A 40th celebration to end the world! COMPLETED 4/23 - Page 50 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Between the two tours and the completely different weather for each it's like you spent two days touring the city!
It was really!
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How great to be able to see all the places you'd been as you pulled out of port. This itinerary really looks great.
The itinerary was superb and I'm so pleased that San Juan is going to be the base for some future sailings. It's definitely a place I'd like to go back to...
I think I've seen something about that house on HGTV or Travel Channel. Probably on Strangest Homes or something like that. But over a million for it?!?!
OK all caught up. That house is just crazy. wonder if it gets any bigger in the back. at 1.3 million I can see why it is still on the market.
I noticed all the flags at half staff? What day was this was it after the 14th? Then it would be for Sandy Hook.
I don't think those tree are banyan trees. They have them in Hawaii as well. The Banyan trees have their branches grow down into the ground and form another tree so one tree actually can grow into several trees. But I don't think their roots are in the tree like the one you showed. their roots are just in the ground. I think but I culd be wrong. You'll have to check it out when you go to Hawaii.
I love the picture of the cathedral dome with the beautiful coastline behind it; it looks like it's out of a magazine!! Thank you for sharing your port adventure. I can honestly say that I had no idea how pretty San Juan was. Hopefully I'll be able to journey there someday.
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Disney Trips: BLT & Poly Bungalow 2016, VGF 2015, Fantasy 2015, Saratoga Springs Resort 2014, Grand Villa at VGF 2013, Fantasy 2013, BWV and Kidani Village 2011, BWV and Kidani Village 2010, BWV and Saratoga Springs Resort 2008,Beach Club Villas 2008,Villas at Wilderness Lodge 2006, BWV 2006, BCV 2005, HHI 2004,Polynesian 2003,Grand Floridian 2000/concierge, Honeymoon at Polynesian 1994,Polynesian 1980,Polynesian 1978
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Sue
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What a wonderful tour! I love all the colors of the buildings, and the day ended up being so beautiful! (and what a nice way to end it, freshened up and enjoying a glass of wine...)
OK all caught up. That house is just crazy. wonder if it gets any bigger in the back. at 1.3 million I can see why it is still on the market.
I noticed all the flags at half staff? What day was this was it after the 14th? Then it would be for Sandy Hook.
It was for Sandy Hook - they explained at some point that they do a lot longer at mourning that the rest of the States. I think they said something like a week or 10 days...
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I don't think those tree are banyan trees. They have them in Hawaii as well. The Banyan trees have their branches grow down into the ground and form another tree so one tree actually can grow into several trees. But I don't think their roots are in the tree like the one you showed. their roots are just in the ground. I think but I culd be wrong. You'll have to check it out when you go to Hawaii.
I love the picture of the cathedral dome with the beautiful coastline behind it; it looks like it's out of a magazine!! Thank you for sharing your port adventure. I can honestly say that I had no idea how pretty San Juan was. Hopefully I'll be able to journey there someday.
Wednesday 19 December – part nine: Stitch gets a bit over-excited!
Once we were out into open water, it was time to go and get dinner, but first I just had to stop by and see Lilo and Stitch. When we got to see them, Stitch immediately spotted my Alaskan cruise T-shirt from last year, and told me he was there. I told him that I remembered it well, as he was rolling around on the floor, and Mark had to help him up. Well, that set him off, and he was rolling around on the floor again, with Lilo covering her face. I’ll say here that this is the only thing I don’t like about the photographers on board. At Disney World, they’d happily snap away all of these elements, so you had all your memories recorded. Here, they don’t. They only get photos of you with the characters, and I think that means you miss out on a lot, which is a shame.
Eventually, we got Stitch to act sort of sensible (he kept trying to block all of us behind! ) to get a couple of photos with him and Lilo….
Then it was off to dinner at the Enchanted Garden, and of course we were running late again, because we’d stopped to have photos taken. I was at the stage of not really caring, as we were the only ones there last night, and we arrived with Anne, with the rest of the stragglers coming in the next few minutes, so we really had nothing to worry about.
To start off with, I went for the non-alcoholic Tutti Frutti drink, which contained cranberry puree, coconut cream, guava, and passion fruit puree, and pineapple juice. Wow, this was my sort of drink – very sweet and easy to drink, and at least not alcoholic, so I wouldn’t get drunk.
