The trip of many changes... TRIP REPORT UPDATED 4/25 - Page 28 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
So disappointing that you've never gotten a great meal at Animator's Palette.
I know. The irony is the problem seems to be on the Magic and Wonder, as I don't recall ever having had any issues on the Dream or our one trip on the Fantasy.
Tuesday 16 January – part nine: where’s that darned mouse going tonight?
While my meal at Animator’s Palate may once again have not been completely successful, at least it’s fun to watch all the images here come to life…
However, yet again, that darned mouse managed to miss out our whole section of the restaurant and I never got a photo of him. This happens every time. It does annoy me that he doesn’t come through the whole restaurant, as it’s not fair to those of us in those sections and I don’t just mean me. There were kids behind us who never got to see him and I don’t think that’s right.
The service was fine, but nothing special. We did meet our head server for the first time. Not bad, given we’re now on night three. I loved his excuse about why he hadn’t come over – it looked as if you were enjoying yourselves too much. Oh please – really!
We were one of the last tables out of here in what was not a successful night for me… again!
When we came out of there, we realised that we were still in port, despite the fact all aboard was 5:30pm. Apparently it’s because they can’t load as much water as they need from their home port of San Juan, which is where they usually load all the water – i.e. in the home port. Therefore, they were staying later tonight to load more water and the same in Aruba, as now the all aboard is something stupid like 11:00pm. I hadn’t realised that had changed, as I was going by the original itinerary, which had us leaving at 4:45pm. Quite a difference!
After standing on deck for a while, we headed over to port adventures. We’d had a message from Kumar, who heads up port adventures, about our complaint about what happened with our port adventure in Antigua and how it had been cut short by the Wonder’s late arrival. He’d asked us to call him or come down and see him and I’d much rather do things face to face. We had a long chat with him (hence how we knew about the water situation) and in the end, he told us Disney would be taking 20% off the price of the itinerary, which was fine. However, I was more concerned that they understood where things had gone wrong. It was a simple situation that they could’ve easily resolved by good communication and they failed. I work in communication and admire Disney for their (usually very good) communication and I just wanted to ensure this didn’t happen again.
Once we were finished chatting to him, we were moving out of port and we headed up to bed. This was our towel animal offering tonight.
We ended up watching part of a movie, except we had no idea what it was. That’s the problem with the older boats – they don’t tell you what you’re watching once it’s started and you can’t pause or rewind, like you can on the newer ships. I wish they’d update that on the Magic and the Wonder. It’s about time they did.
The weather today was hot with some sun, some cloud and some rain with temperatures in the high 80s. The best thing today was seeing the Pitons. The worst thing today was getting soaked in the “liquid sunshine”. Today we tried visiting St. Lucia And the result was we loved it and thought it was much nicer than Antigua, even though the tour perhaps wasn’t as good. The most magical moment today was seeing a hummingbird in the wild.
You seem to have the worst luck with Animator's Palate. First with your dinner and then with not getting to see Mickey. I hope things got better.
I hope that they listened to your complaint about the shortened tour and improve the communication with their passengers.
Liz
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 so agree with you on the movies! Seems that should be an easy fix/update. We found we were always missing the start of something. And the choices are so much more limited. I recommend you download some movies for the TA.
Makes sense water would be more limited in Puerto Rico still. Good they had other options for loading up!
Do you feel the service is slipping from past trips on the Disney ships? I don’t think from reading your other trip reports that it usually took 3 nights to meet the head server.
You seem to have the worst luck with Animator's Palate. First with your dinner and then with not getting to see Mickey. I hope things got better.
Honestly? I'm resigned to the fact that things will never improve there. I'm just cursed there, I swear!
Quote:
I hope that they listened to your complaint about the shortened tour and improve the communication with their passengers.
Liz
So do I! Communication would have ironed out so much difficulties with this tour. Then again, better communication would also have helped the implementation of parking charges at WDW resorts, but don't get me started on that.
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 so agree with you on the movies! Seems that should be an easy fix/update. We found we were always missing the start of something. And the choices are so much more limited. I recommend you download some movies for the TA.
They fixed it on the Magic in the recent dry dock! Now finally we can watch whatever movies are showing in our cabins when we want to and can pause them. It's about time.
Quote:
Makes sense water would be more limited in Puerto Rico still. Good they had other options for loading up!
It made sense as soon as they said it. It's a reminder of the problems they're still facing out there.
Do you feel the service is slipping from past trips on the Disney ships? I don’t think from reading your other trip reports that it usually took 3 nights to meet the head server.
It certainly didn't. In all honesty, generally we've had reasonable and Ok service on our Disney cruises and occasionally bad service, but only once or twice have we have truly stellar service. I will never forget the amazing service we had on the eastern Mediterranean cruise. Fingers crossed we might get something like that on the Transatlantic....
I wonder if they try to let the show of that restaurant carry the load of "magic" and that's why it's not important for Mickey to really tour the entire place. It's a poor excuse, but I'm just trying to reason why he wouldn't, at the very least, visit all the kids that were present! (Mark included!)
Ah ha, water. Now that's a valid and understandable excuse for leaving port so late. But what a shame you didn't get to see the pitons just one more time! I'm still glad you enjoyed St. Lucia as much as you did!
__________________
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.
