A special birthday, a diamond anniversary and a west coast adventure UPDATED 9/7 - Page 4 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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My parents absolutely love Whistler not only for the amazing skiing, but the scenery is just stunning as well. Sounds like more changes are coming up soon!
My parents absolutely love Whistler not only for the amazing skiing, but the scenery is just stunning as well. Sounds like more changes are coming up soon!
Signing in and all caught up! Wow have your plans changed!!! But what adventures you will have. And having time to spend with Sharon and Karen is the icing on the cake!
I hope you and Mark are going back to the shop in Gastown with the unique hats! I think Mark needs another, don't you?
Signing in and all caught up! Wow have your plans changed!!! But what adventures you will have. And having time to spend with Sharon and Karen is the icing on the cake!
I hope you and Mark are going back to the shop in Gastown with the unique hats! I think Mark needs another, don't you?
I suspect we may... if we can remember where it is...
Well, the hope is to be in WDW.... and maybe Aulani, Disneyland and on a Disney cruise over Christmas 2017... so you'd be welcome to join us for some or all of that! We are looking at a three and a half week trip to fit it all in, just before anyone asks...
Well if I just knew which continent I'll be living on by then I could make plans too.
Pre-trip report – part three: our plans for our Alaskan cruise
So what have we got planned for this cruise? Well the itinerary runs something like this:
Monday 31 August
Leave Vancouver Tuesday 1 September
Day at sea Wednesday 2 September
Tracy Arm Fjord Thursday 3 September
Skagway Friday 4 September
Juneau Saturday 6 September
Ketchikan Sunday 7 September
Day at sea Monday 8 September
Disembark
I was particularly pleased that we’d be in Juneau for Mark’s actual birthday, as it’s the place for whale watching on this cruise, and he still wants to see an orca, so fingers crossed on that front.
Now when it comes to the bookings we’ve already made, I was able to get exactly what we wanted. Although a lot of people will tell you not to book anything on the day the Wonder visits Tracy Arm Fjord, that’s the beauty of already having done one Alaskan cruise, because in fairness, we’ve seen it once, so we know what to expect. You cruise for some hours towards the glacier, so I knew that if we went for brunch earlier on, we wouldn’t miss that much, and heck, we’d still have a view through the windows at Palo. I had the pick of times, so went for 11:00am, so reasonably early, but at least we won’t have to get up specially early for it.
The next day we start our visits to our various ports of call, and there was a lot of agonising went into deciding which shore excursions to take. One thing we knew was that we wanted to do something different to our last cruise, certainly for Skagway and Ketchikan anyway. Juneau was a bit different, as we’d been on a whale watching cruise last time, and we’d certainly be doing that again this time around.
Let’s start with that. Eventually, we opted for Alaska’s Whales and Glaciers Photo Safari. There were lots of different excursions to pick from that included whale watching and we went for this one a) on the grounds that if it’s a photo safari, we’ll probably (hopefully!) have more of a chance to get some great photos of these magnificent animals and b) it’s only recommended for those aged 10 and upwards, and it’s only available to those aged five and above.
So what’s it all about? Well, you head out on a bus to the trailhead at the Mendenhall glacier, and on board, you receive tips and techniques to help improve your photography skills on the way. Then you’re led by a photography guide, who stays with you throughout the rest of your tour, on a walk through the Trail of Time at the glacier, given you the opportunity to test out those photography tips. It’s a 75 minute walk over three quarters of a mile, and I am a bit concerned about the standing around, as let’s face it, it won’t take 75 minutes to cover that distance but hopefully I’ll be Ok. I managed a two hour photo safari at Leeds Castle, and so long as I don’t overdo it beforehand (which I don’t intend to) or afterwards, then hopefully my chronic fatigue will be Ok…
After the walk, you re-board the shuttle and take a drive to Auke Bay to board the boat for whale watching. The description of the shore excursion says that these are the only vessels in Juneau to have “large-opening, panel windows, a covered cabin protecting you from the wind and rain, perimeter seating, and open decks, giving you an eye-to-eye view”. We’ll be out on the water for about two and a quarter hours and they manoeuvre around to try and get the best angle for photos, which works for us!
As part of the tour, you get a complimentary DVD with expert photography tutorial and slideshow, and if the worst comes to the worst, and we don’t see any whales, we’ll at least get $100 cash refund. Let’s hope we don’t need that. I was also impressed that rain ponchos, umbrellas, camera towels, monopod walking sticks and binoculars on board the boat are all provided, along with bottled water and a snack pack, including chocolate, assorted nuts, fruit leather (what the heck is that? ) and a granola bar is another nice addition.
