Dreams do come true **Updated 7/24** THREAD 2 *COMPLETE* - Page 9 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Thursday 31 May – part three: we’ve got the ship to ourselves!
It was quite a unique experience to see the ship so empty and to see how much work the Disney Crew members do while everyone’s on shore. Mark saw them replacing lights in the lobby atrium with a scaffolding tower. Everywhere you like, they were doing something, from re-corking the deck to washing down the glass around the Mickey pool.
These were the presents that the Disney Magic was going to give out to the remaining ports on our itinerary and the gifts that the ship had received to date. It was a neat collection. Some of the detail in the atrium
We explored deck four and had a quick game of shuffleboard.
We went to sit on deck 10 in the sun for a while, before we had to get ready for our dinner at Palo.
We got changed and still had time to go character hunting. There was me worrying that there would be a line for Lilo and Captain Jack Sparrow, but we walked straight up to both and they even took Lilo off early, as there was no-one else waiting for her.
We were later told that at around this time, there were only a total of 85 passengers on the ship and more than 600 Crew Members on board. No wonder it seemed so empty!
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Thursday 31 May – part four: a beautiful meal at a beautiful restaurant
When we arrived at Palo, it was a similar story, there were only about six other tables in use. Although we were in port, we didn’t exactly have a great backdrop to our meal, as Civitivecchia is a very industrialised port. Still, it didn’t matter, as we were here for the food and not the view.
Our server was Gemma from the UK and we had earlier been told to be on the lookout for her by her best friend, who we met earlier in the day. She was very charming and extremely attentive. She’s been cruising with Disney for seven years now and will leave in September to marry another guys who serves on board, at which point they’ll move back to the UK.
Anyway, the food. We had the chef’s special of the day for pizza, which had roast red peppers, shrimps, mozzarella cheese and pesto and it was divine.
We shared that and we also shared the calamari and that was just as good as we’d expect from a signature dish at Palo.
We also had another appetiser each, I had the Portobello mushrooms and Mark had the fish and seafood soup. Having sampled some of his, I can tell you that his was good and so was mine, absolutely perfect.
For main course, Mark had the beef tenderloin and I went for one of the chef’s specials, the lobster tail on a bed of polenta, apples and parsnips. It was excellent, but a little too rich for me to finish.
For dessert, I had to have the famous chocolate soufflé and again, this was just as good as the last time I had it three years ago. The funny thing was I mentioned to Gemma that I was interested in it and based on that, without me saying yes to it for definite, she put in the order for it, so when we came to dessert, she told me it would be ready a few minutes later. Even more perceptive, she also got a dairy free chocolate mousse for Mark, before she even mentioned it to him. He told me it was good, but way too rich for him. At least he was able to have something for dessert.
The thing I love about Palo is it’s excellent – high quality food for very little money. Ur bill came to $50, including two Bellinis for me, a beer for Mark and later, a glass of wine for him. Gemma also got an extra tip on top of the 15% they charge, as she was so good.
Palo dinner:
Pizza 9 8½
Appetiser 9 9
Main course 8½ 9½
Dessert 10 8½
Service 10 10
Atmosphere 10 10
Average score: 9.33
Afterwards, we wandered around for a little while, We were thinking of doing something, as we didn’t have to be up early tomorrow, as it was a day at sea, but there was nothing going on that appealed to us. It was a shame, because that happened a couple of times.
The weather today was sunny and hot with temperatures in the 70’s. Today we walked 1.70 miles The best thing today was dinner at Palo. The worst thing today was not having anything to do after Palo. The funniest thing today was how nervous Mark was before the massage. Today we tried staying on the ship, while most people went ashore. And the result was it was lovely to see the ship so empty and to get an idea of the wonderful work the Crew Members do. The most magical moment today was enjoying dinner at Palo.
Just getting caught up, Cheryl. Sounds like a truly relaxing day on the ship...glad Mark and you tried out the couples massage. What a treat to have the ship practically to yourselves to explore.
Dinner sounded and looked divine!
danielle
__________________
~Shoot for the moon, if you miss, you will land among the stars~
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
Can't wait to hear about Palo 
Sorry there was nothing for you to do after the meal 
The dinner at Palo? Looks divine. Nothing to do after dinner? It's a family board 
Hurry back with more
Linear Mode
