From the Authors: Free Shipping and Tons of News!

Travel Feature: Assateague Island National Seashore

Disney Feature: When to Visit Walt Disney World

Updates: What's New and Changed

Tips: ER Alternative, Earl of Breakfast Sandwich, $2 Tips

Captain's Corner: Robotic Rodent

PassPorter PhotoPick: Magic Kingdom - Trouble at the Haunted Mansion

Q and A: What will Disney Cruise Line do for the pool on the Wonder on the Alaska cruises?

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Cool Links:
Stuff and Services

We encounter many Disney- and travel-related products and services. From among those we try, a few are good enough to use ourselves and recommend to you:

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Owner's Locker - The Purple Place for Storing Your Vacation Stuff!

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Updates:
What's New and Changed

This week we have 4 news bulletins:

Disney Cruise Line Announces 2011 Itineraries The Disney Cruise Line will visit Alaska in 2011! On January 6, 2011, the Wonder will set sail from Port Canaveral on a 15-night Panama Canal cruise to it's new home in the Port of Los Angeles. January 23 - April 17, the Wonder will do 7-night Mexican Riviera cruises and then move to Vancouver for the summer. May 3 - August 30, the Wonder will do the Alaska itinerary which includes stops in Tracy Arm Fjord, Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan. On September 25, the Wonder resumes the Mexican Riviera itineraries for the rest of 2011. The Magic will be returning to the Mediterranean in the summer of 2011 for 10-and 11-night itineraries as well as doing special 10- and 11-night holiday sailings in December.
Comments: 49
This updates page 039 of PassPorter's guidebook

Walt Disney World announces plans to expand Fantasyland The first phase of the expansion will debut in 2012 and will include a new Little Mermaid-themed ride as well as a relocation and expansion for Dumbo. New meet and greet areas for the Princesses will be added and Goofy's Barnstormer will be changed to fit the new theme. In 2012, a Pixie Hollow area will be completed. Mickey's Toontown Fair will be removed entirely to allow for the expansion.
Comments: 49
This updates page 132 of PassPorter's guidebook

Star Tours 2 to Debut at Both Disneyland and Walt Disney World in 2011 Disney confirmed plans to introduce an all new version of Star Tours -- this time in 3D! The new version will have new footage as well as all new special effects. Both Disneyland and Disney's Hollywood Studios will be getting the new version.
Comments: 49
This updates page 157 of PassPorter's Walt Disney World guidebook

Muppet*Vision 3D going digital Also announced at the D23 Expo, Muppet*Vision 3D at Disney's Hollywood Studios will be receiving an upgrade to digital 3D technology as well as a new pre-show.
Comments: 49
This updates page 157 of PassPorter's Walt Disney World guidebook


Tip: Need more news? Read, sort, and search all the PassPorter news bulletins at the PassPorter News Desk!

Our thanks to AllEars.net and MousePlanet.com from which we get some of our news leads.

Hear some news? Be a 'PassPorter Reporter' and send it to us!

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Disney Tips:
From Fellow Readers

Our readers deliver a wealth of information! Send us your tips! You may see them in this newsletter and win a copy of PassPorter! And you never know -- your tip could even appear in a future edition of a PassPorter guidebook.

ER ALTERNATIVE
'On our recent trip to Disney, our son woke up one morning with an earache. I called the front desk and we were referred to a Centra Care facility. Centra Care has 18 urgent care facilities in the Orlando area and provides free transportation to and from the Disney resorts. This is a great alternative to going to the ER. Centra Care will file with most insurance plans, including travel insurance providers. We were seen in a timely manner and the staff was kind and helpful.'
-- contributed by Chris
Save This Tip

EARL OF BREAKFAST SANDWICH
'Earl of Sandwich is a great place in Downtown Disney to get a counter service breakfast. It is currently on the Disney Dining Plan. Once or twice during our most recent trip we found ourselves with "extra" counter service credits that we needed to use. We went there for Breakfast, using our counter service credits and all got breakfast sandwiches that were delicious! Unlike our counter service breakfast at our resort (Saratoga Springs) Earl of Sandwich was not crowded. It also opens earlier than the rest of Downtown Disney (8:30 am), so you can have breakfast then go shopping before the crowds arrive.'
-- contributed by Tina
Save This Tip

$2 TIPS
'If you take a Disney Cruise Line vacation, go to your local bank and get about $50 or so in $2 bills. When we went on the Magic, we used them as tips for exceptional, over-the-top service. The Cast Members LOVED it! Because many are from other countries, they oohed and aahed because they had never seen a $2 bill before. Believe me, it went a long way and it kept the exceptional service flowing the whole length of our cruise.'
-- contributed by Janis
Save This Tip


Want more Disney tips? Look for the concierge bell icon in future newsletters and throughout the PassPorter.com site. When you see the bell, tap it to view and save the tip to your personal tip collection!