There were three times available, and I went for the latest, which runs from 10:30am – 4:00pm, as then we don’t have to have that early a start to what is Mark’s birthday. Having said that, if we’re up, and we want to, and it’s a good day (it rained the last time we were in Juneau ), then we may do the Mount Roberts Tramway beforehand.
That night, we’re booked for dinner at Palo at 7:30pm. Well, what better way could there be to round off a very special 50th birthday?
Ok, now let’s backtrack to the day before, when we’ll be in Skagway. The last time we did the Alaskan cruise, we did the White Pass and Yukon Railway, which was absolutely amazing, but having heard great reports from our friends who were on the cruise with us (yep, Barb (Grammy Grumpy), I’m talking to you! ) about what they did, which was viewing eagles, we realised there was much more to this port of call. Now they did the Eagle Preserve Float Adventure, if my memory serves me right (and if it doesn’t, then I’m sure someone will correct me ), which sounded cool, but a bit too much excitement for us.
In the end, we opted for the Evening Wildlife Expedition. Now, given the name, you’d be forgiven for thinking this is just a couple of hours towards the end of our time here, but my goodness, how wrong you’d be! It actually leaves just after midday, returning just before we leave at 7:15pm, so I guess we won’t having dinner on board that night, given we’re on the early seating. Still, hopefully the excursion will be worth it.
Once again, this tour is only open to those aged five and up, and is only recommended for those aged 10 and over. You start off by cruising down the glacial fjord between Skagway and Haines on a catamaran, then when you get to Haines, you travel by bus to the Chilkoot River Valley. Here, you get to observe brown bears and their cubs coming down to the water to fish for their dinner. You get to watch from the bus (I’m not quite sure how this is going to work, unless there are similar views on either side of the bus ) and you can take photos through their powerful spotting scopes, which sounds cool. We may apparently be allowed off the bus in small, quiet groups and may get to explore the rainforest. It will all depend on the location of the bears on the day.
Then you get a picnic-style lunch (albeit right at the end of the tour, so you’re advised to have lunch before you leave the Wonder ) with your guide, before you head back to the dock in Haines, and from there back on the catamaran to Skagway. What I liked about this tour is that it only operates in August and September, so it’s very unique.
Our final port of call will be Ketchikan, and the last time we were there, we did the crab feast, which we absolutely loved, and flight seeing. We were quite keen on having another excursion with a crab feast in, so eventually we opted for the Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary and Crab Feast. Now this is an adults only excursion where you head to the Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary on board a bus. You then head out on an eco-tour walk, crossing elevated platforms to see bald eagles, black bears, seals, deer and birds – hopefully!
If we don’t luck out there, then we next go to the eagle sanctuary, where we’re guaranteed a close-up viewing of a bald eagle and owl. You also learn about totem pole carving from a native carver, before having some free time. We then head off to the George Inlet Lodge, which is where we had our last crab feat, and get to enjoy freshly cooked Dungeness crab with salad and dessert, before the excursion ends.
All sounds good to me – I can’t wait to enjoy all of these wonderful excursions and see what else each of the ports of call has to offer us on our second visit to them.
FYI - The number one ingredient in the strawberry fruit leather we have right now is apple puree, and apple juice.
Your excursions sound fantastic! Especially the Ketchikan one, that sounds awesome!
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Tanya
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Well, the hope is to be in WDW.... and maybe Aulani, Disneyland and on a Disney cruise over Christmas 2017... so you'd be welcome to join us for some or all of that! 
We are looking at a three and a half week trip to fit it all in, just before anyone asks... 
I figured by then, if I was remembering right, your time in Australia would be at an end, as that runs until summer 2017, I think?
but hopefully I’ll be Ok. I managed a two hour photo safari at Leeds Castle, and so long as I don’t overdo it beforehand (which I don’t intend to) or afterwards, then hopefully my chronic fatigue will be Ok… 
) and a granola bar is another nice addition. 
Having said that, if we’re up, and we want to, and it’s a good day (it rained the last time we were in Juneau 
We may apparently be allowed off the bus in small, quiet groups and may get to explore the rainforest. It will all depend on the location of the bears on the day. 
where you head to the Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary on board a bus. You then head out on an eco-tour walk, crossing elevated platforms to see bald eagles, black bears, seals, deer and birds – hopefully! 
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