A special birthday, a diamond anniversary and a west coast adventure UPDATED 9/7 - Page 21 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
Your plans sound like things are moving along nicely and your trip will be here before you know it!
Now I can officially say "day after tomorrow!"
Quote:
The flowers in your garden are just stunning Cheryl and it was so nice that you were able to transplant a flower from your grandmother's garden! I did that with some bulbs from my grandfather's garden and I always think of him when they bloom!
It's such a lovely way of remembering loved ones, isn't it?
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.
As I've said on FB, your garden is stunning! And makes me wish I had a sunnier yard.
That is a shame, as it is harder to grow things when they're in the shade all the time.
Quote:
Glad to hear you've got Mark's gift all taken care of - can't wait to hear what it is!
I promise to share once he knows - I just cannot risk anything getting back to him.
Quote:
We had such hot weather in Vancouver - I had planned for low 70's!
Sorry I won't be to the Frozen Party yet when you sail, or I'd have a few more pictures to send your way. But maybe it's better that you've not seen much? This way it's all new and exciting!
It's no problem - as you say, it will all be a surprise to me - and a good one I'm sure.
And I can't wait for that too! I didn't think you were home much before us - if I remember right, you're home perhaps the day before us? We get home our time on the afternoon of 12 September.
Oh, that's right... I forgot you'd had to shorten your original plans. I'll just be wrapping up my live reports when you get home, then!
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.
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
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.
All caught up. We were away looking at Colleges in Washington D.C. for our daughter. I am glad I got caught up before you guys leave! Your plans sound so great!! Between you and Cam I am learning so much and getting really excited for our trip to DL in Nov. I also really enjoyed the pics and information from your trip to the Ramsgate Tunnels. Amazing! Safe travels, have a wonderful trip, and a Very Happy Birthday to Mark! :happy birthday:
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.
All caught up. We were away looking at Colleges in Washington D.C. for our daughter. I am glad I got caught up before you guys leave! Your plans sound so great!! Between you and Cam I am learning so much and getting really excited for our trip to DL in Nov. I also really enjoyed the pics and information from your trip to the Ramsgate Tunnels. Amazing! Safe travels, have a wonderful trip, and a Very Happy Birthday to Mark! :happy birthday:
Today was a bit of a washout as far as the weather went. I’m glad I got the photos of the garden yesterday, shall we say? It’s forecast to be wet and miserable for the next two or three days as well. Ugh.
Anyway, we put our time indoors to good use, and I can honestly say I’m now 95% packed, and it pretty much all fits into three suitcases, albeit it’s tight! The only major items left to go in are my walking boots and my make-up bad, and I have space set aside for both of them. The rest of the stuff to go in is tiny stuff that you can’t pack until the last minute, things like toothbrush, hairbrush, deodorant etc., and most of those will go in the hand luggage anyway…
Mark eventually followed suit and he’s pretty much all packed now, although I am having to persuade him to leave a few things at home. The way I view it we both have our waterproof coats which have sweatshirts on the inside, which should cover us for most things in Alaska. I’m literally only taking a light sweatshirts outside of that, and a shawl for evening wear on the cruise, and that’s it. I figure we may buy when we get there, and I think we’re covered with what we’ve got – hopefully!
The itinerary is done for my parents as well. It’s something I have to do before every trip, as they always insist in knowing where we’re going, what flights we’re on, and where we’re staying, which I do understand.
I’ve also booked us dinner for Friday night before we go up to the airport. This time is a bit unusual, as we’re not dropping off the car with valet parking until the next morning. The reason for this is that at Gatwick we’re usually at a hotel linked to the terminal, whereas there’s no such hotel at the terminal we’re flying from at Heathrow, so we’ll need the car to drive to the terminal the next morning. As such, it frees us up with no-one expecting us anywhere, so I’ve booked dinner at one of our favourite restaurants, and even better, I have vouchers for one free starter (appetiser) and two desserts, and a voucher to get an additional £10 worth of points on my card, so it’s well worth going out there.
