A Magical voyage across the pond TRIP REPORT UPDATED 12/31 - Page 46 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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How very odd not to at least have water. Tastes can definitely linger in the mouth! And how unfortunate to have this George doing the tasting! Sounds like a real bore. Glad it was still informational though. Funny bits about the Parmesan, wow!
Nice effort on climbing the stairs! I'd say it was worth a Dole whip. But I'm confused, why would you have to pay for it? Is that considered an upcharge thing on DCL? And - bad reviews?? Clearly I'm out of the loop on this one!
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Tanya
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I know, it's such an obvious thing to do and a cheap thing to provide as well!
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Tastes can definitely linger in the mouth! And how unfortunate to have this George doing the tasting! Sounds like a real bore.
He was very dull...
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Glad it was still informational though. Funny bits about the Parmesan, wow!
Nice effort on climbing the stairs! I'd say it was worth a Dole whip. But I'm confused, why would you have to pay for it? Is that considered an upcharge thing on DCL? And - bad reviews?? Clearly I'm out of the loop on this one!
Yes, the particular location on deck nine has items that are additional charges and Dole Whip is one of them. Unfortunately, it's just one of the (many!) ways that Disney now get their money's worth out of you.
First off, I love your sweatshirt!! That is definitely one that I would have bought, too! How unfortunate that they had a dull guy like George leading the seminar! What were they thinking?
Wednesday 12 September – part six: getting our money’s worth!
When I got back to the room, we chilled for a while, before I did the tea run up to deck nine, as it was getting a bit chilly in our room. We turned the heating up and enjoyed a warm drink before the festivities of formal night….
We got ready and headed down to Keys, which was where the premium open bar was taking place for the Facebook group. Oh my goodness, we felt so overdressed when we arrived, as no-one else was in formal gear. I really started to worry that maybe I’d got the night wrong. I was so relieved when someone else turned up in formal gear. The guy was wearing a suit and had angel and devil Donald, one on each shoulder. It looked so cool! It turns out he uses magnets to secure them and he said he gets so many comments about them. I’m not surprised, they were so awesome!
Shelly, who was organising the event, handed out nametags. I did get worried when she got to the end of the big ones and there was no sign of our names, but we were on smaller nametags. Phew! She was a great host and I think she circulated to everyone, chatting away. She also checked on those who didn’t turn up. We had 13 no-shows, including Mari and Raleigh – they forgot, can you believe it? - and she messaged a lot of them using the Disney Cruise Line app and the amount of people who turned up after she did was amazing. Some were sleeping, I think I heard someone say they were in a movie. She did a great job, but as she said, there was only so much she could do and rightly so – everyone here is an adult and it’s up to them to remember to turn up. Disney must have been pleased, as they already had everyone’s money. I bet Mickey was rubbing his hands with glee!
Keys is beautiful…
We were greeted with a selection of drinks and I knew you could go up to the bar to ask for others, but I was happy with my Bahama Mama!
I ended up having four of these babies, so I certainly got my money’s worth from this! Mark wasn’t going to drink, but had a couple of beers. However, others did way better than us. I saw Shelly and her other half with orange drinks carriers and I watched them pour three lots of… well I’m not sure what it was, but it was brown, into those, so I’m sure they had a happy night!
We ended up chatting to a couple from California and in the end had to excuse ourselves, as we were already late for early dining.
On the way there, there was a guy heading to the captain’s welcome gala, which seemed to still be going strong when we walked through the atrium. That surprised me, as it’s usually done when first dining starts. However, in fairness, in January, we did get talking to an officer and lost track of the time. I asked him what he was carrying, as he had a weirdly coloured cocktail and he told me. He specifically said it had light rum in it, as I double checked with him, so I picked it up. Remember this for later….
When we got there, only Mari was seated, so we were a bit worried about Raleigh, but he was just on a bathroom break and was back momentarily.
The FB group open bar sounds like a winner! Glad it ended up that you weren’t the only ones in formal wear. I love the angel and devil Donald idea! Very clever!
I'd say Mickey was toasting himself with a drink that night! Good job getting your money's worth. Glad it all turned out to be a great gathering! But I'm also surprised at the lack of formal wear, unless they're all at late dining and going to change quickly?
Uh oh, you were told only light rum in a drink? I'm remembering for later....
__________________
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
I'd say Mickey was toasting himself with a drink that night!
I think you're probably right!
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Good job getting your money's worth. Glad it all turned out to be a great gathering! But I'm also surprised at the lack of formal wear, unless they're all at late dining and going to change quickly?
That's what I think might have happened. There was all the drama pre-cruise about those on main dining who didn't want to come to this, as they might be late for it, so maybe that accounts for it?
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Uh oh, you were told only light rum in a drink? I'm remembering for later....
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Tastes can definitely linger in the mouth! And how unfortunate to have this George doing the tasting! Sounds like a real bore. Glad it was still informational though. Funny bits about the Parmesan, wow!
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It turns out he uses magnets to secure them and he said he gets so many comments about them. I’m not surprised, they were so awesome! 
- and she messaged a lot of them using the Disney Cruise Line app and the amount of people who turned up after she did was amazing. Some were sleeping, I think I heard someone say they were in a movie. She did a great job, but as she said, there was only so much she could do and rightly so – everyone here is an adult and it’s up to them to remember to turn up. Disney must have been pleased, as they already had everyone’s money. I bet Mickey was rubbing his hands with glee! 
I asked him what he was carrying, as he had a weirdly coloured cocktail and he told me. He specifically said it had light rum in it, as I double checked with him, so I picked it up. Remember this for later…. 
It was, in fairness, the only reason I signed up for the Facebook group in the first place and I was so glad I did. 
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