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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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we are planning a cruisetour on princess to alaska for the summer of 2015 when is the best time during the summer to go and what should we plan on doing while in alaska we are planning to go for two weeks.
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Heather - "I'm Tinkerbell's biggest fan!"
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we are also planning to go to vancover on the way home for four days.
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Heather - "I'm Tinkerbell's biggest fan!"
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
I can't answer your questions, but I just wanted to say: Yippee! for you!
My DDs Samantha and Lauren, along with Samantha's DH and MiL went last year in late June on a Disney Cruise and they all agreed: it may be June, but it was chilly and sometimes downright cold. Remember, you're not just in Alaska, but on the water and traveling at a decent speed.
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WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
I really recommend going to Denali and taking any of the bus tours through the park or outside tours to Kantishna. If going to Juneau take a whale watching trip with Harv and Marv Alaska Whale Watching. They do small groups of no more than six to a boat. I love Vancouver. There is so much to do.
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WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
we are planning to take a train from vancover to seattle and spend a few days in seattle and then flying home. our trip is going to be for three weeks can't wait to book our trip next summer. we are planning to fly out of new jersey because it is much cheaper then flying out of new york.
__________________
Heather - "I'm Tinkerbell's biggest fan!"
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
We went on our Alaskan cruise in early August and found the weather to be quite nice -not too hot nor too cold (except, or course, near the glacier, which was rather chilly). Keep in mind that "not too cold" doesn't mean you won't need jackets -we did wear our fleece jackets and windbreakers at times. Also, we did not notice many mosquitos at that time which I have heard can be an issue at some times.
As to "don't miss", well I really, really regret not doing a bear watch trip. I kept putting it off, debating about the $ and by the time I decided to go ahead and do it, it was fully booked . Many other things, however, are really dependent on weather. People rave about the White Pass RR trip in Skagwag but the day we took it there was so much cloud cover and fog that it was worthless. We saw next to nothing. Ditto Mt Roberts Tramway in Juneau. We had a beautiful day and had amazing views, but others might be disappointed if the weather wasn't right. It's all about the view in each of those excursions, and if there's no view........ Also, keep in mind that many of the flight plane and helicopter excursions might not run if the weather isn't right. My sister and brother in law had the one and only excursion they booked (which involved a helicopter flight) cancelled that morning. I guess my point is to be flexible and have some alternate plans. Know that the weather can make or break some things.
We also spent several days pre cruise in Vancouver. Don't miss Stanley Park! We also loved Granville Island and the Capilano Suspension Bridge. Something to keep in mind -we did our whale watching in Vancouver as we were most interested in seeing Orcas. We have whale watches here at home (New England) where we can see humpbacks so that wasn't a huge draw for us. You have a better chance of seeing Orcas in Vancouver as there are "local" pods of Orcas and the trips go out specifically to see them.
We haven't been to Alaska yet, but are going this summer (mid-May to mid-June).
I've been reading a lot about Alaska options at cruisecritic.com. There are lots of threads there about Princess Cruisetours, and tours in general. Some of the more experienced folks say to make sure you understand what is involved if Denali is on your tour. They say to make sure you go for at least two nights so you can do one of the longer bus/shuttle rides into the park. That's just an example of one of the things I saw mentioned (over and over).
As for when is the best time to go - part of it depends on what you want to see. July and August seem to be very popular months, especially for people who want to see bears fishing for salmon. May can have less rain, but it may also be a little colder - and not everything is open in early May. September can be nice because of fall colors, but this is the end of the tourist season. I think the key is, be prepared for rain whenever you go!
Like Holly said, the Harv & Marv whale watching tour in Juneau is very popular.
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
We were there in June in 2011 and had wonderful weather, but I think it was unusual. The locals were talking about the heat wave they were having the day DH and I came out of our jackets. It was still chilly in my opinion. I think the temps were around 60 for us most days and the sun was out. We got very lucky. We are going back this summer and doing a cruise tour with Celebrity. We are spending 6 nights going from Fairbanks to Seward with a stop in Denali along the way. This will be followed by the southbound cruise to Vancouver. I hope we are as lucky with the weather this time as well.
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WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
We've done 3 Alaska cruises (4th coming up shortly) and we love doing whale watching, bear watching, just about anything that gets us out close to nature. A glacier flightseeing tour is expensive, but owrth doing once, even with the expense
this is going to be a once in a lifetime trip so we want to be able to do as much as we can do on this trip
__________________
Heather - "I'm Tinkerbell's biggest fan!"
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
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. Many other things, however, are really dependent on weather. People rave about the White Pass RR trip in Skagwag but the day we took it there was so much cloud cover and fog that it was worthless. We saw next to nothing. Ditto Mt Roberts Tramway in Juneau. We had a beautiful day and had amazing views, but others might be disappointed if the weather wasn't right. It's all about the view in each of those excursions, and if there's no view........ Also, keep in mind that many of the flight plane and helicopter excursions might not run if the weather isn't right. My sister and brother in law had the one and only excursion they booked (which involved a helicopter flight) cancelled that morning. I guess my point is to be flexible and have some alternate plans. Know that the weather can make or break some things.
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I think the temps were around 60 for us most days and the sun was out. We got very lucky. We are going back this summer and doing a cruise tour with Celebrity. We are spending 6 nights going from Fairbanks to Seward with a stop in Denali along the way. This will be followed by the southbound cruise to Vancouver. I hope we are as lucky with the weather this time as well.
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