For Walt Disney World fans, we've collected 500 of the best tips submitted by readers over the past six years. All have been edited for accuracy and categorized. For details, visit the PassPorter Disney 500 info page or the PassPorter store. For Disney Cruise Line fans, we have an e-book with 250 cruiser tips, as well as a special cruise line comparison section and seven customized packing lists. For information, visit the Disney Cruise Clues info page.

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PassPorter PhotoPick
 
Each issue we choose a special photo from the PassPorter Photo Archive which highlights something beautiful, interesting, humorous, or timely at Disney or around the world. Here is this issue's PassPorter PhotoPick:

Magic Kingdom - Trouble at the Haunted Mansion
Photo by jennimouse

(click the photo or link to see a larger photo with details)

You can nominate photos as a PassPorter PhotoPick by giving ratings in the PassPorter Photo Archive (you'll need to be logged in to do this). If you'd like to contribute your own photos to the Photo Archive and be considered as a PhotoPick, please read our Photo Upload Guidelines for details and benefits.
 
   

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Q and A: With Jennifer and Dave


JiminyJim asks: "I was wondering what DCL will do with the pools on the Wonder for the Alaska cruises. I know the ship is going into Dry Dock in October - has anyone heard what they plan to do?"

Dave answers: "Most ships in the Alaska trade have just one covered pool, with the other pools remaining open-air. I doubt Disney will invest in a cover, though. It wouldn't make sense for the Mickey pool, it would be logistically very difficult for the Goofy Pool (would interfere with the Ariel Vision screen and deck parties), and I really can't see them opening the Quiet Cove pool up to kids. If necessary, they can add some radiant heaters to take the chill off in the immediate vicinity of the pools.

If I were making the decision, I'd ask myself if a covered pool (heated water is no problem, after all) would be a make-or-break consideration for folks considering whether to take this cruise with DCL. I suspect there wouldn't be enough dissatisfaction to warrant the investment on Disney's end.

Rather than make that kind of huge investment, I might make sure there are more organized, kid-focused activities on at-sea days during the Alaskan itinerary. A sea day on Alaska's Inside Passage is far more scenic than the typical Caribbean or Mediterranean day at sea - it has more in common with Panama Canal day. As I recall, the pools weren't very busy the day we went through the canal.

If swimming was really important to a large number of passengers, I'd think you'd see far larger pools on all ships. In my book, it's just one more thing to do, but one you can't totally eliminate because folks expect to see it. People tend to gage their expectations by the destination. If they're headed to a cool weather destination, they're not thinking about swimming nearly as much as they're thinking of other activities. I could see DCL pulling the deck out over the Goofy Pool and offering more cool weather/sports deck sort of activities. The kids would still be active outdoors, which I think is much more important to them than whether they can get wet.

Note that the Wonder will be assigned to the West Coast for the foreseeable future, so it's not Caribbean weather to be concerned about, but Mexican Riviera.

I still think that, some years down the line, DCL may stretch the Wonder and/or Magic, as has been done to some other cruise ships - more staterooms, and more other facilities. They'd probably wait to do this until after the Panama Canal expansion is completed, so the ship would make it back through the canal. That would be a better time to make this kind of pool addition/modification, too. By then they'll also know whether such a modification is even required."

Did our message board members agree with Dave? To see other answers that JiminyJim received, check out the rest of the thread on the PassPorter Message Boards..

Have a question? Post questions at http://www.passporterboards.com -- and if you're lucky, you may find that folks have already asked and answered the same question that's on your mind! 

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Future Newsletters:
Want To See Your Name in Print?

PassPorter News is published weekly, and this means we're always in need of articles! We're on the lookout for guest columnists who want to contribute articles to this newsletter. No professional writing experience is necessary, just a desire to share your experience with others! Not only is this a great way to give something back to the PassPorter community, but you get to see your name in 'print' and receive a $25 gift certificate for use at www.passporter.com.

For details and our article submission guidelines, please e-mail news@passporter.com. Articles about Disney and general travel are welcomed!

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