Live, Laugh, Love...Dream: Mother/Daughter Cruise on the Disney Dream: Debarkation Day-Updated 3/29/11 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
Live, Laugh, Love...Dream: Mother/Daughter Cruise on the Disney Dream: Debarkation Day-Updated 3/29/11
Hello…is this thing on? <tap, tap, tap> Welcome one and all! I have returned after an almost 2 year absence from trip report writing. I will admit that I got a little bit burned out after my run of five trips in one year, and just couldn’t convince myself to write one. I truly admire and do not know how some people (ahem….you know who you are) write a TR for every trip. But I digress. I figured the perfect time for me to return to my trip reporting would be with my first Disney cruise. This cruise has been a long time coming as we have had booked…cancelled…booked…cancelled many times.
My traveling partner on this journey is of course, my mom, Lynn. This will be our 4th Mother/Daughter trip together with number 5 already in planning mode. She is truly my best friend, and these trips are truly high points in my life. She is known for her “cool” hair, sparkly clothes, and a habit of getting me more than a little tipsy on our trips. Without a doubt, she comes up with something for both of us to wear on our trips that usually goes beyond my comfort zone at times, but I wear dutifully because it makes her happy. Below is a picture of us from our 2nd trip together.
As I stated, we have booked and cancelled cruises many times due to factors like my mom retiring and my DH and I buying a house. But in June 2010, mom was ready to book again. Since my mom was now a retired travel agent (she worked for AAA for 15 years) and I became a travel agent at about the same time, it was my turn to get this booked. After talking on the phone many times and trying to convince my mom that a 7-day cruise was not in the financial books for me, we finally decided on a 4-night Bahamian cruise. The exciting part was that we were going to get to sail on the Disney Dream if we booked in 2011. That sold it for mom. As normal, we looked at dates in February as that is when we usually go on our trips. It took less than 10 minutes to decide on the February 13th sailing. We even chose our stateroom of # 5544 (Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah) and went with the Late Seating for dinner. Within minutes, the deposit was paid, and there was no turning back.
Next was deciding on flights. Normally, when going to WDW, we fly out of Indy since we can get non-stop flights at an early hour to maximize our park time and for decent prices. However, since we weren’t spending any time in the parks prior to or after the cruise, we decided to see what Louisville had to offer. Let me tell you, it isn’t much. However, we decided to fly in the day before so we make the early buses to Port Canaveral. We were able to snag a non-stop flight down to MCO but do have a layover in Birmingham on the flight home with Southwest. We paid for Early-Bird check-in so I didn’t have to worry about checking us in at the 24-hour mark. Call me lazy, but I just wanted it taken care of for once.
We then had to decide on where to stay for that night. We paid for ground transfers when we booked the trip so it was essential to stay near the airport so we could catch the motor coach to the port. Mom mentioned the Hyatt at the MCO and I brought it up online. I was pleasantly surprised to find that with mom’s “senior” discount, it was very reasonable! It was only $30 more than staying at a hotel outside of the airport and the ease factor is totally worth it. A few clicks later, we were booked for one night. Knowing my mom and me, we will find enough to keep ourselves busy.
Now anyone that has read any of my Mother/Daughter trip reports, we have to have a theme. The theme for this trip goes back to my mom’s mom, my Mema. Her house with filled with several knick knacks and pictures that had a common theme in a lot of them. “Live Every Moment, Laugh Every Day, and Love Beyond Words” or “Live, Laugh, Love” for short. Mema took these words to heart and lived her life by them. My mom and I both try to do the same. When talking with my mom, she took it one step further by adding Dream in honor of the ship. So...she has been on the search for some themed items to commemorate the trip. If she can’t find what she wants, she makes them herself. That’s my mom for ya.
Unfortunately, being that this is our first cruise, we had to wait until 75 days out to book any excursions or Palo/ Remy reservations. We haven’t been able to get reservations for anything at Palo or Remy, but we will try the waitlist as soon as we board the ship for a Palo Brunch. We are skipping on Remy as we really want to enjoy the restaurant rotation and don’t want to miss Pirate Night . We’ll just have to try Remy on another trip, plus the $75.00/each additional cost could be spent on adult beverages according to my mom.
Coming Up: The Theme Gifts Begin, Apparel Decisions, Excursions if any
PassPorter Guide Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 31,940
Post Thanks / Like
Likes (Given): 2
Likes (Received): 7
Thanks (Given): 0
Thanks (Received): 1
Pixie Dust (Given): 0
Pixie Dust (Received): 0
Looks like it will be a great trip Dawn! I love your Mother/Daughter trips and can't wait to read all about this one. Someday I am going to get my mother to do a mother/daughter trip!
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.
About This Page: 
Without a doubt, she comes up with something for both of us to wear on our trips that usually goes beyond my comfort zone at times, but I wear dutifully because it makes her happy. 
Below is a picture of us from our 2nd trip together. 
Normally, when going to WDW, we fly out of Indy since we can get non-stop flights at an early hour to maximize our park time and for decent prices. However, since we weren’t spending any time in the parks prior to or after the cruise, we decided to see what Louisville had to offer. Let me tell you, it isn’t much. However, we decided to fly in the day before so we make the early buses to Port Canaveral. We were able to snag a non-stop flight down to MCO but do have a layover in Birmingham on the flight home with Southwest. We paid for Early-Bird check-in so I didn’t have to worry about checking us in at the 24-hour mark. Call me lazy, but I just wanted it taken care of for once. 
. We’ll just have to try Remy on another trip, plus the $75.00/each additional cost could be spent on adult beverages according to my mom. 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
Linear Mode
