We've done WONDERful, now let's go for MAGICal! **Updated 8/24** - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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've done WONDERful, now let's go for MAGICal! **Updated 8/24**
Hello! I am Heather and I love Cruising and Disney (not necessarily in that order), so when we finally decided to put the two together, something WONDERful happened! That was waaaaaaay back in December 2007 Enough time has passed that it's time for another cruise, but this time....it had to be MAGICal! So, we're heading out on the Magic for a Western Caribbean cruise October 3-10, 2009!
Let's start with the players and our history, in case you've not "met" me before:
Introducing:
Me 38
DH 37
DD 9
DS 5
MIL 60-something
FIL 79
DH and I had previously been on two cruises before Disney, both the exact same itinerary but on different cruise lines - Carnival (ugh!) and Royal Caribbean. The cruise was a quick weekend getaway for us down to Ensenada, Mexico (out of Long Beach). These trips were perfect because we were able to leave the kids with our parents and drive down to Long Beach from Vegas on a Friday and back home on a Monday. The kids and my in-laws had never cruised before, so when we started planning our 2007 trip, we had a lot to think about. This was going to be an "all out" celebration of our 10th wedding anniversary. We had honeymooned in WDW, but usually visited Disneyland for our annual vacations/getaways. But this was special - this was a "Vacation". And what better way than to plan a land/sea combo?
So, eventually, we decided to spend a week at WDW and take the 3 night cruise on the Wonder. I argued for a longer cruise, but gave in to the argument everyone has before their first cruise (what if I can't find my sea legs) and agreed to go for the shorter cruise. After all, we still got to go to Castaway Cay, which was going to be the highlight of the cruise, IMO.
Here are some pictures from that WONDERful cruise, to introduce us properly: The kids get ready for the muster drill...
Enjoying our meal at Palo (I don't remember our server's name, but he was SO great)
Castaway Cay and a certain famous movie prop!
As you can see, we made our home in stateroom 6072, which was connected to the room my in-laws were in. Our last day was on Castaway Cay. As we relaxed on the beach, we discussed our experiences with cruising. Of course (OF COURSE!) everyone agreed that a longer cruise would have been even better. But, really, when would we be doing something as extravagent as that again?!? So, there was no need to sign up for the cruise onboard and get the discount. (And since you already know the future - )
Fast forward about 6 months later. I discovered that DH had a conference scheduled not just in Orlando, but at the Contemporary at WDW in October 2009! Lucky! But, if he goes to the conference, his airfare is paid for by work and we have a place to stay the night before the cruise. Hmmmm. Hey, Honey? What do you think about this? He said yes!!!
Originally, if I had my "druthers", I'd do the Eastern (more days at sea), but since this cruise was based on his conference dates, Western it is! So, we made our reservation for one stateroom for 4, please! And I started looking into all the things we could be doing. Now, we usually "do Disney" with my in-laws. But, we sort of planned this without officially inviting them. Then, MIL started thinking more and more about it and getting envious of our 7 night cruise. So, they invited themselves along! After all, the more the merrier! And it never hurts to have some help with the kidlets.
So, we called up the Castaway Club phone line, to see about switching our stateroom around to a connecting one, without our losing the gas fee waiver (we'd booked about 3 days prior to the fee going into effect, but MIL/FIL would have to pay it). As long as we didn't change the "players" of our reservation or the level, we could switch around the staterooms, no problem. If I recall, we tried to get back into 6072, but it wasn't available. So, we settled for 6064/6066 which eventually got changed to 6044/6046. These staterooms are for four, so each room has the pull down bed, which could come in handy, if either couple wants some alone time. Now, remember, we booked this cruise based on DH's conference dates. As we were dotting and crossing everything, I realized that October 9, we would be on Castaway Cay, which also happens to be MIL's birthday! OK, how cool is that to be able to spend your birthday on a tropical island? Though it had no bearing on our booking the cruise, it was sort of neat, especially in light of Disney announcing the WWYC theme for this year after that.
We got onboard credit for booking online and we'll get onboard credit for paying for it with our Disney Visa. And we've got points built up on our Visa that we'll put on a card prior to the trip as well. But in the meantime, we also had a trip to Disneyland (Dec 08 - pictoral TR) and WDW (Feb 09 - totally unexpected after WWYC promos announced - TR linked in my sig) to plan for! Now that those trips are out of the way, I can concentrate on all the things I want to figure out before we set sail.
Things like:
- Pirate garb (already bought Pirate Ears really cheap at the Character Warehouse here in Vegas)
- Formal garb (I got a cocktail dress after the holidays and DD has a Cindy dress I bought after Halloween)
- Excursions (to swim or not to swim with dolphins, to semi-sub or fully submerge)
- Maps of our ports (detailed walking maps, not the cut outs I've been finding - I think I need to contact their CVBs)
- Passports (decision made - we're getting the books. End of story, DH)
So, that's where I am. We have 5+ months to go, with the ability to make our reservations sometime right around the 4th of July. I'm hoping to get into Palo for Brunch and a dinner for the 4 of us adults (High Tea doesn't interest me, so I'll leave that coveted spot for someone else). We're trying to convince MIL and FIL to go to Palo just the 2 of them on her birthday, but thus far she's remained steadfast in her desire to have dinner with the grandkids (though she'll have spent the day (and week) with them). We'll see.
Coming up - A Wish List of activities, excursions and FABs!
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Enough time has passed that it's time for another cruise, but this time....it had to be MAGICal! So, we're heading out on the Magic for a Western Caribbean cruise October 3-10, 2009!
So, there was no need to sign up for the cruise onboard and get the discount. (And since you already know the future - 
)
Lucky! But, if he goes to the conference, his airfare is paid for by work and we have a place to stay the night before the cruise. Hmmmm. Hey, Honey? What do you think about this? He said yes!!! 
And I started looking into all the things we could be doing. Now, we usually "do Disney" with my in-laws. But, we sort of planned this without officially inviting them. Then, MIL started thinking more and more about it and getting envious of our 7 night cruise.
So, they invited themselves along! After all, the more the merrier! 
And it never hurts to have some help with the kidlets.
OK, how cool is that to be able to spend your birthday on a tropical island? Though it had no bearing on our booking the cruise, it was sort of neat, especially in light of Disney announcing the WWYC theme for this year after that.
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