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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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After a trying trip to WDW... I have the travel bug again for something a bit different. I am not sure if I'll like a cruise at all - but figured I might as well "go big or go home."
Northern Europe catches my eye given all of the ports --- Medit would probably interest my mom more, and Fjords looks interesting, but not sure either of us would like it.
I haven't found much info on those who have went - so if you went on either of these three could you post your experiences - good and bad?
Thanks!!
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~ Jenn **Disney is REAL LIFE Magic, so much more than optical illusions **
We've done Northern Europe and LOVED it. There were fjords as part of that trip, but I'd do a fjord specific one in an instant if budget allowed. I did do a trip report for our Baltic cruise. It's bad some recent activity so shouldn't be hard to find.
And Chezp (Cheryl) has done Baltic (TR in progress), Mediteranean (more than once) as well as a non-Disney fjord cruise. TR all in the cruise or globetrotting forums.
Good luck!
We've done Northern Europe and LOVED it. There were fjords as part of that trip, but I'd do a fjord specific one in an instant if budget allowed. I did do a trip report for our Baltic cruise. It's bad some recent activity so shouldn't be hard to find.
And Chezp (Cheryl) has done Baltic (TR in progress), Mediteranean (more than once) as well as a non-Disney fjord cruise. TR all in the cruise or globetrotting forums.
Good luck!
Hey - someone stole my thunder!
We've done all three types of cruises. If you love amazing scenery, the fjords are for you. As far as the other two go, have a look at the ports of call and see what appeals to you. Bear in mind the fjords and Northern Europe don't have the greatest weather - the best I can describe it as is changeable. If you want good weather, the Med will be for you.
Thanks ladies! The Northern Europe one is super interesting to me - Sweden, Russia, Denmark, Germany, etc. I can't find any trip reports for those -- but I am still scouring though PP reports
I am setting aside some time to read yours Cheryl! Mediterranean would appeal most to my mom and her husband I think as she is not fond of cold weather -- but the other stops I mentioned just seem so cool (foreign travel novice here)
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~ Jenn **Disney is REAL LIFE Magic, so much more than optical illusions **
Thanks ladies! The Northern Europe one is super interesting to me - Sweden, Russia, Denmark, Germany, etc. I can't find any trip reports for those -- but I am still scouring though PP reports
I am setting aside some time to read yours Cheryl! Mediterranean would appeal most to my mom and her husband I think as she is not fond of cold weather -- but the other stops I mentioned just seem so cool (foreign travel novice here)
The Baltic link will take you to our cruise, which went to Bruges (we didn't get off the boat, as that's a day trip for us), Stockholm, St. Petersburg (that's where we're up to right now) and eventually it will also cover Warnemunde and Copenhagen, but there's still a while before we get to those...
We had lovely weather for the most part - albeit not as warm as the Med would be. But I'm not a hot weather fan, so it was glorious as far as I was concerned.
I sailed with my family on the Magic for a Mediterranean cruise in 2013 and a Baltic cruise in 2015. We really enjoyed both cruises. It was a little colder in the Baltic than the Med, but it was not unpleasant at all.
For a "once in a lifetime" trip, I would probably do the Mediterranean, just to say I'd seen the main sites in Rome and Florence. However, seeing those sites requires several hours in buses or cars just to get to the cities and back. In the Baltic, we could walk to the main sights in Tallin, Estonia, and take short bus rides in Helsinki and Stockholm. The trip to the main attractions in St. Petersburg (where we did a private tour) was longer, but not nearly as far as Rome and Florence.
Really, you wouldn't go wrong either way, because both areas have more interesting sites than you'd have time to see. I am not familiar enough with the Norwegian ports to know how much there is to see around them, but everything I have heard about the Fjord cruises has been positive.
We sailed with DCL this past summer and did Northern Europe. We sailed out of Copenhagen, and stopped in Stockholm (Sweden), St Petersburg (Russia), Tallinn (Estonia), and Helsinki (Finland). It was amazing! I'd do it again in a heartbeat! The weather was chillier than our Caribbean and Bahamas cruises, but we didn't mind at all. It averaged 65-75 most days, which we found pleasant. Whatever you decide you won't go wrong. DCL is fabulous!
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Looking forward to another Christmas with The Mouse!!
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