Happy 10 Years - The Anniversary of Our DREAM- updated 04/06/2014 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I can't wait to hear about the cruise! We're thinking a cruise in 2016 and we've never cruised before so I always like reading about peoples first cruises.
I can't wait to hear about the cruise! We're thinking a cruise in 2016 and we've never cruised before so I always like reading about peoples first cruises.
Looking forward to reading all about this, but most excited to read about another little part !
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Originally Posted by Russi01
Excited to read about your cruise!!
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Originally Posted by taylan1
I can't wait to read all about your cruise! Looking forward to all your pictures too.
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Originally Posted by DMA
Looking forward to hearing about your cruise!
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Originally Posted by num1DVCfan
Joining so I can hear about the cruise
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Originally Posted by pamcarey
Great start! Can't wait to read all about it!
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Originally Posted by JenniferLynneRose521
Checking in so I can continue to read the adventure!!
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Originally Posted by melduckie
I love how you didn't have to be sad at the end of your WDW section of your trip! Bring on the boat!
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Originally Posted by MayraLR
Looking foward to reading about your cruise!
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Originally Posted by Cam22
Looking forward to continuing your adventures as you board the ship!
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Originally Posted by mojjo
Can't wait for more!
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Originally Posted by jlhill4444
I am actually on the first page of this!! (ETA: At least I thought I was!) Can't wait to hear about your cruise!!
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Originally Posted by stardust190
I can't wait to hear about the cruise! We're thinking a cruise in 2016 and we've never cruised before so I always like reading about peoples first cruises.
The alarm went off around 7 this morning, but I was up way before then just laying in bed and brimming with excitement. The girls and Chris were sound asleep until the beep of the alarm though. We all got up and got ourselves dressed, packing up all of the last minute toiletries as we finished with them. We checked and double checked to make sure there was nothing left behind, and then finally said goodbye to our room at POR and headed towards the main building.
We still had a couple of snack and counter service credits left over so we used them up on some breakfast items over at Riverside Mill. I think we got a Bounty Platter to share, as well as a Mickey waffle for the girls. We used up the snacks on some apples with caramel dip and a yogurt parfait, which I packed up in my insulated bag to snack on later. With our bellies full, we stopped for a restroom break and then headed outside to see if our ride had arrived yet. It was before 10, but our driver was out there early waiting for us. The girls’ got a kick out of the sign he held with our name on it.
For the life of me, I can’t remember the drivers name, but he was a really nice guy. Really chatty and very pleasant. He packed our bags in the trunk and held the door for the girls and I. Within minutes we were off and headed towards the port! We were all feeling the excitement now, so I really thought this was going to feel like the longest car ride ever. Turns out, it was painless. A simple drive straight out, we were pulling in to Port Canaveral in less than an hour.
Our first view of the Dream (and our driver )
She’s so beautiful!
Soon enough, we were pulling up to the curb, we were finally here! A porter met us and grabbed our checked luggage, we grabbed our carryon and made our way over to security (which was empty by the way). We made our way up the escalator and into the terminal, which wasn’t as crowded as I thought it would be. : They had already started letting people board, so I guess that eased the crowds a bit. I saw a huge line and thought it was for check in, but it was a line to meet Captain Mickey. We decided not to wait, we were just too excited to get on the ship and I knew that we would have plenty of meet and greet opportunities while on board. The line for check in was actually pretty short, we only waited about 10 minutes before being called over. We got our KTTW cards and our boarding number, which they had already called so we were free to go ahead and board as soon as we were done. We had preregistered the girls for the Kids Club, so the CM suggested that we just wait until we were on board to get their wristbands, as the line for the Kids Club check in at the terminal was crazy long right now. We thanked her and set off for that Mickey Head doorway!
