DREAMing of a Disney spring break COMPLETED - Page 31 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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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Saturday 16 April – part three: will the line be short enough to ride the Aquaduck?
We headed back to the room to dump anything we didn’t need, as we had one task in mind now, to go and try the Aquaduck. When we got there, it was showing a 25 minute wait, but the Cast Member reassured us that it would be more like 20 minutes in all. Honestly, we probably only waited about 15 minutes and got chatting to the woman in front of us. She was 45 and riding with her father-in-law, as she was too scared to go on her own.
I must admit that when she set off and screamed “oh my goodness”, I was wondering if this was a good idea for me. I asked what would be slower, one or two people and the Cast Member (from London, I told you that there were a lot of Brits on this cruise! told me that one would be slower, so I set off on my own.
It was so much fun and really it wasn’t that fast at any point. I was a bit scared when we got to the enclosed area and closed my eyes at that part, but soon re-opened my eyes when I realised I was outside again. As you come into land, you get slowed down. Perhaps the biggest challenge is getting out of the ring and I said a very un-Disney like word as I made a valiant attempt to get out. Soon Mark was crashing down behind me and he got out by landing on his backside.
He immediately said he wanted to do it again and, although I wasn’t sure, I figured I’d go with him and I’m glad that we did. This time, it was more like a 10 minute wait and the woman who had been so scared at her first attempt gave it another go, as she liked it so much as well.
The second time was so much better for me. I didn’t have the fear I had the first time, as I knew what was coming and kept my eyes open for more of it. I liked the fact that what I thought was a tunnel actually has lights in it, so really it wasn’t too bad. As I came out of that, I looked around the ship beneath me and Castaway Cay. It was just so cool.
I managed to do the backside plunge getting out of my ring that Mark had demonstrated previously and boy, did that hurt. I’m so glad that I did this, as it was so much fun.
A few points here:
You can take your Key To The World card with you. They aren’t keen on you having it around your neck, but you can wind it around your wrist and it works fine like that.
Be prepared to get soaked. The back of my head got drenched both times I did it and I wasn’t expecting to get that wet, so it’s worth knowing before you do it. If you’re a contact lens wearer like me, it’s worth wearing goggles to do this. I did and I was very glad I did, as they were quite wet by the end of it.
Twice was enough for us and we headed back to the room to gather some more stuff together and then it was off to the Rainforest. We were the only ones there and spent about an hour ro so there, trying out some of the showers and some of the steam rooms.
When we got there, there was maintenance going on on the hot tub area, which was a shame, but he finished and they were working, so in we went to enjoy that. I was surprised at how much maintenance was going on, considering that the Dream is only a couple of months old, but as Mark said, the sea is very destructive.
Finally, we sat on the hot stone chairs for a good half hour, before I had a shower and we headed off. Although the Rainforest is expensive on here to use, it had been worth every penny, as we had been able to spend some very quickly time here and how cool to have it all to ourselves for so long today as well!
We went to guest services to ask a couple of questions, as we were a bit concerned about putting our cases out and going to dinner at Palo. The second the Cast Member heard that, he told us we could have until 1am to put them out. Cool, especially as we hadn’t made the shops yet and they wouldn’t be open until 5.30pm tonight. That would give us enough time to get everything done.
We asked about lunch options, as I had been hoping to try the Royal Palace, not having eaten there yet, but it was closed for lunch today. The Cast Member recommended the Enchanted Garden, but told us that it was due to close in about 10 minutes, so we headed down there.
As neither of us had our cameras with us, having come from the Rainforest, please forgive the lack of photos from this meal. I tried some of the salads and the clear winner for me was the orange and pineapple salad, which was so good that I went back for more. The cauliflower and cheese soup didn’t do much for me, but the desserts I tried (chocolate mousse, crème caramel and tiramisu) were all very good.
They were very good with us here and gave us a two minute warning when they were going to close the buffet, but we were done by then. In all honesty, it was probably open for about an extra 10 minutes beyond the stated time. I was very impressed with what we had here.
