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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Hi guys! We are booked in a category 4D Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom with Veranda for our April Dream cruise. Just found out that we can bump up to the same type room, but a category 4B. What is the difference in these two rooms? Is it enough to warrant the small (less that $200) difference in price? Any advice will be much appreciated!
4D staterooms are on Deck 6 midship. 4B staterooms are on Deck 8 midship, directly above the 4B staterooms. The rooms are physically identical, both in decor/amenities, and in square area. If you have kids, you may actually prefer that 4D, as it's directly upstairs from the kids clubs on Deck 5 - no need to wait for an elevator, just take the stairs. Deck 8, meantime, is stuck right in the middle between the public spaces on Decks 2-5 and Decks 11-13 - you'll probably want to wait for an elevator, no matter where you're headed on the ship.
The cruise lines perpetuate the notion that the higher the deck, the more valuable a stateroom becomes. On modern ships, there's little to support this notion. You're not distancing yourself from the lower classes down in steerage, or the unhealthy air "down below" that was an unhappy fact of life before modern ventilation systems were invented. $200 extra to be two decks higher on the ship? Not in this case.
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Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions
Great to know!! We are looking at booking a 4D Family Stateroom with verandah for our cruise in 2012. I had read somewhere on this board that the higher up your stateroom the more movement you may experience. Is that true?
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I had read somewhere on this board that the higher up your stateroom the more movement you may experience. Is that true?
Have a great trip!!
You may have read it here, because I've discussed it before. Basically, there are three kinds of motion on a ship, two of which can make you sick.
"Pitch" is up-and-down motion. That's felt most easily in the bow (forward) of the boat, less so in the stern (aft), and least midship. It doesn't matter whether you're on Deck 1 or 12 - if you're in the extreme front of the ship, you're going to feel this strongly, not much at all as you move towards midship.
"Roll" is the vertical side-to-side motion, like the motion of a windshield wiper. Roll far enough, and the ship capsizes, or would, if cruise ships didn't carry enormous amounts of ballast. Nobody wants "The Poseidon Adventure." - (Cruise ships are essentially like Weebles, they may wobble, but they're not going to fall down.) The higher you are on the ship, the farther you move when the ship rolls. To understand this, move your hand like a windshield wiper and note how much farther your fingertips move than your wrist. On a boat, the "wrist" is the boat at the waterline, your fingertips the upper decks.
"Yaw" is the third kind of motion, when the ship pivots left/right like the needle of a compass. It's a very small factor under nearly all circumstances - the ship's rudder and keel counteract this - and not something that would make anyone sick on a large watercraft.
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Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions
Tiki,
We went on our first cruise last year and we were just a little worried about how much motion we would feel. After the first night, it was totally negligable. The motion was just a little noticeable, and certainly not enough to make us queasy or anything. The last night of our cruise we had some weather that we sailed through, but by that point we hardly noticed!
Tiki,
We went on our first cruise last year and we were just a little worried about how much motion we would feel. After the first night, it was totally negligable. The motion was just a little noticeable, and certainly not enough to make us queasy or anything. The last night of our cruise we had some weather that we sailed through, but by that point we hardly noticed!
Thanks Dave for your expert explanation of ship movements !!
Thanks Leah for your reassuring words! I am just a bit leary of the sea sickness and I don't like heights all that well yet I want a verandah stateroom because I know I will feel the need for fresh air (a bit claustrophobia too). I am working on overcoming my fears!
"Roll" is the vertical side-to-side motion, like the motion of a windshield wiper. Roll far enough, and the ship capsizes, or would, if cruise ships didn't carry enormous amounts of ballast. Nobody wants "The Poseidon Adventure." - (Cruise ships are essentially like Weebles, they may wobble, but they're not going to fall down.) The higher you are on the ship, the farther you move when the ship rolls. To understand this, move your hand like a windshield wiper and note how much farther your fingertips move than your wrist. On a boat, the "wrist" is the boat at the waterline, your fingertips the upper decks.
"Worth it" probably depends on personal circumstances. The appearance of the concierge levels - staterooms, hallway, and concierge lounge - is much richer than the appearance of regular decks - woodwork, color schemes, decorative touches, carpeting, etc. The interior dimensions and amenities of the Cat V Concierge Family Staterooms with Verandah seem to be identical to Cat 4, but the depth of the verandah is greater - about 2-3 feet deeper (maybe 6 feet deep by 9 feet wide).
After that, you're really buying the concierge service package, which has been substantially enhanced on the Dream and Fantasy:
All-new: Concierge Lounge
All-new: Concierge Sun Deck
All-new: Secure, key entry to the Concierge areas - lounge, stateroom hallways, and sun deck
All-new location: Decks 11 and 12 forward on the same level as the pools or one level above. Adjacent to the spa, adult pool area, and the concierge sun deck - no longer underneath the pool deck.
Deeper verandahs.
Concierge boarding lounge
Priority reservation access for Palo, Remy, spa, excursions, etc. (120 days, provided you're paid in full).
In-room dining from any menu on board.
Concierge staff for help with reservations, stateroom "goodies," etc.
There's more, but either this pushes your buttons, or not. On basic stateroom comfort, I don't think there's be a big difference between V and 4.
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Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions
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(Cruise ships are essentially like Weebles, they may wobble, but they're not going to fall down.) The higher you are on the ship, the farther you move when the ship rolls. To understand this, move your hand like a windshield wiper and note how much farther your fingertips move than your wrist. On a boat, the "wrist" is the boat at the waterline, your fingertips the upper decks.
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