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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I'm assuming the five of you are in one cabin. Are you family? Or at least friends? That's important, because five people in one cabin means really tight quarters!
The best advice I can offer on bathroom space is to use the wonderful toiletries DCL provides. That eliminates five bottles of shampoo, a couple of bottles of body wash....you get the idea. I would also suggest each person keeps his toiletries in a ziploc bag that he carries into the bathroom when he needs it. Otherwise there will be a huge mess in the BRs all the time. And undoubtedly, someone needs their toothbrush when someone else is in that bathroom...so just keep your stuff in your drawer.
Remember that you can't use any kind of over-the-door storage. There is, however, a small robe hook outside the bathroom somewhere (depending on the room setup).
I think the key to having five people in one cabin is traveling light. Keep that in mind when you pack for the first half of your trip. Frankly, the most people I've had in a cabin was three, and it was quite manageable. I really can't imagine five. Good luck!
Keep it simple and small. Don't take anything you won't need and definitely take advantage of the onboard soaps, shampoos, etc. Are you returning to the condo after the cruise? If so, perhaps they would be willing to store a suitcase or two for you while you cruise. If you are all in one cabin, it will be cramped. You don't say if the 4 others are children or adults.That definitely makes a difference. Luggage can often be stored under the beds, as mentioned, but it would be very inconvenient to have to remove it very often to get stuff out of it. Be sure to completely unpack what you need for the cruise before storing it.
The 2 amazon links above did not work for me, so I'm not sure what you were looking at.
Definitely use the under bed space - that holds a lot, especially suitcases. I think there's actually a fair amount of storage in the cabins. We usually have 4 of us, and on our last cruise the kids were 19 & 15, so not little. And we were doing Alaska, so we had a lot of bulky stuff. I recommend a hanging shoe rack - the kind that goes on a closet bar. We use that for the vast variety of shoes we all seem to need for formal nights, tennis shoes, flip flops, etc. You could also use it for clothes for littler ones - adult clothes wouldn't fit as much.
And I have continued to use an over the door shoe hanger, with felt under the hooks so as to not scratch the door at all. I've never been asked to stop using this. We use that for toiletries - hair brushes, toothpaste, deoderant, etc, as well as sunscreen, sunglasses, all those miscellaneous things that can quickly make your room look very cluttered.