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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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
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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.
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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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So I called my mom to ask her if she wants to go to Disney World with us either next spring or fall of 2011. She said definitely but that we should consider a Disney cruise..
I have never been on a cruise before and I am nervous that I would feel trapped, and not have anything to do. I don't want to miss out on WDW either..
It would be me, my mom and my four kids (would be 13, 10,6, 4 by that time) We just went to WDW and stayed at a SSR treehouse with my mom in March.
So.. I guess I would love to know what you "cruisers" like about a cruise. Did you feel like you were missing out on the WDW experience?
This is the next "big" trip we are going to take, and it's a long way away.. but I like to plan.
Thanks for any help!
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Melissa, Mom to Gabby (12), Alex (9), Tricia (5), and Ryan (3)
We have not cruised yet, but we have opted to take a Disney Cruise for our next "big" trip! I expect we will have a great time! And my kids are the same ages as yours....
The Disney Cruise is the best thing ever! Been in Two 7 days and have not done all the activities they do, about 80+ to do, it is exclusive and just awesome. If you have done Disney world I recommend you to branch out and try the cruise.
See the boat as a small city, there are theaters, restaurants, shops, character appearances, dinners, presentations, Sauna, a pool, the only cruise that has Fireworks! there are parties, etc etc etc there is no way you will be bored, to us is quite the opposite, we hardly rest on Disney cruises because we do not want to miss anything. Wish you the best in your decision but hope you do not miss on a great thing. a tip, why not get the PP on the Disney cruise line, it has an in-depth description of more things.
PS. The Disney Dream has a water coaster and on the Disney Private Island, they are building a water park there , it is almost like getting the parks on the Sea! I am toying with the idea to do the Dream in 2011 see the good deal here:http://www.cruisesonly.com/results.d...iorRates=false
Thanks for the info!! I had not idea there was so much to do and that there were that many activities!! I am going to order a passporter!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by 4Disney2
The Disney Cruise is the best thing ever! Been in Two 7 days and have not done all the activities they do, about 80+ to do, it is exclusive and just awesome. If you have done Disney world I recommend you to branch out and try the cruise.
See the boat as a small city, there are theaters, restaurants, shops, character appearances, dinners, presentations, Sauna, a pool, the only cruise that has Fireworks! there are parties, etc etc etc there is no way you will be bored, to us is quite the opposite, we hardly rest on Disney cruises because we do not want to miss anything. Wish you the best in your decision but hope you do not miss on a great thing. a tip, why not get the PP on the Disney cruise line, it has an in-depth description of more things.
PS. The Disney Dream has a water coaster and on the Disney Private Island, they are building a water park there , it is almost like getting the parks on the Sea! I am toying with the idea to do the Dream in 2011 see the good deal here:Search Cruise Information
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Melissa, Mom to Gabby (12), Alex (9), Tricia (5), and Ryan (3)
Thanks for the info!! I had not idea there was so much to do and that there were that many activities!! I am going to order a passporter!!
tell you a cute story, our first Cruise was a Disney Cruise in 2002 (got it cheap because 911) in the beggining we were thinking in doing the 3 or 4 days due to cost, my sister put her foot down and insisted in the 7 Days.
I kissed her for that, we had so much fun, we did not want to leave the ship.
Those ships are pure luxury, Disney goes a long way to make sure people have a good time. the downside is that it has ruined it for any other cruises we have done because they do not measure up to the Standards of Disney. When we mention Disney to travel agents we always get the same response. they say" OH, well Disney is a notch up"
for what I have seen the pictures of the Dream is awesome:
to see more check here:Disney Cruise Line
we went for a second time for our 20 year anniversary and had a blast, went with the family. We decorated our Door. I Love seeing the pictures of all the families (they have an area where they display all the pictures taken each day by the professional photographers) the character appearances are awesome.
In our last cruise we had the honor to meet Roy Disney and took a picture with him.
I also noticed when in different ports of called, other families from other cruises look at the Disney Cruise with longing!
also this was amazing,...the captain changed course for a bit to make it possible to do the Fireworks!
we were so impress they went that far. we also got to see Tinkerbell released in the Ship at the same time as in theaters and we saw it for free. Captains night was awesome, had Lobster tail!
tell you a cute story, our first Cruise was a Disney Cruise in 2002 (got it cheap because 911) in the beggining we were thinking in doing the 3 or 4 days due to cost, my sister put her foot down and insisted in the 7 Days.
I kissed her for that, we had so much fun, we did not want to leave the ship.
Those ships are pure luxury, Disney goes a long way to make sure people have a good time. the downside is that it has ruined it for any other cruises we have done because they do not measure up to the Standards of Disney. When we mention Disney to travel agents we always get the same response. they say" OH, well Disney is a notch up"
for what I have seen the pictures of the Dream is awesome:
to see more check here:Disney Cruise Line
we went for a second time for our 20 year anniversary and had a blast, went with the family. We decorated our Door. I Love seeing the pictures of all the families (they have an area where they display all the pictures taken each day by the professional photographers) the character appearances are awesome.
