Points make Paris... TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 6/29 - Page 24 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
Sunday 1 May – part eight: this should be quite relaxing
When we came out of Annette’s Diner, we went our separate ways, so we could all have some downtime. We knew the others wanted to see the parade at 5:30pm, so we agreed we’d meet back up at 4:00pm, and we headed back to the hotel.
As you can see, around our hotel, it was surprisingly quiet…
We ended up going to have a look at the pool area…
As there was no-one in there, we figured we’d go back to the room, change and then head down to enjoy it, as having it to ourselves would be quite relaxing. Remember those immortal words!
We also found the children’s club and the arcade area…
We headed upstairs, changed into our swimming gear, and a few minutes later, we went down to the pool. We were given our towels, and just as we headed for the changing room, two girls came out, which was the first sign we wouldn’t be alone. By the time we’d changed, we had about four or five kids in there, which would be fine if they were well behaved, and their parents were keeping an eye on them, but of course they weren’t.
There was a fairly large Jacuzzi, and the sign clearly said it wasn’t recommended for those aged 12 or less, but this didn’t stop a kid from swimming in the thing – and I mean swimming underwater! I couldn’t believe my eyes. Sometimes it was with parents in there, which made it even worse, but other times, they were on their own. I went and said something to the Cast Member, expecting him to do something. Well, how stupid was that? He just shrugged his shoulders, and said that was fine. Now I’m sorry, but if there’s an accident, I suspect I know what would happen – the parents would sue Disney. I mean, wouldn’t you be saying “I didn’t see the sign” (admittedly it was in small writing), and asking why the staff didn’t say something?
Well, it got worse, as at that point, the guy said to me they’d only do something if they dived into the pool, and just at that second, a kid jumped into the pool. He didn’t bat an eyelid. Now tell me, how is that different to diving?
I stuck it for a few more minutes, and swam a bit and sat in the hot tub, complete with kids swimming around in it. I’d then had enough. This was a nightmare, and not the relaxing break I was expecting it to be, so I told Mark I was going back to the room. At least the women’s changing room was empty, and I was able to enjoy the steam room in peace and quiet, which was something.
I showered and dried my hair a bit, taking advantage of the slightly better hairdryers here. I would later find out the ones in the room are about as useless as the ones on board the cruise ships, and for those who’ve cruised, you’ll know what I mean – they are pretty lousy.
I then headed back to the room. I saw Mark was still in the hot tub, and apparently one set of parents did at least attempt to control their kids, which was something, but from what I gather, it wasn’t much better after I left.
I worked on the trip report for the next couple of hours, as we were supposed to be meeting Sara, Tom and the kids at 4:00pm. We got a text saying they’d be heading back more like 5:00pm, which we thought was cutting it a bit close, given the parade was at 5:30pm, and they had quite a walk from their hotel. We decided we’d head into the park as planned, so we set off…
This time, we took the time to browse the shops, something we hadn’t really had time to do. I didn’t want to drag the kids around the shops, in case they saw stuff they wanted, as I figured that could cause problems for Tom and Sara. Now we could look to our hearts’ content, and we soon found the spring merchandise…
We carried on wandering through the shops, and found some wonderful items…
In one shop, I found a long sleeved light sweatshirt with Disneyland Paris on it, which fitted very nicely, so I got that. I did think about getting a black sweater as well, but after I discovered it was hand wash only, I decided not to bother. At least I got something, as we’d both been commenting about how little we’d bought this trip, as there wasn’t that much that was grabbing either of us. I also found a fetching pair of Mickey ears, that were very comfortable (I don’t know about you, but I find some are really painful to wear for a long period of time…), so I got those as well.
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.
I'd probably better mention here that there may be an update or two over the next couple of weeks, but it will be the exception, rather than the rule, as we head out tonight, ready to start our Baltic cruise on Sunday!
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.
Lovely photos from around the hotel! It really is a beautiful place!
Wow, what a fiasco in the pool! It's very frustrating, to say the least, when parents can't, or don't, control their kids.
Aargh, unsupervised kids in the hot tub drives me insane! We get that a lot at WDW resorts, in the quiet pools around the resorts, which unfortunately don't have anyone around to report it to!
I'm not surprised that the CM didn't do anything about it though, I always find they are definitely lacking in magic or even basic common sense/interest at DLRP.
Anyway, have a great cruise and a safe journey. "See" you when you get back!
__________________
Silvercat
(Enjoy reading trip reports? Why not try my books, "Tiggerific Travels Parts 1, 2, 3 & the new volume 4" - available now as e-books)
Have a fantastic trip!!!!
Sorry the pool was such chaos - especially when the pictures (and your first view) looked so relaxing and quiet!
The Dory shirt is awesome!
Isn't that always the case. OH - the pool is empty, quick, let's go! And then everybody shows up too. Obnoxious kids in the pool is getting so very common, it's really taking away from even our own kids enjoyment. Not every kid (nor adult!) likes to be splashed! Our son will get out of the pool whenever the splashers get in. I totally feel ya there.
Mark and his hats. Now that one is a keeper. Totally him!
Hope you have a wonderful cruise!
__________________
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
Lovely photos from around the hotel! It really is a beautiful place!
Wow, what a fiasco in the pool! It's very frustrating, to say the least, when parents can't, or don't, control their kids.
And sadly we seem to see that happening more and more these days.
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.
Aargh, unsupervised kids in the hot tub drives me insane! We get that a lot at WDW resorts, in the quiet pools around the resorts, which unfortunately don't have anyone around to report it to!
That is so frustrating.
Quote:
I'm not surprised that the CM didn't do anything about it though, I always find they are definitely lacking in magic or even basic common sense/interest at DLRP.
I know - I think you and I have discussed this before. I really hoped that with Disney taking a bigger stake in the park, things would change, but they don't seem to have done so far.
Quote:
Anyway, have a great cruise and a safe journey. "See" you when you get back!
About This Page: 
PassPorter Guide Author
By the time we’d changed, we had about four or five kids in there, which would be fine if they were well behaved, and their parents were keeping an eye on them, but of course they weren’t. 
I couldn’t believe my eyes. Sometimes it was with parents in there, which made it even worse, but other times, they were on their own. I went and said something to the Cast Member, expecting him to do something. Well, how stupid was that? 
He just shrugged his shoulders, and said that was fine. 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Have a great time on the cruise! 
Alaskan Mom aka Bonnie
Linear Mode
