and we were allowed to leave first, which again was good, as we were back at our room by the time everyone else started the exodus from deck four. Once there, Mark headed out to the balcony to see what was going on, and there wasn’t a lot at first, as we just weren’t going anywhere.
Now normally you get back from the drill, and very soon afterwards, you’re on your way. Mark reported that the gangway was still in place, which seemed a little odd. I was personally more interested in the progress of our cases. Two turned up together, but of course I wanted the third one, as it had what I needed in it. It made it, but about 5:15pm. This is why it’s so important to pack what you want for the afternoon.
In the meantime, Mark had seen why we weren’t leaving, and it looked quite dramatic. From what we could see, we assume that it was a woman in the ambulance, as it was what looked like a father and young baby looking on.
Finally, after that drama, we were on our way…
Mark wanted to go and see the view the other way, so we set off, and found the laundry room on the way. I swear that’s bigger now, than it used to be…
Mark wanted to see whether the rocket that had been due to launch on Wednesday night (apparently it was on the news that the launch had been put back by a week ) was on the pad. I zoomed in as much as I could, but I don’t think it was…
We were a bit concerned to have this accompanying us out…
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I can't believe we missed you. I think our next visit to Disneyland is going to be March 2019, so that's a way off yet sadly....
By now, it was open boarding, which is one of the reasons we arrive so late, so we headed on board immediately, bypassing the photo, as I knew we wouldn’t want it. 
Nice to get a swim on a hot day after just boarding! 
I ended up with a massive bruise on the knuckle, and reported it the next morning, as I didn’t think it was good enough for that to be happening. 
I hope the person in the ambulance was okay!! Glad to hear that you are on your way. It sure would've been cool to see that rocket launch!!
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