In our last cruise we had the honor to meet Roy Disney and took a picture with him.
I also noticed when in different ports of called, other families from other cruises look at the Disney Cruise with longing!
also this was amazing,...the captain changed course for a bit to make it possible to do the Fireworks!
we were so impress they went that far. we also got to see Tinkerbell released in the Ship at the same time as in theaters and we saw it for free. Captains night was awesome, had Lobster tail!
Wow, meeting Roy must've been THE highlight of that trip!
On my first cruise, they had Jim Shore onboard. For those that may not know him, he makes a lot of figurines and other items that are just awesome and creative. Like the one below:
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Wow, meeting Roy must've been THE highlight of that trip!
On my first cruise, they had Jim Shore onboard. For those that may not know him, he makes a lot of figurines and other items that are just awesome and creative. Like the one below:
forgot to say: I am actually enjoying the cruise more, no missing in anything at all, felt like instead of sharing the characters with tens of thousands i filtered all the Disney Magic and had it to ourselves with about 3000?
and the Kids I see them having a blast! If you can, go. the clue? Read the Passporter on DCL
So I called my mom to ask her if she wants to go to Disney World with us either next spring or fall of 2011. She said definitely but that we should consider a Disney cruise..
!
You are going to LOVE your mom for this!
also if you can order the Free DVD directly from the DCL then you can get more info.
their Disney documentation is really nice, exclusive.
Get the Passporter, order the DVD from DCL, and be prepared to be amazed. We had a party of 13 people ages 4 to 69 on our cruise last November/December. We did 4 nights, since DH and I were the only ones who had cruised before and the others didn't know what to expect. Well, guess what - we are ALL doing a 7 night on the Disney Fantasy in 2012 - we will be booking it as soon as we can. The kids loved it! Even my surly 11 year old son, when asked where he would like to go on our next "big" vacation, said a Disney Cruise!
You will not run out of things to do - in fact, you will find yourself wishing you had more time to squeeze everything in. Some highlights include the kids clubs, Castaway Cay (private island), first run movies - and 3D ones, too, bingo, live shows, shopping, the ports of call, adults only brunch at Palo, the sailaway party, the pirate party (with fireworks at sea and a yummy buffet), the spa, character greetings, photo ops, beer/wine tastings, game shows. . . the list goes on and on. The kids made kites, and my DBiL and DNephew made a vegetable race car - they won the "most Disney" prize for the Goofinator. They still talk about it even now.
One thing you will NOT do on a cruise is run out of things to do; but you can relax by the pool the whole time if you want to, as well. That's why it worked out so well for our diverse group, and why we are doing it again. As much as we love the parks, everyone voted to do a cruise again.
I have to be honest, I had the same concerns as you before we did our first Disney cruise - would I be bored? Absolutely not, there is just so much to do on board, it's a problem finding time to fit in all in. Would I feel trapped? Well, not at all. : It's such a huge ship with so much to explore that I felt like I was in a massive home.
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I don't think you will have felt are missing any magic. If anything I htink I felt more. The kids had more one on one with the charecters. Didn't feel rushed to get up and get running, like I do when we visit the parks, Plus alone time option ways heavy on my choice to sail with DCL.
ok my husband was the same way....so I booked the cruise with out telling him...ok maybe I should have told him 1st but it worked out. We went to wdw for a few days then got on the ship. He wanted me to cancell the ship part while we were at wdw but once we got on he was shocked by later that evening he was asking if we could book another one. He loved it...and said he would not want to miss this. Go for it you will love it.
You will neither feel trapped nor have nothing to do (unless you choose to). The ship is large enough that you'll run into very few "knots" of people outside of the pool (which is pretty much like any pool I've ever been to). You'll get a "newspaper" every night with the following day's events. Lots of them. And then there are the shore days. Lots of things to do there, or stay on the ship and have it pretty much "to yourself". Get a reduced price spa treatment, for instance.
As an agent I book #1 cruises, #2 WDW, #3 Caribbean all-inclusives #4 DL. Cruising has become very popular. And you'll find out why.
Hint, read the Passporter. Hint #2 read the Passporter. Hint #3 get Frommer's Cruises & Ports of Call. Hint #4, get (if you can find it) Basics of Cruising
Find a good agent. He/She should know both Disney and cruising. Obviously every agent here knows Disney very well and most are also cruising experts. Or, if you would rather have an agent you can shake hands with, interview a few locally. There have been a number of posts here and in the Travel Agents forum about how to do it. You clearly have WDW "down cold", but cruising is, as I learned on my first cruise and as a rookie agent, a much harder process.
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: It's such a huge ship with so much to explore that I felt like I was in a massive home. 
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