And then made our way up the gangway. A CM greeted us and asked for our family name, and then we were announced on the ship. I can tell you that it is such an exciting moment, you hear your name and there are lines of CMs on both sides cheering and clapping for you as you board. It’s just one big, overwhelming and exciting moment! After that, I’m pretty sure we all looked like deer in headlights! We just stood there for a moment, staring at the beautiful atrium, not really sure where to head next.
We knew that the Kids Club would be having an open house soon, so we headed there first so that we could get the girls’ wristbands set up. It was easy enough to find, but the gates were still down at the moment. There were some other families gathered and waiting, one mom told us that they should be opening around noon, and it was about 11:45 at this point so we just settled in to wait. Finally, the gates were opened and we were allowed in. Because we had preregistered, the process to get the wristbands was easy peasy. The CM helping us was from Australia and was really nice, she was great with kids. She even managed to get my shy girls who rarely say a peep to someone new chatting away. I knew they were going to have a great time here! She explained to us the process of drop off and pick up, and then sent us on our way to explore.
Can I just tell you, this space is amazing! There really is something for everyone, and everything looked like a lot of fun. Definitely made me wish I was a kid again!
Aren’t these bathrooms the cutest???
We finished up at the Kids Club and then made our way back towards the Atrium, where we noticed that Sailor Donald was out and about. There wasn’t much of a line so we decided to say hello before heading upstairs to get something to eat.
Some pics while we waited
Just as it was our turn, Donald needed to go and powder his bill but he was only gone for a couple of minutes.
We headed up to Cabanas next, which wasn’t as crowded as I thought it would be. We were able to find a nice table right near the window for all of us. A friendly server came over and asked if we would like anything to drink, so we got some sodas and then I asked him if he could get someone for me to speak to regarding Kaeli’s allergy. He ran off to get someone, and just a few minutes later a kitchen manager was heading to our table. He was very thorough in explaining how they handled food allergies in the kitchen, and took lots of time to walk the entire buffet with me explaining all of the dishes. I was very impressed! I think he spent about 15 – 20 minutes with me, letting me know that if there was anything else I should need that I should not hesitate to ask. If there was anything special Kaeli would like to eat, they would be more than happy to make it for her if we let them know. For peanut/tree nut allergies, there were few items on the buffet that were off limits, basically the desserts and baked goods, and then just a couple of the hot items. I think they were dishes from the Asian section, not something that Kaeli would eat anyway. The manager did tell me that the items from the kids section would always be safe and nut free, which I was happy to hear.
After my tour of the buffet, we set off to fill our plates. There are so many yummy choices here!
Kaeli’s plate
Mine
Abby's
Chris’
We finished up eating and then set off to see if our room was ready. The ropes were down and so we made our way down to the 9th deck to find stateroom 9154, our home for the next few days.
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.
Those bathrooms are adorable. It sounds like you are off to a great start already. I really wish I was a kid again every time I see pics of those clubs.
Glad the whole check-in process was so easy and fast. There's nothing like walking through those Mickey Ears onto the beautiful ship. The kids' clubs really look amazing.
I can almost feel your excitement when boarding the Dream. I'm looking forward to experiencing that some day.
The kids clubs look amazing! I bet the girls are going to have plenty of fun there.
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We used up the snacks on some apples with caramel dip and a yogurt parfait, which I packed up in my insulated bag to snack on later. With our bellies full, we stopped for a restroom break and then headed outside to see if our ride had arrived yet. It was before 10, but our driver was out there early waiting for us. 
Really chatty and very pleasant. He packed our bags in the trunk and held the door for the girls and I. Within minutes we were off and headed towards the port! 
: They had already started letting people board, so I guess that eased the crowds a bit. I saw a huge line and thought it was for check in, 
but it was a line to meet Captain Mickey. We decided not to wait, we were just too excited to get on the ship and I knew that we would have plenty of meet and greet opportunities while on board. 
We just stood there for a moment, staring at the beautiful atrium, not really sure where to head next. 
I knew they were going to have a great time here! 
*Melissa
PassPorter Guide Author
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