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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Silly question, I know, but my DSIL's sister tried to tell her that the water in January was only about 57 degrees when they went on vacation in the Caribbean. Now, I have the internet (obviously) and it says just about everywhere that the average water temp in January is about 79 degrees. So....have any of you gone in January and it was too cold to enjoy the water? We're from Alaska, so we can handle a little chill, but I LOVED the water at Castaway Cay last May! Don't know what the temp was, but it was great! The air was hotter than heck, but the water was like heaven! What has your experience been in the winter months?
The air temperature almost never goes as low as 57 degrees (need a really bad cold snap in Florida for the offshore temps to get that low), so the water temperature never gets even close to being that low. 57 is about the average summertime water temperature in Anchorage (but in winter that temperature drops to about 34). Castaway Cay is about due east of Miami Beach. The water temperature there doesn't go below 70 in winter, and when you're offshore in the Bahamas, you typically about 3-5 degrees warmer than Miami (in winter).
The trouble is, folks perception of temperature is different than reality. Plenty of times folks will report that the water was too cool for them at Castaway Cay, but that the kids liked it. There aren't even many kids that will be happy in 57 degree water. Of course, a good stiff breeze on an overcast day will make folks shiver, too, when they're in the water. But 57? You have to be much farther north or south of the equator to encounter that. Just note that there's just a 15 degree difference between average summer and winter air temperatures in the Bahamas, and the water temperature doesn't change by nearly that much. What you liked in May is still pretty close to what it is in winter.
There are times after a storm churns up cooler sub-surface waters and/or drops cold rainwater on the surface that water temperatures can fall into the lower 70s, and that does feel uncomfortable to folks used to heated pools (the Walt Disney World pools run around 80 degrees or more, and the pools on the ship can get even warmer in the hot sun).
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Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions
We've been to Castaway Cay twice, both time in March around the 24th or so. Each time we thought the water was chilly and it took my girls (who were grader school age at the times) a while to get in and they didn't stay too long. On both of these cruises I found the skies to be a bit overcast with a breeze which didn't help. We still enjoyed the island very much.
My co worker went Last Jan on a DCL cruise. She said it was mid 70's the water was chilli but easy to get used to. And yes the children had no problem, they loved the water anyway
My co worker went Last Jan on a DCL cruise. She said it was mid 70's the water was chilli but easy to get used to. And yes the children had no problem, they loved the water anyway
That sounds like what I had been expecting!
It's funny, you were on the same cruise that we were on, and have almost the same countdown! Are you stalking me? he he just kidding! Are you going on a cruise again?
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Plenty of times folks will report that the water was too cool for them at Castaway Cay, but that the kids liked it. There aren't even many kids that will be happy in 57 degree water. 
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