Forums Closed
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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
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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.
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05-31-2006, 10:30 PM
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#1
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Community Rank: Passenger 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Texas
Posts: 42
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Advice: Take plenty of tip money on excursions
Here's some advice for anybody out there who's as unfamiliar with tipping on shore excursions as I was last week: Take plenty of cash. The guides are quite vocal about making it perfectly clear that you're supposed to tip them. We got tip speeches on both the Shipwreck and Reef Snorkel on Grand Cayman (great excursion, by the way) and the Cozumel Ruins and Beach Break. For the one on Cozumel, I was prepared to tip one guide and one bus driver and had taken enough cash for that. However, we had TWO guides: one on the bus and one at the ruins. This left me short of cash, so I had only a couple of ones to give the bus driver. I felt bad about that. I'm sure these folks really do depend on the tips, and I don't want to seem cheap. Just a heads-up for you!
JenaK
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05-31-2006, 10:51 PM
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#2
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Community Rank: Explorer 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: second star to the right
Posts: 13,308
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Re: Advice: Take plenty of tip money on excursions
That is pretty good advice but remember that no matter how much they talk up that they expect to be tipped - tips are given for good service. If you don't feel you had a good experience, don't let them guilt you into tipping them or feel bad if you don't tip if you don't think they deserve it.
We have had many excursions on cruises and most do work hard for the extra tips but they are always some tour guides that slack and expect a tip anyway.
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05-31-2006, 11:20 PM
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#3
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Community Rank: Jetsetter 
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Worthington, Ohio
Posts: 2,257
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Re: Advice: Take plenty of tip money on excursions
Thanks for the heads-up. One question: Is it OK to tip in US currency, and if not, where can we exchange for local currency?
Melissa
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05-31-2006, 11:24 PM
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#4
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Community Rank: Passenger
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Texas
Posts: 42
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Re: Advice: Take plenty of tip money on excursions
I tipped in US currency, and I think that's okay, at least in the places we went: Grand Cayman and Cozumel.
JenaK
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05-31-2006, 11:26 PM
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#5
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Community Rank: Jetsetter
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 2,357
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Re: Advice: Take plenty of tip money on excursions
In the Caribbean, US dollars are accepted almost everywhere. If you're going to the Med, I'd get Euros before you go. And tipping isn't as big a deal in Europe.
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06-01-2006, 09:09 AM
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#6
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Community Rank: Traveler 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Oregon
Posts: 484
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Re: Advice: Take plenty of tip money on excursions
Great post and great info for those of us who haven't cruised YET! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/thanx.gif[/img]
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