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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 all! I'm Diannah, a dog training instructor from Bloomington, MN. My DH (Tom), DD (Miriam, 16, aka Mim) and I will be sailing on the Disney Wonder to ALASKA on the May 24th sailing. I know, I know. This is WAY early to be starting a trip report! But I need some outlet for all this excited energy! One of my favorite parts of vacation is actually the planning, so my family tends to leave most of it up to me, knowing that they will be included once decision times approach. So they get a little tired of hearing it from time to time...
Some background: Being a (slightly) compulsive Facebook user, I was merrily minding my own business, checking up on all my fb friends and games, when I noticed a post from Disney saying something about kids cruising free in May. Now, I have been on exactly ONE cruise – part of a land and sea vacation almost 7 years ago with Disney. I've always been hesitant, since I'm VERY prone to motion sickness, but that seemed like the best way possible to “test the waters”, as it were. After all, I could have fun in the parks and then drug myself senseless for the cruise portion if I really had to.
The three of us headed out to that vacation with mixed feelings. We knew we'd love the land portion at WDW, and were really looking forward to staying at Port Orleans for the first time. (Now our FAV resort! ) But Mim (10 at the time) wasn't sure she'd be able to find friends on the ship, I was worried about being seasick, and Tom and I were both concerned we wouldn't really be able to enjoy ourselves, since, 6 days before we left, we found out that Tom would be losing his job in a few months. Not the best of news just before spending all that money! But the trip was already paid for, so onward we went, and had the best vacation of our lives! I was pretty ill the first night cruising, but I have the feeling that was due more to being overtired from the land portion than the actual motion sickness. Even DD was a bit woozy, and skipped dinner that night. But we were both up and at 'em the next day and the rest of the trip with no issues whatsoever. Let's hear it for Bonine!!!
So, fast forward to current time. I see this posting from Disney and, OF COURSE, click on it. Lo and behold, not only did it say that kids 17 and under cruise free, but the cruise was to ALASKA, the one place DH has always said he wanted to go. A little more reading uncovered that the cruise had to depart in May. A quick check of DD's school schedule revealed that she was done with school mid-May. (Being the ever-so-slightly smart and mature kid she is, she's not in regular high school. Got WAY too bored with the classes and even MORE tired of the “constant drama” -her words. Since Mn has this wonderful program called PSEO that allows qualified high schoolers to take courses at the local community colleges for high school credit – and the state pays the tuition - we took full advantage of it. So DH takes ALL her classes at the community college a few blocks from our house. Thus, she gets out several weeks earlier than the high schools. SCORE!)
I still wasn't totally convinced we'd be able to afford it, but I though “hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained” so I forwarded the post as a message to DH, keeper of the budgets. And promptly forgot about doing so. A few days later, DH asked me if I was serious about the message I had sent him. Having, of course, forgotten about it, I gave him a quizzical look.
DH: “The Alaska cruise?”
Me: “Oh, yeah. I just thought it was interesting and you might enjoy knowing about it. I didn't really think we could afford it”
DH: “Well, I looked into it and I think we could swing it”
Me:
And thus, our vacation was born. DD's first comment on hearing about it? “ALASKA?? Can't we go someplace WARM???” (This said as yet another snowstorm raged outside the windows. I think I heard that we got somewhere around 80+ inches of snow this year, the 7th snowiest winter on record. So her comment was understandable! :-) ) When we explained that this would probably be the only way we could afford a 7 night cruise, she came around.
So we contacted a travel agent and booked the cruise!!! Next, How the Heck Are We Getting There?.
__________________
peace,
Diannah
(Myself as the oven and my DD as a spice in MPP's production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, 2010)
About This Page: 
I'm Diannah, a dog training instructor from Bloomington, MN. My DH (Tom), DD (Miriam, 16, aka Mim) and I will be sailing on the Disney Wonder to ALASKA on the May 24th sailing. I know, I know. This is WAY early to be starting a trip report! But I need some outlet for all this excited energy! 
One of my favorite parts of vacation is actually the planning, so my family tends to leave most of it up to me, knowing that they will be included once decision times approach. So they get a little tired of hearing it from time to time...
) But Mim (10 at the time) wasn't sure she'd be able to find friends on the ship, I was worried about being seasick, and Tom and I were both concerned we wouldn't really be able to enjoy ourselves, since, 6 days before we left, we found out that Tom would be losing his job in a few months. Not the best of news just before spending all that money! 
But the trip was already paid for, so onward we went, and had the best vacation of our lives! I was pretty ill the first night cruising, but I have the feeling that was due more to being overtired from the land portion than the actual motion sickness. Even DD was a bit woozy, and skipped dinner that night. But we were both up and at 'em the next day and the rest of the trip with no issues whatsoever. Let's hear it for Bonine!!! 
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