A magical Mediterranean vacation COMPLETED - Page 70 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Oh wow, I love the pictures of Venice you took during the gondola ride. That is one thing we didn't do while we were there and I really regret that.
That was how I felt after not doing one during our previous visit there.
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About the World Cup thing - well, considering we won it this year, there's not much that could've kept me from watching that particular final
Not even Venice at night on a gondola? By the way, bear in mind that people would've presumably booked their excursions before they knew who was in the final - and therefore would've had to cancel their excursion...
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Monday 14 July – part one: we’re going to need those waterproof jackets
When the alarm went off at 6:00am this morning, I really did not want to know. The scene outside didn’t exactly inspire me either…
All I can say is thank goodness we’ve now got some waterproof jackets, as I think we could be needing them today. And sure enough, the heavens opened up soon…
We got going, and packed up the rest of our bits and pieces and headed off to breakfast.
As you were probably able to guess from that photo we were in Animator’s Palate, and we were the first ones there, and were a bit worried when someone other than Mike and Desiree started to serve us. I didn’t want to leave without seeing them. Fortunately, they soon arrived, and we were able to get our orders in.
I went for the lox and bagels…
… along with a bowl of cereal, and some fruit:
Heck, I wanted to make the best of it being our last free meal on board. Mark had the muesli…
… and the almost home, made up of corned beef hash, fried eggs and bacon skillet topped with fried onions:
When we were done, we gave Mike and Desiree one final huge hug on the way out. I have heard from so many people how wonderful it is to have amazing servers, but honestly, we’ve never experienced that before, and now I know how much of a difference it makes to your cruise experience. I am so glad we got them.
We made a final restroom stop, then we headed down to deck 3 midship to disembark, and joined the long snaking line.
We were off soon enough, and it was still raining. I guess it was someone saying we didn’t want you to leave – well, neither did I!
We headed into the terminal, which was a bit busier than it had been last night…
… and almost immediately we found the first of our cases, although we had a bit of a hunt for the second one, but finally we found that as well.
Then we walked out through customs, and stared at the heavy rain outside. There was no way I was going outside in that without my new Disney Cruise Line waterproof jacket, although I did have one officious woman tell me that I had to keep moving. Well, Ok that’s fine, but do you want to tell that to the other 20 or 30 people standing around in here as well? If they move, I will…
I got my waterproof on, then we set off. I was not impressed to be told by the first Cast Member I saw that there was no shuttle to the People Mover. Hello? Fortunately, when we got to the coach area, we did find there was a shuttle over there, but I have to say we’d walked a fair way by then, and we were soaked as were all our cases. Not good, and none of us were impressed with the planning again. Mark had said earlier Disney don’t care once you’re off the ship, and that is what it felt like to us…
We got on the shuttle, and it took us over to the People Mover. I already had the right money to get four single tickets, so I took the hand luggage, told Mark to get the rest of the luggage, and I’d go and get the tickets, so they were all ready and waiting when the others arrived.
We headed inside, although I’m not quite sure what happened, as I was a bit further ahead, but suddenly I turned around and realised Raleigh was on the floor. I think he said his suitcase had unbalanced him. Fortunately, there was no damage done, although as his ticket had already activated the barrier, they’d now closed and wouldn’t re-open, so he had to limbo underneath them.
We headed upstairs to the train platform, and had a seven minute wait. Fortunately, after last night, we knew how this worked, and were first in line, so that when the doors opened, Mari and I at least got a seat.
That's a slap in the face back to reality. Glad you at least had one more nice meal with your wonderful servers!
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Tanya
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Well as some of said being a rude awakening into the non-Disney real world...your trip was not over as you still have a week in Italy to explore!
Sorry, the weather on your departure, wasn't so cooperative as those clouds are quite scary!
So glad to hear how great Mike and Desiree were as your servers! Hope I get them on my Magic cruise in April. Probably, no way to know this until you sit down for your first meal!
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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!
I'm glad it waited to rain until disembarkation at least, but what a bummer way to end the Disney part of your vacation. I have to agree with Mark about Disney and disembarkation...you'll see what I mean in my trip report too. Hope the weather gets better!
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So beautiful! 
By the way, bear in mind that people would've presumably booked their excursions before they knew who was in the final - and therefore would've had to cancel their excursion...
The scene outside didn’t exactly inspire me either… 
And sure enough, the heavens opened up soon… 
we were in Animator’s Palate, and we were the first ones there, and were a bit worried when someone other than Mike and Desiree started to serve us. I didn’t want to leave without seeing them. 
I guess it was someone saying we didn’t want you to leave – well, neither did I! 
Fortunately, when we got to the coach area, we did find there was a shuttle over there, but I have to say we’d walked a fair way by then, and we were soaked as were all our cases. Not good, and none of us were impressed with the planning again. Mark had said earlier Disney don’t care once you’re off the ship, and that is what it felt like to us… 
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