The Alaskan Jewel! Welcome Aboard….You don’t Exist! updated 12/13/2015 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
I wanted some icecream so I went in search of it…And the machine wasn’t working right, basically just spitting out a little bit, so I assumed it needed a refill so I went for something else instead.
I found a table and there were a bunch of people who spoke mainly Spanish, but mixed with English too, were saying how there were whales. I kept looking and looking and then someone would point….I would look and then they would say, oh no that’s not one.
If course while I stood there a mother caught up with her teen daughter there and the daughter was going on and on about all the whales she saw a little earlier. I was jealous!
At some point it was time to get ready for the evening and I showered. I also went to the task of trying to dry our tennis shoes out. I stuffed them with tissue to get some moisture out and then I took a hair dryer to the inside of each pair. Let’s just say, blowing warm air in tennis shoes does not produce the loveliest of smells…..but it did help them dry up and by the next day there were all comfy again.
At some point Skip and Claire returned and we all got cleaned up.
I think I must’ve taken a little walk while they were getting ready.
And then we headed to the early show for the evening. Tonight was Jean Pierre, though they called him JP. He was advertised as a magician but also was noted there was comedy with it.
It was already pretty crowded when we arrived. We sat in the balcony and those stupid glass dividers really make it hard to get a good look at the stage. You either have to kind of duck down and look through the glass or get taller to look over it.
JP was funny. He did some tricks along with jokes and we really enjoyed him. We were laughing pretty hard at times. He is rated PG13 and there was some adult humor, but nothing too bad.
At the end he was selling little magic kits of some sort, which we did not buy, but I did catch a picture before we left.
I love your shirt for this evening, so cruise perfect! Once again reading your report and seeing all your lovely pictures has me eyeing an Alaskan cruise in the spring... I just got a great offer in the mail for one too!
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
You sound just like me with the whales! Beautiful photos of the scenery you passed and, just like you, that's one of the things I really love about cruising, especially in Alaska, which has some of the most beautiful scenery in the world.
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.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
I love your shirt for this evening, so cruise perfect! Once again reading your report and seeing all your lovely pictures has me eyeing an Alaskan cruise in the spring... I just got a great offer in the mail for one too!
You should do it!!!
I love that shirt. I got it at cracker barrel
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
Sounds like it was an enjoyable show! Sometimes magician/comedians are pretty hit or miss.
He was pretty funny and we really enjoyed it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Too bad you kept just missing the whales!
I know!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
You sound just like me with the whales! Beautiful photos of the scenery you passed and, just like you, that's one of the things I really love about cruising, especially in Alaska, which has some of the most beautiful scenery in the world.
I swear they were hiding from me.
It is just absolutely gorgeous there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great pictures of the scenery!
Thanks
Quote:
Originally Posted by lindawdw
Sorry that you missed the whale sighting The magician/comedian show sounded great!
Me too. I was getting disappointed and worried.
He was pretty good.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jimmymac
Sorry about the whales
I know.
Quote:
Originally Posted by shazza
Your photos are great, especially the ones of the Deadliest Catch excursion and the crabs
Claire and I got the filet mignon. Claire thought it was way too small. She likes her steak. They did butterfly hers so it looked a bit bigger, but she still wished she had more. She also got the truffle fries, which were the same they had been serving in Moderno and she was in heaven.
I thought the meal was very good. It was all cooked well and tasted great. The service was slow, but our waitress was very nice. We could see the Moderno staff coming in to get meats to take next door (they share a kitchen). We found it odd but it seemed like they would stand around chatting more than taking their meats off to the other room. I had heard Moderno service can be slow and seeing this made me realize why.
Time for dessert, and we were all pretty full at this point, but we still ordered.
Skip got the some sort of warm brownie with ice-cream and caramel brittle.
We all got ready for bed and went out fairly early…though I think Claire watched TV later than us. The TV had a timer which I would set to go off each night…otherwise Claire might be up half the night channel surfing.
Was this one of the restaurants that you had to pay for? It looks pretty tasty. Trying to decide if we want to do the cruise you're doing or go with Princess. I think at almost twice the price Disney is out of our league.
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.