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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I've realized that our 2nd dining time will be 8:30 and I think that is too late for our youngest at age 5. We don't even eat that late at home. I did call the 800 number and asked for an earlier dining time (6pm). They said they put in that request although it is not "guaranteed". Anyone have a problem with this? Did anyone ask for a different time and got it or not? Thanks! Also, silly fun question. What is the average weight gain by the end of the cruise? I love, love, love to eat, and was just wondering if anyone had any regrets after their cruise eating.
Question 1) We were lucky enough to get our dining changed onboard after being assigned late seating and desiring early for the same reason that you need it. If you are not automatically changed prior to boarding, there will be a time and location on the afternoon of boarding to make dining change requests. I can't speak to the likelihood of getting your change, but we did manage successfully and without any hassle. Should you NOT be able to change, you should be able to get pizza, burgers, dogs, fruit, ice cream, wraps, etc. on deck 9 in the late afternoon to hold him/her over until that 8-8:30 seating.
Question 2) As one who has struggles with weight and loves to eat, I actually did NOT gain weight on my 7 day cruise. I did NOT restarin myself -- I enjoyed all of the various eating opportunities but did try and use some restraint regarding quantity. I used the health club a couple of times and walked/jogged Deck 4 a couple of times. We were so much busier and more active than usual that I think the extra calories were burned off. I had planned on gaining at least a little, but was pleasantly surprised.
You should be able to change seating once you board if it does not happen before. (Check your documents when they arrive!) As far as weight gain - I usually do not gain weight as we almost always head for WDW after our cruise and all the walkig burns those extra calories right off! Although I think my FiL who is coming on our next trip is TRYING to gain weight. He says he's going to sit by the pool and eat for the whole cruise.
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Since it is a Disney cruise and there are so many families with young children on board, there is a lot of demand for the early seating. So, while people do have success getting reassigned, it's not a sure thing.
I'm not sure if you live in the Eastern time zone. If you live in the Central, Mountain or Pacific time zones, consider that your body clocks will not agree with the time on the wall - 8:30 dinner is really 7:30 or earlier to your bodies. Many families faced with this circumstance simply shift to later bedtimes/later meal times, because it's less disruptive to their children's normal rhythms (even if the position of the sun happens to disagree with your body's signals).
Weight gain? It depends on the length of the cruise. I haven't heard of someone picking up more than a few pounds though, at least on a one-week or shorter cruise. Some folks do lose weight, as they're also more active than usual, and others break even. My weight rarely changes. I used to stuff myself, but after a few late night bouts of indigestion, I figured the pain wasn't worth the pleasure. My strategy is to take small samples of everything I'm interested in, and to eat slowly - the chance to explore all those different tastes and taking the time to savor them is more important to me than over-filling my stomach. I do eat a much larger breakfast than I do at home, but that's normal for any time I'm active - gotta stoke the furnace before strenuous activity.
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Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions
I lost weight on my Disney cruise. I was eating nice meals at dinner, as opposed to eating on the run like I do at home, and with all the activities, shore excursions, etc. .. I was moving way more than I normally do at home.
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Don't let your heart be filled with sorrow, for all you know, tomorrow, the dream that you wish will come true.
We found that sometimes we ate light at breakfast or lunch to save up for dinner. We also took the stairs many times instead of waiting for the elevators. My mantra was "I earned that dessert".
Dave is right about the time difference. Those coming from the west coast will still be on that time frame for at least the first three nights. Late night seating is our preferred because then we did not have to rush in the afternoon from excursions. We got our naps in after the excursion, which allowed us to stay up later.
I didn't gain weight and I didn't "deprive" myself either, but I snorkled in every port, walked all over the place and was very active. I ate a good breakfast and a small lunch. We had the late seating for dinner.
I didn't gain any weight on either of our cruises, and I certainly didn't deprive myself. I don't tend to over-do portions though. My husband and younger daughter had a little difficulty buttoning the pants on the last day, though. My daughter develped a milk and cookies room service habit .
We've had the late seating time on both of our cruises. For the first cruise, it was at 8, and worked out perfectly. However, on our second cruise the time was 8:30, and for some reason it just felt too late, so we have the early seating this next cruise. The 8:30 time didn't mesh well with the other activities on board, and we're not really night owls, and we didn't really like eating, and then going straight to bed. I can't stay up late very well, even on vacation!
We were able to switch on board and we were a group of 8 on a "full" cruise. One person went down to try to switch as soon as we could, and they were told that they couldn't guarantee anything since we were a large group but would let us know -- and a couple hours later we got a call that we had indeed been switched to the earlier dinner.
It all sounds good! I think they will come through for us. We are on eastern standard time being in Fort Lauderdale. We moved here almost 5 yrs ago from North Carolina and really love it here. I don't know what I am looking more forward to. The fun or the food! I keep hearing about the this chocolate souffle. I will just have to try it. I wonder if it compares with cheesecake factory godiva chocalate! But yes, we are a family that eats between 5 and 6 every evening. Nothing else is scheduled but that for sure. I just cannot do an 8:30 dinner and then sleep. Thanks for the info. Only 5 more weeks to go!
late dinner seating-worked out great for our family
I just have to give my two cents...............
On our first disney cruise, we had the late seating because we booked a popular cruise (west coast, 2005) only about 6 months prior to cruise date. I would have preferred the early seating, given the choice.
It turned out to actually work very well for us. I was very concerned about it not working because we eat early, had smaller children and were not really night owls. The benefit of the later seating, as mentioned, was that we didn't have to rush to get ready for dinner on the days we were in port. We would order room service, on sea days (the kids loved this!) around 4. They would rest a bit, then we would hit the show and dinner. It worked out very nicely. We all ended up staying up way later than we would have had we not been on vacation. We watched the premier of Herby the Love Bug at midnight, for pete's sake!! It is amazing what a vacation can do for you! We really wanted to get the most of our cruise.
This time around, with a year and a half before we cruise, I booked the late seating.
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Although I think my FiL who is coming on our next trip is TRYING to gain weight. He says he's going to sit by the pool and eat for the whole cruise. 
I haven't heard of someone picking up more than a few pounds though, at least on a one-week or shorter cruise. Some folks do lose weight, as they're also more active than usual, and others break even. My weight rarely changes. I used to stuff myself, but after a few late night bouts of indigestion, I figured the pain wasn't worth the pleasure. My strategy is to take small samples of everything I'm interested in, and to eat slowly - the chance to explore all those different tastes and taking the time to savor them is more important to me than over-filling my stomach. I do eat a much larger breakfast than I do at home, but that's normal for any time I'm active - gotta stoke the furnace before strenuous activity.
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