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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Hello, guys! We have decided to fly down for our March cruise (we usually drive). We are arriving the day before the cruise and staying at POR in one of the new Royal Rooms! We have booked DCL tranportation from POR to the port. We are crazy excited, but I have questions about how the DCL buses work! Can anyone fill me in on how things will go the morning of our cruise? We are traveling with a 3 year old, a five year old, and my 70-something in-laws, so I want to be prepared! Anyone who can also let me know what happens with the luggage at POR and how the port arrival time situation goes would be awesome! I thought it was weird that I had to select a port arrival time when I did our online check in, even though I have no idea when that will be!
We just sailed on the Thanksgiving Dream! We too, stayed one night at a resort just to be sure!!
You will receive luggage tags from Magical Express for your luggage to get from the airport to POR. Yellow tags. Separately, from DCL, you will receive blue luggage tags. After you arrive at POR, swap the blue tags for the yellow tags on all but your carry on.
The DCL bus picked us up around 10 or 11 (I can't remember - feels like forever ago!) and had us to the port around 1ish. All of your luggage shows up outside of your room later on during the day.
If you want to, pack your swimsuit in your carryon! My kids were on the Aquaduck as soon as we got on the boat (after lunch, of course.) We traveled with a 3 year old, a 9 year old and a 10 year old. The Mickey pool and the splash park will be open for the littles. The Donald Pool and Aquaduck open as well (Wait, did you say which ship you'd be on?)
On the DCL bus (Magical Express) you'll see a short video about the boat and cruise and then you'll get to watch cartoons and America's Funniest Home Videos. It kept everyone in our crew happy for the entire ride!
Kristie,
Thank you so much!! That was exactly the info I needed to hear! This is our second cruise on the Magic, but the first time we are using Disney transportation. That is great to hear that they show AFHV on the bus. My girls LOVE that show! Anything to make the ride smoother will be a big help!
If you don't mind me asking, when you got to the port did you have to wait around to board or was the terminal pretty clear by that point? We have always been there as early as possible, so I am a little worried about not getting there until later.
Thanks again for all your help!
We sailed last March and were picked up from Pop, we did not get there untill about 1pm and it was pretty busy. I am a castaway club member and that line was really short so we got right in but the standby line was super long. It could have been just bad luck, and I know now they have changed the way they have ppl check in so I am sure it will not be bad at all.
Scout54,
We are looking to stay at a WDW Resort before our next cruise too. We would like to arrive early to the port and not wait for the magical express. We are planning to use a company called Cocoa Beach Shuttle to take us from the resort to the port. We used them on our first cruise in 2009 to get from MCO to the Port as we came in a day early. They provided good service at a fair price. This trip we will have a group of 8 and I am thinking it may be cheaper the Magical Express. Then we will use Magical Express to get back to MCO.
On our first cruise we took DCL transport from the GF to port and by the time we got there groups were already entering and we pretty much just walked on. On our last trip we stayed at the Hyatt and MCO. We were on one of the 1st busses out and we ended up having to wait about an hour until boarding. Even though we had to wait we took some great pictures with several characters including Minnie and Donald. When we went the 1st time via DCL from the resorts we missed the photo opportunities since they were boarding by the time we got there.
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