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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 family has never been on a cruise. My dh will go, but he isn't jumping for joy about a cruise. I need to make sure I have all of the best reasons to choose a Disney cruise over another cruise line. The cost will play a factor in his reasoning. Anyone been on other cruises that could compare them for me? My dd's and I really want the Disney cruise!! Thanks!!!
We've been on P&O and, although it was a lot cheaper, we could see why on board, as there were a lot more onboard costs, such as soft drinks, which were included in Disney cruises.
Also, the shows on the Disney cruises are amazing - we didn't even bother with them, as they just didn't appeal to us, whereas we love the shows on Disney. Of course, you don't get the Disney characters anywhere else either.
Something else that was better on Disney was the dining - both in terms of quality and service, but also you get to rotate through the dining rooms, whereas we were in the same one every night, unless we wanted to pay a surcharge for one of the restaurants that has a surcharge. That was a bit of a culture shock, after being used to rotating through all the dining rooms the Disney ships have to offer.
Celebrity was over 10 years ago so my memory fails on a lot of that ship, however one thing that stands out (and has kept us from going back) is that on our particular sailing, we were the minority in our age group. At the time we were in our early 20's and I'd say 80% of the rest of the ship seemed to be in retirement age. Nothing wrong with that, but we found that the on board activities catered to that age bracket and we were quite bored between ports.
There were more appealing activities for us on Norwegian than there were on Celebrity, but the service and food quality were average at best. Plus there were a lot more on board costs that Disney includes in their fares.
As far as DCL, I can't think of a single thing we were displeased with on our entire sailing. This was our first cruise sailing with DS (just shy of 3 at the time) and the ship was full of family friendly activities for all age groups regardless if you were traveling with children or just with adults. I haven't met a person yet who has said their kids had a bad time on a Disney cruise. Sure some may argue that we think DCL is the best because now we have kids and blah, blah, blah. I have to disagree. Yes, I think in our experiences if you are taking a child on a cruise, Disney is definitely the way to go. However, DH and I both agree that we would have a fantastic time if we ever get to sail without the kids. It really is the way to go in quality and entertainment. You may pay more up front, but it's worth every penny and some of those charges are just taking care of what other cruise lines hit you with after you've boarded.
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Disney has more inclusions that the other Cruise Line's for sure but the entire experience is "magical"!
They announce your family as you enter the ship "The Disney Magic welcomes aboard the ________ family!" and everyone claps and there's a receiving line when you enter.
There is a 24/7 complimentary pop/coffee/tea station near the pool deck, so you don't have to pay for those beverages.
The nightly Broadway style shows are included and they are FANTASTIC
There are first run movies on-board and even Prem-EARS of new movies at no cost
The kids programming is included and it's FANTASTIC. If you are traveling with kids, good luck getting them out of the clubs!
It's the only Cruise Line authorized to do fireworks at sea
There are themed parties like Pirates IN the Caribbean night
There are family activities, kids only activities, adult only activities, etc
Complimentary 24/7 room service
Rooms are 20% larger than other cruise line rooms
Rooms are designed for families, most with a split bath (toilet and sink in one and shower and sink in the other) so multiple people can get ready at once
Very friendly and family oriented atmosphere
There is an adults only pool, spa, coffee shop and nightly entertainment. There is even dining that's only for adults (18+) so if you are traveling without kids or want a break from your kids you have places to go where you won't even know there are children on board!
The service is hands down the best you'll EVER find anywhere.
There are no hidden fees, the port fees, government taxes etc. are all included in the price. You can even pre-pay your gratuities.
Celebrity was over 10 years ago so my memory fails on a lot of that ship, however one thing that stands out (and has kept us from going back) is that on our particular sailing, we were the minority in our age group. At the time we were in our early 20's and I'd say 80% of the rest of the ship seemed to be in retirement age. Nothing wrong with that, but we found that the on board activities catered to that age bracket and we were quite bored between ports.
There were more appealing activities for us on Norwegian than there were on Celebrity, but the service and food quality were average at best. Plus there were a lot more on board costs that Disney includes in their fares.
As far as DCL, I can't think of a single thing we were displeased with on our entire sailing. This was our first cruise sailing with DS (just shy of 3 at the time) and the ship was full of family friendly activities for all age groups regardless if you were traveling with children or just with adults. I haven't met a person yet who has said their kids had a bad time on a Disney cruise. Sure some may argue that we think DCL is the best because now we have kids and blah, blah, blah. I have to disagree. Yes, I think in our experiences if you are taking a child on a cruise, Disney is definitely the way to go. However, DH and I both agree that we would have a fantastic time if we ever get to sail without the kids. It really is the way to go in quality and entertainment. You may pay more up front, but it's worth every penny and some of those charges are just taking care of what other cruise lines hit you with after you've boarded.
Yep Celebrity is mainly older people. I have sailed with them and the service is just not the same as Disney. Neither is the upkeep on the ship, I kept thinking, "this would never happen on a Disney cruise" and not in a good way. With cruises you get what you pay for. The quality of the food, the service, the room, omg I almost forgot the tiny tiny room on Celebrity, my bathroom at home is bigger then the Celebrity room(no joke).
We took a cruise on royal Caribbean several years ago and we had a good time. We thought the food was ok as was the service. The thing we didn't like was the casino. You pretty much had to cut through it to get to most places on the ship and while we did not have kids at the time we still found it irritating. DCL on the other hand is first class all the way. The ships are sparkling clean and the staff always goes above and beyond. Hooray DCL!!!!
Honestly as a DVC member and a Disney fan, I found the Disney cruise to be nice. Service was great, room was excellent (2 Bedroom), and the cabana was a treat. But even with all of that I found the Oasis of the Seas to be FANTASTIC. Love that ship! And we had a basic room and no other frills. The shows were great. All of the different venues like Central Park, the Boardwalk and Promenade were outstanding. You have to see it to believe it. Even with all of my preparation for that trip, I still couldn't believe my eyes. I wish I could be on that ship right now.
Me and the family (dh, 8yo twin boys, 5yo son and grandma) are due to dock the Fantasy next year. After cruising on the Oasis, I hope I will enjoy the Fantasy as much.
When perspective cruisers aren't sure about Disney, a shorter cruise 3 or 4 day may be just the ticket. You get a taste without the full commitment of a week and the cost is usually less, especially if traveling during off peak times. And, if you love it, you can book the next cruise while on board with special incentives.
Our first Disney cruise was 4 nights on the Wonder and we have now spent 28 nights on Disney ships and we are reserved for 7 more nights next summer!
I find the dining a little odd to be so fancy when there are little kids that are usually very tired and often are acting their age. I figure in should be alittle less formal but as long as your eyes are wide open it is ok.
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I live in upstate NY. My wife and I have two children (19 and 15) and one puppy. We all love Disney.
Personally, I like the more formal dining for families. If your kids are tired, you can take them to the kids club any time. But for families of kids that are a bit older, a cruise is a GREAT place to try new foods. If you try it and you hate it, they are happy to bring you another dish. No fowl called. It also gives them a chance to practice restaurant manners in a less threatening setting since the décor of the dining rooms is really kid friendly. And again, if they get board, they can go to the clubs and mom and dad can finish.
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