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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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My boyfriend and I got a great deal for a cruise on Black Friday for the long weekend (I get President's Day off) and with very reasonable flight prices, so we jumped on it! Two days off for me, three for him, but still a very doable vacation. We looked at potential upgrades and splurges and managed to price out a very lovely vacation for about $1200 each, for 5 days (including all extras and travel) so it's not the most luxurious vacation, but we still managed to get a lot of fun things planned!
This is us!
We are both young professionals who moved to Dallas in 2012, and the following winter was wonderful here, exactly what you'd expect from Texas! This winter we've been having though, yeah we didn't escape the extreme temps either and it has been below freezing more than I'd like to deal with. So a nice Florida escape was exactly what we needed! And I mean, who doesn't want a nice romantic getaway for Valentine's Day?
Who: Maci and Cody
What: Celebrity Cruise
Where: Ft. Lauderdale, Nassau, Key West, at Sea!
When: February 13-17
Why: Great deal to escape the cold!
We had actually successfully packed the night before the trip, knowing we had a very early morning ahead. I was proud of myself for this one, as I’m always scrambling last minute. But you just need SO MUCH for a cruise because you have so many different wardrobe occasions, so I had to actually think ahead! I also finally caved and bought a luggage scale, so I knew my luggage wouldn’t be costing me a fortune
All packed and ready to go!
The alarm went off at 3:30am. Had to be out the door by 4:30, yikes! I woke up and showered before throwing my last few things into the bags. Double checked that we had everything. Took care of the kitties and the trash etc because I can’t stand leaving a dirty apartment. Rounded up our luggage, gave the kitties some kisses and we were off!
Thankfully we had a very uneventful drive to the airport and were quickly into Express Parking and waiting for our shuttle to the terminal. I should also mention, it was COLD this morning so we were bundled up somewhat but didn’t want to be lugging bulky coats around because the Florida forecast was near perfection! We were quickly on our way to the American counter to check our bags and headed on through security. We settled in and had a quick breakfast from Au Bon Pain and got ready for our 6:15am takeoff! (We got the earliest flight, just in case of any delays!)
A really pretty flight, nice views of Ft Lauderdale below. I think we watched a movie on my iPad and Cody read. I’m sure I fell asleep a bit and it was a good flight. On time as much as I remember. Our flight was scheduled to arrive at 9:50am.
Getting good use out of my new WDW pullover
By the way, Cody hates pictures. So you’ll see lots of faces from him.
What’s really nice about this port, is the airport and port are next to each other. So we quickly scooped up our luggage from baggage claim and hailed a cab. $15 and 15 minutes later we were at Port Everglades Terminal 4. I want to say it was about 10:45am at this point. You have to show ID to get in as it appears to be a commercial port so it was a little weird. But we were greeted by the sight of our lovely ship! We were pretty early, so we encountered essentially no lines to get our stuff together for the cruise. We took a seat in the waiting area and about 15 minutes or so later they were letting us on the ship! It was weird because the waiting area was segregated by room type and the chairs were even significantly less cushy in our “normal old inside stateroom” area. But they just let everyone on at the same time anyway because there were so few people waiting!
We walked on the ship and were greeted by champagne and mimosas and started to wander to gather our bearings
Up Next: Day 1 Continued: What’s there to do on this ship?
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Pixie Dust
*Melissa
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
PassPorter Guide Author
Deb
~ Jenn 
yeah you started!!! Excited to hear all about it!! 
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