From no trip to celebrating 20 years together… planning it all in less than 100 days! COMPLETED IN THIS FORUM 7/24 - Page 8 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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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Nice tour of the ship and looks like most of the new additions have been done rather well. The pub is especially nice with all the details. Much better than O'Gill's on the Magic! Mark has done that coat rack rather proud!
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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!
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Nice tour of the ship and looks like most of the new additions have been done rather well. The pub is especially nice with all the details. Much better than O'Gill's on the Magic!
I'm so glad you said that. We just didn't like O'Gills on the Magic, there was something about it that just didn't feel right, if that makes sense?
I'm so glad you said that. We just didn't like O'Gills on the Magic, there was something about it that just didn't feel right, if that makes sense?
I didn't care for O'Gill's that much either. I went there the first night on my cruise and that was it. After that it was Keys which I absolutely loved being such a cozy place with the pianist and the large port hole windows with ocean views at your lounge table.
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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!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
I didn't care for O'Gill's that much either. I went there the first night on my cruise and that was it. After that it was Keys which I absolutely loved being such a cozy place with the pianist and the large port hole windows with ocean views at your lounge table.
Oh we absolutely adored Keys as well. Isn't it a wonderful place?
I had a Godiva chocolate martini on our Alaskan cruise on the Wonder back in 2012, while docked at Victoria. Was one of my favourite moments of the trip - I sat out on the deck by myself to enjoy it watching the sun set. I hope you managed to have one martini (or more ) later on.
The Crown & Fin looks like a great addition to the Wonder! The Doctor Who scarf is really cool, and I'm glad that Tara noticed the reference to Mr. Toad, because I totally missed it too!
The ship is looking lovely. And the pub looks fantastic! I zoomed in on Mr. Toad right away. How cool!! Their homage to football is really cool too. Sure made Mark happy!
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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
The ship is looking lovely. And the pub looks fantastic! I zoomed in on Mr. Toad right away. How cool!! Their homage to football is really cool too. Sure made Mark happy!
Monday 6 March – part five: I guess people don’t dine here alone then?
We headed up the stairs to deck four, where we found these great reminders of what After Hours was before…
The shopping area looked a lot more sophisticated now as well:
With that, we went our separate ways, as mark wanted to watch Rogue One again, and while I enjoyed seeing it first time around, I was in no rush to see it a second time. I headed back to the room to work on the trip report for a little while, then I headed down to Triton’s for lunch on my own, as I liked the look of the lunch menu they had there.
Like all the main restaurants on each ship, Triton’s is beautifully themed, and you immediately feel you’re in an elegant restaurant when you arrive.
What did make me laugh is that all the Crew Members from the person on the door to the server and assistant server kept asking me if I was on my own, and when I told them they seemed so surprised. I guess people don’t dine here alone then? I had brought a book with me, as I figured I might need something to read, but I heard “welcome home”, and turned around to see it was Barb and Daryl from our dining rotation last night. Talk about a small world! We happily chatted away, so I never actually did any reading, which was fine with me.
I further managed to surprise my server when I ordered two appetisers. He asked if I wanted an entrée, but I said I was saving myself for dessert. I started off with the assorted seafood sampler, made up of crab claws (and boy did I have fun getting into those!), shrimp, and marinated scallops served with a lemon and olive oil dressing. I was a little disappointed by how much turned up, as I know I’ve ordered this before, and it’s been a bigger serving. Oh well.
I also had the chilled mango soup with a mint foam, and I polished this off very quickly. I could’ve done with double servings of that – I love this stuff!
I had saved room for desserts, and actually for two. Well, it is a cruise, and why not? The first was the hot chocolate fudge pudding with vanilla sauce, which was very nice, but it wasn’t as good as I was hoping. I was looking for some nice oozing chocolate in the middle, and sadly I didn’t get that.
I also opted for the chocolate cookie sundae, which was actually on the children’s menu, but as I could order it, I figured I’d give it a go. This was lovely, and just what I needed.
Barb and Daryl admired the fact I’d got two desserts, and said they needed to hang with me to learn how to make the best of a cruise! I will confess after putting those away, I did roll out of Triton’s just a little bit….
On the way, I was going to do a “blind selfie” which by that I mean try and line it up right, take my glasses off, and then I really can’t see a thing, and hope the phone hasn’t moved too much, and take a selfie. However, I saw an officer, so I collared him to get some photos of me with Ariel, and he did a great job – unlike the Crew Member on the Dream on our last cruise, who took our photo with Donald, and cut his head off!
I headed back to the room to allow my two desserts to go down a bit, and to wait for Mark to return from seeing Rogue One.
When he got back, he told me he hadn’t eaten yet, so we headed up to deck nine.
He was going to get something from one of the counter service places, which was the only thing open now. That’s the only thing – the lunch hours everywhere were somewhat limited, especially if you wanted to watch at movie at 12:15pm, that’s one of the reasons I opted out. However, when he saw me salivating at a plate of chocolate strawberries on a trolley by the elevators, he changed his mind. “Cove Café it is then”, he announced. Ok, works for me…
We headed that way, and ended up ordering two Toblerontinis, made up of Godiva chocolate liquor, Frangelico, Bailey’s, Kahlua and honey. We’d had this before on cruises, and we knew we liked this drink.
We sat there sipping it for a while (in my case), or wolfing it down (in Mark’s case ) and watched the activity outside at the adult pool. It was still breezy, and it was interesting to see how people were sunbathing one minute, and then covered up the next minute. We thought the dark clouds outside looked menacing, and sure enough, when we walked outside, there was rain in the air.
Next: I never thought I’d hear anything by her on a Disney ship!
Nice down time for both of you!! Your lunch looked delicious and the martini sounds scrumptious!! I love the fact that on a cruise, you can each do your own thing and still have a great time!!
Nice down time for both of you!! Your lunch looked delicious and the martini sounds scrumptious!! I love the fact that on a cruise, you can each do your own thing and still have a great time!!
I think that's one of the great bits of a cruise - and you can't get THAT lost. After all, you're on the same ship and you can't go anywhere.
I would think there would be more diners that eat alone on a cruise than anywhere else. Not everybody always wants to do the same things! Interesting that the servers were surprised by you being alone.
Your drinks looked absolutely wonderful. It's probably easy to drink a few of those... and rather quickly!
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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
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