Well at least all the animation entertainment was good at AP, but doesn't make up for some poor portions of your meal! Glad you were able to get the situation resolved somewhat at the P.E. desk. Perhaps, a bit more than a 20% refund was in order as it was their fault. But at least you got something. As you said, always better to meet face to face with someone than resolve it over the phone or other means (email) when you can.
__________________
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!
I wonder if they try to let the show of that restaurant carry the load of "magic" and that's why it's not important for Mickey to really tour the entire place. It's a poor excuse, but I'm just trying to reason why he wouldn't, at the very least, visit all the kids that were present! (Mark included!)
Hey - and me! I'm a kid whenever I'm at Disney. Ok, I'm a kid most of the time really!
I know what you mean about the show. It is spectacular, but let's face it, Mickey is Mickey and you don't get another chance to see Sorcerer Mickey on board, so he should really see the entire restaurant.
Quote:
Ah ha, water. Now that's a valid and understandable excuse for leaving port so late. But what a shame you didn't get to see the pitons just one more time! I'm still glad you enjoyed St. Lucia as much as you did!
I would've loved to have sailed past the Pitons, but we got to see them and I will never forget the sight of them. Just beautiful. Sigh.
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.
Well at least all the animation entertainment was good at AP, but doesn't make up for some poor portions of your meal! Glad you were able to get the situation resolved somewhat at the P.E. desk. Perhaps, a bit more than a 20% refund was in order as it was their fault. But at least you got something.
I figured something was better than nothing.... I wasn't expecting anything, so that was a bonus.
Quote:
As you said, always better to meet face to face with someone than resolve it over the phone or other means (email) when you can.
It's all about communication and that's the point I wanted to make to him, so I wanted to select the right way to communicate with him.
Wednesday 17 January – part one: a nightmare with the laundry
My plan today had been to get up early, as I seemed to be getting up early every day without trying and head off to do some laundry. I managed to lay in until 6:30am (I know, late right?) and then headed down to the laundrette. There was only one washer going, so I was able to get our washing on easily enough and headed up to deck nine to get some tea.
Once the washing was done, I headed off to put it in the dryer and got chatting to a guy in there. All the washers were going by now (five of them) but he’d taken up three of them, as there were three boys in his family. I told him that other cruise lines, most notably Celebrity, don’t have laundrettes, as I wonder how they’d survive, as they obviously need these facilities.
I came back, showered and washed my hair and was getting ready to go and see if the washing was dry, when the wave phone bleeped to tell us that the dryer had finished. I headed over there, only for the dryer to be showing three minutes returning. Ok, so that system’s not quite working then…. I checked the washing and, as I suspected, it was still damp, so I paid for another dryer load. I knew this would be the case, as when it came out of the washer, everything was still wet, as you don’t get a rinse on the washing, if that makes sense?
They’ve also changed how you use the washers and dryers. You used to just use your key card on the washers or dryers themselves, but now you need to use the kiosk, which is actually a touch pad by the door of the laundrette, where you buy however many washes or dries you require, tapping your key card to add credit to your account. It’s a neat system, but I wish Disney had big signs, explaining it had changed, rather than expecting you to work it out for yourself.
We got the call to say the second load of drying had finished and I went down and found out that our washing still wasn’t dry, so had to pay for another dryer load. Good grief! I went for low temperature this time, instead of delicates, so perhaps this time it will finally dry. If it doesn’t, it will be a bit late, given we’re due at Palo for brunch at 10:00am… considering I started this at 6:30am, I did not expect to still be messing around with this three hours later!
I felt a bit sorry for our housekeeper, as we’d put the privacy sign up and I’m sure he couldn’t get into quite a few rooms, with it being a day at sea. We have been speculating this cruise about whether and when Disney might introduce MagicBands on to the Cruise Line. If they work, it’s about time, as just think about that technology. Disney knows where you are in the parks, so imagine how useful it will be on a cruise ship. Housekeeping would know whether you’re in your room or not for starters. I can just see so many applications for it. I wonder whether the new ships will come equipped with them.
Finally, three hours in and the washing was dry – hurray for small miracles! – and we could get changed and head up to the Palo brunch. We had the first booking of the day at 10:00am and we immediately recognised Luca as one of the maitre d’s we’ve had before.
We were intrigued to see if we had a familiar server too, but we didn’t. We had Duana from Thailand, who was lovely and couldn’t have been more helpful – well, apart from her attempting to swipe my Rossini when I still had a sip left in it! – but we were delighted when a familiar face did come over to say hello. It was Alex from France.
Now we knew he’d served us before, but I had to do a bit of detective work with my trip reports to find the full details. He was with us on the Alaskan cruise in 2015 when we celebrated Mark’s 50th and we had dinner there on the day of his 50th, as well as another dinner and brunch. And here’s the photographic proof:
It was so lovely to see him again and I couldn’t believe that he remembered us, but then again, I guess you do remember a big birthday celebration.
About This Page: 
PassPorter Guide Author
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
It does annoy me that he doesn’t come through the whole restaurant, as it’s not fair to those of us in those sections and I don’t just mean me. 
There were kids behind us who never got to see him and I don’t think that’s right. 
Now finally we can watch whatever movies are showing in our cabins when we want to and can pause them. It's about time. 
I checked the washing and, as I suspected, it was still damp, so I paid for another dryer load. I knew this would be the case, as when it came out of the washer, everything was still wet, as you don’t get a rinse on the washing, if that makes sense? 
Linear Mode
