The trip of many changes... TRIP REPORT UPDATED 4/25 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 want to take a Disney cruise so bad. I'm sure this TR will help me make up my mind. I've cruised the Caribbean before but not on Disney. Can't wait to read more.
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I want to take a Disney cruise so bad. I'm sure this TR will help me make up my mind. I've cruised the Caribbean before but not on Disney. Can't wait to read more.
I hope it does help, but I will say that we love cruising with Disney. This was our 11th cruise with them and we have cruises number 12 and 13 booked in September, which probably tells you something.
Too bad you had to say goodbye to the WL as I know you enjoyed your stay there! Nice and easy with the Alamo drop off! Too bad with the MCO security as it's always such a mess and so backed up. Just too busy of an airport and why they're adding another terminal to hopefully alleviate some of this. That's why I always have the upgraded Jt Blue seating as I can jump ahead in line and usually through security in five minutes.
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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!
Too bad you had to say goodbye to the WL as I know you enjoyed your stay there!
Oh we did.
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Nice and easy with the Alamo drop off! Too bad with the MCO security as it's always such a mess and so backed up. Just too busy of an airport and why they're adding another terminal to hopefully alleviate some of this. That's why I always have the upgraded Jt Blue seating as I can jump ahead in line and usually through security in five minutes.
The new terminal should certainly help somewhat, but I guess it's just a sign of how popular the mouse (and his friends at other parks) are. We always see so much construction and so many more hotels, houses etc. that have gone up in between each trip, but I guess now it's time there was construction at MCO to keep up with the increase in visitors.
Saturday 13 January – part six: quite a depressing sight
When we got to our seats on board the plane, it turned out one of the other people in a wheelchair was in the aisle seat. She made me step over her, which did not help my ankle, but had the common sense at least to move out to let Mark in, so that was something.
We then proceeded to watch the slowest ever boarding of an aircraft in the history of the universe… and I am not joking! Honestly, it was just painful. We couldn’t believe how long it was taking. Of course, I’m sure you can guess what’s coming next… we ended up leaving later than planned by about 20 minutes.
Finally we were up in the air…
… and I promptly went to sleep for a while. Mark had already gone off and he woke me up to say the stewardess was coming round to ask what we wanted to eat. Not bad for a guy who’s been having issues with his ears…
As well as some cookies and the free soft drink, we opted to get some food to eat. I got Pick Me Up, which has a trio of cheeses – sharp cheddar (I didn’t think it was sharp at all ), garden vegetable and gruyere, crackers and now, I look at the description, dried cherries. How interesting. I thought they were cranberries, so I ate them and no issues, despite the fact I’m allergic to cherries. Ok, potential close call there – note to self, must read description a bit more closely in the future…
… while Mark got Amp Up, which has olives, roasted almonds, red pepper hummus, crackers, a fruit bar and a chocolate crispy rice square.
We honestly thought the stewardess wasn’t going to charge us for those, she left it so late in the flight, but unfortunately she did remember…
I have to say she was utterly, utterly useless. She just didn’t seem very well organised. The woman dealing with the section behind us that started two rows behind had done all the drinks orders and was dishing out the snacks and we were still waiting for the drinks!
We did manage to catch some glimpses of the Caribbean beneath us, most notably Turks and Caicos. Oh wow, the beautiful blue/green water was quite something to see! These photos really do not do it justice and I’m just sad I couldn’t capture it better for you guys.
Eventually we were coming into land over Puerto Rico and San Juan. A couple of things struck us – firstly it’s quite mountainous, secondly it’s very green and thirdly and most sadly, the amount of blue tarpaulins over buildings. It’s a sight we haven’t seen since Florida many years ago when we went to Vero Beach and a lot of that area had been devastated by one of the hurricanes. It was quite a depressing sight.
Wow what a close call with the cherries, do you think maybe they were in the end cranberries? I love coming in to land in Mexico and seeing that blue green water just so beautiful.
Maybe they were cherry flavored cranberries? Artificial flavoring? Glad you weren't affected by it! Despite the stewardess, sounded like a pretty good flight though!
Great photos, even though it's sad to see how the island is still recovering I wonder why the tarps are always blue. Never seem to see them in any other color.
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Tanya
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Sorry that your ankle was giving you such a hard time. It must have been really tough climbing over that person on the aisle to get into your seat. I love the sights when you're flying in to land! The blue water of Turks and Caicos was just so beautiful. My sister and her husband love vacationing there and they rave about the water!
Maybe they were cherry flavored cranberries? Artificial flavoring? Glad you weren't affected by it! Despite the stewardess, sounded like a pretty good flight though!
It was a pretty good flight. I tend to go with JetBlue if Southwest isn't an option and sadly they weren't, as they were stupidly expensive to get to and from Puerto Rico.
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Great photos, even though it's sad to see how the island is still recovering I wonder why the tarps are always blue. Never seem to see them in any other color.
That's a good point. I'm sure there's a good reason.
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Alaskan Mom aka Bonnie
Waiting for our next adventure after enjoying our Alaska cruise. 
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Too bad with the MCO security as it's always such a mess and so backed up. Just too busy of an airport and why they're adding another terminal to hopefully alleviate some of this. 
That's why I always have the upgraded Jt Blue seating as I can jump ahead in line and usually through security in five minutes.
Honestly, it was just painful. We couldn’t believe how long it was taking. Of course, I’m sure you can guess what’s coming next… we ended up leaving later than planned by about 20 minutes. 
and gruyere, crackers and now, I look at the description, dried cherries. How interesting. I thought they were cranberries, so I ate them and no issues, despite the fact I’m allergic to cherries. 
Ok, potential close call there – note to self, must read description a bit more closely in the future… 
These photos really do not do it justice and I’m just sad I couldn’t capture it better for you guys. 
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