Mark wasn’t worried though, and went for the golden slipper, which had peach schnapps in it, crème de cassis, and sparkling wine. As he said, a bit of a girlie drink, but he seemed to enjoy it….
When we got the menus, they weren’t as good as the night before, but then again, that would be difficult, as it had been so good. For appetiser, I went for the “enchanted” blue cheese polenta cakes with caramelised onions and walnuts. These were fine, although without the blue cheese, onions, and walnuts, they would’ve been really dry and tasteless. I would say there wasn’t quite enough of each of these, as I only just made it stretch across all the cakes.
Mark struggled to find anything he could have or wanted for appetiser, and went for the Princess Madeleine salmon royal, marinated slices of salmon with honey mustard dressing. I wasn’t sure about getting this, as I didn’t like the idea of the honey mustard dressing, but when it came out, it was on the side, so I could’ve had this after all. Never mind…
For entrée, I went for the roasted Portobello mushroom triangoli pasta, topped with sour cream, pesto swirl, and a sweet butternut squash sauce. Oh my goodness, this was like heaven on a plate. It just tasted so good, and I loved every bite of it. In fact, I loved it so much, and it was so easy to eat and I didn’t feel full when I was done, that I ordered another plateful of it, and almost managed to polish that off as well. That is the first time I’ve ever done that on a cruise, but my goodness, it was just superb.
Mark went for the oven-roasted Tom turkey breast, with green beans, mashed potatoes, rosemary stuffing, and cranberry relish, which he said wasn’t that great.
For dessert, we both opted for the Prince Charming chilled chocolate soufflé, with light chocolate cream and an almond brittle. We did ask Naya how they can mass produce soufflés perfectly for dinner, without warning, as obviously you have to ask for them in advance at Palo, but he explained because they’re chilled, they can be done this way. I have to be honest, when it arrived, beautiful though it was, it really didn’t strike me as being a soufflé. It was more like a mousse to my way of thinking….
At the end of the meal, Alex and Jessica disappeared, and the rest of us were still talking. Naya came over, and ended up making a napkin rose for both myself and Anne, which was very neat.
When we came out of there, I suggested going up to the lobby to see what was happening, and to see if we could get any photos. Mark spotted Minnie in her holiday finery in front of the gingerbread house, so we just had to get a photo with her.
While waiting Mark got a photo of me with my rose – not the greatest, because of the shadow, but you get the idea…
We took the elevator up to deck 11 to see if Mark could get in for a facial and shave, which they say will make you look ten years younger.
The girl on reception is the one who does the shaves, and she originally suggested 5:45pm on Friday, which wouldn’t work so well, as we want to make the final dinner of the trip, and it’s kind of close for Remy. When we explained that, and the fact it was my birthday on Friday, she came up with 4:45pm instead. Ok, that works better… It’ll be interesting to see what the results will be….
On the way back down to the room, we bumped into Captain Tom, which was slightly surreal, but it was also nice to see to him walking around the ship, checking on things. We asked him if the seas would get any rougher, and he told us this was as bad as it would get. Ok, well that I can live with.
We headed back to the room, where we met Carlos, and saw his latest creation, a stingray! I led out a delighted cry of “stingray” when I saw it, and Carlos told me off for spoiling the surprise for Mark.
We spent the rest of the evening watching the rest of Total Recall, and then it was time for lights out.
The weather today was torrential rain in the morning, followed by sunshine in the afternoon, with temperatures in the mid 80s. The best thing today was the Segway tour. The worst thing today was the weather. The funniest thing today was our encounter with Lilo and Stitch Today we tried taking the walking tour of Castillo San Cristobal And the result was it was good, despite the appalling weather. The most magical moment today was zooming around on Segways in front of the Castillo San Felipe del Morro.
I have a to agree about the ship photographers. I wish they would do more candid shots like photopass does. It irks me that they usually onely do 2 posed shots and take none of the fun stuff.
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When we got to see them, Stitch immediately spotted my Alaskan cruise T-shirt from last year, and told me he was there. I told him that I remembered it well, as he was rolling around on the floor, and Mark had to help him up. Well, that set him off, and he was rolling around on the floor again, with Lilo covering her face. I’ll say here that this is the only thing I don’t like about the photographers on board. At Disney World, they’d happily snap away all of these elements, so you had all your memories recorded. Here, they don’t. 
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