Monday 24 August
I saw a post on the boards today about DVC discounts at Disneyland, and mentioned to Mark that he mustn’t let me forget about that. It’s something that does come to mind immediately whenever we’re in WDW, but I just think I could easily forget about it in Disneyland, and there are loads of places that offer discounts, so I would hate to come home and then suddenly remember about it.
How did I not realise that we had another PassPorter on the same cruise as us? I don’t know, but boy! Lauren (magicdreamer827) and her DH are sailing with us next week as well. How cool is that? I just feel bad that I didn’t realise beforehand…
When I got home, I had a package waiting for me – it was the mysterious Photopass package. Now this was all a bit odd. All I needed was the voucher, which you can see here:
However, it did also come with this:
… which is very nice. I’m not going to share the photos on it with you now – heck, I have to save some surprises for the actual trip report… Suffice to say that they are excellent quality photos and lots of them, so I’m sure they’ll crop up at some point. There is a photo of Grumpy in there, but sadly no donkey, which did take the edge off a bit but given there are more than 300, I already feel the Photopass has been well worth getting!
Also, we have averted a crisis. Yesterday, when packing, we could only find one of the three camera chargers we have. I have two cameras (one is a back-up, just in case… ) and Mark has one, and all take the same charger. I have no idea where my second one has gone, as the last time I saw it, it was in my hand luggage and now it’s not there. I last saw Mark’s in the hall (and I’m sure you can see this coming a mile off…) now it’s not there! We can’t survive on just one charger between us, not the way I get through batteries anyway so today I went to get another charger, and now I have a universal charger that also works in the car as well as through mains power, so I felt that was a good investment.
And finally, for today, we’ve received our health questionnaire for the cruise. You know, the one where they ask if you’ve been to any countries where there’s been an outbreak of ebola recently (I think we can safely say to that one ) and the bit you have to fill in on embarkation day, confirming no-one’s been sick for the last couple of days before boarding. I’ve put the cross in the right place to confirm our travel, extensive as it is, hasn’t taken us to any of the countries listed, and now that’s ready to go as well…
Tuesday 25 August
I’ve got the rest of our Canadian currency now, and a bit more than I bargained for too. Originally I’d ordered £50 worth and, at the current exchange rate, that would’ve been $100. Well, apparently they misunderstood me and ordered in a lot more than that. No-one could quite work out how much, but it was a lot, so I decided heck, why not get a bit more? I had £50 cash ready to pay, so I just added another £50 on my debit card, and now we have well over $200. Wow, I feel so rich! The woman in the travel agency said I got a currency converter with it, but I did say to her it shouldn’t be hard to work out, given it’s $1 to every £1. Basically I just need to divide it in two!
Wednesday 26 August
I read the All Ears newsletter with great interest this morning, given it’s the last one out before we go. I was very excited to see Disney Legend Marty Sklar would be in Disneyland, but sadly it’s on 2 September, so we won’t get to see him.
Today I put my walking boots through their paces, as I walked in them over to the pool near where I work. It’s a one mile round trip, and I was fine with them. One thing I did learn was not to wear ordinary socks with them, I need to wear slipper socks with them. I guess they must be a bit thicker maybe. At least that’s good to know, and some more slipper socks are now in the suitcase.
Thursday 27 August
Ok, today I was hoping to avert a crisis, but it didn’t quite pan out that way. I discovered last night that I’ve managed to chip one of my back teeth at the top right hand side of my mouth. I’ll just say that I have had hideous problems over the years with my teeth, so I don’t want to take a risk. I can’t open my mouth wide enough to see if the tooth has a filling in, it’s so far back, but I suspect it does.