We headed back to the room, as we knew that the rest of the day would be quite busy for us and therefore we wanted to get as much packing down as possible now. We got two cases fully loaded and just left what we would need tonight and what we needed for the morning. I was so sad to be packing already. A three night cruise is for too short for us. It didn’t bother us the first time we did it, as we were getting our “feet wet” with it, but now having done the 11 night Mediterranean cruise, it’s far too short. We probably won’t do one again, because it’s just over too soon.
Just before 3.00pm, we headed down to Evolution, as there was a talk on the Making of the Dream and we wanted to hear that. On the way down, we got a few photos:
When we got there, it was a bit early, so I wandered round and got some more photos:
For a long time, we were the only people in there with Stephanie who was giving the talk. She was a perfect Cast Member, telling us how much she loved working for Disney and how it had always been her dream since an early age to do this.
Eventually, a family of four and a single guy joined us, but that was it, which was a shame, as it wasn’t a bad talk with footage of the Dream being made and some fascinating facts about how they come up with the ideas. She also explained the work that had to be done at both Port Canaveral and Castaway Cay to accommodate the new ships. Apparently, it has a draft of 26 feet and they had to dig out Castaway Cay to 36 feet for the Dream, although apparently the whole crew were still very nervous when they arrived there for the first time on 2 January.
When that finished, we headed towards the Walt Disney Theater, with me stopping to use the amazing restrooms outside Evolution. You have to try them at least once during your cruise if you get the opportunity. They are very odd.
We walked past the future cruises desk, but it was packed with people. Maybe later.... Some shots on the way...
Yes, you're right there are 3 beaches. Surprisingly, my teens hung out with us instead of the teen beach. I think that was because there wasn't anyone over there at the time. Whatever, I'll take it.
Now you've got me thinking about looking into the Rainforest room. But you know me, I am loathe to spend any money on myself like that.........maybe an early birthday present from the family.
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Yes, you're right there are 3 beaches. Surprisingly, my teens hung out with us instead of the teen beach. I think that was because there wasn't anyone over there at the time. Whatever, I'll take it.
Now you've got me thinking about looking into the Rainforest room. But you know me, I am loathe to spend any money on myself like that.........maybe an early birthday present from the family.
I think the teen beach is no longer actually a teen beach. I thought I read that it was now made into the 2nd family beach. (is it the beach right past pelican Plunge?) And the teens just have an area now, rather than a beach. I took pictures of the teen area, but they are on my lost card.
Now I am so curious about the bathrooms by Evolution! They've been mentioned in several TR's. Guess I'll see for myself soon enough!
Glad you had the chance to do the Aquaduck - that's what the kids are most excited about on our upcoming cruise.
I know what you mean about the short cruises feeling too short now, after doing a long one. So will you do B2B on the Fantasy, or suffer along with ONLY 7 days?!
That adult beach is so peaceful. We spent a lot of time there. But I can't imagine being out there in that heat!
I'm so glad you enjoyed the AquaDuck. Twice!! It looks like fun. I agree, 3 nights is way too short. But you sure made the best of it.
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Now you've got me thinking about looking into the Rainforest room. But you know me, I am loathe to spend any money on myself like that.........maybe an early birthday present from the family.
You'd better drop some appallingly big hints then... given at how well they did with the baby Dumbo!
I think the teen beach is no longer actually a teen beach. I thought I read that it was now made into the 2nd family beach. (is it the beach right past pelican Plunge?) And the teens just have an area now, rather than a beach. I took pictures of the teen area, but they are on my lost card.
You could well be right. I know that there have been changes recently, but as our only interest is Serenity Bay I didn't take much notice of those....
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I asked what would be slower, one or two people and the Cast Member (from London, I told you that there were a lot of Brits on this cruise! 
told me that one would be slower, so I set off on my own. 
I’m so glad that I did this, as it was so much fun. 
The Cast Member recommended the Enchanted Garden, but told us that it was due to close in about 10 minutes, so we headed down there. 
I tried some of the salads and the clear winner for me was the orange and pineapple salad, which was so good that I went back for more. The cauliflower and cheese soup didn’t do much for me, but the desserts I tried (chocolate mousse, crème caramel and tiramisu) were all very good. 
Whatever, I'll take it. 
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