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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 wanted to know if anyone has been able to use Motorola talkabouts (or such) on the Disney Magic? We are traveling with our child and would like her to be able to contact us. I know we will get a pager but do I also need something else? Thank you for anyone who will guide me...
DS and I have used two different versions of the Motorola Talkabouts on 4 cruises, and they have worked really great! The only times they got iffy was if we were really far apart -- say deck 10 and deck 3. But otherwise, they were such a convenient thing to have.
If anything, I would just make sure that you actually do get the Talkabouts. Our last pair finally got used to death (we use them every day when he goes down the street to play) and I found a pair of 16-mile Cobra's on sale. Bleh!!! They are TERRIBLE. I am sending them back, and getting another pair of Talkabouts!
Hope this helps,
-gina-
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Disney Magic ~ '02, '03, '04, '08
Grand Princess ~ '06
Voyager of the Seas ~ '10
Mariner of the Seas ~ '12
Walt Disney World waaaayyy too much (according to some people!
Thank you for the reply. I am new to this sort of interaction and I appreciate the help. I found some Motorola Talkabout 2 way radios at Costco today for $79 for 3 radios (ear phones too) and went ahead and purchased them. I hope these are the ones that work. They say "in a perfect world" you get an 18mile range. I guess you have to pay for comfort. We are sailing on the west bound trans-atlantic and hope there are lots of nice girls for our daughter to play with. She will be ten in Sept. Thank you for the response!...Melinda
A word of advice. The Walkabout radio frequencies, know as FRS (Family Radio System) are used by the Mexican government for emergency services. They are illegal to use in Mexico without an official government endorsement. If you look at the radios, you'll see a certification from the FCC and the Canadian equivalent (don't have mine handy to confirm the Canadian, though). These radios are also illegal in the UK and most of the EU.
That said, I see lots of people using them in Cozumel. But if you get a Federale who's having a bad day ...
We used some very old Motorola walkie talkies on our Eastern cruise and they worked great! We were at Topsiders Buffet and we sent our DS (age 10) down to the Lobby on deck 3 and the signal was loud and clear. By the way, our 10 year old loved the freedom that the walkie talkies gave him. They didn't work from Ocean quest though.