I don’t want to head out without seeing my dentist, so I phoned up this morning to try and get an emergency appointment. I thought they did these between 8:00am and 9:00am every morning, as that’s what the receptionist told me on my last visit there at the end of July. Well, apparently not, as I spoke to the same woman and she told there are “a couple” of emergency appointments during the day. She offered me 11:30am. Well, I’m in Canterbury, 30 miles away from where I live and I car shared. I’d have to get a train back, walk home, get the car and drive to the dentist. It’s not going to work. I now have to call at 8:00am in the morning to see if they have an appointment tomorrow. In fairness, she told me the likelihood was high, given that they don’t get as many emergencies at the end of the week, as they do at the start of the week. Fingers crossed I can get in, because apparently my dentist is away on a three week course during the intervening period between our trips.
And in other news…
…. Are you ready for this?
…. Sure?
We’ve got reservations at Club 33! To say I’m excited would be a massive understatement. I just heard from Mari and we’re in there for the first night we’re in Disneyland. I cannot wait!
Anyway, I’ll end here with a recap of our plans while we’re away…
Friday 28 August
Drive up to Heathrow Airport and spend the night there
Saturday 29 August
Fly out from Heathrow to San Francisco
Stay the night at the Doubletree by Hilton San Francisco Airport North
Sunday 30 August
Visit the Walt Disney Museum
Fly from San Francisco to Vancouver
Stay the night at the Pan Pacific Vancouver
Monday 31 August
Board the Alaskan cruise on the Disney Wonder!
Set sail!
Tuesday 1 September
Day at sea
Wednesday 2 September
Enjoy brunch at Palo
Cruise along Tracy Arm Fjord
Thursday 3 September
Visit Skagway
Take the Evening Wildlife Expedition
Friday 4 September
Mark’s 50th!
Visit Juneau
Take the Alaska’s Whales and Glaciers Photo Safari excursion
Enjoy dinner at Palo
Saturday 5 September
Visit Ketchikan
Take the Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary and Crab Feast excursion
Sunday 6 September
Day at sea
Monday 7 September
Arrive back at Vancouver
Take the ferry to Victoria
Explore the centre of Victoria and Butchart Gardens
Take the ferry back to Vancouver
Stay the night at Vancouver Airport
Tuesday 8 September
Fly from Vancouver to Los Angeles
Have a late lunch at Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen
Dinner at Club 33
Wednesday 9 September
Head to California Adventure for early entry
Have an early lunch at Café Orleans
Explore Disneyland Park or California Adventure
See Paint the Night Parade and Disneyland Forever fireworks and then have a late dinner at Steakhouse 55
Thursday 10 September
Have breakfast at Steakhouse 55
Explore Disneyland Park or California Adventure
Have dinner at Carthay Circle with World of Color viewing
Friday 11 September
Visit the Disneyland Park to hopefully see the Haunted Mansion and explore whichever park we still have attractions left to see in!
Hopefully have lunch at the Carthay Circle lounge at Disney’s Californian Adventure
Fly home to Heathrow
Saturday 12 September
Arrive home
The next time I update will be live updates… starting in the Globetrotting forum, so I hope to see you all over there!
Very cool that you got your CD of stock DL photos ahead of time! And congrats on getting into Club 33!
Hoping you are able to get in to see the dentist!
Sorry about your tooth trouble. That's no way to begin a vacation. These aren't tooth fairies, but maybe they will bring you luck at the dentist this morning!
__________________
Disney Magic Western Feb. 21st, 2009
Last edited by Big Baloo; 08-28-2015 at 07:04 AM..
Almost time! So excited for you! Yippee!! You got into Club 33! Can't wait to read all about it and to see the pictures.
So the Photopass + at Disneyland is just like what WDW had before they changed to Memory Maker. Very cool! I loved our CD with the extras too! Plus I always liked getting the CD of all our photopass pictures. I was sad when they took that away.
Did Mark end up keeping his boots? I don't remember reading anything about that.
About This Page: 
PassPorter Guide Author
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
I didn't think you were home much before us - if I remember right, you're home perhaps the day before us? We get home our time on the afternoon of 12 September. 
At least that’s good to know, and some more slipper socks are now in the suitcase. 
during the intervening period between our trips. 
,
Linear Mode
