Passing through the Panama Canal - a Passporter's Tale **Updated 8/21** - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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Hello from Gatun Lake - I am sitting on the veranda watching the lake and jungle covered mountains that surround the lake pass by. We just returned from a surprise brunch at Palo (we had wanted to do Palo on Canal day and could not get it booked - but lucked into it!!). I have been up since 430am. Went up on deck to watch the sunrise and our entry into the Gatun locks - we were delayed - as a result of the unscheduled arrival of a US Navy sub - which ended up with priority... SO - we entered the locks about 8am instead of 630. We are making good time across the lake and should be at the next locks around 230pm CDT. I had planned on trying to get into the gym today - but the early morning is catching up with me - as is the heat!!! Panama is one HOT place! Would hate to see this in August. We have been passing dredges (I've seen cutterhead and bucket so far) in the lake and as any good Corps biologist should - I have photos!! So far I've taken more than 300 photos and 5 or 6 video grabs - and that was just the first locks. Good thing the batteries for the camera are rechargeable (I should say there are 30+ pics of the submarine - for dad of course).
Tonight is a low key night on board - no show - but they are showing the new Narnia movie (not sure I will make it to movie time) and we are supposedly having lobster for dinner (gee force me - I had crab, shrimp and salmon at brunch). Lesley and I are considering a load of laundry or two today and I want some rainforest time before dinner at 830pm.
Tomorrow is another day at sea - and we have a high tea scheduled at 3pm - I may try to squeeze in another spa treatment - just playing that by ear.
Well I know that is short HI - and I hope at least one of you got to see us on the Panama Canal webcam as we passed through Gatun!!
Today we went through the Panama Canal. It was a long, but very interesting day. Terri woke up at 4:30 and got a prime viewing spot along the front rail on the top deck of the ship. I on the other hand wasn’t up then. And later I was glad. We were supposed to enter the locks at 6:30, but when we were the next in line a US Navy Attack submarine suddenly appeared and went straight to the head of the line. Apparently no one knows when the Navy subs are coming – for obvious security reasons and they ALWAYS take priority. This one also was escorted by many Panamanian security boats and they wouldn’t let any other ships near the locks when the sub was in them. There are a pair of locks next to each other so 2 ships can usually go through at one time. The sub put us about 2 hours behind. We finally entered the first lock about 8:30.
The weather was hot and humid. I wore lots of sunscreen, but I think my nose is a little red. I spent the day going between being on various decks and sitting on our veranda. It took us about 8 hours to go through the 3 sets of locks and the lakes and canals in between. We pretty much had rain forest on either side of the ship throughout the entire journey. You could hear the birds as we passed. It was very cool.
I ran into my waiter on deck earlier today and he told me that lobster Is on the menu for tonight so I think I’ll head in to take a shower and get ready. I’ll talk to you all soon!
How awesome! I'd love to see some of the sub photos too! I can't wait to hear the birds in the rainforest and will keep in mind about the humidity/heat! Sounds like you are having a great time and can't wait to hear more!
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