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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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We are heading down for 11 days, and are wondering the best way to communicate while at the parks.
We are from Canada so we can't bring our cell phones. There will be DH and myself as well as 2 kids 21 years old and 2 18 year olds. We assume they will want to split up with us.
If we get some pay as you go phones what are the best providers for coverage in the parks?
Anyone got any great ideas?
Back before cell phones were common, my wife and I had some Motorola 2-way radios that we used when skiing. (Think walki-talkie.) they were small enough to fit in a pocket and would have enough range to cover an entire Disney park. They weren't terribly expensive even 13-14 years ago, I'd imaginve the price would be fairly cheap now.
Back before cell phones were common, my wife and I had some Motorola 2-way radios that we used when skiing. (Think walki-talkie.) they were small enough to fit in a pocket and would have enough range to cover an entire Disney park. They weren't terribly expensive even 13-14 years ago, I'd imaginve the price would be fairly cheap now.
That is what I would say. They are still fairly cheap and should have reception throughout the parks.
Back before cell phones were common, my wife and I had some Motorola 2-way radios that we used when skiing. (Think walki-talkie.) they were small enough to fit in a pocket and would have enough range to cover an entire Disney park. They weren't terribly expensive even 13-14 years ago, I'd imaginve the price would be fairly cheap now.
Before cell phones, that's what we did as well.
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You could also buy some cheapo pre-paid cell phones at Target/Walmart in Orlando if you have a car -- or maybe get them in the airport. (They'd work better than the 2-way radios and have the ability to leave voicemail)
You could also buy some cheapo pre-paid cell phones at Target/Walmart in Orlando if you have a car -- or maybe get them in the airport. (They'd work better than the 2-way radios and have the ability to leave voicemail)
That's what we do as we live in PR and with roaming our bill would go way up.
Being that you are from Canada if you get the 2 way radios you would be able to use them for other purposes where the pre paid phones would only be good here in the states. It would be less hassle than setting up the phone accounts and you could purchase these before you leave home.
Ifnyou do decide to go with the pre paid phones, we have AT&T and never had a problem with the coverage. However we only had a couple occasions we needed to call each other. DS was on prepaid with them at the time.
I do like the idea of being able to use the voicemail feature on the prepaid phones...
I'm not sure about the cell providers in MB, but when we went down this summer (14 of us in total) our plan with Telus (AB) allowed us to text with each other at no extra cost. As most had phones with unlimited texting, it was no extra charge to use it in the US. My in-laws added 100 text messages for $5 / month and were able to also use them to communicate with us. It worked out so well, especially when we did have a pre-designated meeting place and time, but someone in the party was running late. Now none of us have 3G phones (like Blackberry or iPhone) as I have heard that they run under a different network so may not have the same text cost.
We always had our cell phones on, but as long as we didn't dial or answer an actual phone call, there were no roaming charges.
This worked really well for us, so I hope that they have something similar over there. Check with your provider(s) and see any or all of your phones could be set up with this type of plan.
PS. My in-laws just called and cancelled the 100 text/mth package when they returned back to Alberta and only paid for that one month of the trip.
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my question about the walkie talkies is, would there be interference with all the gizmos, gadgets, doohickies and what not that is being used in the parks?????? IMHO, prepaid phones would be the way to go. Along with voice mails there is txting, which to me is alot easier to understand given how noisy some areas of the park can be.
The walkie talkies would only be good if everyone was in the same park. Given the ages of your kids, 18 & 21, they may want to go further afield. To a different park, or DTD.
So I'd look into your texting plans. They work differently, depending on the type of phone you have.
When I had a regular cell phone, with a texting plan, it didn't cost me anything to text in the U.S. But now that i got an i Phone, it's different. I'm getting ready to leave soon, and have to phone Telus. I may have to add on a US roaming package for the dates we'll be away.
I've heard good things about the Net 10 phones from Walmart.
You'd have to call your carrier to see if you'd need a roaming pkg for texting, and see which way would be cheapest for you. Good luck.
Update- I decided to phone Telus, as I leave in a week. I have a smart phone (i Phone)
I have a text plan on my phone, so texting in the U.S. is free for me.
To add a U.S. voice roaming plan -30 day plan. $20 gives you no roaming, and you pay $0.25 per minute for calls anywhere in the U.S. and Canada.
I'm not adding a Data plan, way too expensive I think it was $1 per mb. I'll just take my laptop to check e mail, etc.
So, don't know what kind of phone you have or carrier, but this will maybe give you some idea. If you have a regular cell phone, plans will be different.
I think to keep in touch all you'll need is texting. Easy to add on if you don't have it.
I have some Canadian friends who go to WDW about 3 or 4 times per year, and they actually keep separate US cell phone accounts active; I believe they go with cheap prepaid plans and cheap, basic dumb phones, but they keep the account active so they don't have to do anything to activate them when they arrive.
Even though you're in Canada, you may be able to order prepaid US cell phones over the internet in advance and have them shipped to you. If they will only ship to the US, you might be able to get them shipped to your WDW resort.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin_Wadsworth
Back before cell phones were common, my wife and I had some Motorola 2-way radios that we used when skiing. (Think walki-talkie.) they were small enough to fit in a pocket and would have enough range to cover an entire Disney park. They weren't terribly expensive even 13-14 years ago, I'd imaginve the price would be fairly cheap now.
They're downright cheap now - a pair can be had for about $30 at Walmart or Walgreens. They're called FRS radios.
They will only work in short-range situations, such as when both radios are inside the same park. They won't work much father than about 1/2-3/4 mile.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Caldercup
You could also buy some cheapo pre-paid cell phones at Target/Walmart in Orlando if you have a car -- or maybe get them in the airport. (They'd work better than the 2-way radios and have the ability to leave voicemail)
Getting anything at the airport will cost a fortune, compared to Walmart. If at all possible, go to Walmart to get your communications devices. Even if you are using DME and don't have a car, a taxi ride to the Walmart on SR 535 to get radios or prepaid cell phones, and some snacks, drinks, and non-Disney souvenirs, is well worth the time and cost.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie97
my question about the walkie talkies is, would there be interference with all the gizmos, gadgets, doohickies and what not that is being used in the parks?????? IMHO, prepaid phones would be the way to go. Along with voice mails there is txting, which to me is alot easier to understand given how noisy some areas of the park can be.
Electronic interference is not a problem with FRS radios. However, those radios have the same drawback as a cell phone - they don't work inside buildings or attractions. And they have a drawback that cell phones don't have - they have limited range.
But they also have an advantage over cell phones - they are usable world-wide, so they can be useful once you get home.
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That's what we do as we live in PR and with roaming our bill would go way up.
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