A DREAM is a wish your heart makes...Halloween on the High Seas edition - updated 09/14/2014 - Page 20 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Love the pictures with the characters! Lukas and Cinderella were just precious . Your professional pictures look fantastic. Your boys are so darn cute!!
Thank you so much!
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Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
Just weird. Completely weird.
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Originally Posted by JKnott17
Totally agree, so weird!
What a great day you had! All of the pics came out great, but I love the family pics you had done with the photographer!
Thanks! I like how they turned out too. I replaced the family picture we had taken in the fall of 2012 with the one of the 4 of us.
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Originally Posted by Principessa_di_Fata
I love the family photos! And I agree with everyone else thus far - creepy costume on the pregnant woman. Maybe without the blood, as Sharon suggested... but still... weird...
Definitely weird.
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Originally Posted by honeybee723
Okay, so this is why writing a TR from memory can be bad. I thought Mike was the only one who enjoyed an adult beverage, but instead it was you. Then I thought the boys fell asleep at the show, but again...wrong. AND, I had totally forgotten about that pregnant girls costume! What's even funnier, is that in your photo, it looks like she also has a pumpkin for a head.
They did fall asleep during a show, just not tonight.
Just finding this after being off the boards for a loooong time. We are getting ready to plan our 1st cruise (Dinsey or otherwise) for next year, so reading all I can...
sounds like a beutiful ending to a beautiful day.
More Please!
Yes it was! Coming right up!
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Originally Posted by abubbles77
Just finding this after being off the boards for a loooong time. We are getting ready to plan our 1st cruise (Dinsey or otherwise) for next year, so reading all I can...
Welcome back and thanks for reading!
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Originally Posted by goofyboysmama
LOL... Grand Marnier souffle = "Amazeballs". Yes. Yes it is. I'm having two next time, even if I have to skip dinner!
Sorry I've been away from this TR for a while. Things have been different at home the past few weeks. Mike (DH) was laid off last week Monday so I didn't really want to face this TR not knowing when we'll get to go back to WDW. Our trips that were planned for this year are currently on hold, nothing cancelled yet, but not knowing when he'll find another job is just tough and I wasn't sure I could face it. But my girls and being on here has made me realize this is what takes me away and gives me smile.
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Kelly - so sorry to hear about your Mike. We're dealing with a similar drama here with my Mike, so I totally feel your pain, and understand the stress. Hang in there!!
Again no alarm was set and we didn’t really need it as I could feel as we backed into port. Nothing bad, just noisy and a lot of vibration. We took a look outside (we were on the Atlantis side) and checked out the view (mostly of other ships). I think there were 3 or 4 other ships in port with us today so we got moving to get ready and then headed to Cabanas for breakfast.
Here comes another ship.
Hi new neighbor!
We decided to sit outside today as it was nice. It was a bit windy and the seagulls were quite interested in the ship today. It was funny to see their little webbed feet on the awnings but that was about it. I’m not a bird fan and I was glad we were under those awnings and not along the rail. Those seagulls were dive bombing people’s plates to get food, especially bacon. The CMs would come by and clap real loud to try and get them to move away but that wasn’t working so they turned on something outside that was supposed to be annoying to them and that didn’t stop them either. It started to sprinkle a bit and the rain is what finally drove them away. During this time we enjoyed our breakfast then saw Chad & Hope and we had them join us. It was raining a bit when Melissa made it to the table so we finished up and they moved inside. I told Melissa we’d find them later once we got back from exploring Nassau.
We went back to the room and just took what we would need with us – camera, key cards, and copies of our passports. That was it. I wasn’t taking any chances bringing any money with us. The plan today was to visit the Queen’s Staircase and then head back to the ship and that’s just what we did. I wanted to get off the ship since we were there but none of the excursions were a good fit for us so we decided to explore on our own. We made our way to the market and meandered our way through there and then through all the people trying to give you a ride or make you take a scooter until we were on the outskirts of the hub bub.
It was an interesting walk and we made sure to keep together. We passed one man (obviously from one of the ships) and he mentioned to be careful as it seemed a little shady. I never really felt unsafe but I just made sure I was aware of my surroundings. I mean we are from St. Louis and it was no worse than walking around downtown there. We passed the hospital on the way to the Queen’s Staircase and it was definitely the nicest building we saw, but I still wouldn’t want to visit there.
We made it to the Queen’s Staircase finally. (I’m glad we left early as it was really warming up today.) A nice gentleman stopped us when we got there and explained the area to us. This was the only time I was sorry I didn’t have any money with us as he clearly worked on tips and he did a good job explaining things to us. I would’ve stopped him in the beginning but he just kept talking. Oh well. It was cooler at the base since it was shady and in between the rocks. Honestly I was expecting it to be a lot more steps than it was. It was 65 steps, which is also the amount of years of Queen Victoria’s rule. Once at the top we explored a little bit too. There was a fort, but cost admission, so we didn’t go in and just walked around instead. There wasn’t a ton to see so we walked back down taking essentially the same route – we didn’t want to get lost after all.
wildlife
water tower
To prove we were really there!
Once back through the market it was a quick show of our key cards and then back on the ship. Looking back we probably could’ve just stayed on the ship, but I’m glad we took in the area a little at least once. If we ever go back I could really only see us going to Atlantis when the boys are old enough to enjoy it fully.
Kelly - so sorry to hear about your Mike. We're dealing with a similar drama here with my Mike, so I totally feel your pain, and understand the stress. Hang in there!!
Colleen, I'm sorry to hear that. I hope they both find something and come out better than before. & to you!
Nice photos from your time on shore. Most people seem to be in agreement on Nassau. It's good to go ashore to see a bit once, but then it's "been there, done that." Looking forward to hearing about the aquaduck!
So sorry to hear about Mike's job, Kelly. That's a tough one to get through.
Nice that you got off the ship for just a short time - it is an "interesting" port - as long as you can get by all the locals trying to sell you stuff, rides, etc. then it is pretty easy to navigate and explore a bit - sounds like you did just fine! I almost wish that these cruise lines would switch it up a bit - seems like they all pull into Nassau. and it is just not a very appealing port any more
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
There is some fun to be had in Nassau but nothing stellar where I think the kids would enjoy until older and like you said, explore Atlantis a bit.
The Queens Staircase is one thing I have never done, but maybe I will in the future.
Can't wait to hear about the rest of your day on the boat!!