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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Ok those of you that have done this cruise let hear from you...
Tell me the good ... the bad .... the ugly....
We are now booked for June 15, 2008 and are wondering ... we have done Western Caribbean twice and were looking for a change. But now we will miss Castaway Cay and were looking for others opinions...
Plus any special trips etc to add into this trip to make it even better??
Thanks for the help!!
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Last edited by VB_Family; 03-19-2007 at 10:20 PM..
We've done it last year and it was really good. We were the last cruise so we had some special events going on. Nothing really bade except that it rained on Pirate night. I guess it was special because we were some of the few who had the show inside the atrium, which was by the way PACKED!! We also had the fireworks on a special night. So overall it was a special cruise.
We did the Mexican Riviera in January with friends (on Princess.) It was nothing special so far as the ports are concerned. All the shops and vendors and crafts are the same as on the other side of Mexico.
Depends on what you like ... but I wouldn't sail it again. Just my opinion.
Our family cruised the Mexican ports on the Magic in June of 2005. And we are booked for July 2008.
We had a great time in '05, so much that we are going again. I liked Cabo the best. This time, in 2008, Cabo will the first port instead of the last.
The other ports are OK. In Puerto Vallarta we went to a resort, an excurion thru DCL, that was expensive and the resort, crowded. Won't do that again. In Mazatlan, we took a taxi downtown and shopped. It was fun.
One word of warning, the beaches (at all the ports) are full of people trying to sell you some trinket or blanket, etc. It is excessive. We found a nice resort in Cabo and hung out at their beautiful pool and drank margaritas. It was wonderful. That way we avoided getting harrassed on the beach.
I just love being on the Magic without having to fly to Florida!! If the boat never stopped in any ports, I'd be happy.
Rene',
Thanks for the great info! It helps to hear from someone who's BTDT.
As far as Cabo goes, do you remember the name of the resort, by chance? I'd love to know that the place I choose is a good one!
Also, did you ever swim with the dolphins? I've heard you can do that in Puerta Vallarta and it's wayyy up there on my to-do list! I think it'd be such an amazing experience, and my kids would go CRAZY. (They're big animal lovers.)
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I have the resort name in my DCL file at home. I am at work, now (lunch break). I'll post the info tomorrow if I can remember. It really was a beautiful resort. And the DCL crew were there. We saw the cruise director and his girl friend. There also was a DCL excursion that apparently took you to this resort (we could tell by the purple Goofy stickers everyone was wearing!). It saved us a bundle to just walk along the beach onto the property, tip the staff to give us our own covered tent-like lounge, order some drinks and we were set.
I did not do the dolphin excursion. I have heard great things about it, though. We will be considering it for this cruise. My 9 yo DD loves dolphins!!!
Oh, thank you, Rene'! If you could post it (when you have a chance), that would be GREAT. That sounds absolutely heavenly! I want at least one day where I just lounge around and do nothing... on the beach. Ahhh!
Oh, thank you, Rene'! If you could post it (when you have a chance), that would be GREAT. That sounds absolutely heavenly! I want at least one day where I just lounge around and do nothing... on the beach. Ahhh!
Chortle. Dirty mind here. I saw "do nothing" and read "wear nothing". Too much time at work and on the commute.
I liked the place so much, I grabbed a brochure on the way out. And somehow managed to keep it. We got all our 2005 DCL stuff out when we booked the 2008 cruise, just so I could re-live it. I was glad this info was in the file.
These boards were a life saver when I planned our 1st DCL cruise. It is nice to give a little back.
One note-I've never been to the website that I posted above, until now. There are two hotels in Cabo that are in this group. The one I experienced is ME Cabo.