/Cruising on a Dream Full of Frights and Friends: 10/12/13-10/19/13 TR completed 4/21/2014 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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 love Hope's reaction once she finally understood the surprise. How great that you were moved to boarding group #2!
Our port arrival time was scheduled for 10:30am, so I was hoping to get lucky and be one of the first groups on board.
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Originally Posted by KMB733
Hope's reaction is priceless!!
Her second reaction that is.
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Originally Posted by OhToodles!
Geez! I'm beginning to know how Dawn feels - and it's not good! Things have been crazy and I just haven't found time to work on the TR, but I'm going to try and get one out soon.
I remember that day like it was yesterday! And I love that you have our whole text conversations down. It still didn't feel real then - almost still feels like a Dream. The next part is going to be great! And made me a little teary at the 'up next'.
I'm just going to fee bad if I get too far ahead with this. And yes, you all felt like family from the very second everyone met each other. I can't say it enough, but it just amazed me how well everyone got along and how much fun we had with you guys. When I say that I miss you and your family, I truly mean it from the very bottom of my heart.
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Originally Posted by lauriep
Great update! So nice that you stopped to give some positive feedback to the crew at Cracker Barrel. I love the excitement bouncing between both families and Hope's reaction is great! I think a lot of kids don't realize they're getting on a boat until the boat is sailing away. The scale is so much bigger than any boat they'd imagine. Don't you just love walking through the Mickey Head doorway onto the ship?
She's seen a few of the cruise ships when they're in port in Baltimore, but I don't think she really understood that we were going on a Disney cruise. Maybe it was because she didn't even know where we were, but her second reaction made me feel a whole lot better. And walking through those ears is simply magical.
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Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
Nice that you gave some kudos to your angel of a waitress. You are right that too often we forget to say good things.
I love Hope's reaction! Especially when you were ready for the big scream. Next time she'll understand how awesome a surprise like that is.
Looking forward to your actual boarding and then meeting up with Kelly's family!
I just felt so bad about what happened in that restaurant, and besides the hefty tip I made sure Chad gave her, I wanted the manager to know what wonderful staff she had working for her.
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Originally Posted by MayraLR
Hope's reaction sounded exactly like my kids' reaction to their surprise Disney trip. Not exactly what I was expecting. My oldest even said he doesn't like surprises. All righty then! I'm still planning on suprising them next year but this time I'll be doing it the day of. We'll see how that goes...
I was a bit disappointed by her reaction...at first, but then when she started to really understand what was going on, I felt so much better about it.
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Originally Posted by disneydreamer33
Great update.
Glad you let the manager at Cracker Barrel know how great your waitress was. I don't think the good things are noted enough now a days.
Sorry Hope didn't get as excited as you had hoped. Hopefully she got more excited once you were on the ship.
You always hear people constantly b@*tching and complaining about what they don't like or what they think they deserve for their dollar. People need to hear the good stuff as well.
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Originally Posted by pamcarey
LOL... Hope's reaction reminds me of the one time we surprised my kids with a trip to WDW... it was a bit underwhelming. Glad Hope got more excited when she heard about the princesses on board!
I think if we would have pulled up on Disney property her reaction might have been what we were going for, but I think the whole Mickey on a boat thing confused the heck out of her.
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Originally Posted by JKnott17
My girls had the same kind of reaction as Hope when we surprised them with a WDW trip a couple of years ago. Kind of a let down when they don't jump up and down and yell like you think they are going to. I'm glad she got excited after the confusion wore off! You're almost on board, yay!!
You see all of those commercials on tv, and they make you believe it's going to be like that every.single.time.
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Originally Posted by chezp
What a priceless reaction from Hope - those are great photos to treasure. I'm so glad she seems so much better this morning as well.
I was so relieved by how well she was feeling when she woke up. I felt like the vactaion could really begin.
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Originally Posted by lexiemom
Lexi's reaction to our last Disney trip was a bit like Hopes reaction to your cruise. It took a while for the excitement to build. Can't wait for more!
I think if there was no excitement at all I'd be super concerned, but thankfully I didn't have to worry about that.
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The next part is going to be great! And made me a little teary at the 'up next'. 
And yes, you all felt like family from the very second everyone met each other. I can't say it enough, but it just amazed me how well everyone got along and how much fun we had with you guys. When I say that I miss you and your family, I truly mean it from the very bottom of my heart. 
Not exactly what I was expecting. My oldest even said he doesn't like surprises. All righty then! I'm still planning on suprising them next year but this time I'll be doing it the day of. We'll see how that goes... 
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