Passing through the Panama Canal - a Passporter's Tale **Updated 8/21** - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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Good morning - well actually afternoon. I just returned to the cabin after a morning in the gym, Rainforest and spa.... tough life I know! I started with an hour workout in the gym at about 700am on the elliptical and the treadmill - even ran a couple of intervals. Noticed that running forward while the ship is rocking left and right is a wee bit challenging on the knees and back. After I finished my workout - I took a shower in the heavenly showers in the ladies locker room, put on my swimsuit and headed for the heated loungers. I stayed there for about an hour until Wendy came and claimed me for my treatment. I had the ocean wrap and massage.... one word. HEAVEN. I did my impersonation of a baked potato (wrapped in foil) slathered in marine algae mixed with mud and baked for about 30 minutes. Then I took a steaming shower and got a wonderful massage on my back. Wendy agrees with me that I tend to carry my stress in my middle back between my shoulder blades - that is where she found all of my knots - I had so many knots it is fitting that I am on a ship at sea!! After my treatment - I headed back to the Rainforest for another 30 minutes and decided to needed to get some lunch - since I skipped breakfast.
So - I decided to head back here - drop you a quick line and then head up for some lunch. We have moved into an area with very high winds - which head seen the end of our glassy calm seas. The Captain just said in his daily noon update that it can easily have winds of 30 knots without any weather systems being in the area - according to the television "update from the bridge" we have 20+ knot now... no wonder we are moving...
Heading up to Acapulco tomorrow morning - arriving right before lunch. Lesley and I have a walking/shopping tour scheduled (that's right - me not so shopping girl) and a Palo dinner at 700pm after we return to the ship. I had such a wonderful spa treatment this morning - I scheduled another on Tuesday afternoon at 2pm....
Well - I am going to go and get some lunch - I am actually hungry! Talk with you later!!
Sounds wonderful Terri! A little bit of heaven!
Enjoy your lunch and your tour of Acupulco! Can't wait to hear all about it! Thanks for the new update!
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I spent my post-spa afternoon at the pool for some sun - until it got hot and I fell asleep on the sun lounger reading my book. Then I got up and went to the cabin where I saw Lesley for the first time today (well since I left at 7am to head to the gym). We chatted for a bit - and then I headed to Shutters to look at all the photos I had taken last night - some of them actually turned out ok (this from the girl that detests photos of herself!). We both attended the DVC mixer and won limited edition DVC pins with Dumbo on them. After the mixer - I came back to the cabin to get our limited edition lithographs drawn by Don "Ducky" Williams (a Disney legend) and stood in line for more than 45 minutes to get them - and the certificates of authenticity that came with them - signed by Don. Even got a photo with him!! Now to get it home in one piece and to Michaels for framing - that one is DEFINITELY going in my office.
Tonight is Cruise casual for dinner in Lumiere's and then - who knows....We are skipping this evening's show.
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Terri - your day sounds wonderful, amazing, perfect....I could go on and on. Just finished reading your day's updates and told DD that we must plan a cruise...I need to go to the spa and the gym and lay by the pool...
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