Laurie and Carol's Panama Adventure **Updated 6/11** COMPLETE - Page 6 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Very gusty winds overnight and early morning. On the info channel the seas were classed as "rough, 8-13 feet". The closer we got to Cabo, however, the calmer the winds became. Still windy enough that several excursions were cancelled. The outside temp at 7am was only 69, but we should hit 90 on shore later today. We gained an hour of sleep last night and will get another tonight--an advantage of traveling Westbound!
What a gorgeous location this is! I remember looking at the photos from 2005 reports, but in person it's even more...WOW! I'm looking forward to my shopping expedition in town with Lesley and Carol. Terri will glide from tree-to-tree while we plod along on solid ground. This will be my first time tendering into a port--plenty of adventure for me.
Tonight is Pirate Night--another first for me, since I slept through the celebrations 2 years ago.
Carol, Lesley and I had a wonderful day in Cabo. In town the temps were very comfortable, reaching the low 80's by noon--just perfect for walking around and poking into all the shops. As I suspected, the three of us together are downright dangerous to shop with! We all purchased beautiful fire opals and assorted trinkets. Lesley also got a beautiful orange blouse that will set off the opal perfectly. We had a delicious lunch at Cabo Wabo. I had been worried about getting on and off the tender, but had no problems. I'm paying today for all the walking, though!
Although, as usual, I was asleep before the deck party began, I enjoyed pirate dinner. Nearly everyone had some sort of pirate gear on and some folks had obviously put a lot of thought and time into their costumes.
We have 2 sea days left before this amazing trip comes to an end.
I'm running out of internet minutes, so won't be downloading, captioning or arranging more photos until I get home next week.
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Last day... very sad to leave the ship and new-found friends. What a rude awakening it will be to arrive home to all of life's routine tasks. Cruising is such a complete vacation--a person could get very used to this.
Another cold, blustery day. Too bad our last 2 sea days have been mostly too chilly to enjoy the outside decks, but there's plenty to do inside. Yesterday it was comfortable outside for a couple of hours in the afternoon and maybe that will happen today as well. Yesterday I took it easy, having overdone the walking in Cabo. I ran into Lesley during the afternoon and she and Terri stopped by (looking lovely for formal night) during our dinner at Animator's Palate. We were all wearing our new jewelry purchases and I must say we all chose well!
Today is packing day, but I'm sure I'll find time for other things. The Art of Entertainment series ends with a dessert presentation, so I'll try to see that. I may play bingo this afternoon, as the final jackpot will be nearly 20,000
$20,000! Wow! That is a big jackpot!
It's sad to see the end of the cruise already. I know I will feel the same at the end of ours!
Thanks for sharing!
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I can't believe the trip is over...it went so fast for us as we read so I cannot begin to understand what you all must be feeling now that this amazing trip is in it's last hours...
You shopping excursion sounded wonderful - glad that the weather was comfortable for a day of shopping...