The trip of many changes... TRIP REPORT UPDATED 4/25 - Page 53 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Your sunset pictures were beautiful. Dinner at Paolo looked delicious although it is a disappointment when you find a bone like that in your meal. Sorry it didn't live up to your expectations compared to the other evening. Luca and Alexa sound like they always make your dining experience memorable.
I loved that butternut squash dish, and was sorry I waited for our second Palo dinner to try it. I loved it so much I was sad I only got to eat it once!
Even with a few bumps, sounds like this meal was more enjoyable than if you’d done MDR.
Glad you were able to get the photos downloaded in the end! Sorry Palo had some issues on your last night! I’m sure it still ended up being the better option!
Oh my goodness, yes!
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So sad it’s all coming to an end.
Me too. I'm getting sad all over again now we're at that point in the trip report.
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Glad to see some things were still tasty as usual. But it's a bummer your entree wasn't the best. I guess it took too long to de-bone the fish and it got cold! Even though it was slightly burnt, that amaretto souffle looks soooo good!!
Your sunset pictures were beautiful. Dinner at Paolo looked delicious although it is a disappointment when you find a bone like that in your meal. Sorry it didn't live up to your expectations compared to the other evening. Luca and Alexa sound like they always make your dining experience memorable.
I loved that butternut squash dish, and was sorry I waited for our second Palo dinner to try it. I loved it so much I was sad I only got to eat it once!
Even with a few bumps, sounds like this meal was more enjoyable than if you’d done MDR.
I think so. It was definitely the right decision for us.
Too bad your meal at Palo was a bit off with your main course and dessert, but still enjoyable. All looks good and especially the Caprese salad and the rich pasta dish. Your service team of Alex and Luca were as good as ever. Hope you get to see them on the Magic in a few months. It's amazing how many Disney big shots were on board and just wondering why for this?
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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!
Too bad your meal at Palo was a bit off with your main course and dessert, but still enjoyable. All looks good and especially the Caprese salad and the rich pasta dish. Your service team of Alex and Luca were as good as ever. Hope you get to see them on the Magic in a few months.
Oh so do I. It's so lovely to meet old friends on board a Disney cruise.
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It's amazing how many Disney big shots were on board and just wondering why for this?
I wondered that too. I kept hearing people say that it was the inaugural stop at Curacao, which wasn't right. However, it was the first time the Wonder had stopped there. I wouldn't have thought that was a big enough reason to have senior managers on board, but I guess maybe sometimes they just join a cruise at quieter times of the year? I guess if that's the case, they probably want one with a more unusual itinerary? That's all I could think of.
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Sunday 21 January – part one: one of the worst disembarkations ever
The alarm went at 5:30am, but I was awake slightly before that. Someone had insisted on setting it this early, so we’d have enough time before we headed up to Cabana’s for breakfast an hour later. Of course, typically, 20 minutes later, we were ready to go, so headed up to deck nine to do the final tea run of the cruise.
We packed the few final items into the big case and weighed it. It was coming in at 51lbs, so we decided not to chance it, opened it up, grabbed one thing and put that into the case that was well below the weight limit. I do not want to be repacking when we get to the airport and we’re on a deadline.
I will confess I have been dreading this day because of the tight turnaround to get our flight. I just want to get off the ship and get moving and it didn’t help that JetBlue’s website has continuously refused to let me do anything with our boarding passes, so now we have to deal with that when we get to the airport. Not what we need!
We headed up to Cabana’s for 6:30am, when it opened and found Julia waiting for us. Mark was down on deck three, waiting for the liquor they’d bought during this cruise at the various ports of call. It was supposed to be available at 6:00am, but by 7:00am, he’d only got two out of the three. That is not good enough!
It was a more limited breakfast, as it always is on the last day at Cabana’s, but I made the best of it. No French toast was a real disappointment though.
We said our goodbyes to Alex and Luca, as they were working Cabana’s this morning. That’s how we first found out it’s open for breakfast on the final morning, as Disney don’t advertise it. Then it was time to say goodbye to Julia too. As they’re express walk off too, we may see them downstairs in the atrium though before we actually get off the ship.
When we got back to the room, there were some beautiful skies over San Juan…
While I was taking photos, Mark went down to ask where we’d be disembarking from, given we’d embarked through deck one forward. It would be the same on the way out. Oh goodie! We finished up in the room and grabbed our cases and set off. It was like an obstacle course getting along our corridor, as all the housekeepers were already at work, which I felt bad about. In the end, I put the two I had (one was hand luggage) on top of the other and Mark got help from one of the housekeepers with one of the big cases.
Then the next problem was the elevators. There only appeared to be two out of four working and we later found out why – the other two were just going between decks one and three, where everyone was lined up to get off. We went through five elevators, four of which were full with people and cases. The fifth had a couple in with cases and she wouldn’t let Mark on. If that had been me, I would’ve honestly forced my way in with the case, as there was room. How selfish can you be?
Eventually we got an elevator going up and went up to deck nine with a mother and her daughter and then ran the gauntlet of families with cases all trying to get into the elevator, but they all wanted to stay together. We kept telling them they needed to make a decision – they either split up and meet at deck one or they all stay out, as they wouldn’t all fit in. Honestly, some of them just didn’t get in.
Finally, we were at deck one and we were already disembarking. I hadn’t heard any central announcement about that, but at least that was something. We swiped our room keys for the last time and then headed down the steep ramp, trying not to let the suitcases go at breakneck speed, which was not an easy task. It was humid as anything out there and by now, we were both caked in sweat.
This was honestly one of the worst disembarkations I’ve ever had with Disney. Coming off at deck one forward is a really stupid idea. I appreciate they may have no alternative, but I dread to think how chaotic it was later on…
Oh my everything is conspiring against you this morning! What a work-out. And yes with that much going on for you that early, it's hard to imagine what it would be like a few hours later. I think folks oughta be required to take an elevator-riding class. I hate it when we stop and the folks waiting to get on stand there like its the biggest decision ever ...
I love traveling but lugging cases is certainly an unwelcome part of it.
Well I'm glad you're finally off the ship, but a little nervous to learn what you've done ...
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Hope you get to see them on the Magic in a few months. It's amazing how many Disney big shots were on board and just wondering why for this?
That is not good enough! 
As they’re express walk off too, we may see them downstairs in the atrium though before we actually get off the ship. 
We finished up in the room and grabbed our cases and set off. It was like an obstacle course getting along our corridor, as all the housekeepers were already at work, which I felt bad about. In the end, I put the two I had (one was hand luggage) on top of the other and Mark got help from one of the housekeepers with one of the big cases. 
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